Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Football Press Conference Quotes
9/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 7, 2010
Press Conference Video: Grobe | Frye | Looney | Wilber | M. Williams
On what the team needs to work on after watching the Presbyterian film...
"We need to work on the mental part as much as anything. We made too many mistakes. We need to look at ourselves a little bit as coaches and see if we're asking them to do too many things. With our effort, we thought we flew around pretty good, but we just made too many mistakes."
On the difference in the quarterbacks now with a game of experience...
"I hope you'll see a difference in decisiveness. At times we were a little bit hesitant to make decisions and pull the trigger, whether it was in the running game or the throwing game. I would expect that with another week under our belts we will be a little more decisive."
On who will be the quarterback...
"Ted [Stachitas] is our quarterback. He was last week, and he still is. He did some really good things. We are going to get Tanner [Price] in the game. I think one of the best things we did last week was end the speculation about whether Tanner was going to play or not. And the other two quarterbacks - Brendan Cross and Sky Jones - are also in the mix. It's just a matter of going out and practicing well every week, and if you get an opportunity, you have to do something with it."
On playing Duke this early...
"I'm a little discouraged that we are playing a conference game this early, but there is no way around it. We're playing a really good Duke football team, and the stakes are a lot higher since we're playing in conference. You always want to start out strong in conference, so it's a big game for both of us."
On Duke's wide receivers...
"You can be on your A-game and still give up a lot of yards to these guys. It starts with the quarterback [Sean Renfree] - he is really special. [Conner] Vernon, [Donovan] Varner, and all those receivers are all the real deal. Not only do they have good foot speed and run really good routes, but they also have great hands. I'm real impressed with the quarterback, but you don't complete 80 percent of your throws without people catching the football. It's very rare to see any of their receivers or tight ends drop a ball, so it's going to be a great challenge."
On the advantage of having a couple of extra days to rest and prepare...
"You really get a little bit behind when they play a game on Saturday. We had a good practice Saturday, but they were involved in a game. There is some advantage in that we had the opportunity to rest some bumps and bruises and get further ahead mentally, but there are also advantages in playing on Saturdays."
On the Wake Forest/Duke rivalry ...
"Certainly the local players, as well as the guys who have played against each other during their careers, get a little more jacked up for this game. We have a lot of players from North Carolina on the roster and so does Duke, so that always makes for a rivalry."
On what the team needs to work on to get ready for Duke...
"The main thing that we need to work on is our mental efficiency. We had a couple times that we didn't concentrate as much as we needed to and that led to big plays, such as the Presbyterian trick play."
On the excitement surrounding the first ACC game of the season...
"I'm extremely excited about it. Duke is one of our toughest competitors and always gives us a hard game. Last time they came here we barely inched it out, and in 2006 we needed the blocked kick by Chip Vaughn. Last year when we went to their home it was non-stop scoring. I think as a defense, we want to rise to level of the competition."
On the Wake Forest - Duke rivalry...
"I think it's fair to say (that Duke is one of our biggest rivals). Especially with the way that they play us every year, I think that you can say that they are definitely our biggest rivalry. I know they want this game probably more than any other team that we play."
On what the offensive needs to work on to get ready for Duke...
"We need to look at our assignments and work on the mistakes that we made. We need to work on making better blocks and just getting ready for this game that's coming up."
On head coach Jim Grobe's message to the team this week...
"He's been telling us to work hard and get ready for this game coming up. Obviously it's an ACC game with two great teams. Duke is a good team. He just really wants us to be ready for this game and to look at the film from last week and learn from it so that we can be better in the game this week."
On the quarterback situation...
"I think that all of our quarterbacks are good quarterbacks. It's a good competition between those guys and that's a wonderful thing to have. (Who plays) is really a coaches' decision, but all of them worked hard in camp, and all of them played well in the game Thursday. It's the coaches' decision who they want to start this week."
On his feelings about playing the first conference game of the year...
" It's great. It's the kind of game that you dream of playing in as a kid. Duke's going to come in ready to play. It's going to be really exciting with two good teams, and it's the kind of atmosphere that you dream of playing in as a football player."
On what the team needs to work on most following the win...
"There were a lot of mental mistakes we made during the game against Presbyterian, so I think the number one key for us is to stop those mental mistakes and get our defense down pat. If we come out against Duke and have a lot of mental mistakes, then it won't be a W in the books for us."
On being the first ACC game of the season against Duke...
"I think it's going to be a great game. We're very excited to play Duke. They're one of our rivalry teams. They're a great team with a great quarterback, great offensive line, running backs and great wide receiver corps. It's going to be a challenge, and we're just ready to get out there and hopefully get a win."
On Duke starting quarterback Sean Renfree...
"I see that he's really confident in his wide receiver corps. He's ready to go to them every single play. He has a strong arm and a solid arm. When pressure's in his face he still completes passes. I feel like if we don't get enough pressure on him then he's basically going to pick us apart."
On the upcoming game against Duke...
"Duke's a very good team. We feel like they showed us a lot on film. They have a very aggressive defense and we feel like we need to attack their defense as best as we can. That's going to be a challenge because they do have some pretty good guys on defense. In the first game, we had some struggles on offense, taking care of the ball and things like that, so we mostly need to correct what we do as a team to better our chances of defeating Duke."
On the differences between quarterbacks Ted Stachitas and Tanner Price...
"I can tell if it's coming from different guys. Ted has a different ball and Tanner has a laser, so I know if he's back there and I catch a ball and break my hand, I know he's in there. I know all of our guys are capable of carrying out the plays at game time."
On the team's post-game approach following the win...
"We had a pretty large win, but we feel like we made a lot of crucial mistakes, a lot of things that would have beat us in a regular ACC game. He's (Coach Grobe) preaching that everyone know their assignments and everyone eliminate the mental errors and things like that that can potentially get us beaten. We had some plays where we looked good and we had some plays where we really looked not too hot, so we're just trying to be as close to perfection as we can. That's what we're honing in on this week in practice, making sure that everything's done to perfection."
