Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Press Conference Video & Quotes: Aug. 30
8/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. With Wake Forest two days away from opening the 2016 season against Tulane, head coach Dave Clawson, defensive back Ryan Janvion and offensive linemen Tyler Hayworth met with media to preview the Thursday contest against the Green Wave.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement...
"I think we've had a very productive camp. We've had a lot of improvement out of our guys that are taking those jumps we hoped they would through summer workouts. I think our football team is at a point where they're ready to play a game and have the score count. This week, we host what's expected to be a very improved Tulane football team, led by an excellent head coach, Willie Fritz. He has won everywhere he's been - junior college, Central Missouri, Sam Houston State, Georgia Southern - everywhere he's been, he's won. Certainly from my background, I respect the way he's climbed the profession. There aren't a lot of us, especially at this level, who work their way through the levels like he has. It's his 24th year as a head coach, he knows what he's doing. He knows how to run a program, how to run an offense, a defense, a special teams. We know they'll be extremely well coached.
"Defensively they return one of the most experienced defenses in the country. I think they have more than 140 combined starts. Certainly, up front, it starts with their three technique, Tanzel Smart, he's projected to be a mid-round draft choice. He's big, he's athletic, he's very physical. He's going to be a very difficult matchup for us. And at end, both [Robert] Kennedy and [Ade] Aruna we think are very athletic players who can rush the passer, and certainly our tackles will be challenged. Their linebackers are led by Nico Marley and Eric Thomas. These guys are very experienced, Marley has 230 tackles the last two seasons. In the secondary, they're long and athletic. [Parry] Nickerson and [Donnie] Lewis are their corners; these guys have played a lot of football for them. At safety, [Jarrod] Franklin's numbers in terms of vertical jump and running, just athletically, he's going to be as good as anyone we see.
"Offensively, it's a system offense. We anticipate that they'll be doing what they ran at Georgia Southern. This is a tough prep. You don't see a lot of option. Everything they do, in terms of dive, the quarterback pitch, the way they get into their back sets and the personnel groups they use, they go four-deep at tailback...Openers are always tough, especially with a new coaching staff. You're not exactly sure what you're going to get. Having said that, I think we've had a good camp, and our guys our excited to play."
On the excitement of the first game...
"Now, it counts. We'll have a number of guys playing for the first time. First games are never clean. I think the first games come down to who can make the least amount of mistakes in terms of turnovers, the kicking game. It's really important in the first game not to beat yourself. I don't care how many years you do this, the first game, the stomach is buzzing, you have the butterflies. If you don't feel that way, you're probably in the wrong field."
Redshirt senior safety Ryan Janvion
On what they expect from Tulane:
"They're going to try to out-leverage us. It will be an option game. The offensive coordinator is from Georgia Southern and they ran a successful offense over there, so we know that we're going to get a lot of option game. There will be times when they're going to try to out-leverage us to the perimeter. We just have to match their style, match our numbers with their numbers. We have to make sure our eyes are in the right place and everyone is doing their job."
On the first game of the season:
"The first game can definitely get crazy, especially with some of the younger guys who have never played before. That's when the older guys have to come in and take some leadership and take them under their wing. They have to walk them through it and help them get adjusted to the game speed. There is no preseason and everything you do matters. That's where the leadership on the team comes in and the older guys have to be able to step up and encourage those young guys to play the way that we know they can. We believe in our young guys; we think they're going to come out big for us."
On their improvement during camp:
"We've come a long way in camp. We had to clean up the details and fine-tune some things on offense and defense. We really pushed hard. This camp has been our best camp. We were able to push through that middle part of camp where it's not the beginning of camp, it becomes monotonous, but it's not the end of camp yet, so that middle part is the part where teams separate themselves into winning teams and losing teams, and I feel like we did a great job pushing through. We've taken huge strides and we feel confident, we feel ready to go come this Thursday. We know the game plan, we know how to execute it and we're ready to go out there. You can expect a confident Wake Forest team both on offense and defense."
Redshirt senior offensive lineman Tyler Hayworth
On the team's preparation and mentality going into the game:
"We are ready. We've been preparing ever since January for this game. From spring ball to summer workouts and now since camp, we have been working as hard as we can. We've tried to make these scrimmages emulate games as much as we can. We have to use every single practice in camp as an opportunity to get better and build up and prepare for this game. We have gone for just about a month straight and I think that we have mentally and physically prepared ourselves for this game on Thursday."
On the offensive line being ready for Week 1:
"We're prepared. This is the most talented group up front that we've had. This is the most cohesive group up front that we've had since I have been here. Through this time we have been building this cohesion up front because we are ‘Group 5 of 1'. We are a unit that has to work together and trust each other to be able to succeed. From last year to this year, we have built up that trust and built up these relationships with each other to where we are ready to play and we are prepared mentally and physically. We have gotten stronger, we have gotten better with our technique and we are ready to go and confident that we will open some holes and give the quarterback some time this season."
On difference from this team to ones from other seasons:
"We are more experienced and I don't know, but there is this feeling among the team. There is this chemistry, we are all together. We know our goals and know we want to do to win and we know what we have to do to win. We have worked so hard and this is probably the hardest we have worked in the offseason."
