I talked to Parry Nickerson, Donnie Lewis and Chase Kuerschen today after practice, largely about the matchup with Oklahoma's lethal passing attack. Here's what they had to say:
NICKERSON
You've talked about having the best secondary in the AAC and one of the best in the country. How excited are you about the opportunity to face Oklahoma?
"It's a great opportunity, but we are still going to play our game. We're not going to let anything distract us."
Football Focus came out with a stat that opponents completed a lower percentage of their passes against you than any other returning cornerback in the country. How much pride do you take in that?
"That's a great statistic. I heard of it before. I just want to continue to get better, stay healthy and keep playing lights out."
What makes Baker Mayfield so special?
"He's an NFL-caliber type quarterback, but everybody's human at the end of the day. Proper preparation leads to a good performance. I feel like we have a great chance to show why we are the best secondary in the nation."
How many passes have been completed against you in the first two games?
"I'm not sure about that, but I'm pretty sure I did a good job so far."
It's a huge stadium. How much are you looking forward to that atmosphere?
"It sounds like a great environment to play in front of. I can't wait."
LEWIS
Oklahoma has torched some very good secondaries, but how much are you looking forward to this challenge?
"I'm really looking forward to it. We have a great opportunity to come out and show how good corners that we have and how good of a secondary that we have as a whole. We are just going to come out and play our ball."
What makes Mayfield special?
"He's a great quarterback with a great arm. He has a good bit of time in the pocket but he also can throw well on the run. We've just got to play our game."
What happened on the missed tackle that led to Navy's 79-yard touchdown?
"As a cornerback. you've got to have amnesia. Sometimes you wrap a little high when you should wrap low. That's all that happened right there."
How much do you guys pride yourselves on your tackling overall?
Every day we tackle, tackle, tackle no matter whether we're playing an option team or a spread team. We work on tackling every single day. We take pride in our tackling and our swarming to the ball. If we do happen to miss a tackle, we swarm to the ball, so we are all right there."
You came close to winning but didn't get it done. What is the level of this team's confidence?
"Coaches preach about controlling what you can control. We have to control our composure. The game is over now. It's in the past. All we can do is learn from it."
Do you feel like Oklahoma will be surprised by the Tulane DBs?
"I don't know how they look at us, but like I told you, we're coming to play our game and we're not backing down. We're going to run our defense."
What are your thoughts on playing in an 85,000-seat stadium?
"I'm going to be excited. It will be the largest crowd I've played in since I've been in college, so I'm ready for the atmosphere."
KUERSCHEN
You've had a good start to your career. Most players struggle with the transition to college from high school, but not you. What's been working well?
"Going back to high school, I played against some good competition there, so I feel like that somewhat prepared me for college, but really when I got here, coach (Jack) Curtis just started developing all of the freshmen from day one, not just me, and then I had Rod Teamer above me just mentoring me every day. I just tried to learn from him and correct me on everything, so that's been a huge help."
Coach Fritz praised your high school program ( Knoxville Catholic in Tennessee), saying it was obvious you had been coached well.
"It definitely helped me. I feel like our coaching staff in high school was not at the same level as far as intensity of this staff, but for a high school staff they were very intense. Practice was very high pace, so that got me prepared for the next level."
What are your best strengths?
"I feel like I did very well coming up on the run this past week against Navy. I'm maybe a step behind on my coverage skills right now, so I'm going to get some great work on that this week against Oklahoma."
How much are you looking forward to the Oklahoma game? With Teamer hurt, this could be your first career start.
"I couldn't be more excited. It's a huge opportunity to go out and show what I can do. It's going to be a lot of fun playing against the No. 2 team in the nation."
That's a heck of an initiation, going against the Heisman frontrunner. What do you need to do?
"I just need to do my assignments and what I've done in practice for the past three months. Mayfield makes plays with his legs and his arms, so we've just got to contain him and do what we're supposed to do."
What is the toughest aspect of their passing offense?
"Well they've obviously got great athletes. That's no secret, but they have some really unique route concepts that we're going to really focus on this week in practice. That's one thing we're kind of worried about. They've got a real big tight end who plays in the slot a lot, so that's something we're really keying on. They do some weird things with him. We've got to watch a lot of film and be prepared for all the weird stuff they are going to do."
Did you expect to move up the depth chart so quickly in the preseason? You were practicing with the 2s by the second week.
"I'm not sure exactly what I expected. When they recruited me, they said they needed help now and stuff like that, but you never know what's really happening when you're on the other side of recruiting. Once I got here, I just worked hard and am blessed with the opportunities that came to me."
NICKERSON
You've talked about having the best secondary in the AAC and one of the best in the country. How excited are you about the opportunity to face Oklahoma?
"It's a great opportunity, but we are still going to play our game. We're not going to let anything distract us."
Football Focus came out with a stat that opponents completed a lower percentage of their passes against you than any other returning cornerback in the country. How much pride do you take in that?
"That's a great statistic. I heard of it before. I just want to continue to get better, stay healthy and keep playing lights out."
What makes Baker Mayfield so special?
"He's an NFL-caliber type quarterback, but everybody's human at the end of the day. Proper preparation leads to a good performance. I feel like we have a great chance to show why we are the best secondary in the nation."
How many passes have been completed against you in the first two games?
"I'm not sure about that, but I'm pretty sure I did a good job so far."
It's a huge stadium. How much are you looking forward to that atmosphere?
"It sounds like a great environment to play in front of. I can't wait."
LEWIS
Oklahoma has torched some very good secondaries, but how much are you looking forward to this challenge?
"I'm really looking forward to it. We have a great opportunity to come out and show how good corners that we have and how good of a secondary that we have as a whole. We are just going to come out and play our ball."
What makes Mayfield special?
"He's a great quarterback with a great arm. He has a good bit of time in the pocket but he also can throw well on the run. We've just got to play our game."
What happened on the missed tackle that led to Navy's 79-yard touchdown?
"As a cornerback. you've got to have amnesia. Sometimes you wrap a little high when you should wrap low. That's all that happened right there."
How much do you guys pride yourselves on your tackling overall?
Every day we tackle, tackle, tackle no matter whether we're playing an option team or a spread team. We work on tackling every single day. We take pride in our tackling and our swarming to the ball. If we do happen to miss a tackle, we swarm to the ball, so we are all right there."
You came close to winning but didn't get it done. What is the level of this team's confidence?
"Coaches preach about controlling what you can control. We have to control our composure. The game is over now. It's in the past. All we can do is learn from it."
Do you feel like Oklahoma will be surprised by the Tulane DBs?
"I don't know how they look at us, but like I told you, we're coming to play our game and we're not backing down. We're going to run our defense."
What are your thoughts on playing in an 85,000-seat stadium?
"I'm going to be excited. It will be the largest crowd I've played in since I've been in college, so I'm ready for the atmosphere."
KUERSCHEN
You've had a good start to your career. Most players struggle with the transition to college from high school, but not you. What's been working well?
"Going back to high school, I played against some good competition there, so I feel like that somewhat prepared me for college, but really when I got here, coach (Jack) Curtis just started developing all of the freshmen from day one, not just me, and then I had Rod Teamer above me just mentoring me every day. I just tried to learn from him and correct me on everything, so that's been a huge help."
Coach Fritz praised your high school program ( Knoxville Catholic in Tennessee), saying it was obvious you had been coached well.
"It definitely helped me. I feel like our coaching staff in high school was not at the same level as far as intensity of this staff, but for a high school staff they were very intense. Practice was very high pace, so that got me prepared for the next level."
What are your best strengths?
"I feel like I did very well coming up on the run this past week against Navy. I'm maybe a step behind on my coverage skills right now, so I'm going to get some great work on that this week against Oklahoma."
How much are you looking forward to the Oklahoma game? With Teamer hurt, this could be your first career start.
"I couldn't be more excited. It's a huge opportunity to go out and show what I can do. It's going to be a lot of fun playing against the No. 2 team in the nation."
That's a heck of an initiation, going against the Heisman frontrunner. What do you need to do?
"I just need to do my assignments and what I've done in practice for the past three months. Mayfield makes plays with his legs and his arms, so we've just got to contain him and do what we're supposed to do."
What is the toughest aspect of their passing offense?
"Well they've obviously got great athletes. That's no secret, but they have some really unique route concepts that we're going to really focus on this week in practice. That's one thing we're kind of worried about. They've got a real big tight end who plays in the slot a lot, so that's something we're really keying on. They do some weird things with him. We've got to watch a lot of film and be prepared for all the weird stuff they are going to do."
Did you expect to move up the depth chart so quickly in the preseason? You were practicing with the 2s by the second week.
"I'm not sure exactly what I expected. When they recruited me, they said they needed help now and stuff like that, but you never know what's really happening when you're on the other side of recruiting. Once I got here, I just worked hard and am blessed with the opportunities that came to me."