For work (all of the news breaking away from the game) and away-from-work reasons, I've been slow to transcribe interviews this week.
Here are two I conducted Wednesday. I expected Sam Howard to make the single biggest contribution of any of the after-spring transfers with the long-term absence of Jesus Machado at LB. Howard's consistent production at Austin Peay, including a 12-tackle game against Tennessee, and the reports I heard about him made me believe he could step in right away and be a big contributor, and that's exactly what happened. After watching the Oklahoma game on DVR, he is my defensive MVP (Grubbs made one incredible play, and Despanie did not get to play more than half of the game).
SAM HOWARD
On defense maybe turning corner in second half against Oklahoma:
"Absolutely. The biggest emphasis week to week has just been getting better each week, and the way we played in the second half of the Kansas State game was not very good, and just improving the following week showed signs that we can be a really great defense. We are moving in the right direction to be an elite defense. We've just gotta keep trying to move there every day."
On being battle tested:
"That's exactly what I was going to stay. We've been on both ends of the stick. We won from a large margin and then we came up short. Guys know the expectations, that we can be a really great team. They trust that now, so now we can just go play, have fun and be free. Guys in the beginning of the season, you've got a new team, were playing tentative and a little tight, but now everybody is going out there and playing free and having fun."
On Despanie:
"Slim is awesome. He's a true teammate, a true captain and leads by example. He plays really hard. He's always leading out there on the field. I love playing next to that man every single day because I know if I'm messing up, he's going to make me right behind me, so just having him is awesome."
On Despanie'e energy after being ejected:
"He was very vocal. You would think he was one of the assistant coaches. He was telling me, hey, they are about to run this play, be ready for that play. He was very vocal and guys were responding the way we should. He was always leading whether he was on the field or not."
On UL's strengths:
"They run the ball well. They have great backs and a great quarterback. It's going to be a great challenge this week."
On ready for third straight big game:
"Yes sir. Guys are ready to respond and get a win. We've been out of the win column two weeks in a row and we just want to get a win. Guys have that intent. We're just working towards that."
On guys going back home:
"It's definitely personal for those guys. They just want to make their family proud. It means more to them, so it means more to us. Like coach says, it's the state championship. We're just battling for that."
On UL QB Woolbridge:
"He's a really great player. We are just trying to figure out how we can get him off schedule and fit the run well and get off the field on third downs."
GASPARATO
On Despanie's experience:
"He's a leader. He's done it on the field, so guys look up to him, they respect him. He puts the work in that has showed as a leader, so they can follow him by example, too, so he's somebody when you're on the field as a coach, especially in the back end, there's one guy you know no matter what is going to solve problems. If there's something we haven't seen, he knows the rules and all the adjustments and he can move guys around and gets guys set. That's what Slim does. He's so smart and understands the game. He can finish plays, but he's been in a lot of positions to make tackles, and a lot of them have been make or break. If you make them, it's a very short game. If you miss it, it's a long one and might be still running. He's been a really sure tackler. He's been unbelievable this year."
On his production:
"It goes to show that when you know what you're looking at and you see your keys, your keys take you to your job, so that's what he's done a really good job. Every play he's made, he was supposed to make that play. When you do what you're supposed to do, that's when things happen. You don't have to be Superman. You don't have to do things outside of the defense. You just have to do your job and the production will come with it."
On defense playing better in second half with Kevin Adams on the field:
"Kevin's been unbelievable. He's one of the most improved players since we got here in spring practice. He's unbelievably coachable, great athlete, physical player, good ball skills. I can't say enough about him. His upside is through the roof, and he's continued to progress every week, every practice, his attention in meetings. When you have somebody like Slim in the room, it just rubs off on a lot of guys. He's been a true professional, and he's productive as can be."
On Despanie coaching after being ejected:
"He was on the sideline talking to the guys, watching the I Pads with them and keeping everybody's energy up. That's what you need from a leader. His role changed because of what happened during the game, but he still had a positive effect on the team."
On positives with the way D played in second half:
"Absolutely, and that's what we've talked about. We've seen spurts this whole season these first three games of good, bad and ugly, and we've just got to eliminate the bad and ugly and keep it on good and continue to progress. Every play these guys have, they become a little more comfortable with each other and trust each other to do their jobs. When we've played to our standard, we've seen what we can be."
On difference in second half pass rush:
"We were able to get them in situations where we could. Early on it was a lot of third-and 2s and third-and 3s when it can be a lot of either ors. When you get to third-and-5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 it becomes a little easier to call. Our guys know exactly what's coming and they can just play fast. That's the challenge for us this week. We've got to do a good job of keeping Lafayette off schedule and making sure we can get to third-and-medium and third-and-long so we can go do what we do."
On veteran QB:
"He sees the field as good or better than anybody that we've played this year. He's got a great arm. He's got great touch. He can throw the deep ball down the field. He can throw the deep outs, and the whole field is in play, which you can't always say with quarterbacks for the most part. He knows exactly where he wants to go with the ball. He gets it out on time. He's very efficient and he never gets flustered. I would say that about both of their quarterbacks. We played against 18 (Chandler Fields) last year and was very similar. They can pull down and run when they need to, but they do a good job of not beating themselves, so we're going to have to do a good job of being disciplined and sound with our techniques, our detail, our coverage, our eyes, and we're going to have to go beat them because they are not going to give it to us."
On Grubbs pick six:
"I was happy for him. He is a worker. Every day he comes and brings his lunch pail and is a hard-nosed kid who puts as much time as anybody. He lives in this building. He's always walking around trying to get extra stuff in, watching tape on his own, meeting with his own guys. He loves this game, and to see him make that play when he has the opportunity is special."
On Grubbs no longer free lancing as he did at times last year:
"There have been times everybody has, and when you see somebody else do it or you do it yourself, you see if you just did your job, you would have made the play. When you try to do too much, you don't, taking your eyes off of man coverage or going too far in a zone or whatever that is. We've really harped on just doing your job and being very detail oriented this week, and they've all embraced it."
Here are two I conducted Wednesday. I expected Sam Howard to make the single biggest contribution of any of the after-spring transfers with the long-term absence of Jesus Machado at LB. Howard's consistent production at Austin Peay, including a 12-tackle game against Tennessee, and the reports I heard about him made me believe he could step in right away and be a big contributor, and that's exactly what happened. After watching the Oklahoma game on DVR, he is my defensive MVP (Grubbs made one incredible play, and Despanie did not get to play more than half of the game).
SAM HOWARD
On defense maybe turning corner in second half against Oklahoma:
"Absolutely. The biggest emphasis week to week has just been getting better each week, and the way we played in the second half of the Kansas State game was not very good, and just improving the following week showed signs that we can be a really great defense. We are moving in the right direction to be an elite defense. We've just gotta keep trying to move there every day."
On being battle tested:
"That's exactly what I was going to stay. We've been on both ends of the stick. We won from a large margin and then we came up short. Guys know the expectations, that we can be a really great team. They trust that now, so now we can just go play, have fun and be free. Guys in the beginning of the season, you've got a new team, were playing tentative and a little tight, but now everybody is going out there and playing free and having fun."
On Despanie:
"Slim is awesome. He's a true teammate, a true captain and leads by example. He plays really hard. He's always leading out there on the field. I love playing next to that man every single day because I know if I'm messing up, he's going to make me right behind me, so just having him is awesome."
On Despanie'e energy after being ejected:
"He was very vocal. You would think he was one of the assistant coaches. He was telling me, hey, they are about to run this play, be ready for that play. He was very vocal and guys were responding the way we should. He was always leading whether he was on the field or not."
On UL's strengths:
"They run the ball well. They have great backs and a great quarterback. It's going to be a great challenge this week."
On ready for third straight big game:
"Yes sir. Guys are ready to respond and get a win. We've been out of the win column two weeks in a row and we just want to get a win. Guys have that intent. We're just working towards that."
On guys going back home:
"It's definitely personal for those guys. They just want to make their family proud. It means more to them, so it means more to us. Like coach says, it's the state championship. We're just battling for that."
On UL QB Woolbridge:
"He's a really great player. We are just trying to figure out how we can get him off schedule and fit the run well and get off the field on third downs."
GASPARATO
On Despanie's experience:
"He's a leader. He's done it on the field, so guys look up to him, they respect him. He puts the work in that has showed as a leader, so they can follow him by example, too, so he's somebody when you're on the field as a coach, especially in the back end, there's one guy you know no matter what is going to solve problems. If there's something we haven't seen, he knows the rules and all the adjustments and he can move guys around and gets guys set. That's what Slim does. He's so smart and understands the game. He can finish plays, but he's been in a lot of positions to make tackles, and a lot of them have been make or break. If you make them, it's a very short game. If you miss it, it's a long one and might be still running. He's been a really sure tackler. He's been unbelievable this year."
On his production:
"It goes to show that when you know what you're looking at and you see your keys, your keys take you to your job, so that's what he's done a really good job. Every play he's made, he was supposed to make that play. When you do what you're supposed to do, that's when things happen. You don't have to be Superman. You don't have to do things outside of the defense. You just have to do your job and the production will come with it."
On defense playing better in second half with Kevin Adams on the field:
"Kevin's been unbelievable. He's one of the most improved players since we got here in spring practice. He's unbelievably coachable, great athlete, physical player, good ball skills. I can't say enough about him. His upside is through the roof, and he's continued to progress every week, every practice, his attention in meetings. When you have somebody like Slim in the room, it just rubs off on a lot of guys. He's been a true professional, and he's productive as can be."
On Despanie coaching after being ejected:
"He was on the sideline talking to the guys, watching the I Pads with them and keeping everybody's energy up. That's what you need from a leader. His role changed because of what happened during the game, but he still had a positive effect on the team."
On positives with the way D played in second half:
"Absolutely, and that's what we've talked about. We've seen spurts this whole season these first three games of good, bad and ugly, and we've just got to eliminate the bad and ugly and keep it on good and continue to progress. Every play these guys have, they become a little more comfortable with each other and trust each other to do their jobs. When we've played to our standard, we've seen what we can be."
On difference in second half pass rush:
"We were able to get them in situations where we could. Early on it was a lot of third-and 2s and third-and 3s when it can be a lot of either ors. When you get to third-and-5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 it becomes a little easier to call. Our guys know exactly what's coming and they can just play fast. That's the challenge for us this week. We've got to do a good job of keeping Lafayette off schedule and making sure we can get to third-and-medium and third-and-long so we can go do what we do."
On veteran QB:
"He sees the field as good or better than anybody that we've played this year. He's got a great arm. He's got great touch. He can throw the deep ball down the field. He can throw the deep outs, and the whole field is in play, which you can't always say with quarterbacks for the most part. He knows exactly where he wants to go with the ball. He gets it out on time. He's very efficient and he never gets flustered. I would say that about both of their quarterbacks. We played against 18 (Chandler Fields) last year and was very similar. They can pull down and run when they need to, but they do a good job of not beating themselves, so we're going to have to do a good job of being disciplined and sound with our techniques, our detail, our coverage, our eyes, and we're going to have to go beat them because they are not going to give it to us."
On Grubbs pick six:
"I was happy for him. He is a worker. Every day he comes and brings his lunch pail and is a hard-nosed kid who puts as much time as anybody. He lives in this building. He's always walking around trying to get extra stuff in, watching tape on his own, meeting with his own guys. He loves this game, and to see him make that play when he has the opportunity is special."
On Grubbs no longer free lancing as he did at times last year:
"There have been times everybody has, and when you see somebody else do it or you do it yourself, you see if you just did your job, you would have made the play. When you try to do too much, you don't, taking your eyes off of man coverage or going too far in a zone or whatever that is. We've really harped on just doing your job and being very detail oriented this week, and they've all embraced it."