Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Photo by: Brent Beerends/MT Athletic Communications
MT vs. FIU presser
10/24/2016 2:31:00 PM | Football
Kickoff is set for 6 PM
Head Coach Rick Stockstill
Opening Statement…
"Thanks everyone for being here. I'll keep this short and brief this week. Like always, not going to talk about last week unless you guys have questions. We have FIU this week. They started out 0-4 and made a coaching change. I have a lot of respect for Ron Turner, the coach that was there, and what he has done with that program in building it and changing the culture of the FIU team. He did a wonderful job. Ron Cooper, who is now the interim head coach, Ron and I coached together for a year at South Carolina. I've known him for a long time. He is an excellent football coach. You look at their team, right now, in the first four weeks they were probably averaging two touchdowns a game and now they are up to 28 or 29 points per game. Defensively, they were giving up in the 30s, now in the last few weeks they are holding people in the 20s and high-teens. There's probably a two-touchdown difference offensively, and then a two-touchdown difference scoring-wise defensively. The team has really improved. They are 3-1 in the conference and are ahead of us in the conference, so we are chasing them. To me, it's a typical Florida team. They are very athletic. They are very fast and long. They have lot of good athletes on their football team. They have a quarterback now who just set their all-time passing record for career touchdowns at 43. He is a three-year starter and has played a bunch of games. I think he throws the ball really well. I have a lot of respect for him. They have good receivers and their backs are good. Defensively, they'll base out of a four-man front, and on third down they'll show you some three-man front packages. Everybody is doing that, so that's not that uncommon. Their linebackers are really good. Their defensive end, Fermin Silva, is a really good player. Their secondary is athletic. It's a good team. On special teams, Kirk Doll is their special teams coordinator. He's been in the NFL and has been around a long time. I have a lot of respect for what he does in the kicking game, so we have to be sound there. Steve Shankweiler who is now the offensive coordinator, is now calling plays. He and I coaches together at South Carolina as well. I've known him for a long time and I have a lot of respect for the job he does. This will be a really good challenge for us. They are a good football team. They are fighting for bowl eligibility as well. Now that you get to this part of the season, the magnitude of each game intensifies. It's a critical game. As always, going on the road is difficult, so we have to be prepared for that as well. We're looking for us improving and getting ready to play a good FIU team."
On consistent offensive production…
"It's a credit to our players. We have good players. It's a credit to our coaches. We have good coaches. Our players work extremely hard in practice every day to improve. We talk about all the time 'don't relax, don't get ever comfortable.' Our players have done that. The ones that are playing who haven't played much are continuing to improve and getting better each week. It's a credit to our players and coaches and how we approach each day in practice."
On big win to get over a tough loss…
"It was great to get a win and get the taste of that loss out of your mouth. It didn't matter if it was Missouri or we've already played Alabama A&M. To win and know the work you put in leading up to that game, it's extremely gratifying and satisfying to get that taste out of our mouth. For our players to experience the joy of doing something nobody thought you could do — going on the road and beating an SEC team; nobody thought you could do that. For them to prove people wrong and have that experience and have that elation in the locker room, that joy will carry with them for a long time. They'll remember it the rest of their life. To me, it was good to get a win to get that nasty, losing taste out of your mouth."
On FIU linebacker Treyvon Williams…
"He's a good player. He's very active and physical. He's going to make plays. You have to do a good job in our run game schemes, pass game schemes and pass protection when he brings pressure. He's going to make his plays. We aren't going to run away from him to avoid him, and we are not going to run to him. We'll do what we do offensively and hope that our technique and fundamentals will enable us to have success because he is a great player."
On no sacks against Missouri…
"There's a lot of people involved in protection. Our offensive line has done a great job. Rick Mallory and Mike Polly have done a great job coaching those guys up there. All those guys that are playing in the offensive line have done a great job. They take great pride in keeping the quarterback upright. That's important to them. They care. They compete. They work. They have done a great job. Our backs have done a good job in protection. Brent has done a good job of avoiding sacks and getting the ball out to not take unnecessary sacks. There are a lot of people involved and I think our offensive line has done a wonderful job."
On if becoming bowl eligible impacts the rest of the schedule…
"No sir. I haven't talked about bowl eligibility. We're trying to win this week. We've sat at home with eight wins. We're going to play out this whole year. I don't think about all that stuff. They may not pick us, so we have to go win this week and worry about getting a win next week and the following week. I'm proud of where we are right now, but bowl eligibility is not on top of my priority list this week."
On any difference in FIU's play following coaching change…
"I think the big thing is when you make a change, you go through spring practice, you go through summer, you go through August, you go through the first four weeks of your season and then you make a change after the fourth game, you're not going to change philosophically what you have been doing for that amount of time. I think change, defensively, they are still doing what they have done all year. Offensively, schematically they are doing the same things They are probably throwing the ball and getting more spread sets and open sets more than they did the first four games of the year. Their basic philosophical plan has not changed."
On FIU's kickoff and punt coverage…
"There's a fine line when you look at kickoff return. We're very average ourselves there. There's not much of a difference, there is a yard or a half-yard difference, on kickoff coverage and where you rank on that. They have great speed covering their kicks. The thing we have to do in the kicking game is we have to be sound. We've done a good job as of late. We haven't had penalties in the kicking game. We haven't made poor decisions in the kicking game. It's an opportunity for us to continue to improve in those areas of what we're doing. What we are going to see is what we have seen all year. We have to continue to make good decisions and what we do with the ball when it's kicked. I think that's how we can be effective in the kicking game."
On offensive coordinator Tony Franklin getting into a play calling rhythm…
"When plays work, you have good players. You can call a bad play and because you have a good player, the player makes it look like a good call. Tony is an excellent play caller and he does a great job. I agree that as a play-caller, you try and get in a rhythm, and you get in a rhythm when your players execute at a high level. Because you gain confidence to call that play, you have the confidence to call the next play based on what your players are doing and how the defense is responding to that play. If you look at us, our run game is pretty simple. We don't run a bunch of different running plays. That adds to the simplicity of getting in a rhythm."
On difficulty in substituting defensively against a high-tempo Missouri offense…
"I thought the LA Tech game, Skip did a great job there with the tempo of his offense. We didn't have the issues against them as we did against Missouri. Missouri is as fast as any team I've competed against any place I have been. Their tempo was excellent. They caught us a couple times. It limited some of the packages we were doing, especially on third down. We couldn't get substitute in fast enough or get them off fast enough. They were good with their scheme. The tempo they ran made it difficult for us."
On difficulty in responding after a big win…
"I don't think so. That's the maturity and mental toughness your team has to have. We talked about it Sunday after the Western Kentucky game, 'There's nothing you can do about it. You have to put it behind you and get better.' Same as yesterday, 'Enjoy it. You've had a great experience. But now, you aren't getting any extra points. You have to put it behind you.' And our team has always done that. I don't have any reservations, questions or doubts that our team won't respond in a positive way. We don't talk about it. We discussed the game yesterday and went out and practiced to get ready for FIU. I don't think there will be any lingering effects whatsoever."
QB Brent Stockstill
How do you to keep guys focused during the week after a big win?
"I think it's easy for me with the guys I have around me. We're a very mature group offensively, high character group, were pretty focused at the task at hand at all times. We don't get too sidetracked with who we're playing. There are different situations that come up during the game, so we're a mature group and we handle things pretty well."
What has Dennis Andrews done to make you feel comfortable throwing the ball to him?
"He's done a great job. Coming from Georgia Tech where he was a fullback, mainly a blocking guy we moved him to receiver and he's taken coaching extremely well. He's a very competitive kid and he's gotten better every week. I think that the sky's the limit for him. He'll continue to get better and he's just a big body to throw to, he competes and makes contested catches. So he's a guy you want on your side."
Did you take some of the biggest hits that you've ever taken in Saturday's game?
"I take some shots every week, that's my job. I think no sacks again, was pretty amazing. They had some guys that are going to play on Sundays on that defensive line. Credit to the guys up front. Every once in a while you're going to have to throw the ball and take a shot. It's just part of playing the position, so I thought the offensive line did a great job."
Talk about your (63 yard) run Saturday.
"I was a little surprised when I snuck out of there and had some green grass. I felt like I ran an 800-meter in track. I got gassed 40 yards down the field, but I guess it was kind of cool."
How exciting was seeing I'Tavius (Mathers) play at a high level on the big stage Saturday?
"I love it. I think he deserves everything he's getting right now. He's been on that stage before, obviously with him coming from Ole Miss. He doesn't shy away from anything, he accepted the challenge and really put the offense on his back, 215 yards and another 60 through the air was so impressive. He helps us be balanced on offense and really took us to the next level."
Have you been impressed with the tempo so far this year?
"I think the big thing when you talk about tempo is getting the first, first down. That's hard for a defense, it might be easy to play one, two, three plays and get the three and out. But once you get that first, first down you can really wear them down with our running game, running side-to-side and then hit some shots downfield. I think it's tough for defenses to keep up with that. That's our goal to get the first, first down and just be good on 3rd down throughout the drive. "
LB DJ Sanders
You are ranked nationally for forced fumbles, what do you usually go for when forcing fumbles and what did you see on that play Saturday?
"Most of the time when I'm going for something like that I go for the punch out from behind but on that play I was just trying to make the tackle, my hand just hit the ball and it popped out."
How do you get to the FIU quarterback this week?
"The pass rush. Steven Rhodes, Chris Hale, Jamal (Jones), all those guys they are going to get a good pass rush for us. Hopefully they open up the lanes for the linebackers to get some sacks too."
What challenges does the double tight end formation pose for you against FIU?
"It's a different challenge for us because we have to know how we're going to play it. But it's all the same, Vanderbilt ran it a lot and they ran the ball a little bit more. But they like to throw it more."
What was the key to you guys getting a lot of pressure without bringing a lot of extra people?
"Effort. It was just the effort. The guys knew that they were going to use max protect. So it took a lot of effort to get to the quarterback because the offensive line was huge."
How are you able to cover WR's and how important is that for the team?
"It's important because it makes us more versatile. We can go man or we can play zone. I just have to get my hands on them and slow them down, because most of the guys are fast."
Do you feel like you've been more of a vocal leader this season?
"So far I have, really I'm just encouraging the guys and keep them up. Sometimes we go down, and we are still up. I have to tell the guys to not worry about that last play, keep playing and make plays."
Opening Statement…
"Thanks everyone for being here. I'll keep this short and brief this week. Like always, not going to talk about last week unless you guys have questions. We have FIU this week. They started out 0-4 and made a coaching change. I have a lot of respect for Ron Turner, the coach that was there, and what he has done with that program in building it and changing the culture of the FIU team. He did a wonderful job. Ron Cooper, who is now the interim head coach, Ron and I coached together for a year at South Carolina. I've known him for a long time. He is an excellent football coach. You look at their team, right now, in the first four weeks they were probably averaging two touchdowns a game and now they are up to 28 or 29 points per game. Defensively, they were giving up in the 30s, now in the last few weeks they are holding people in the 20s and high-teens. There's probably a two-touchdown difference offensively, and then a two-touchdown difference scoring-wise defensively. The team has really improved. They are 3-1 in the conference and are ahead of us in the conference, so we are chasing them. To me, it's a typical Florida team. They are very athletic. They are very fast and long. They have lot of good athletes on their football team. They have a quarterback now who just set their all-time passing record for career touchdowns at 43. He is a three-year starter and has played a bunch of games. I think he throws the ball really well. I have a lot of respect for him. They have good receivers and their backs are good. Defensively, they'll base out of a four-man front, and on third down they'll show you some three-man front packages. Everybody is doing that, so that's not that uncommon. Their linebackers are really good. Their defensive end, Fermin Silva, is a really good player. Their secondary is athletic. It's a good team. On special teams, Kirk Doll is their special teams coordinator. He's been in the NFL and has been around a long time. I have a lot of respect for what he does in the kicking game, so we have to be sound there. Steve Shankweiler who is now the offensive coordinator, is now calling plays. He and I coaches together at South Carolina as well. I've known him for a long time and I have a lot of respect for the job he does. This will be a really good challenge for us. They are a good football team. They are fighting for bowl eligibility as well. Now that you get to this part of the season, the magnitude of each game intensifies. It's a critical game. As always, going on the road is difficult, so we have to be prepared for that as well. We're looking for us improving and getting ready to play a good FIU team."
On consistent offensive production…
"It's a credit to our players. We have good players. It's a credit to our coaches. We have good coaches. Our players work extremely hard in practice every day to improve. We talk about all the time 'don't relax, don't get ever comfortable.' Our players have done that. The ones that are playing who haven't played much are continuing to improve and getting better each week. It's a credit to our players and coaches and how we approach each day in practice."
On big win to get over a tough loss…
"It was great to get a win and get the taste of that loss out of your mouth. It didn't matter if it was Missouri or we've already played Alabama A&M. To win and know the work you put in leading up to that game, it's extremely gratifying and satisfying to get that taste out of our mouth. For our players to experience the joy of doing something nobody thought you could do — going on the road and beating an SEC team; nobody thought you could do that. For them to prove people wrong and have that experience and have that elation in the locker room, that joy will carry with them for a long time. They'll remember it the rest of their life. To me, it was good to get a win to get that nasty, losing taste out of your mouth."
On FIU linebacker Treyvon Williams…
"He's a good player. He's very active and physical. He's going to make plays. You have to do a good job in our run game schemes, pass game schemes and pass protection when he brings pressure. He's going to make his plays. We aren't going to run away from him to avoid him, and we are not going to run to him. We'll do what we do offensively and hope that our technique and fundamentals will enable us to have success because he is a great player."
On no sacks against Missouri…
"There's a lot of people involved in protection. Our offensive line has done a great job. Rick Mallory and Mike Polly have done a great job coaching those guys up there. All those guys that are playing in the offensive line have done a great job. They take great pride in keeping the quarterback upright. That's important to them. They care. They compete. They work. They have done a great job. Our backs have done a good job in protection. Brent has done a good job of avoiding sacks and getting the ball out to not take unnecessary sacks. There are a lot of people involved and I think our offensive line has done a wonderful job."
On if becoming bowl eligible impacts the rest of the schedule…
"No sir. I haven't talked about bowl eligibility. We're trying to win this week. We've sat at home with eight wins. We're going to play out this whole year. I don't think about all that stuff. They may not pick us, so we have to go win this week and worry about getting a win next week and the following week. I'm proud of where we are right now, but bowl eligibility is not on top of my priority list this week."
On any difference in FIU's play following coaching change…
"I think the big thing is when you make a change, you go through spring practice, you go through summer, you go through August, you go through the first four weeks of your season and then you make a change after the fourth game, you're not going to change philosophically what you have been doing for that amount of time. I think change, defensively, they are still doing what they have done all year. Offensively, schematically they are doing the same things They are probably throwing the ball and getting more spread sets and open sets more than they did the first four games of the year. Their basic philosophical plan has not changed."
On FIU's kickoff and punt coverage…
"There's a fine line when you look at kickoff return. We're very average ourselves there. There's not much of a difference, there is a yard or a half-yard difference, on kickoff coverage and where you rank on that. They have great speed covering their kicks. The thing we have to do in the kicking game is we have to be sound. We've done a good job as of late. We haven't had penalties in the kicking game. We haven't made poor decisions in the kicking game. It's an opportunity for us to continue to improve in those areas of what we're doing. What we are going to see is what we have seen all year. We have to continue to make good decisions and what we do with the ball when it's kicked. I think that's how we can be effective in the kicking game."
On offensive coordinator Tony Franklin getting into a play calling rhythm…
"When plays work, you have good players. You can call a bad play and because you have a good player, the player makes it look like a good call. Tony is an excellent play caller and he does a great job. I agree that as a play-caller, you try and get in a rhythm, and you get in a rhythm when your players execute at a high level. Because you gain confidence to call that play, you have the confidence to call the next play based on what your players are doing and how the defense is responding to that play. If you look at us, our run game is pretty simple. We don't run a bunch of different running plays. That adds to the simplicity of getting in a rhythm."
On difficulty in substituting defensively against a high-tempo Missouri offense…
"I thought the LA Tech game, Skip did a great job there with the tempo of his offense. We didn't have the issues against them as we did against Missouri. Missouri is as fast as any team I've competed against any place I have been. Their tempo was excellent. They caught us a couple times. It limited some of the packages we were doing, especially on third down. We couldn't get substitute in fast enough or get them off fast enough. They were good with their scheme. The tempo they ran made it difficult for us."
On difficulty in responding after a big win…
"I don't think so. That's the maturity and mental toughness your team has to have. We talked about it Sunday after the Western Kentucky game, 'There's nothing you can do about it. You have to put it behind you and get better.' Same as yesterday, 'Enjoy it. You've had a great experience. But now, you aren't getting any extra points. You have to put it behind you.' And our team has always done that. I don't have any reservations, questions or doubts that our team won't respond in a positive way. We don't talk about it. We discussed the game yesterday and went out and practiced to get ready for FIU. I don't think there will be any lingering effects whatsoever."
QB Brent Stockstill
How do you to keep guys focused during the week after a big win?
"I think it's easy for me with the guys I have around me. We're a very mature group offensively, high character group, were pretty focused at the task at hand at all times. We don't get too sidetracked with who we're playing. There are different situations that come up during the game, so we're a mature group and we handle things pretty well."
What has Dennis Andrews done to make you feel comfortable throwing the ball to him?
"He's done a great job. Coming from Georgia Tech where he was a fullback, mainly a blocking guy we moved him to receiver and he's taken coaching extremely well. He's a very competitive kid and he's gotten better every week. I think that the sky's the limit for him. He'll continue to get better and he's just a big body to throw to, he competes and makes contested catches. So he's a guy you want on your side."
Did you take some of the biggest hits that you've ever taken in Saturday's game?
"I take some shots every week, that's my job. I think no sacks again, was pretty amazing. They had some guys that are going to play on Sundays on that defensive line. Credit to the guys up front. Every once in a while you're going to have to throw the ball and take a shot. It's just part of playing the position, so I thought the offensive line did a great job."
Talk about your (63 yard) run Saturday.
"I was a little surprised when I snuck out of there and had some green grass. I felt like I ran an 800-meter in track. I got gassed 40 yards down the field, but I guess it was kind of cool."
How exciting was seeing I'Tavius (Mathers) play at a high level on the big stage Saturday?
"I love it. I think he deserves everything he's getting right now. He's been on that stage before, obviously with him coming from Ole Miss. He doesn't shy away from anything, he accepted the challenge and really put the offense on his back, 215 yards and another 60 through the air was so impressive. He helps us be balanced on offense and really took us to the next level."
Have you been impressed with the tempo so far this year?
"I think the big thing when you talk about tempo is getting the first, first down. That's hard for a defense, it might be easy to play one, two, three plays and get the three and out. But once you get that first, first down you can really wear them down with our running game, running side-to-side and then hit some shots downfield. I think it's tough for defenses to keep up with that. That's our goal to get the first, first down and just be good on 3rd down throughout the drive. "
LB DJ Sanders
You are ranked nationally for forced fumbles, what do you usually go for when forcing fumbles and what did you see on that play Saturday?
"Most of the time when I'm going for something like that I go for the punch out from behind but on that play I was just trying to make the tackle, my hand just hit the ball and it popped out."
How do you get to the FIU quarterback this week?
"The pass rush. Steven Rhodes, Chris Hale, Jamal (Jones), all those guys they are going to get a good pass rush for us. Hopefully they open up the lanes for the linebackers to get some sacks too."
What challenges does the double tight end formation pose for you against FIU?
"It's a different challenge for us because we have to know how we're going to play it. But it's all the same, Vanderbilt ran it a lot and they ran the ball a little bit more. But they like to throw it more."
What was the key to you guys getting a lot of pressure without bringing a lot of extra people?
"Effort. It was just the effort. The guys knew that they were going to use max protect. So it took a lot of effort to get to the quarterback because the offensive line was huge."
How are you able to cover WR's and how important is that for the team?
"It's important because it makes us more versatile. We can go man or we can play zone. I just have to get my hands on them and slow them down, because most of the guys are fast."
Do you feel like you've been more of a vocal leader this season?
"So far I have, really I'm just encouraging the guys and keep them up. Sometimes we go down, and we are still up. I have to tell the guys to not worry about that last play, keep playing and make plays."
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
DE
/ Football
DE
/ Football
QB
/ FootballA look back: 1965 and 1985 Undefeated Blue Raider Football Teams
Wednesday, September 17
MTSU Football at Nevada cinematic recap – 9/13/25
Tuesday, September 16
Derek Mason LIVE: Presented by The Boulevard Bar & Grille Week 4 (Video)
Monday, September 15
MTSU Football Weekly Press Conference 9/15/25
Monday, September 15
