Middle Tennesee State University Athletics

MT vs. Alabama A&M presser
8/29/2016 1:08:00 PM | Football
Blue Raiders open season Saturday, Sept. 3
HEAD COACH RICK STOCKSTILL
Opening Remarks: Thanks everybody for being here. It's an exciting time obviously with the season kicking off this weekend. I've been really pleased with our team, their work ethic and the progress that they've made over the past eight months, going back to January, through our offseason conditioning, spring practice and now the conclusion of camp in August. I say this all the time, I think character and attitude is critical and important in a good football team and I've been really impressed with the character and attitude of this team. I love their work ethic. I love the comradery and the closeness of this team and I think this is a close-knit team that truly cares about one another and truly cares about playing hard for one another. I like where we're at. We've had some unfortunate injuries throughout camp on some really key guys that we're not going to have but that's part of the adversity that you're faced with every year and the guys that are replacing them have got an opportunity to step up and contribute to this football team and I think they will. That doesn't minimize the importance of those players that we lost because they were really good football players, especially in Terry [Pettis] and Shane [Tucker] not being able to play this year. I'm really excited about this team. We open up Saturday with Alabama A&M. We don't know a whole lot about them. We just got their statistical information and two-deep and all of that. I know they've got a couple of new coaches on defense and any time you have an opening game there's always that unknown. Now with a couple of new coaches and new defensive coordinator on that side the unknown and the variables become a little bit more. Their record wasn't all so hot last year, but that doesn't mean anything, that was last year. Every team, every season is a new start. We'll worry about us. I told our team that yesterday. It's about us. It's about controlling what we can control and not worrying about what Alabama A&M does. We've got to have a great week of practice. We got rained out yesterday so now today, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday are going to be critical in our preparation for Alabama A&M.
On the development of RB I'Tavius Mathers: I'm really excited I'Tavius. I love him as a man. He's a great teammate. He's got a great work ethic. He does everything right both on and off the field. When he got here in January of 2015 from Ole Miss I don't think he was healthy. He had a little nagging injury and went through spring practice a little bit but he probably missed as much as he went through. I told him that he wasn't going to do anything in summer conditioning. He didn't run. He lifted but he didn't run. Last fall he didn't do anything. He just stayed off to the side and rehabbed and didn't do anything because I said I wanted him healthy when he could play. He got a little bit of work during the bowl preparation. Any time, I think especially with a skill athlete but more so a running back or a quarterback, when you're out as long as he was out there is some rust you have to knock off and he has to get back into it. I thought he was okay this spring but he was out for a full year and did not run the football in a live situation. He worked extremely hard this summer and he's had a phenomenal camp this August. He's healthy and looks to be in the best shape that he's ever been in both physically and mentally. I'm excited about him and what he can do for us this year.
On any defensive players taking a step forward in camp as team leaders: I think we've got better leadership on defense now than what we had on August 3, but really leadership you've got to do daily. You can't be a great leader on Monday and a bad leader on Tuesday. Truly, to me, leadership really stands out during adversity. When you have a bad day in practice or things aren't going well during the game, that's when you need a leader to really step forward and help motivate and help bring guys along. Those guys are continuing to learn and continuing to develop so the real test will be once this season starts this Saturday. I've been really pleased with guys that have been put in a playing position where they are playing a lot of snaps now and they're leadership needs to come to the forefront. I think those guys are doing that and I've been pleased so far.
On whether injuries on the outside are putting an emphasis on the running game: Not any more than what it needed to be if Shane[Tucker] and Terry [Pettis] and Joc [Bruce] were going to be able to play this year. I've said it since January that we don't need to run the ball more than what we did last year, we need to run the ball more efficiently and I think we'll be able to do that. We're not going to not do this offensivelt because we lost three receivers or we're not going to do this because we don't have that, so nothing is changing we just have to be a little bit more efficient running the ball than what we were last year and I think we will be. I know we will be.
On transfers such as WR Dennis Andrews and DB Deontay Evans shoring up positions that need some experience: Both of those guys have graduated – Dennis from Georgia Tech and Deontay from Mississippi State – so the good thing for Dennis is that he was able to get here in the summer and he got acclimated. Deontay didn't graduate until August 7th or 8th or 9th so by the time he got transcripts in he's only been with us a week. They bring us some maturity and they both played in games. They're both going to be able to contribute to us this year. They'll give us depth in the special teams and they'll give us depth offensively and defensively. I really enjoy coaching both of them. They've got a wonderful attitude. They're very appreciative and very hard-working young men so hopefully they'll be able to finish out their college careers on a positive note. I really like both of those guys and we have afforded them an opportunity to continue playing college football.
On true freshman Ty Lee starting at wide receiver: Ty is a smart football player. He's not a burner, he's not a fast guy but he plays fast. He's got a great wiggle and he catches the ball well. He listens, he learns, he works, he's got a great attitude and with some of the injuries that we've talked about already it kind of gave a young guy an opportunity to move up pretty quick. He's done a nice job. I see him being a really productive player for us this year offensively and he might even help us in the kicking game some, too. He's a very smart football player and he's got a great attitude and works.
On improvement in special teams since last season: We were very inconsistent in all of our kicking phases last year. I talked to our team about it in January and it's been an emphasis. We worked on it more in spring practice than we ever have. It's been critical in what we've done so far in August. We're kicking the ball, we're punting the ball and we're protecting better than what we did last year. I know that's just practice but when we get in the game I hope I see the same thing that I've seen in practice so far. I've been really pleased with the improvement that we've made in all phases of our kicking game.
On DB Jeremy Cutrer's level of consistency increasing: A little bit, I would say so. But you have to do it when the lights come on. You have to do it when there isn't a coach out there at practice standing behind you. He's had a good August. He's done a lot of good things out there. It's a challenge for our receivers going against him because he is long and he can get his hands on you. Our receivers have been able to work against a good defensive back all August and all summer. Jeremy is a good athlete. He can run, he's got what you're looking for in a corner and I hope he has a special year also.
On seniors on the defensive line helping take pressure off the back seven: You know, I like our linebackers that are coming back. They've all played except Myles Harges and he would've played but he got redshirted because he got hurt. I like our front seven. They're athletic. You got Darius Harris, DJ [Sanders], Myles, Chris Melton and all of those guys have played. I like our linebackers, I really do. I think they're athletic and can run and I've said that since the beginning. They're tough, they're physical and they're smart. Then the front four are our older four and they're mature. They're all seniors up front. So I think you look at the front seven and not just the front four. I think that's the strength of our defense.
On DL Shaquille Huff and his leadership and consistency in the front four: Shaq is very dependable. He's been healthy throughout his career which has enabled him. He plays a position where it's hard to stay healthy. That's been an advantage for him but he's just very consistent. He's smart. He does what he is supposed to do, he does his job. He's not going to wow you with his athleticism or anything like that but he's strong and he's not real tall so he gets great leverage. Utilizing that with his strength is an advantage for him. He plays hard, he plays smart and he's just a very tough and dependable football player.
On not putting too much expectation on QB Brent Stockstill: Individual players should not be judged by their numbers or their stats. A lot of times that happens and I understand it but if he only 3,000 yards this year compared to 4,000 last year that's still pretty impressive. I'm not going to look at it and say 'you threw for 4,000 last year and 3,000 this year so you must have had a bad year.' That's not the case. You don't compare one year to the next based on statistics. He's improved in a lot of areas already from last year. I just want him to drive the car and put us in a position to win games. That's what a quarterbacks job is, to win games, not to throw for 5,000 or 4,000 yards. Yeah, that's nice, you're doing good things, but I don't want people to say even with Richie [James], 'you caught 108 balls last year and only 70 this year, what happened?' Play within the system, do your job and put us in a position to win the game.
On what type of offense and defense he expects Alabama A&M to run on Saturday: Well their defensive coordinator came from South Alabama and they were more of a three-man front and last year Alabama A&M was more of a four-man front so I bet we'll see a mixture of both. They played a lot of man coverage at Alabama A&M and at South Alabama so I'm sure we'll get a lot of Cover 1 and Cover 0 and stuff like that. Offensively, they're kind of more of a spread but run option out of it a little bit. They throw the ball, but not a whole bunch. I think he threw for 1,200 or 1,300 yards last year. But they do spread you out and try to create some one-on-ones and mismatches.
On whether there is any pistol formation in their offense: There's some. There's a lot of three-wide, two-back, 20-personnel run game option out of it also.
On the excitement of game week: I think you still get the butterflies. You still get excited. You only play one first game a year. The excitement of our players that know that the last three and a half or four weeks have just come over here and get ready to hit each other and now they get a chance to really start honing in on a game plan and focusing on an opponent. You think about how much you work and how much you practice to get to play 13 games. You practice so much more than you get to play and when Saturday gets here it's just a celebration for all of the work that you've done leading up from January to this point and then you get to do it again next week. It's just the excitement of it being our passion and what you love doing. As a player, you love playing this game, you love competing, you love the challenge of going out there and facing the one-on-one matchups. It's the whole competition of the opportunity to go out and play a game for 60 minutes.
On who in practice will simulate Alabama A&M's scrambling quarterback: Miller Armstrong will do a great job. He's the scout team quarterback. Again, you can't prepare for a scrambling quarterback you've just got to do your job. Every quarterback is going to break outside the pocket sometime in the course of a game and if you're in man coverage and the quarterback scrambles you don't leave your man to go up and try to make the tackle because he'll dump one over your head. You've just got to do your job and hopefully we can contain him and stay in our rush lanes so we won't get two people in the same gap and leave space for a quarterback to get outside. You have to play team defense when you face a quarterback who is athletic and can make plays with his feet. I think Miller Armstrong will do a great job for us this week.
QB BRENT STOCKSTILL
On improving leadership skills going into the season – Last year's quarterback competition came down to the wire, and I ended up having a decent year, but when you're the guy and the team knows you're the guy, it makes it easier to focus on the leadership role. There's definitely more of a comfort level coming into this year rather than last year, and I'm looking forward to it.
On newcomer receivers – I love all our receivers. Ty Lee is a great player, a hard worker and tough kid. He came from Colquitt County High School in Georgia where they were 30-0 in his last two years, so he's a winner. I'm excited about Patrick Smith, a walk-on, also. I love those stories that they have. We lost three hardworking guys due to injury that didn't deserve that, but we've got some great guys that will step up this season for us.
On senior offensive linemen – The linemen are my favorite group on the field. We got eat and do everything together. Those are my best friends on the team, and I love to be around them. They're hardnosed guys, and I really believe they are going to take our offense to the next level this year.
On difference in offense this year – We'll still do our spread offense like last year. There are only so many plays you can run in football. You'll see the same type stuff, but it's so detailed in everything we do. Everybody is on the same page. It's an extremely detailed process we've been working on and mastering this offseason, and I'm excited to put it on display this Saturday.
On receivers not having as much height as last season – As a quarterback, you have to put it where it's supposed to be, and that's what I'm going to do. We have guys that will make plays in space. Guys will step up in different ways because no one can mimic what Terry Pettis brought to the team, and I'm excited about those guys.
On excitement of game week – I got butterflies waking up this morning thinking about it. We have a sign in our locker room that says "Countdown to Kickoff" that we've had since the Bahamas Bowl. I remember looking at it and it says 320 days, but now it says five days. It felt like it would never end, but now it's here and we're all looking forward to it.
On pregame meal – I'll eat whatever they put on the table at the hotel for us. Everybody loves the Texas toast.
LB DJ SANDERS
On preparing for Alabama A&M's quarterback – I haven't really watched much film on him, but we know he's a scrambling quarterback. Anytime you face a scrambling quarterback, you have to contain him, and if he gets outside of the pocket, you have to make him pay.
On developing leadership skills in camp – The guys always mess with me about bringing the juice. It's a little challenging, but it's coming along. I get more excited now than I used to get. When we make a good play you'll see me jumping around and high-fiving some guys.
On new faces on the defense – We are clicking pretty well. Jovante Moffatt, Alex Dale, Darius Harris, Myles Harges, Chris Melton, and I are all coming along. It's almost like we're brothers out there on the field. We have signals for each other, and we know how each other will play. We feed off of each other.
On seniors on the defensive line – Most of the time those guys are keeping the offensive line off of us, and they provide that extra leadership since they've been here for so long. It's great to have Steven Rhodes, Jimal McBride, Chris Hale and Shaquille Huff in front of us, because they make our job easier.
Opening Remarks: Thanks everybody for being here. It's an exciting time obviously with the season kicking off this weekend. I've been really pleased with our team, their work ethic and the progress that they've made over the past eight months, going back to January, through our offseason conditioning, spring practice and now the conclusion of camp in August. I say this all the time, I think character and attitude is critical and important in a good football team and I've been really impressed with the character and attitude of this team. I love their work ethic. I love the comradery and the closeness of this team and I think this is a close-knit team that truly cares about one another and truly cares about playing hard for one another. I like where we're at. We've had some unfortunate injuries throughout camp on some really key guys that we're not going to have but that's part of the adversity that you're faced with every year and the guys that are replacing them have got an opportunity to step up and contribute to this football team and I think they will. That doesn't minimize the importance of those players that we lost because they were really good football players, especially in Terry [Pettis] and Shane [Tucker] not being able to play this year. I'm really excited about this team. We open up Saturday with Alabama A&M. We don't know a whole lot about them. We just got their statistical information and two-deep and all of that. I know they've got a couple of new coaches on defense and any time you have an opening game there's always that unknown. Now with a couple of new coaches and new defensive coordinator on that side the unknown and the variables become a little bit more. Their record wasn't all so hot last year, but that doesn't mean anything, that was last year. Every team, every season is a new start. We'll worry about us. I told our team that yesterday. It's about us. It's about controlling what we can control and not worrying about what Alabama A&M does. We've got to have a great week of practice. We got rained out yesterday so now today, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday are going to be critical in our preparation for Alabama A&M.
On the development of RB I'Tavius Mathers: I'm really excited I'Tavius. I love him as a man. He's a great teammate. He's got a great work ethic. He does everything right both on and off the field. When he got here in January of 2015 from Ole Miss I don't think he was healthy. He had a little nagging injury and went through spring practice a little bit but he probably missed as much as he went through. I told him that he wasn't going to do anything in summer conditioning. He didn't run. He lifted but he didn't run. Last fall he didn't do anything. He just stayed off to the side and rehabbed and didn't do anything because I said I wanted him healthy when he could play. He got a little bit of work during the bowl preparation. Any time, I think especially with a skill athlete but more so a running back or a quarterback, when you're out as long as he was out there is some rust you have to knock off and he has to get back into it. I thought he was okay this spring but he was out for a full year and did not run the football in a live situation. He worked extremely hard this summer and he's had a phenomenal camp this August. He's healthy and looks to be in the best shape that he's ever been in both physically and mentally. I'm excited about him and what he can do for us this year.
On any defensive players taking a step forward in camp as team leaders: I think we've got better leadership on defense now than what we had on August 3, but really leadership you've got to do daily. You can't be a great leader on Monday and a bad leader on Tuesday. Truly, to me, leadership really stands out during adversity. When you have a bad day in practice or things aren't going well during the game, that's when you need a leader to really step forward and help motivate and help bring guys along. Those guys are continuing to learn and continuing to develop so the real test will be once this season starts this Saturday. I've been really pleased with guys that have been put in a playing position where they are playing a lot of snaps now and they're leadership needs to come to the forefront. I think those guys are doing that and I've been pleased so far.
On whether injuries on the outside are putting an emphasis on the running game: Not any more than what it needed to be if Shane[Tucker] and Terry [Pettis] and Joc [Bruce] were going to be able to play this year. I've said it since January that we don't need to run the ball more than what we did last year, we need to run the ball more efficiently and I think we'll be able to do that. We're not going to not do this offensivelt because we lost three receivers or we're not going to do this because we don't have that, so nothing is changing we just have to be a little bit more efficient running the ball than what we were last year and I think we will be. I know we will be.
On transfers such as WR Dennis Andrews and DB Deontay Evans shoring up positions that need some experience: Both of those guys have graduated – Dennis from Georgia Tech and Deontay from Mississippi State – so the good thing for Dennis is that he was able to get here in the summer and he got acclimated. Deontay didn't graduate until August 7th or 8th or 9th so by the time he got transcripts in he's only been with us a week. They bring us some maturity and they both played in games. They're both going to be able to contribute to us this year. They'll give us depth in the special teams and they'll give us depth offensively and defensively. I really enjoy coaching both of them. They've got a wonderful attitude. They're very appreciative and very hard-working young men so hopefully they'll be able to finish out their college careers on a positive note. I really like both of those guys and we have afforded them an opportunity to continue playing college football.
On true freshman Ty Lee starting at wide receiver: Ty is a smart football player. He's not a burner, he's not a fast guy but he plays fast. He's got a great wiggle and he catches the ball well. He listens, he learns, he works, he's got a great attitude and with some of the injuries that we've talked about already it kind of gave a young guy an opportunity to move up pretty quick. He's done a nice job. I see him being a really productive player for us this year offensively and he might even help us in the kicking game some, too. He's a very smart football player and he's got a great attitude and works.
On improvement in special teams since last season: We were very inconsistent in all of our kicking phases last year. I talked to our team about it in January and it's been an emphasis. We worked on it more in spring practice than we ever have. It's been critical in what we've done so far in August. We're kicking the ball, we're punting the ball and we're protecting better than what we did last year. I know that's just practice but when we get in the game I hope I see the same thing that I've seen in practice so far. I've been really pleased with the improvement that we've made in all phases of our kicking game.
On DB Jeremy Cutrer's level of consistency increasing: A little bit, I would say so. But you have to do it when the lights come on. You have to do it when there isn't a coach out there at practice standing behind you. He's had a good August. He's done a lot of good things out there. It's a challenge for our receivers going against him because he is long and he can get his hands on you. Our receivers have been able to work against a good defensive back all August and all summer. Jeremy is a good athlete. He can run, he's got what you're looking for in a corner and I hope he has a special year also.
On seniors on the defensive line helping take pressure off the back seven: You know, I like our linebackers that are coming back. They've all played except Myles Harges and he would've played but he got redshirted because he got hurt. I like our front seven. They're athletic. You got Darius Harris, DJ [Sanders], Myles, Chris Melton and all of those guys have played. I like our linebackers, I really do. I think they're athletic and can run and I've said that since the beginning. They're tough, they're physical and they're smart. Then the front four are our older four and they're mature. They're all seniors up front. So I think you look at the front seven and not just the front four. I think that's the strength of our defense.
On DL Shaquille Huff and his leadership and consistency in the front four: Shaq is very dependable. He's been healthy throughout his career which has enabled him. He plays a position where it's hard to stay healthy. That's been an advantage for him but he's just very consistent. He's smart. He does what he is supposed to do, he does his job. He's not going to wow you with his athleticism or anything like that but he's strong and he's not real tall so he gets great leverage. Utilizing that with his strength is an advantage for him. He plays hard, he plays smart and he's just a very tough and dependable football player.
On not putting too much expectation on QB Brent Stockstill: Individual players should not be judged by their numbers or their stats. A lot of times that happens and I understand it but if he only 3,000 yards this year compared to 4,000 last year that's still pretty impressive. I'm not going to look at it and say 'you threw for 4,000 last year and 3,000 this year so you must have had a bad year.' That's not the case. You don't compare one year to the next based on statistics. He's improved in a lot of areas already from last year. I just want him to drive the car and put us in a position to win games. That's what a quarterbacks job is, to win games, not to throw for 5,000 or 4,000 yards. Yeah, that's nice, you're doing good things, but I don't want people to say even with Richie [James], 'you caught 108 balls last year and only 70 this year, what happened?' Play within the system, do your job and put us in a position to win the game.
On what type of offense and defense he expects Alabama A&M to run on Saturday: Well their defensive coordinator came from South Alabama and they were more of a three-man front and last year Alabama A&M was more of a four-man front so I bet we'll see a mixture of both. They played a lot of man coverage at Alabama A&M and at South Alabama so I'm sure we'll get a lot of Cover 1 and Cover 0 and stuff like that. Offensively, they're kind of more of a spread but run option out of it a little bit. They throw the ball, but not a whole bunch. I think he threw for 1,200 or 1,300 yards last year. But they do spread you out and try to create some one-on-ones and mismatches.
On whether there is any pistol formation in their offense: There's some. There's a lot of three-wide, two-back, 20-personnel run game option out of it also.
On the excitement of game week: I think you still get the butterflies. You still get excited. You only play one first game a year. The excitement of our players that know that the last three and a half or four weeks have just come over here and get ready to hit each other and now they get a chance to really start honing in on a game plan and focusing on an opponent. You think about how much you work and how much you practice to get to play 13 games. You practice so much more than you get to play and when Saturday gets here it's just a celebration for all of the work that you've done leading up from January to this point and then you get to do it again next week. It's just the excitement of it being our passion and what you love doing. As a player, you love playing this game, you love competing, you love the challenge of going out there and facing the one-on-one matchups. It's the whole competition of the opportunity to go out and play a game for 60 minutes.
On who in practice will simulate Alabama A&M's scrambling quarterback: Miller Armstrong will do a great job. He's the scout team quarterback. Again, you can't prepare for a scrambling quarterback you've just got to do your job. Every quarterback is going to break outside the pocket sometime in the course of a game and if you're in man coverage and the quarterback scrambles you don't leave your man to go up and try to make the tackle because he'll dump one over your head. You've just got to do your job and hopefully we can contain him and stay in our rush lanes so we won't get two people in the same gap and leave space for a quarterback to get outside. You have to play team defense when you face a quarterback who is athletic and can make plays with his feet. I think Miller Armstrong will do a great job for us this week.
QB BRENT STOCKSTILL
On improving leadership skills going into the season – Last year's quarterback competition came down to the wire, and I ended up having a decent year, but when you're the guy and the team knows you're the guy, it makes it easier to focus on the leadership role. There's definitely more of a comfort level coming into this year rather than last year, and I'm looking forward to it.
On newcomer receivers – I love all our receivers. Ty Lee is a great player, a hard worker and tough kid. He came from Colquitt County High School in Georgia where they were 30-0 in his last two years, so he's a winner. I'm excited about Patrick Smith, a walk-on, also. I love those stories that they have. We lost three hardworking guys due to injury that didn't deserve that, but we've got some great guys that will step up this season for us.
On senior offensive linemen – The linemen are my favorite group on the field. We got eat and do everything together. Those are my best friends on the team, and I love to be around them. They're hardnosed guys, and I really believe they are going to take our offense to the next level this year.
On difference in offense this year – We'll still do our spread offense like last year. There are only so many plays you can run in football. You'll see the same type stuff, but it's so detailed in everything we do. Everybody is on the same page. It's an extremely detailed process we've been working on and mastering this offseason, and I'm excited to put it on display this Saturday.
On receivers not having as much height as last season – As a quarterback, you have to put it where it's supposed to be, and that's what I'm going to do. We have guys that will make plays in space. Guys will step up in different ways because no one can mimic what Terry Pettis brought to the team, and I'm excited about those guys.
On excitement of game week – I got butterflies waking up this morning thinking about it. We have a sign in our locker room that says "Countdown to Kickoff" that we've had since the Bahamas Bowl. I remember looking at it and it says 320 days, but now it says five days. It felt like it would never end, but now it's here and we're all looking forward to it.
On pregame meal – I'll eat whatever they put on the table at the hotel for us. Everybody loves the Texas toast.
LB DJ SANDERS
On preparing for Alabama A&M's quarterback – I haven't really watched much film on him, but we know he's a scrambling quarterback. Anytime you face a scrambling quarterback, you have to contain him, and if he gets outside of the pocket, you have to make him pay.
On developing leadership skills in camp – The guys always mess with me about bringing the juice. It's a little challenging, but it's coming along. I get more excited now than I used to get. When we make a good play you'll see me jumping around and high-fiving some guys.
On new faces on the defense – We are clicking pretty well. Jovante Moffatt, Alex Dale, Darius Harris, Myles Harges, Chris Melton, and I are all coming along. It's almost like we're brothers out there on the field. We have signals for each other, and we know how each other will play. We feed off of each other.
On seniors on the defensive line – Most of the time those guys are keeping the offensive line off of us, and they provide that extra leadership since they've been here for so long. It's great to have Steven Rhodes, Jimal McBride, Chris Hale and Shaquille Huff in front of us, because they make our job easier.
Players Mentioned
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