Miami vs. Bethune-Cookman Postgame Quotes
NR/NR MIAMI (2-1, 1-0 ACC) 38, NR/NR BETHUNE-COOKMAN (2-1, 1-0 MEAC) 10
SUN LIFE STADIUM • MIAMI GARDENS, FLA.
SEPT. 15, 2012 • ATTENDANCE: 39,435
Miami Head Coach Al Golden
On what to take from this game…“We’ve got a long way to go. Obviously we still gave up some explosive plays, and we did not connect on a couple times on offense when we should have. We need to keep working on everybody doing their job and executing. I think we made a lot of progress, special teams made a lot of progress today. The defense gave up one touchdown on a short field after a turnover, which was good. The offensive hung in there and got the running game going a little bit. We have to keep hanging in there.”
On Duke Johnson’s production and playing time…“We have to be careful. Mike [James] is doing a good job for us and played really well today. I thought OT [Eduardo Clements] did a nice job. We have to make sure we don’t think he can do more than he’s doing right now. He’s doing a great job with what we’ve given him. This was his first time here [at Sun Life Stadium], it’s his first time managing class, study hall, everything. We have to be careful. It’s a long season. Clearly he’s fresh enough right now that when he gets in, he can make a difference. I think if we gave it to him 30 times, I don’t know if that would be the case. All those guys together are creating more explosive plays for Duke, because Mike [James] is doing a lot of the heavy lifting.”
On defensive improvement…“I thought it was much better. We were dealing with some nicks throughout the game with some guys being out. Is it perfect yet? No, it’s not perfect. Guys are fighting, they’re flying around. We didn’t get the takeaways we want to get, but that’s hard to do. We had a veteran team a year ago and we didn’t keep them out of the endzone like we did today. I think we improved, and clearly we have to go back to work tomorrow and get to Georgia Tech.”
On Johnson’s confidence levels after Kansas State loss…“There’s no concern. Who was more disappointed than he was after that Kansas State game? He knew he missed some plays. He went back to work. As I said all along, he’s very mature in his work ethic, approach, preparation. You can ask him to do some things, and he accepts that challenge and goes out and executes it. He’s a kid that is proving it to himself right now, not any of us. He’s one of those guys that has a standard of excellence. He’s trying to be the best player he can be and the best teammate he can be. The guy goes down and scores, runs all the way back to the 30-yard line to tell Mo Hagens what a block. They’re being unselfish right now, those guys.”
On performance from the defensive line…“We just have to finish the sacks still. That’s one of the things that could be a little bit frustrating, we didn’t finish some of those plays and we had them hemmed up. Both those guys [Bethune-Cookman quarterbacks] do a great job back there. We just have to finish some of those sacks, and we will. We played only a couple juniors today on defense. A lot of guys got a lot of experience today, we just have to finish some of those plays.”
On Stephen Morris’ performance…“Spotty. It wasn’t for a lack of a great week in practice. The ball sailed on him a couple times which is unlike him. He just needs to relax. Stephen tries to please and do so well that he just needs to relax. The one after the turnover sailed. A couple ones towards the sidelines sailed on him. He just needs to relax, and he will. He’ll get better. Early on with the edge pressure, we have to do a better job protecting him so he feels a little more comfortable and confident in the game. That’s all of our responsibility here – on us as coaches, on Stephen stepping up, and on the offense in protecting on the edge pressure.”
On Seantrel Henderson’s performance…“Seantrel played both [left tackle and right tackle], which was big. I asked him how he felt as soon as we got in the locker room and he smiled. I think he’s starting to get to the point where he can compete more, and we can get to the point we can use more offensive linemen. It was warm today, we played a lot of guys, and I was happy to see him compete. It looked like he held up in conditioning – we’ll see on the film.”
On offensive line penalties…“It gets you behind schedule. We were running the ball effectively early on, but we got behind schedule. Last year we did it on the defensive side against these guys, this year we did it on the offense. I don’t understand it. We’ll go back and evaluate it. I have to do a better job as a coach. It’s not something we’re seeing in practice, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. It starts with me. That’s just unacceptable. Especially at home, you can’t have those procedure penalties.”
On overall game assessment…“I think we got better. I understand there’s going to be some negative things – procedure penalties, we missed some long balls, we allowed some long, explosive runs. But there’s nothing wrong with improving and winning. And that’s what we did this week – we improved and we won. I want to make sure the kids understand it’s hard. Ask Colorado if it’s hard. Ask Arkansas if it’s hard. It’s hard, no matter what. Certainly when we’re playing a team like this who a) knows how to win, b) is very aggressive and c) there’s a connection in terms of everyone knowing each other, and it’s a prideful group, it’s a tough out.”
On what Duke Johnson is proving…“He has a standard of excellence and an approach that is something for a lot of guys to emulate. He’s not really silly, he listens, he studies, he watches film, he prepares. He doesn’t make a lot of mental errors. A lot of freshmen make mental errors, but Duke really doesn’t. He finishes hard. He finishes plays hard. You guys can see it on the sideline, even when he’s getting close to the end of the run, there’s no stepping out of bounds. He’s trying to finish and making a statement when he does that. Hopefully we can start to do that at every position.”
On the concern for overexcitement…“He’s doing a good job. He comes from a great family. His mom is not going to let him get a big head – I promise you that, if you haven’t met her. I think the kid is very humble. He could have went over there and played to the student section [after his last touchdown run], but he turned around and grabbed Mo Hagens – a) to see if he was alright and b) to congratulate him on what a block he made. Probably the most important factor here is we haven’t accomplished anything yet. We haven’t achieved anything yet. We have a long way to go. But I think we improved this week and we won. And now we have a great challenge coming up on the road again.”
On the attendance…“I’m not worried about the crowd. I understand the market we’re in. There’s going to be a day when we’re delivering. They’re going to come out and see guys like Duke Johnson and Malcolm Lewis. We’re going to grow up together. I promise you this team is going to grow up together. They’re working hard, they’re staying humble, staying together. I understand that.”
On the performance of safeties A.J. Highsmith and Deon Bush…“First start for both of them. First start for Tyrone [Cornileus]. I’m saying that too much lately. They got their feet wet. A.J. and Deon ran it really well. I don’t think there were a lot of mental errors. There’s going to be some things we can do better. We brought Deon in pressure a few times – I think anyone can see his athleticism and acceleration. He has to keep the ball inside – when he does come, he let it outside. Next week he goes and he learns and he improves on that. Hopefully it was good experience for those guys.”
On the improvement of Deon Bush…“He’s just been getting better. He’s very steady. He’s like Duke in that sense. He goes to work every day. I think Malcolm [Lewis] is in that group. They just go to work. He has steadily improved, he has eliminated the mental errors, and he’s gained the trust of the coaches, which is why he’s getting more reps. He’s earned those reps in practice.”
On how much a noon game helps in preparation for the following week…“Tremendously. We were on the road for the first two weeks. We got back at 10 o’clock last week and 1 a.m. the week before. That’s tough on a team. This is huge for our team in general, really for us to re-group. We have to go back on the road again. I don’t know how many teams are doing that, but we are. This was important for our guys to regroup get some rest, and it’ll allow the coaches to get in and get going on Georgia Tech.”
On the run defense…“Definitely improved. Some of the explosive runs are not us getting pushed around. We’re not fitting it right, and it’s on those ones, especially the one that was backed up, that are maddening. That’s a play we’ve covered…I can’t tell you how many times. We had a guy that went to the wrong gap. I’m not going to sit here and tell you who it was, but we were able to recognize it right away. It’s not like he got blown up or ‘out-physicaled.’ We didn’t fit it right and we did that on too many occasions again. We’ll get it fixed. Definitely better from last week.”
On the similarities between Bethune-Cookman and Georgia Tech…“I think there is some carryover. There was a lot of option and a lot of quarterback runs. There will be some carryover. We have to get out there Monday and get our system going, because it’s going to be first time a lot of these guys have faced the option.”
On the importance of stringing together wins…“We’re trying to build consistency. Part of that means hopefully we can go out there with the same starting line up next week that we did this week. There has to be consistency in our approach. It has been one of our issues – inconsistency in line-ups, inconsistency in approach. That’s the challenge for this team, there’s no question about it.”
Miami Junior QB Stephen Morris
Opening Statement…
“It just felt good to go back out there, going back on thefield, try to just, you know, erase what happened at K-State. I think our biggest focus was just continuingto execute, no matter who we’re playing. We want to make sure everybody was executing their job. Coach Golden kept preaching that all week.
“I think I did alright. There’s a couple of things I want to work on, obviously. We’ll go back to the film room tomorrow ortonight, to make sure that we get things taken care of. A couple of times I felt like the ballslipped out a little, too much. Sometimes it was sprints. I needto work on sprints, but other than that at the end I just got to keep going,and keep studying film in order for me to work on it in practice.”
On whether there isanything about Duke Johnson that would surprise him after 3 games…
“No, I’m just waiting for him to do a backflip, sometime, inthe middle of play.”
On Seantrel Henderson…
“Seantrel, he could handle any position on that line, rightor left tackle. I’m very impressed byhow he handled himself this game, knowing that he has not taken any snaps atleft tackle, still going in the game and doing everything he has to do.”
On next week’s game at Georgia Tech…
“Just play within our system. Don’t get worried about what Georgia Tech is doing. They have a great offense and a great defense…Thebiggest thing for us is to just continue executing our offense.”
Junior OT Seantrel Henderson
On playing lefttackle…
“I was a little nervous at first, but once I got out there Iwas fine. I was surprised, I didn’t think Coach Kehoe was going to put me atthe left.”
On Duke Johnson…
“Duke is amazing. Three with the offense, one on specialteams, I love blocking for him, it just makes you want to block harder knowingthat he can make those type of plays, whether its run or catch.”
Senior DB Brandon McGee
On the defenseoverall…
“We knew we couldn’t take them lightly, that’s what otherteams tend to do, so we just prepared and made sure we went out there andexecuted better than we did last game.”
Redshirt Junior DL Shayon Green
On defense…
“They did a great job with or without me. The outcome says itall.”
On Duke Johnson…
“He’s an amazing player. He’s not really a shy guy, he justlets his speed on the field do a lot of the talking.”
Freshman RB Duke Johnson
On the game itself…
“We didn’t really execute early in the first half but we dida better job in the second half. Defense continued to play the way they wereplaying all day. We (offense) put the defense in a bad predicament, but we wereable to over come that. Special teams played extravagant.”
On scoring touchdownsthree different ways and having four touchdowns 50+ yards…
“No not really. No it doesn’t surprise me.”
On the slant routefor a touchdown…
” (Jon) Feliciano really helped me out. A lot of my big runs arebecause of my blocks from Feliciano.”
On thanking Hagensinstead of celebrating after touchdown…
“He made a great block on the edge after getting banged up onhis previous catch. After all my touchdowns I want to thank the guys thathelped me, the other 10 guys.”
On playing in hisfirst home game …
“It was a big deal. Just the fact that its one of the reasonsI stayed close to home to play for UM just being able to play in front of allmy family, friends and fans.”
Sophomore DL Anthony Chickillo
On defense…
“This definitely was the most solid performance as a defense,we have a big conference matchup against and ACC opponent in Georgia Tech,we’re going to enjoy this win a little and then move to the next game.”
On his fumble recovery…
“It was a weird play, the ball popped up and I caught it andjust ran. I don’t remember the play or the tackle to tell you the truth, I wasjust happy to make a play for the team.”
Bethune-Cookman Head Coach Brian Jenkins
On Duke Johnson’s kickoff return…
“It didn’t deflate us, it was poor execution by us and a great play by that kid. You shouldn’t lose that ball. That’s my fault, and I take responsibility for that.”
On kicking it to Duke Johnson…
“They can’t kick it away from everybody. You can’t go out there and play scared. You have to attack, and execute, and we didn’t do it. That falls on me. No apology for kicking to anybody. You have to kick it to them. You have to play the game. Bottom line.”
On Quentin Williams…
“He did some of the work he’s been coached to do decent, some things he didn’t do decent, and we still need to improve. He needs to improve just as well as everybody else.”
On a potential three-quarterback rotation…
“I don’t know. We’ll see. We’re just going to go back and see who’s best and go with that.”
On falling behind after taking the early lead…
“Just made too many mistakes. I don’t care who you play. We could’ve played Mighty Midgets today. With the execution errors we had, they would’ve beat us today. Miami’s a good football team. They took advantage of our miscues, and that’s it. We did some good things against them…We turned the ball over twice, which we shouldn’t. They turned the ball (over) two times. More execution, more tackling. A lot of execution errors. And I don’t care who you play. As long as you got down with turnovers, you will lose. And that’s what we did today because those things are key factors. It wasn’t what Miami did. It wasn’t what they did; it was what we didn’t do. That’s what the bottom line is. No disrespect to Miami.”
On other positives aside from rushing…
“Nothing. We lost. How can you get a positive out of losing?”
On his team’s confidence heading into NC State…
“Yes. I’m confident. We’ll be ready. We’ll be ready. Sorry, gentlemen, if I seem a little irritated. But I hate losing. Especially when we had as many execution errors and missed tackles as we did. That doesn’t give you change. Miami did a great job and what they do. Hats go off to them, they played a good ballgame.”
On what was more irritating – offense or defense…
“The whole game. Offense, defense, special teams, lining up, everything. Irritating. We didn’t do it well. We didn’t. That’s no excuse. Miami played a good football game. Whoever was there saw it, they know what went on, they saw what they saw. And they know what they saw out there on that field. We just didn’t play well as a team. And I’m not happy with that, I can’t be happy and I can’t hide it. It’s nothing against you guys. You guys are doing your jobs, I just can’t hide it. We didn’t play well. We didn’t! You can’t play a team like Miami and make the miscues that we did, turn the ball over twice and have the misreads. You can’t, you can’t do that. You can’t do that. You can’t. You can’t.”
On depth being a factor…
“Nope. Not at all. I mean, we drove the last series, what, 70 yards? So that proves right there it has nothing to do with depth. It’s all execution.”
On what to clean up before next game…
“Everything. Everything. You cannot play this game with execution errors and win. You cannot. I don’t care who you are. You cannot. You cannot do it. You can’t.”
