Highlights from our final day of media availability with the players before Alabama...
S CHRIS HAWKINS
--on what stands out about Alabama’s offense
“The versatility they have. I mean they’ve got guys that can line up anywhere. They’ve got running backs that can line up as receivers and try to take advantage of linebackers. They’ve got receivers that can go in and out, put guys in the slot, put ‘em out wide. They have those kinds of athletes on the offensive side of the ball. They had it last year and I think they have it again this year. We got to be ready for the versatility.”
--on what the key is to play good defense
“Just do what Coach P says. I mean he’s a NFL defensive coordinator and he’s great at diagnosing things and he’s great at knowing what’s coming, so I feel like whatever he calls, he’ll put us in the right position to make the plays.”
--his hunch on how Alabama will try to beat USC’s defense
“I don’t really know. They got some new dudes on the offensive line, new running back, new quarterback, so it’s not like they’re bringing all their QBs and receivers back as a tandem, and it’s not like they’re bringing they’re running back and O-line back as a tandem, so honestly I have no idea. I would expect (Lane) Kiffin to do both, whatever works during the game, whatever he finds and feels like is working, I feel like he’ll stick with that.
--on the vibe in the USC locker room
“Our vibe is great. I mean, we’re ready to play football. They say you can’t change for a game, to me personally, I’ve never been more excited to play a football game in my life. The last week or so I’ve had three sleepless nights where I’m just thinking about the game and making plays, getting on the airplane, landing in Dallas, things like that. I mean, it’s been so long, I wasn’t in spring, sat out almost half of fall camp, I’m ready to play football. I haven’t had real full contact in a long time. I’m ready to get it going.”
--on being responsible for the checks for the secondary
“Michael Hutchings is the one making all the calls, but when it comes to the back end, making sure everybody knows what they’re doing, what they got, I’m like the quarterback in the back end and he (Clancy Pendergast) has told me he needed that to be done by me, and I think I’ve done that. I think it will pour into the game as well.”
--on if this could be the best secondary he’s played with
“Yes, not because we’re just more talented than the previous secondaries. I’ve played with Adoree’ (Jackson) for two seasons, Biggie played all last year, Marvell played not all of last year but he played a good amount, Leon, I’ve played with Leon since I was a freshman, so it’s been so much chemistry with each other. It’s like we know each other, we look at each and we already know what we’re thinking. The previous defensive backs, when I was a freshman, Kevon (Seymour) was new, Anthony Brown had just come off of injury, Josh Shaw was new, Dion Bailey was a linebacker before, so there was no chemistry. I feel like we have a real chemistry right now. Even when I was a redshirt freshman, there was chemistry, but I had just started playing, Adoree’ was a freshman, Leon had just started playing, G-Bow (Gerald Bowman) came off of surgery, just started playing. I feel like this unit, we’re together. I feel like we could really get it done.”
--on where he feels this defense will excel
“No doubt, we’re going to play fast. We all know what we’re doing. We don’t ever question anything, we all know what we’re doing. Once we see it we will go get it.”
LB MICHAEL HUTCHINGS
--on why Pendergast seems to bring out the best in him
“I think it’s the expectations he has as a D-coordinator, it’s to the ceiling. I mean, nothing comes easy in this defense as far as his expectations. But just from a schematic standpoint, things are pretty easy, simple, and fast, as far as picking up his scheme and that’s how he preached when he first came in, allowing us to play fast, play simple. But (from an) expectations standpoint, I think he just demands so much out of us.”
--on being voted a team captain
“That’s a great honor by my teammates to be voted as one of the team captains. All the work during summer, being with those guys, just being around them a bunch, it’s a great honor because the team does vote, it’s not the coaches, it’s the team and having a great rapport with those guys is definitely an honor as far as amongst the team.”
--on if he feels rejuvenated after not playing much the past two seasons
“I knew that coming in to the winter, coming into January, coming into the spring, that was my approach to everything that this is my last year, approaching each day like I had nothing else to gain after this year, there’s nothing I can come back and fix. Everything was dependent upon this year and I feel like I approached the winter that way, the spring, and also the summer and fall camp, that exact same way. It is a great feeling but I think it just goes to the work that my coaches put me through and through all those days over the last few months.”
--on if he is being utilized in a manner that the previous staff wouldn’t
“Coming in with these new coaches on the defensive side of the ball, they said that it was an open competition. It’s nothing amongst the coaches or anything like that, it was just an open competition that we had at the linebacker position during spring, during the fall, and going now.”
--on how much of the offseason was spent thinking about Alabama
“We didn’t start thinking about Alabama until the end of fall camp. Towards the end of fall camp, you start planning for them. But we were focused on ourselves; we can’t focus on another team when we’re not technically sound ourselves, fundamentally sound, and that’s what we had to do first, is focus on us. We’ll get to see Saturday how prepared we are.”
--on what impresses him about Alabama
“They’re a well-coached team. That’s the first thing that stands out, they’re a well-coached team, tough team, and they come from a great conference. Those are the things that stood out to us as players. Scheme-wise, that’s (for) the coaches to handle, but as far as the first few things that stand out, those are the obvious ones.”
--on whether tackling is a concern due to all the thudding in practice
“No, that’s why you try to wrap up as well as possible when you are in thud period here in practice. We have scrimmages throughout fall camp to help us with the tackling and we didn’t really have a problem with that throughout the fall. Saturday we’ll focus on tackling, we’ll see how we’ve been through fall camp. Saturday’s the test."
S CHRIS HAWKINS
--on what stands out about Alabama’s offense
“The versatility they have. I mean they’ve got guys that can line up anywhere. They’ve got running backs that can line up as receivers and try to take advantage of linebackers. They’ve got receivers that can go in and out, put guys in the slot, put ‘em out wide. They have those kinds of athletes on the offensive side of the ball. They had it last year and I think they have it again this year. We got to be ready for the versatility.”
--on what the key is to play good defense
“Just do what Coach P says. I mean he’s a NFL defensive coordinator and he’s great at diagnosing things and he’s great at knowing what’s coming, so I feel like whatever he calls, he’ll put us in the right position to make the plays.”
--his hunch on how Alabama will try to beat USC’s defense
“I don’t really know. They got some new dudes on the offensive line, new running back, new quarterback, so it’s not like they’re bringing all their QBs and receivers back as a tandem, and it’s not like they’re bringing they’re running back and O-line back as a tandem, so honestly I have no idea. I would expect (Lane) Kiffin to do both, whatever works during the game, whatever he finds and feels like is working, I feel like he’ll stick with that.
--on the vibe in the USC locker room
“Our vibe is great. I mean, we’re ready to play football. They say you can’t change for a game, to me personally, I’ve never been more excited to play a football game in my life. The last week or so I’ve had three sleepless nights where I’m just thinking about the game and making plays, getting on the airplane, landing in Dallas, things like that. I mean, it’s been so long, I wasn’t in spring, sat out almost half of fall camp, I’m ready to play football. I haven’t had real full contact in a long time. I’m ready to get it going.”
--on being responsible for the checks for the secondary
“Michael Hutchings is the one making all the calls, but when it comes to the back end, making sure everybody knows what they’re doing, what they got, I’m like the quarterback in the back end and he (Clancy Pendergast) has told me he needed that to be done by me, and I think I’ve done that. I think it will pour into the game as well.”
--on if this could be the best secondary he’s played with
“Yes, not because we’re just more talented than the previous secondaries. I’ve played with Adoree’ (Jackson) for two seasons, Biggie played all last year, Marvell played not all of last year but he played a good amount, Leon, I’ve played with Leon since I was a freshman, so it’s been so much chemistry with each other. It’s like we know each other, we look at each and we already know what we’re thinking. The previous defensive backs, when I was a freshman, Kevon (Seymour) was new, Anthony Brown had just come off of injury, Josh Shaw was new, Dion Bailey was a linebacker before, so there was no chemistry. I feel like we have a real chemistry right now. Even when I was a redshirt freshman, there was chemistry, but I had just started playing, Adoree’ was a freshman, Leon had just started playing, G-Bow (Gerald Bowman) came off of surgery, just started playing. I feel like this unit, we’re together. I feel like we could really get it done.”
--on where he feels this defense will excel
“No doubt, we’re going to play fast. We all know what we’re doing. We don’t ever question anything, we all know what we’re doing. Once we see it we will go get it.”
LB MICHAEL HUTCHINGS
--on why Pendergast seems to bring out the best in him
“I think it’s the expectations he has as a D-coordinator, it’s to the ceiling. I mean, nothing comes easy in this defense as far as his expectations. But just from a schematic standpoint, things are pretty easy, simple, and fast, as far as picking up his scheme and that’s how he preached when he first came in, allowing us to play fast, play simple. But (from an) expectations standpoint, I think he just demands so much out of us.”
--on being voted a team captain
“That’s a great honor by my teammates to be voted as one of the team captains. All the work during summer, being with those guys, just being around them a bunch, it’s a great honor because the team does vote, it’s not the coaches, it’s the team and having a great rapport with those guys is definitely an honor as far as amongst the team.”
--on if he feels rejuvenated after not playing much the past two seasons
“I knew that coming in to the winter, coming into January, coming into the spring, that was my approach to everything that this is my last year, approaching each day like I had nothing else to gain after this year, there’s nothing I can come back and fix. Everything was dependent upon this year and I feel like I approached the winter that way, the spring, and also the summer and fall camp, that exact same way. It is a great feeling but I think it just goes to the work that my coaches put me through and through all those days over the last few months.”
--on if he is being utilized in a manner that the previous staff wouldn’t
“Coming in with these new coaches on the defensive side of the ball, they said that it was an open competition. It’s nothing amongst the coaches or anything like that, it was just an open competition that we had at the linebacker position during spring, during the fall, and going now.”
--on how much of the offseason was spent thinking about Alabama
“We didn’t start thinking about Alabama until the end of fall camp. Towards the end of fall camp, you start planning for them. But we were focused on ourselves; we can’t focus on another team when we’re not technically sound ourselves, fundamentally sound, and that’s what we had to do first, is focus on us. We’ll get to see Saturday how prepared we are.”
--on what impresses him about Alabama
“They’re a well-coached team. That’s the first thing that stands out, they’re a well-coached team, tough team, and they come from a great conference. Those are the things that stood out to us as players. Scheme-wise, that’s (for) the coaches to handle, but as far as the first few things that stand out, those are the obvious ones.”
--on whether tackling is a concern due to all the thudding in practice
“No, that’s why you try to wrap up as well as possible when you are in thud period here in practice. We have scrimmages throughout fall camp to help us with the tackling and we didn’t really have a problem with that throughout the fall. Saturday we’ll focus on tackling, we’ll see how we’ve been through fall camp. Saturday’s the test."
