Head Coach MIKE SANFORD (Full Video)
Opening statement:
Well it's here, football is in the air. It's the 100th season of WKU Football and we're opening up with a monumental opponent; arguably the most challenging opening opponent in school history. Our players and our program are really excited for this challenge. We're excited to get to one of the great atmospheres in all of college football and compete against a team that's going into the season as a favorite to be slotted in the College Football Playoff Final Four. And that's deserved, it's a team when you watch them on film they play the game the right way.
On his confidence in the WKU Football team:
Going into this game I like where our football team is. A year ago we went into our opening game against Eastern Kentucky with some injuries. The work that these players have put in, this is about their opportunity to go compete against the best. They're going into this game healthy and fresh, and I believe they're going into this game with a great amount of confidence in the work they've put in. I'm looking forward to seeing how our players respond, particularly our younger players who haven't been in an environment like this. I have a lot of confidence in our group of players and they're fully bought-in to what's going on. I think the leadership from our captains, on defense in particular with DeAndre Farris and Ben Holt, has been incredible and they're going to set the tone for what's to come for this whole season. You know, we're going up there with the mentality to play great football, worrying about each and every individual play. We have to play with great effort and great enthusiasm, take care of the football, give it everything we've got and play together for four quarters. That's the goal: to play possessed, to play excited, to play fresh - because we are - and most of all to play together as one unit as a Hilltopper football team.
On the 100th season of Hilltopper Football:
As a football coach, it's humbling to take a team into the 100th season. We take the responsibility as a football team to represent those who came before us in a way that would make them proud. And that's to be a team that's unified, a team that's hungry that plays with a big chip on its shoulder and to honor those who came before us.
On his outlook of the season opener:
It's a team that loves to play football. It's a team that's becoming more and more cohesive every single day. It's a team with some really exciting young players who can bring some different types of dynamics that we may not have had last year. But at the end of the day, it's the opening game. You could watch every opener from across the country, you see poor tackling, bad ball security, poor penalties. We're now exposing a bunch of young players, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, to what's going to end up being the loudest environment in college football in Week 1. I'm not going to sleep really well on that front, but we've practiced and prepared in the noise. In practice we've had speakers blaring right in front of our center's ears often. We've worked on various types of cadences to make sure we neutralize the impact of us getting off the football together. At the end of the day, I know that we have something special brewing on that roster, and it's because of those players, because of the cohesiveness we have in Year 2. That's been big about us, going into this year it's not about any individual player, it's about a collection of individuals. We want to go up there and play our best football up there in Madison, regardless of what the circumstances are going into the game, during the game and following the game. I think that we have a group of mighty men, mighty warriors, 10 seniors deep who have gone through a lot. A lot of change, a lot of whom have fought through injuries, and they're looking forward to putting it all on the line against one of the best teams in college football.
On his expectations of QB Drew Eckels:
I think it's important that we, the coaching staff, do everything we can to put Drew in positions to be successful early and not ask him to do maybe what a three-year starter would be doing on the first few series of the game. But we also have to let him play because he has earned the right to have great confidence. He has earned the right because he hasn't turned the football over; two turnovers in 26 days of Fall Camp, that's really impressive. I have a lot of respect for Drew and how he has approached the position and he's really excited. I look forward to slapping him around a bit on the helmet in pregame to get him going and get the juices flowing. But then tell him to get out there and have some fun, kid, because that's what he's going to do. He's that kind of player and his teammates respond to the type of joy he has for playing the game.
Defensive Coordinator CLAYTON WHITE (Full Video)
Opening statement:
Right now coming off of training camp and going into the first game, we're really excited about our defense. The way they're communicating and the way they're dedicated to the team. We feel really good about where they are mentally and physically, our guys have had a really solid Fall Camp. Right now they want to get the details together for this game and they want to get up to Madison and play some football.
On his impressions of RB Jonathan Taylor:
Just about everything stands out. The first thing is his patience as a running back. To be so young and understand blocking schemes and understand linebacker and safety flow. His ability to really cut it up and make people miss and take it the distance. People think that he's a bruiser-type back, but he had some 50-plus runs throughout the 2017 season and he's impressive. Hopefully, we can control him on Friday night.
On team captains DB DeAndre Farris and LB Ben Holt:
It has been awesome to coach both of them. I have Dre in my room with me with the corners; he's a student of the game, he brings it every day, every day's a serious day for him. You can get him to laugh every now and again, but for the most part he's locked in, he wants to be great at everything he does. Ben brings an intensity to the game, the meetings, to every walkthrough; he always brings a certain intensity. I think that carries over to our defense. Obviously, them being voted captains by all teammates from both sides of the ball says a lot about those guys as men and football players.
On his expectations of the Hilltopper defense:
You want to go out and execute the first game. You don't want to have the first-game blunders or blown coverages, guys in the wrong gaps; you want to make sure guys are sound. We'll get a good feel of who we are defensively after this first game, going against an opponent like Wisconsin. We'll know where we're strong at, we'll know where we need some improvements at, as well.
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