JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Ahead of Carson-Newman's contest against Catawba, coach Mike Turner spoke with the media.
Opening statement
"Well Catawba has become, since the 80s, it has become a rivalry game, it's always been two good football teams going at each other. Gosh, last year in Salisbury goes to overtime, so we know how it is when you play Catawba, you'll get their best shot and hopefully they get our best shot. They're a group right now that is dangerous with a quarterback that can make plays with his feet and his arm, he's a very dangerous player and they're putting some points and some yardage up. You got to make sure that we're a solid assignment, make sure we have him accounted for every time, even to the point of having a spy on him."
On Catawba's quarterback situation and change at quarterback
"I think they're very similar to what they had been. They have a system and they have a package and I think they've done some more things with the offense to accommodate him with his feet and his ability to run the football with quarterback leads and rolls, those types of things. He's a threat, doesn't matter if it's a zone look, if it's a throw, he's a threat to put it under his arm and go get it."
On if the Eagles have faced anything like Catawba quarterback Kendall Davis this season
"I think he's probably right up to this point (in the season) the best one as far as the mobility part of it and can make plays and extend plays. You might think you have him right there where you want him, people covered and boom, somebody's not quite contained or somebody's over pursed in the gap and he has a knack for knowing when to pull it down. That's the sign of a great quarterback…when I should be throwing the football, if I haven't thrown it I need to make something happen with it."
On how proud he is of the offensive line over the past two weeks against UVa Wise and UNC Pembroke
"That group up front has continued to mature, continue to grow in confidence. Their explosion…you can be 290 pounds or 300 pounds, you still can have explosion and that's what we want. That's an explosive offense and has to start with that. But those guys have done a good job of, 'hey, let's just do our job,' okay, let's do our job and let the rest of it happen. Been very pleased with their effort."
On what Troy Dendy has done to earn the reps given
"He's decided he wants to be that football player. I think he has made that decision intensely that, 'hey, I want to play, I want to make something happen and have my opportunity.' When we recruited him we knew he had talent, there was no question about that. But I think he's really growing up as a young man, which has helped him grow up as a football player. I think establishing himself as part of this offense has been fun to watch."
On how important Antonio Henderson's return has been
"He's a guy that's one of the seniors on that defense and he's a guy that's played, and played, and played and that's experience around you, makes you more comfortable when you've got more of an experienced guy in there and probably making some calls, right in alignment. It was great having him back and he was limited in what he could do last week because it was late in the week before you really knew that he was going to be able to play. But not he's a full go so he should have a great week of practice."
On the strengths in the secondary
"I've seen that group grow up tremendously. When we first started off you were going like, 'wow, we better keep that four healthy,' but we've seen those guys grow into their roles. The other guys, you've seen that group becoming more of a ball-hawking defense which is really great to watch. We told them yesterday in the team meeting, last week we had three turnovers on defense, this week we got five, man, you can be a pretty good football team when you've taking it away and then when the offense turns around taking that football, making points out of it, that's reinforcing the reinforcing part of it."
On how important special teams is to continue doing what they have
"They did a much better job covering this week even though they were blowing the whistle, thank goodness, you still have to cover them because the guy even tried to take one out there sometime in the fourth quarter or something to see what would happen. If you can kick 10 out of 11 touchbacks, that's pretty special. If that's not a record, it ought to be. (Confirms that 10 touchbacks is a school record). Okay, there you go, it ought to be. And then to turn around, punt for a 50-some yard punting average, something like that. So, very, very pleased with those folks. And it's like anything, a quarterback, a strong defensive line, a safety, when those people on the special teams have a player around them like Nate Craft that makes them better."
On the variety of different running backs
"There are kids you want to get them enough reps and you if you can you get them out of there because there's a long haul coming down the road. But to those other kids that got in there and got reps we've always felt like we have some depth at running back. And sometimes you're a running back and you're in a ball game and you play two sets of running backs and you're not getting to play, but now when you do get in that game that changes your attitude in practice and your preparation and therefore makes the whole offense better."
On Catawba safety Brenden Westbrook
"I was sitting there and watching the video Sunday afternoon when I saw him break on the ball and it's like, 'yeah, okay, there goes six.' There was nobody that was going to run him down. He did a great job breaking on the ball. They're going to be solid in what they do, Curtis (Walker, Catawba head coach) will have them solid in their preparation, I have no doubt about that. We've got to be solid in our preparation and it'll be like it always is when it's Catawba and Carson-Newman and it's a battle."
On who will step up to replace defensive losses for Catawba
"Cris (Page, defensive back) has been there for a while in the secondary, he's very solid. One year when he was a freshman he had a pick-six against us over there. He's been a great football player for them. I think that the linebackers that they moved them around a little bit in maybe different spots but they're still the same kind of football player. They play aggressive, they tackle well and they run to the football."
On the advantage of being at home the past few weeks
"I'd like to spend the next six weeks at home if we can do that. It's always great when you have a routine and football players, and I think all of us are creatures of habit. You want to stay in your routine as much as you can and feel comfortable with that. Know where you're going for pregame, know where you're going for meetings, your environment is the same as it has been and anytime you play at Mossy Creek you should feel like you've got an edge, no question about it."
On how recent weeks have built confidence
"That's the part of, you know we talked about our football team being common or uncommon. Sometimes people that can go have two big wins, they get a bloated sense of security, they get a bloated sense of how good they are and usually sometimes comes and pops that balloon real quick. An uncommon football team sees that, 'hey, that was great, let's celebrate it but let's also look at how much better we can be and how much farther we've got to go to get to where we want to get to.' And there's really no middle of the road right there. You either are common or you're uncommon. Common won't win a championship so we talked to them about that yesterday and that we're going to prepare like we do every week and we expect to see you prepare well, to practice hard, to condition and I think that's been a strong part of our football team this year is our physical conditioning. And we'll continue to do that, continue to press on their preparation, their study of the game and then in this league, you can't take for granted, everybody knows everybody too well. So you see it every Saturday about how did that happen, well, that's how it happened.
So, take a realistic look at yourself and when do that and, just like we talked to them about, it's about checking your heart. If that heart is about other people and that heart is about this football team then you don't get a self-inflated opinion of you and what all your accomplishments are."
