JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Heading into the first South Atlantic Conference matchup of the season, Carson-Newman head coach Mike Clowney addressed the media before a Saturday matinee against #15/#16 Wingate.
Clowney Opening Statement: Wingate, wow, what a really good football team. You go and watch them on film right now as they're 2-0 as they played Shaw the first week and then Fayetteville last week. They're just a really big football, both size wise and experience. One thing that pops out when you see their roster is the amount of graduates, senior, red-shirt seniors and juniors. Just the experience they bring and the size they bring along with their consistency. Joe and his staff have really done a great job with those guys.
Q1 West Georgia vaults into top-20 after you faced them and now you see another top-15 team in Wingate. How are they similar? How are they different in what the Wolves brought to the table?
They're similar in the experience standpoint, but they're different in what they do. Wingate is more of a power and gonna knock you down with the ball kind of team. West Georgia has more finesse with more activity in the passing game and on the perimeter. Wingate will come in and try to knock you in the mouth while also having the ability to hit the play-action. However, both programs are fast and physical on defense.
Q2 Shaw Crocker has been efficient as anyone in the country through two weeks, completing 73% of his passes. What is there to do in order to disrupt a player like him who's seen a lot in four years a starter?
That is one of the first things that popped out when I looked last week and he was maybe 22-for-30. Just the efficiency is there, as he has done a great job of fitting balls into the windows. A lot of their passes have been in play action so that you're running down before guys lose guys on the back end. We have to do a good job of knowing where we are and what is going on. If we have a guy who looks like he's blocking, we have to stay locked onto that guy. The big thing is going to be competing for us out there on the perimeter, something we worked on a ton these last two weeks.
Q3 You go up against another round of stout running backs. Nijere Peoples has been one of those as he is the reigning SAC Offensive Player of the Week. What does it take to get a guy like him down to the ground?
We're going to have to get more than one guy to the ball this week for sure. He does a great job of keeping his feet moving, so we'll have to get the initial guy get there and hold on as other guys get off their assignments and help make plays.
Q4 Where is the team mentally after a tough loss and a 16-day layoff between games building to the SAC opener?
I've been really pleased with our guys. You know, you come off the field last time and the one thing that sticks out to me is the mindset of "this is not who we are." A lot of the times, it is easy to just talk but these guys have come out to practice and have tried to figure out what we need to do to get better. We know the points where we need to continue to grow and develop. Also watching their attitude in attack practice last week during an open week, we kind of treated it like a camp week. There were just some things we thought we need to get fixed. We had a lot of energy and a lot of enthuisiasm. It was fun to go out and practice as we talked about putting purpose to practice, something we evaluate everyday. You could see that in the guys, they were working in order to get the things done that we need to work on.
Q5 With how youthful and inexperienced you are in some parts, how much do you emphasize the process over results at this standpoint?
That's the main thing that we all want to see is the results, we related it to putting gas in the gas tank as I had a unique experience trying to mow my yard. I went to mow and there was no gas in the can or in the tank, so I did not take the time to invest the time needed to be able to mow my grass. So, we try to apply that in practice as we have to put purpose behind what we do, and it's got to mean something. We have to understand what it means and how it correlates to games so we can go out and perform on Saturdays. That has been the mantra and the guys have kind of bought into that to get stuff done. The thing that happens is that it is not always immediate. We want to see it and we want to see stuff happen fast. We're going to be a good football team. The question is how fast are we going to get there? That is the challenge for them to not only work to get there but work to get there as fast as we can.
Q6 A lot of these guys are new to the collegiate football environment. It seems like a lot of the guys were thinking the game more than reacting to the game. Do you as coach do anything to enhance their aggressiveness on the field?
We have to put them in tough situations and a lot of times, in today's game, that is not fun. Lot of times in today's game it's about let's mozy around and run a lot of plays. However, it goes back to fundamentals. When we go back and evaluate, we didn't do a whole lot. We as coaches picked one or two things to work on, not necessarily to get more ready but repping is probably better. The lights came on and I don't know if we understood the game in how fast it moves. At practice, it moves pretty well but when you are going out there and playing top-25 teams, you're working in the upper echelon. We need to respond and coordinate to that.
Q7 Offensively, passing game had its moments but still seemed a little off. What kind of changes have you seen from your team over these last two weeks to get ready for Saturday?
The biggest thing we have to do is evaluate what we're doing and that's what we talked about. Making sure we can find a flow and rhythm. We kind of opened competition back up to try and give guys a chance to compete and see which guys would be ready to move and compete to get ready for and compete in the game this weekend.
Q8 Defensively, linebacker crew is most experienced. Alonzo Houston showcased his talents on both sides of the ball last game. As a former LB yourself, what do you see in Alonzo that he can be a leader and possibly one of the best linebackers in this league?
The thing that was unique is going into the season, Daniel Dixon-Brooks would have been the starter there. Brooks goes out and Alonzo has an opportunity to go there and play. He took his opportunity and made the most of it. That is the thing you really want to see guys do, not really just sit back and wait for your turn, but when the position opens up that you can work your way up and attack when needed.
Q9 Wingate runs about 70 plays per game. How critical is to you to win on first down so you can get off the field on third down and give the ball back to the offense?
That is one of the most vital things, that we didn't do ourselves. Offensively, we didn't' put ourselves in position on first down to make calls a whole lot easier. That will be a huge focus on us this week, because if we can hold them on first down and make them play predictable situations with young guys, it gives us a little better chance to compete.
Q10 When you look at special teams in this matchup, could that be what decides who wins and loses this game?
That is one of the things that sticks in my mind. We went there a couple times in the last couple years and it really has dictated who won or lost the game. Whether it be a return punt or blocked punt, we have to do our job and understand how critical special teams are. They blocked a field goal last week, so it's something we have to be aware of and be prepared to defend.
Q11 We've heard a lot about the talent of many of the skills players, especially the wide receivers. How do you ensure everyone is getting their touches so you are utilizing some of the best players on the roster?
When you get into this, it is one of those things where we want to make sure we can get the ball out there but you can't go into it and say we have to make sure we fulfill all these promises. Biggest thing we want to do is do what we do well and we want to take whatever the defense gives us. Then, we want to put guys in the right position to take advantage of what we're seeing in that perspective. That is probably the overriding factor for us putting guys in those positions so they can help us find a way to win.
That was discouraging for us and for them. We did feel like against West Georgia, we had some guys who were out there but we couldn't really get the ball to. We have to make sure we are executing and know where we are at and what we are doing from there as well.
Q12 You mentioned execution. How close or how far off were you Thursday?
Not as far off as you felt when you came off the field, you know. We felt like there were some things we did pretty well but when a couple little things break down, it violates your trust and violates your confidence. So, if I'm a quarterback and want to throw to a receiver, I need to know where he's at and vice versa. If I'm a receiver and I run a route, I need to know the quarterback will be on time. Those relationships and timing are so important to what we do.
Q13 Trey Mitchell has struggled and might face some pressure for who his mother, Carol Mitchell, and cousin, Andy Hibbett, are in relation to Carson-Newman Athletics. How do you get him to go back to being himself and not feel as much pressure?
Trey is competitive. That is something that has driven the other members of the family who have had success here. Like Andy, we never thought Andy would leave here as an All-American running back. There were some hard times that he endured at points. The biggest thing is to keep your head on the ground, keeping on moving, keep attacking, and performing and you don't let this stuff discourage you. Once you get discouraged, that is when things start going the wrong way. You find out your problems, you fix them, and you move forward.
Q14 You look at Wingate defensively and how they have not allowed anyone in the red zone this season. What do they do so well to bottle up offenses and get off the field on third down?
They run to the football. You watch their linebackers and see they're hard downfield and aggressive downfield. Their secondary is always around the ball and tip passes and get interceptions because of their extra efforts. I shouldn't really call it extra effort because it's normal effort. They give the effort necessary to not only win football games but be a top-25 team.
