Aug. 31, 2005
Head coach Rocky Long
How much do you think UNLV’s offense will resemble Utah’s?
“We’re counting on them resembling Utah. That’s what we’re practicing against. It’s an educated guess that that’s what they’re running since (new UNLV head coach) Mike Stanford was the offensive coordinator at Utah last year. Since he wasn’t the head coach at Utah, he probably has a different formation or two or a different play out of the same system that he likes that they didn’t run very much at Utah. So I’m sure we’ll see some things that we haven’t seen before and I know we’ll see some things we haven’t practiced against.
“We are really guessing about their defense. He hired a guy from Air Force as his defensive coordinator and Air Force runs a defense similar to ours. Their depth chart list them as a 3-3-5 defense, but they have more defensive lineman than linebackers so they are probably going to play 4 down linebackers, 2 linebackers and five DBs. So our offense is having to practice against both types of defenses and to be honest with you, we have no idea what they are going to run on offense, defense or how they’ll line up on special teams. We are going into the game completely blind. Hopefully we are mature enough to adjust after we see what they are doing because our defense is one of the few defenses in the country that game plan. We don’t run the same defense every week. We run about 10 calls a week and all of it is specific to that team we are playing. We are going into this game with a very simple, very unimpressive plan to start with until we figure out what we are trying to do. Now we have some mature guys on defense, so I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to go back to our personality as soon as we can figure out what they are trying to do.”
Would you say this is about as conservative as you’ve game-planned going in simply because of the unknown?
“Yeah we are going to be real conservative in the first quarter. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s the most conservative we’ve ever been here going into a game. This is the first time we’ve ever played an opponent that we don’t have any film on. They know us cause they’ve got seven years of film on us. So they can practice specifics and we have to practice like we are going into an exhibition football game that counts.”
Do you prepare for specific players more?
“No. Most of their key players are the quarterback we played against last year and they have a tight end that is really a good player that was injured most of last year. But their skill guys weren’t in those positions to play last year and they’re using a couple of freshmen at wide receivers. On defense they have all their D linemen coming back, but all their linebackers are gone. They’ve got a couple of good DBs coming back. We have a pretty good feel for their personnel, but we don’t know where they are going to line up.”
In looking at their press release their talking about how much youth they have at their 2 deep positions – do you think that playing at 11 and playing at altitude might be your only advantage?
“We have more seniors on our football team and more guys with experience than their football team, and I think that should be an advantage no matter what time we play. We’ve done this once before. The players look a whole lot different when they wake up in the morning than they normally do on game day. They are real sleepy when they come to pre-game meal, but by the time they walk out there for a pre-game warm up they all look the same. It could be six in the morning, but when they walk on the grass their guys will be ready and our guys will be ready. Their eyes will be bright and it won’t matter what time of day it is.”
Now that you’ve had a chance to see DonTrell through fall practice, what does he look like going into Monday?
“He looks like DonTrell. The only concern with DonTrell in the game is that he hasn’t been tackled and he won’t be tackled in the next three or four days either. I don’t think there’s a problem with him being tackled. I think the first hit he takes he’ll wonder how he’s going to get up. If he gets up and he’s fine then he won’t think about it ever again. I’m sure in his mind he’s ready to go, but there’s always a question mark after an injury the first time you get hit.”
Is it a little bit better for you because you have changed your offense in the respect that they don’t know exactly what you are going to do either and you can always go back to what you do best?
“I think we have some advantages on offense. They’ve heard through the internet, radio and TV that we are a spread offense, and so they’ll practice against that. We do believe that if our spread doesn’t work very well that we can go two tight ends and hand the ball to our tailback and go back to our old personality. I think that is an advantage for us.”
Senior Tailback DonTrell Moore
How are you doing going into the first game?
“I’m feeling well. Every day that I’m out there practicing, getting knocked around, making the cut and getting comfortable with my linemen – confidence level is rising each and every day I’m out there.
You’ve been practicing like the NFL football players such as Brett Favre; not taking any shots until the game. Are you going to be okay with waiting until the game to take any real tackles?
“Well I wouldn’t say that I have the Brett Favre treatment, I just avoid the scrimmages. The doctor’s wish is that I don’t do the scrimmages, but I’ve jumped up, been knocked to the ground, and had my legs tied up a little bit. To me, I don’t need to be tackled to say I’m ready or not, it’s just a matter of me being able to cut and being able to do the things I could do before. I’ve been able to do that pretty comfortably these past few practices.”
How good does it feel to have your confidence level going up as far as cutting? When your leg is injured it becomes a mind game, how is it knowing that you are recovering well?
“Extremely gratifying. We still have some work to do. It will be a continuous process throughout the year with running and cutting, I don’t think it will ever stop.”
Are you looking to get a lot of carries?
“Whatever role that is called upon me to do I’ll have to be ready to do. If I need carry the ball 100 times I have to be ready to do that, if I have to carry the ball once then I have to be ready to do that. I kind of used this camp for myself getting back in shape, getting the condition in just to be able to do whatever role I need to do.”
Senior Wide Receiver Hank Baskett
Is it tough starting the season against a conference opponent?
“It’s just like any other game. It has a little more emphasis on it, but we’re going to treat them as if it was anyone else that we were playing against.”
Is it a little bit difficult going up against a team with a new head coach? They probably have a new system that you haven’t seen before?
“That’s probably the hardest thing right now, especially offensively. I need to come in and watch them on film but I don’t know what I need to be watching, what kind of defense they have, or who’s playing. I like to know what’s going on and when I don’t that’s the only time I get really nervous.”
What are you looking forward to most going into your senior season?
“The new offense to see how it does. It’s been doing really well against our defense, which is a tough thing to do. I’m looking forward to see how we incorporate that against other teams in the regular season.”
Explain to people who don’t know, what is different about your new offense?
“We’re not two tight ends running the ball up the middle anymore, now we’re spreading out. Of course we can go back to running up the middle at any time because that’s what we’re good at, but now we’ve spread it out; three or four wide receivers which gives the defense a lot more to worry about.”
Are you looking forward to opening the season at home, and being back on the stadium field?
“Oh yeah, we came out here to practice the other day and being on this grass is just a whole different feeling than whenever you’re out on the practice field. The stadium is great. I was telling the freshman, seeing it empty is nothing like seeing it full with 40 thousand people up here.”
How is it going to affect you playing at 11 am, which is early for a football game?
“It’s definitely going to be different playing at 11, but we’ve been having our practices at 11 in the morning so we’re used to it. So we’re used to the heat, used to getting up that early. I think we’re ready for it.”
How tough is that wakeup call going to be?
“Oh, it’s not going to be tough at all. What’s going to be tough is going to bed the night before. We’re going to be like little kids at Christmas, not going to be able to sleep.”
Senior Linebacker Mike Mohoric
Do you feel, being so strong defensively, that the defense has helped make the offense game shape ready?
“I think so. So many people in the conference run the spread offense now that it gives us a better look and kind of helps us prepare for the upcoming games. As far as them, we run a defense that a lot of other teams are starting to copy so I think that it goes both ways.”
Yeah they’re starting to copy you, but we know that Rocky has a lot of formations in that defense. You guys can do a lot of different things right?
“I’ve been here five years and every practice he comes up with something different and everyone kind of looks at each other, but it’s something new. It’s fun to play in a defense like that where anything goes.”
Do you guys feel like you have to keep the reputation as far as being one of the top 30 defenses in the country? You’ve been one of three teams with that ranking the last five years.
“Definitely. I think we’ve established that tradition and I want to keep gaining on it and I think the rest of the players on the defense want to too. Top 30 I think is good, but it’s not good enough.”
Is this game going to force you to make adjustments because you haven’t really seen UNLV yet?
“Yes, I think so. I think that everyone is going to be on their toes and we’re all aware of that. We’re all going to have to make adjustments in the first quarter and all throughout the game because with the new coaching staff you don’t know what they’re going to throw at you.”
Senior Defensive End Evroy Thompson
You guys have a lot of things involved with this first game as far as records and stats are concerned. There’s a lot of things you guys could do with this first game.
“Yes, there is, but the main objective is to win it. We know it’s a conference game, so we’re excited about that. We just want to start off 1-0 in the conference.”
How difficult is it going up a conference opponent with a new coach that you haven’t seen before?
“It’s pretty exciting because we’re confident in our game, so we’re confident to play these guys. It’s always a close game every year, so if we play like the practices these past few weeks I think we’ll be okay.”
Do you feel like it’s a rivalry between the teams?
“I think so. It’s kind of like a heated rivalry, but it’s not really talked about We like playing them every year. Especially the D-line, we love going against them. One of the other linemen on the Lobos is really close with some of their offensive linesmen, so we have a lot of fun playing against those guys. They’re good and we just go out there and give it our all.”
How much does it help opening the season at home and having the home crowd behind you?
“We definitely want to win this first game. It’s all about game one. We’ve been focusing on that since our last game of the (2004) season so I’m just grateful that it’s at home and we have an opportunity to have a conference game in front of the fans.”
Can you talk about the difference between hitting the guys on the practice field and hitting an opponent come Monday?
“I think on the practice field you’re always with these guys, you don’t want to hurt anybody. But when you play in the games you don’t hold anything back. You just want to hit them as hard as you can, get up and do it over and over again. It’s a lot more fun if you ask me.”