Obviously, a lot has happened really quickly. What are
your feelings so far about meeting the new head coach?
“I’m ecstatic as well as he is. Pretty sure that everyone else kind of
sensed the same thing. Just hearing me in front of the team this morning, talk
about passion and having passion for the game. Not just liking the game, but
loving it. Having faith in him. Trusting him. Follow him and he is going to lead
us there. That is good to hear from your head coach. Me being from the defensive
side of the ball, just hearing that he wants to be an aggressive coach. He likes
the aggressive style and that kind of fits what everyone wanted to do. It is just a whole new atmosphere in the
air.”
You are an aggressive player yourself. Is that nice to
hear? Maybe the knock on the defense had been not being aggressive like in the
Texas Tech
game, laying back a bit. Is that something you are excited to hear?
“Toughness is going to win this game. Passion is going to win this game.
Bring that aggressive style to the game. We’ve got to put fear into offense’s
heart. We sit back and let them do stuff. We need to dictate what they do. Not
sit back and take the blows. It was good hearing from your head coach that we
want to be really aggressive. We want to recruit aggressive players and that
style of defense. I’m looking forward to it.”
I
know that you, Keith (Massey) and Alex (Daniels) are so tight. I saw in the
newspaper about Alex. Are you all happy about this? Have you talked much about
this yet?
“I have not had a chance to talk about this. It is so fresh. I did not
have class today, but they did, so I have not had a chance to talk to them. I
know that everyone is ecstatic right now. Keith is a redshirt sophomore, so he
still has a couple of year left here and a bright future. Alex as well. I have
not really had a chance to talk to Alex. Alex will be all right. He just has to
make some decisions. I’ll be supportive 100%, but I’m pretty sure that he will
be in a Gopher uniform.”
Has it been tough for him as he has gone through a few
position changes? He started out strong at running back, but Amir Pinnix and
later Jay Thomas pushed him to the sideline. Has it been tough for him to find his
niche with the team?
“Any time that you are a true competitor and you don’t get a chance to
get on the field. You are on the sideline, especially when we are losing games.
It’s like you can’t do anything, kind of like you are hopeless. He is just
anxious to get out there and play. I think that once Coach Brewster kind of sits
down with him and talks to him and he goes through spring practice, I think that
he wqill be just fine.”