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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 29, 2013Darqueze DennardQ.  How much have you seen Jeremy Gallon in the past, and just talk about him as a receiver. DARQUEZE DENNARD: I've been seeing him since 2011 when we played them. He's a small guy. He's not that big, but he's a quick guy. He's fast, runs good routes, gets in and out, as well. He's a good receiver. Q. Since the Notre Dame game, I know you remember there was a couple pass interference penalties in that game, but since then I think you've only had three in the last four games. What's changed for you and Trey out there on the corners? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I think what's changed is just knowing the refs, how they're going to call the games. Pretty much a student of the game, Trey and I both have been watching film seeing what we can do better, being less hands on with the receivers, and basically just being less physical, but if we can play physical and the refs let us play physical, that's what we're going to do. It just all depends on the refs. Now we switched our games up, we can play to cater to the refs, which is a great thing that Trey and I can do. Q. Being from out of state and maybe coming into this game with not much of an idea of this rivalry game, was there a welcome‑to‑the‑rivalry moment for you during your previous three years when you said, wow, this thing is real? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I'd say my first rivalry moment was probably that week my freshman year, my true freshman year, practicing to the game. Everybody just had detailed focus and everybody was just slotting in throughout practice and just going down the road to play the guys at their stadium my freshman year, I played in the game, and just playing in the game I just realized how big the rivalry was. Q. You're a guy who's known for maybe doing a lot of talking on the field. Is there a lot of that, a lot more of that during this particular game? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Yeah, I mean, of course it's going to be a lot of talking both sides of the ball. It's a rivalry game. Everybody knows that we don't like each other pretty much. That's what good teams do, we battle back and forth, we're just going to have a little fun, we're going to talk back, and that's all in the game. Q. Do you see yourself as the favorites? Do you allow yourself to see yourselves as the favorites, even looking at the past few weeks the way you've played and Michigan has played? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Pretty much me personally, I try to get my teammates and the rest of the team to not really worry about the favorites. Don't be worried about the favorites, just control what we can control and play the games and just do what we've been doing the past couple weeks. I think we've been playing great as a whole, offense, defense and special teams, and just don't read into the media, just buy into keep doing what we've been doing, because hey, it's been working for us, so just keep doing what we've been doing. Q. (No microphone.) DARQUEZE DENNARD: No, we like to be the underdogs, and I think that just makes us play even harder. Q. Max Bullough obviously has several generations of Michigan State Spartans in his family. Do you notice him taking this rivalry a little more personally when it comes up every year? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Yeah, I see him taking it more personal. I feel like Max is my brother so I take it just as personal as he does, and how personally he takes it is he's my brother, so I'm pretty much playing with him. So that's how the rest of the team looks at it, and that's how we're going to be. Q. How does a guy get 369 receiving yards in a game? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I guess he's got to get a lot of balls. He got a lot of balls thrown his way. He made a couple of great catches and runs as he catches, and he's a great player. Q. A little bit more on Devin, what is the difference between Devin and Denard Robinson? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I think the difference is Devin Gardner is a bigger guy, and he's more prototype quarterback, as well. He can run, and he throws‑‑ I'd say he throws a better ball than Denard, and he's a longer guy. He reads more coverage. Basically he's a student of the game. I tip my hat off to him. You can tell watching film, being in the film room, he watches what's going on, he tries to read the defense, and he does a good job of that. Q. Watching film, too, with Funchess this year, he's splitting out more, what kind of a difference does that make for a defense? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Personally I don't think it's no difference. Trey and I have been on the outside. We know what we can do. We know our capabilities. We've played against big receivers. He's just a bigger body, just like a bigger receiver which we have played. He's probably more stronger than other receivers, and he's a lot slower than the other receivers, as well. So I mean, we've just got to cater our game towards him, see how he starts off in the beginning, just make adjustments throughout the game. Q. Brady Hoke yesterday was talking about how there's in his opinion five or six NFL players on this defense. These games, is that when NFL players sort of make the difference do you think? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Yeah, I think so. At the end of the day, we've got a lot of great players on our defense, and there's a lot of guys that step their game up even more come Saturday. It's a big‑time game and it's a rivalry game. Everybody knows what's on the line because it's November, and everybody knows winning in November, that means you could be a champion. I think that the big players make big plays throughout these games, and a lot of guys are going to step up this week. Q. When you see a quarterback turn the ball over as much as Gardner has this year, are you guys salivating? Are you seeing opportunity? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I know the no‑fly zone, but we're kind of happy. He throws the ball a lot. He has a lot of faith in his receivers, and we've got a lot of opportunities to make plays on the ball back there. I know me and the rest of the guys in the secondary and the defense, we're just ready to make plays. Q. If one team has five or six future NFL players and the other one has a lot of higher ranked recruits, does that say more about recruiting rankings or about the development you guys have had since you've been here? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I'll just say development, the coaches. I think all our coaches do a great job with coaching us and preparing us for the games and knowing what to do with us, preparing us for this game, and I think it just goes down to coaching. Q. I thought I picked up on you saying kind of "the guys down the road." I don't think I've heard you say "Michigan" yet. Is that a bad word? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Yeah, that's a bad word. I'm going to stay away from that. Q. Why is that? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I don't want to give them acknowledgment. I don't want to give them more than they‑‑ you know. It is what it is. Q. You talked about, and Blake also talked about the increased level of intensity during the rivalry week. It's hard for me to picture Pat Narduzzi being more intense, but does he have a Michigan level? Does he turn it up, because he's pretty intense every week? DARQUEZE DENNARD: Yeah, he turns it up. He turns it up probably times two. He's really hyped for this game, and everybody knows he's a passionate guy, which we all love. When he shows how passionate he is about the game, it just brings more passion to us and makes us want to play even harder for him. Just seeing him going‑‑ I know how he's going to be Saturday before the game, and it's just going to make us even more hyped. Q. I've seen Isaiah tweet about the no‑fly zone, as well. When did that start and who was the creator of that secondary nickname? DARQUEZE DENNARD: That started actually in the spring. I actually didn't participate in the spring game, but I did a lot of film study, and a lot of those games that we lost last year pretty much fell down on us. In the spring I didn't participate, but I pretty much talked to my guys every day and went into the meeting room, and I said, hey, at the end of the day, this year is all going to come down to us because everybody knows what our front seven is going to do with Max Bullough and Denicos and all those guys up front. They're going to stop the run, and it's just going to end up on us making plays in the back end. I think we did a great job so far this year. We've got a lot more plays left to be made, so that's how the no‑fly zone came in. Just basically me just telling them they can't pass on us. That's the way we're going to win games, just locking them down. Q. Is it possible to be too fired up for a game like this, and how do you fight that? DARQUEZE DENNARD: I don't think it's possible to be too fired up. I mean, football is a very emotional game, and when you have a lot of emotions, that can also help the team, and that can give them a great advantage of momentum and just them being excited, everybody being excited and ready to go. I think you can't be too fired up for this game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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