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ROSE BOWL GAME: OREGON v FLORIDA STATEDecember 28, 2014DeForest BucknerTroy HillDerrick, Jr. MalonePASADENA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Seated next to me, defensive lineman DeForest Buckner. DeForest is a junior from Hawaii. He started all 13 games this season and started 17 straight for Oregon. Second Team All Pac‑12 honors while having the fourth most tackles on the team at 69, including four sacks, Buckner led the Ducks in tackles for a loss with 12. Next to DeForest we have Derrick, who is a linebacker, Derrick Malone Jr. He's a senior from Colton, California. He's the second leading tackler on the Ducks with 76. His outstanding play had him among the candidates for the Bronko Nagurski Award as a top defensive player, the Dick Butkus Award as a top linebacker, and the Rotary Lombardi Award as a top lineman linebacker. Troy Hill is a defensive back and a senior from Youngstown, Ohio. He played in 10 straight games and 12 in the season as he had 57 tackles and one interception. His play earned him a spot on the All Pac‑12 Second Team. Guys, I'd like to know how your trip to Southern California has been thus far and how your practice and everything is shaping up for the game. DEFOREST BUCKNER: My experience so far, this is really my first time in L.A. kind of for a week. I'm enjoying the weather, especially from Oregon. Everything's going pretty well. Practice is going pretty good. We're just excited for the game Thursday. DERRICK MALONE JR.: I'm from Southern Cali, so it's great to be down here. I'm having a great time out here preparing. We've been enjoying these festivities. We went to Disneyland yesterday. So a whole lot of fun. TROY HILL: I feel like my experience has been great out here. Love the weather. Love everything about it, the atmosphere, and just being at this Bowl game kind of feel like a blessing. I love it out here. Q. Can you speak about Jameis Winston, now as you're a few days away from playing against him? What makes him so talented, so dangerous? On the flip side, he's thrown 17 interceptions as well. So what mistakes that makes you guys think you can take advantage of? TROY HILL: I just feel like he's a playmaker, honestly. Sometimes when you're a playmaker, you want to always make plays and don't let the game come to you. When he forces those throws, we've got to take advantage of our opportunity, and we've got to excel on that and not let him make those type of plays. DERRICK MALONE JR.: Yeah, basically, just what he said. He's a playmaker, and he goes out there, and he's a natural leader. Sometimes you get a little extra, and you kind of force things. So when he makes those mistakes, we've really got to capitalize on things and make him pay for it. What I see, he's a great leader, and that's why they're able to come back each and every game. DEFOREST BUCKNER: As a defensive front, we're going to have to put pressure. When I'm watching film, that's most of the time when he makes his mistakes. He kind of just throws it up or throws it away. So we've got to put pressure on him to help the DBs out to get those picks. Q. Troy, can you speak a little bit about the matchup with one of the country's best receivers in Rashad Greene? TROY HILL: It's going to be a great matchup, but honestly, it's a team game. I'm counting on my D‑line to get the pressure, count on linebackers to get underneath the coverage and do whatever they've got to do. It's going to be a team game. I'm going to look forward to the matchup, but at the end of the day, it's going to be a team game. We've all got to come out and compete together. Q. I guess for all three of you guys. Coach Pellum talked about the speed of Florida State. What do you guys do to prepare for that on Thursday? DERRICK MALONE JR.: I know, personally, we go against our offense each and every day, and we have one of the fastest offenses in the nation. So it won't be anything that's too new, but these dudes are really big and fast and everything like that. We have the tools that we need to use and utilize to prepare for a team like that. Q. Coach Pellum also compared Florida State's run offense to Stanford's and Michigan State's, two teams that you guys have been successful against. What worked then that has to work against this team, obviously, for you guys to be successful against them? DEFOREST BUCKNER: Just do our job. If everybody does their job and don't try to do too much, and we all communicate really well like we did in those past games, then we'll come out successfully. DERRICK MALONE JR.: That's basically what we did. We communicated pretty well. We played together, and we did our job. That's why we came out successful. As long as we have our head on straight and play our game and do what we do, I don't think we should have a problem. Q. Coach Pellum said Ifo was a spiritual leader for this team. Obviously, you'll miss his presence on the field. Can you speak a little bit more about what he meant to this team off the field. Were there any specific moments this year where you really leaned on his leadership? TROY HILL: As a secondary, we lean on him every day. He kind of left a mark with us, and we kind of got a strong little group. We've got a strong group because of him, because he brought us, and he wanted us to work the way he did. I feel like that's what kind of made us a better secondary this season because he brought us all along. He brought the younger players along. He was really the only one that, if you think about it, he played every time‑‑ all the snaps as a starter. So I feel like his off the field presence and him taking us and working extra and all that stuff, that's what really kind of made him that different type of leader. So, I mean, his presence is going to be missed, but we've just got to focus and play harder for him. Q. This will be Don Pellum's first Bowl game as defensive coordinator. What has he brought differently to the defense, now that he's been here for a full year, than Nick Aliotti? DEFOREST BUCKNER: Definitely scheme‑wise, he definitely put in a lot more schemes where we penetrate offenses more, moving the D‑line, stuff like that, just being able to put pressure in the quarterback's face. He definitely talked to us about attitude and swag and just being able to play with a lot more swagger, with more confidence, and I definitely think it helped us a lot throughout this year. DERRICK MALONE JR.: Especially with the entire defense, I've noticed that everyone has a better collective understanding of what we need to accomplish. So we were way more intensive on the little details and the little things we need to pay attention to. It's really been carrying over. It's brought more attention that we need more TFLs, more disruptive plays, more interceptions. That's why when we go out there we're practicing it, and then it happens and then carries over on the field on Thursdays and Saturdays. It happens because of the way we've prepared. TROY HILL: Like they said, attitude and swag and the little things we do to go out there and make all those disruptions and tackles for a loss. That's what I really feel like he changed in our defense. He kind of brought that dominance in us and put that dominance in our head. That's why I really feel like he kind of changed our defense. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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