|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: OLE MISS v TEXAS CHRISTIANDecember 29, 2014Mike HiltonCody PrewittDaterrian ShackelfordATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: Just a quick opening statement for each of you. Cody, talk about your bowl week experience and how preparations have gone. CODY PREWITT: It's been really fun, the Chicago Cubs Chicago Cubs Peach Bowl staff has given us a reward for a good season and we have had a lot of practices. We're playing a very good team in this bowl game and we prepared accordingly. We feel like we've had some good, solid practices and gotten some work in. Q. Daterrian, what has been the highlight of your bowl week so far? DATERRIAN SHACKELFORD: I would say being with teammates, getting the opportunity to be around each other, fellowship with each other so that's a highlight to me, being around your teammates more than usual. THE MODERATOR: Mike? Favorite event of the week? MIKE HILTON: The Andretti's go‑cart racing, a little competition to get the blood flowing and it was real fun to be out here with my guys here. THE MODERATOR: You guys brought it home yesterday, it's all about tomorrow now! MIKE HILTON: Yes, sir. Q. Can you talk about the emotional high's and lows of the season with the big wins and the loss to Arkansas and the close losses to LSU and Auburn, the different emotions you went through this year? CODY PREWITT: The game of football is just like life. There are going to be good times and there are going to be bad. The thing about it is how you respond to the adversity and for the most part I feel like our team has responded to the adversity well. We never lost faith in our coaches and ourselves, we simply saw our mistakes and tried to fix them the best that we could. DATERRIAN SHACKELFORD: I couldn't agree with Cody more. It's just like life, and we have had a lot of guys on this team, senior guys that have been through a lot. I felt like that was huge in us having some up's and some down's. I felt like the leaders of the team was able to "right" the ship and finish the right way so it's always a good thing to have senior leadership and leaders on the team that can "right" the ship even when things are going not as planned. MIKE HILTON: Like D.T. say, the seniors took over, did what they were supposed to do, keeping us on track even after tough losses. That's just part of the game. We had to look past those and get ready for the next, and it worked out for us. Q. If you could all address this. The TCU players seem irritated to hear talk about the SEC. How much do you think about conference whenever you're in a game like this? CODY PREWITT: You know, the media people, blogs, they talk about the SEC being one of the more dominant conferences in the nation, I guess, and that always comes with the teams that we do play that are out of conference, they have a chip on their back and rightfully so. Football is football. Football you go out and play for 60 minutes and nine times out of ten the team that plays hardest for 60 minutes is going to win. We have to approach the game just like that. We approach every team like near the number one team in the country regardless of their conference, and football is just‑‑ I mean, football is football. DATERRIAN SHACKELFORD: I couldn't agree more. Feel like a lot of time it's the media that pumps up the SEC versus whatever. You know, the conferences and all that, but you have great players on every team. So we know that and we are preparing that way. We've seen film and they have a very, very good team. MIKE HILTON: We feel like, you know, if they're out of conference they want to play the SEC and they're going to play at a high level and we're going to play at a high level and it's going to be a clash of two good teams and we feel like it's going to be a good one to watch. Q. Was there a specific moment either toward the end of last year or the beginning of this year when y'all realized that this could be a special season for Ole Miss? CODY PREWITT: I remember last spring we came out and I guess the first spring practice we sat down and talked and looked at each other and basically told ourselves that, you know, it was time to step it up. People kept talking about Ole Miss as almost being there, almost there, they almost won this game or almost won that game and we got to the point where we want to get there. We want to be in the national run consistently. We want to create one of those elite programs like Alabama or Auburn. We don't want to be one of those teams when they see us on the schedule that they write us off and I think that was the main thing for the seniors was to lead a team that's not going to be a push over anymore, we want to be an elite program in the nation. Q. You guys have been through the lowest of the lows and now on the verge of possibly a ten‑win season. What changed with Coach Wommack this year, getting you guys to lock in more so I guess this year, by producing your results on the field than any other year in the past? CODY PREWITT: I don't think from Coach Wommack's standpoint there wasn't much change. When he came in he gave us a standard to live up to, and it just took us, you know, I guess two years to live up to that standard. To be able to execute to the standards, you know, because he's‑‑ when I think of him I think of a genius. He can sit down and write down offense and he does it every game. It's a matter of us going out and executing his game plan and I can trust all my teammates, we trust everybody on the team to put forth 110% effort every play so it was a matter of us truly buying in to what the coaches were selling to us and I think this year we bought in more than any other year. DETERRIAN SHACKELFORD: This year our team phrase is "all in" so I feel like this year we actually did that all the way. I know a lot of times you see from the first game to the last game but we carried that through summer workouts so that's something that we was able to do while we was lifting weights or running to be all in and to finish, and when you think of Coach Wommack, like Cody said, he's a genius, he is a person that doesn't get real loud but you know when he speaks you better listen. So it's been a blessing just being around him to know the way he approaches the game plan and he never wants any credit, so it's been a great coach to be around. Q. How much is it about reading Trevone Boykin, presnap for the runs or reacting to it while the play is going on? CODY PREWITT: Trevone Boykin, he's just a great athlete, you know, we have certain reads free snap that can give us a clue to what may happen during the play but he's one of the those athletes that can extend the play no matter what happens so a lot of it is, I guess, reaction. We can anticipate to a certain point what's going to happen roundabout but there is always room where we're going to have to adjust and that's, I guess, what defense is all about. There is anticipation and adjustment to that anticipation, and it's going to be‑‑ the biggest thing is‑‑ we're not going to be able to stop them, our biggest chance is to be able to contain him. He's so good at extending plays and finding big plays where not very many people can. DETERRIAN SHACKELFORD: Yeah, he's very versatile, he can throw it, and he can run it, so that makes him hard to defend. You just have to make sure you prepare on every play because he's always, you know, a broken tackle away or a throw away from a big play so you have to make sure that we're locked in on every snap. MIKE HILTON: Watching him reminds us of Nick Marshall, the way he can get out of the pocket, throw the ball down the field and he's very accurate throwing it down field and he has guys on the outside that can make plays for him so he's a really good athlete and we have to contain him the best we can. Q. Cody, but others can jump in, for those of us who don't follow you guys on a weekly basis, where did the land shark come from and what does it mean? CODY PREWITT: The land shark, Fine started the land shark and I guess it's just a mentality, sharks are aggressive, they're apex predators, they're, I guess you'd say the "king of the sea" and they're something that will relentlessly hunt you, attack you, bite you and hit you until eventually you have to give in and the land shark for us is just that, it's relentlessly pursuing the football, relentlessly hitting, relentlessly anticipating and being in the right place at the right time. The land shark is something‑‑ I don't know if it's made it there yet but I think it's something that's going to be‑‑ when you see a land shark you're going to know they're talking about Ole Miss defense. DETERRIAN SHACKELFORD: Every time we touch the field that's the way we're going to go about our business, and we believe within each other. It's something we have taken on as a mentality. MIKE HILTON: It's our mentality throughout the whole game. They attack and they're physical and smart and we live by those rules and I think it shows in our play. Q. This bowl game shows the rise in this program in the last couple of years and you guys have been around for a lot of that. How would you describe for the last couple of years what it was like a couple years ago and the growth and development this season and the potential for ten wins? CODY PREWITT: When I look back, at the last few years, since I was a freshman, to me it's almost been a little overwhelming. Ole Miss was a dream of mine, and to see and to feel like I was a part of Ole Miss becoming what it is now and what it's going to be in the future has been a huge blessing for me. It's going to be one of those‑‑ this time period in my life is going to be one of those things that sticks with me for the rest of my life. I think I speak for all seniors when I say that this is‑‑ this means so much to us because we did come from so far down. I think it was 2‑10 my freshman season, but at the same time I never lost faith in Ole Miss, I never lost faith in the program. It just made me want to work that much harder and when this new coaching staff came in, it rejuvenated us. I guess with the kind of‑‑ I don't know. The atmosphere that they tried to create and once we finally bought into it, it really created a sense of comradery with that comes caring for the guy next to you and once you care for the guy next to you, you want to play for him and when you play for him you do your job and when you have 11 people on the field doing their job at the same time you have good results. To be a part of that has been such a huge blessing. DETERRIAN SHACKELFORD: I couldn't have said it better. I feel like when you come from such a low point, you have a deeper appreciation for when you do come up and then you do have the ability to win. So you tend to not let the little things slide. You tend to not let being late or you tend to not let missing a rep, you take those things to heart and if you get enough guys believing that time and time again, you become pretty good. I feel like this program, me, Cody, Senquez, a lot of the seniors, we talked to each other before the season started and told each other it's not only about this year but the longevity of this program and we want to come back one day and say we had an instrumental part in building something that was strong. I feel like we're very proud of it, and we've left a very good legacy for the program. It's been a blessing to be here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|