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CACTUS BOWL: KANSAS STATE VS UCLA

December 23, 2017

Duke Shelley

Phoenix, Arizona

DUKE SHELLEY: ... so just knowing that, just knowing that going into the game, you're just expecting everything -- trick plays, double passes, everything, just expecting it all because it very well can happen beings it's the last one.

Q. (Inaudible) asked at the golf outing. You won your group. How do you rank among the best on the team or do you not to --
DUKE SHELLEY: I want to say for the team. For the team, top 10, I give you top 10. But for my group, dominate. Dominate. I play with a couple of guys that they really didn't know what they were doing. So I was dominating. I was enjoying every bit of it. I wasn't leaving. I wasn't going nowhere else. So it was pretty cool.

Q. One person on the team everyone knows he's the guy or is there kind of a couple?
DUKE SHELLEY: It's a couple. But Mitch hits the ball very well. Mitch is somebody -- AJ Parker, he's nice. He says that dad taught him how to play when he was young, so he's been playing for a while. AJ and Mitch was two people that stood out to me.

Q. I guess the bobcat made the trip?
DUKE SHELLEY: Mascot, definitely, we'll have him here.

Q. Question about Trent, how big an inspiration is he to the defense? Got to K-State as a walk on --
DUKE SHELLEY: Great. Trent is the K-State way. I mean, he came in. He walked on. Not on scholarship. And trying to make the best of his opportunity and he did exactly that. I mean, we see guys like Trent on the team and we have other guys on the team in the same position that he was in years ago, and you just look at that and you compare the two and you say, well, Trent was able to do this and he walked on and now he's on special -- he started on special teams and now he's a starting linebacker for us. And he's making all these type of plays, up for all these awards.

And it's just something that you see and you're able to show those other guys that, and they see (indiscernible) form and it could very well happen for them. So they attack the situation more, with more confidence just knowing that they can be the next Trent Tanking.

So he's definitely a role model for the team, definitely for the defense, I mean a leader for the team and defense. Great guy. As you all know a great guy. Just overall one of the best guys I've been around and being able to play with.

Q. Played against a lot of great quarterbacks this year. Is Josh comparable to them in specific ways?
DUKE SHELLEY: Josh Rosen is a great quarterback. He goes through his progressions and reads like no other. He's poised, confident. The throws he makes on film is just kind of ridiculous. But definitely he's a great quarterback. Seems like he gets everybody around him going.

So if you stop the leader on the team then I feel like we'll be able to be in some good shape. So that's the goal, just get him on the racks.

Q. Do you need to apply more pressure to him or is that just --
DUKE SHELLEY: I feel that comes with it. Definitely apply more pressure to him, though, making him uncomfortable, making him not in his comfort zone, show him different things and throw him off his game, try to disguise things more and hopefully make him make a mistake. So that's the goal.

Q. What have you learned from those past three quarterbacks (indiscernible) played there -- who have played here?
DUKE SHELLEY: Stay glued on your manned because he can throw it through a keyhole. Stay glued on your man, that's definitely something that you have to have because a little bit of space can get a completion on you. You definitely have to be on your game at all times. So that's something that stands out most.

Q. What impressed you about what Trent has been able to do?
DUKE SHELLEY: Trent's great. Trent's great. Man, he stepped up. Stepped up for us and all the things he's been able to do for the team is just mind blowing, seeing where he comes from and how much work he put in is just great to see it all happen for him. Trent is definitely a leader on defense and a leader on the team. We look for him to make those plays it's not a surprise for us at all. Trent is a great, great guy.

Q. What have you seen, what's allowed him to go from walk-on and stand out?
DUKE SHELLEY: His work ethic. There's been summer days when it's hot outside. We've been running and everybody's trying to give up and Trent step up. And he get everybody going and he's yelling and getting everybody fired up, like, let's go, we've got one more. He's that kind of guy.

He just gets everybody around him, making everybody around him better and making everybody around him, he makes them push themselves. So, I mean, you see Trent doing it you gotta do it. That's kind of the motto.

Q. As a secondary, when you enter a game do you have a number in mind in terms of yardage you want to hold teams to?
DUKE SHELLEY: Not a specific number in mind as far as specific yardage, but turnovers is something we harp on. At least two, at least two or three a game is something we try to make for a secondary unit, at least two turnovers a game.

Put offenses in position for less touches, that's the defensive motto in general rule. In sudden change situations, get a stop. That's our motto, that's what we live and die by, that's what we do.

Q. Curious, you have to go against so many teams in the past, all over the place, did you have to curb your expectations at all?
DUKE SHELLEY: Definitely. You have to have expectations. I feel like sometimes, I mean, you're going against other great players, other great people that can definitely very well make plays. So just knowing that you can't be like too harping on those things, because if you are, and it don't go your way, now you are put in a bind in a situation where you're not ready for it.

So just try to be ready for every situation and just know if things not going your way then you have to come back and try to make a play next time. That's what we try to do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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