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ALLSTATE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: LSU v ALABAMAJanuary 7, 2012Jordan JeffersonP.J. LonerganRueben RandleNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Rueben Randle, Jordan Jefferson, and P.J. Lonergan. We'll start with questions. Q. Jordan, no reason to talk about while you were out for a few games, but when you did come back, I believe your very first play was a touchdown right down there on the 1‑yard line. You came back in on another series, it was going a little slow, then all of a sudden you hit Rueben on a huge bomb for a touchdown. Ever since then you pretty much have been on. Can you talk about just the preparations that you made on your own to stay in shape and to keep the playbook in your mind and everything to play as high a level as you have after having some time off? JORDAN JEFFERSON: Missing that time, I really had to prepare myself a lot, since I was really limited on what I can do with the team. So studying a lot of film and lifting weights and getting myself in shape was really important since it was about a month until I came back. But once I came back, I still had a lot of work to do. I missed a lot of balls. So I had to get back in the rhythm with my receivers. I still had to build up that chemistry again that I left off in the spring to hit Rueben on those deep touchdowns. That's what we had to really improve on in practice, and that's what we paid attention to the most. Q. Rueben, I want to know just how much does going against your secondary, how much has that improved you? And what makes that group so special? RUEBEN RANDLE: They're physical guys. And they're pretty much going to be the best secondary there is in this country. I'm going to go up against those guys each and every day, and it makes it better. So it makes my job easier on each and every Saturday to go out and make plays. Q. P.J. and Rueben, I'm going to read you the score of three Bowl games: 41‑38, 45‑38, 67‑56. Is that great football? P.J. LONERGAN: I think it's different styles of football. Over here at LSU and the SEC are a lot more focused on running the football and big‑time defense. And I just think those are different styles of football. And we just play different here. RUEBEN RANDLE: I'm going to go back to what he said. It's just Oregon and Baylor, they got different styles of offenses there, and they're going to spread the ball around and they're going to have big plays. But here, we pretty much are a run‑oriented offense and have great defenses. So it's going to be a lot of people not having those big of plays. Q. Rueben, could you talk about the differences between both your quarterbacks? RUEBEN RANDLE: Well, you know, they're both great quarterbacks and they bring two different things to the table. Jordan can go around scrambling around make those plays with his legs. And Jarrett going to stand in the pocket and deliver the ball to us downfield. And it's a great honor to have two quarterbacks that can step in and make plays for us on offense. Q. Jordan, you've had a unique position of obviously having Coach Kragthorpe as a quarterbacks coach now and having Coach Stud move up into the offensive coordinator position. What have you seen from maybe the back and forth and also having Coach Stud as your offensive coordinator? JORDAN JEFFERSON: Both those guys do a great job getting the offense and the rhythm that it needs. The majority of the time we always call their white plays for their defensive personnel. And they do a great job of paying us for those big games. Q. Any of you can answer this. Coach Stud was just in here, and he said he's never seen a group that won't get flustered no matter what you guys have been through. And obviously you've been through a lot this season and have remained perfect. Who do you guys look at as the leader to keep you focused no matter what is going on in a game or season that you maintain that focus? JORDAN JEFFERSON: The leaders on this team, the coaches, I mean the majority of the players, been through struggles before. So overcoming adversity is what makes champions. And a lot of guys on this team faced adversity before. So, I mean, going through adversity in the game wouldn't be hard to overcome, if you faced it before and overcame it. Q. P.J., after the first game, the 9‑6 game, there were critics out there, there were people who said it wasn't a great football game. Did you agree with that? Did you wonder how come people couldn't appreciate it for what it was? P.J. LONERGAN: You know, there was a different‑‑ like I said, it was a difference in games from the ones you just mentioned. Two defenses going at it. As an offensive guy, you feel like we had a lackluster performance. We didn't perform as well as we wanted to. So we've taken these past few weeks to really study film and game plan and hopefully go out and have a successful night. Q. Jordan, with you being a New Orleans guy and having to go experience Hurricane Katrina and all its effects, do you root for someone like a guy like Alabama's Carson Tinker, especially with all the personal tragedy he had to go through with the tornados in April? JORDAN JEFFERSON: I feel sympathy for going through a tragedy like that, since a tragedy hit this city before. So I kind of feel the pain. I can relate to how they felt after that incident happened. Q. Jordan, back in, say, September when you didn't know what your future was going to be really, and you saw what kind of team this was building to be, did you even let yourself imagine that you could be here in this position quarterbacking this team at a National Championship game? JORDAN JEFFERSON: I did imagine that. And I was going to do whatever it took to get back to this position where I was, where I left off. So watching a lot of film and preparing myself fully to the point to where when I get in the game I'm contributing to the offense is something that I needed to do and that I continued to do each week. So getting back to this position, I'm very thankful to get back here. And we got one more to go. So we gotta do whatever it takes to be victorious at the end of the day. Q. Jordan, what's your relationship like with Jarrett Lee? JORDAN JEFFERSON: My relationship is very strong. We're teammates. We're the same position; we're quarterbacks of a team that's number one in the country. So our relationship became very strong throughout the year. Me and Jarrett have been through a lot throughout our careers at LSU. So we can relate to some of the situations that we've both been in. And it just makes our relationship a lot better. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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