University of North Carolina Athletics
Player Press Conference Quotes
October 3, 2006 | Football
Oct. 3, 2006
Scott Lenahan, Junior Center
Q- What has this week off done for you guys?
Lenahan--"The week off has brought us back to what football used to be or what it is, is just getting after it and hitting each other and being intense. Last week was fun because a lot of people had being able to hit each other and tackle and do what football really is and do it against each other."
Q- This team over the last couple of years has made a habit of coming off a bye week and winning after not-so-good losses. Is there a common denominator there over the last couple of why you guy have been able to do that?
Lenahan--"I don't know and yes there is a history of us doing that, but it is something that I can't pinpoint. It's just getting rest and that can always rejuvenate you and get you fresh again."
Q- Concerning the offense during the Clemson game, what did not work down there two weeks ago?
Lenahan--"We were not executing as well as we should have been. We were missing and pretty much we were not hitting on all cylinders. We were not catching passes and the pass protection was breaking down. You can't win games like that. Offensively we were not executing so was what the break down was."
Q- With all the problems, did this break come at about the most perfect time?
Lenahan--"I think it was good to go back and do what we did in training camp and hit and kind of get guys into the mentality of being aggressive and tough and things like that. The time off was great for bring us back into that and hopefully we will bring that into the next game."
Q- How have you guys been adjusting to the new blocking scheme?
Lenahan--"I think we have been doing great since we have had the time during spring ball to work on it definitely helped coming into the fall camp so we didn't have to start with a whole new offense in the fall. I think we are doing pretty well."
Q- How would you describe the situation this team is in going to Miami.
Lenahan- "We are hungry. We are hungry to show how good this team really is. We need to show them better than we have been."
Q- What are your thoughts on Miami's defense?
Lenahan-- "The are great; they fly around. They sprint around and they are fast. We definitely have our work cut out for us."
Q- Have you looked at last year's game at Miami?
Lenahan--"No not yet. I have watched some of the Louisville and Houston vs. Miami game."
Q- Does the memory of that game give you a lot of hope going down there this year?
Lenahan -"With any game you watch the game film and watch what you can do differently. The thing about last year was is that we had a great first half and the second half it kind of fell off, so, we have to go down there and play a full 60 minutes."
Concerning Coach Cignetti
Lenahan--"Coach Cignetti and Coach Weber have done a good job with letting us know exactly what is going on. In the very beginning of the season Cignetti brought us in with an offensive meeting and was showing us from practice film as to what this block does to make this one receive open here and what rout he is running. I think I understand this offense way more than the previous offense I was in for three years. I understand the entire picture of this offense."
Jacoby Watkins, Senior Cornerback
Q- How do you think the week off and the intense practice has helped the team prepare for Miami?
Watkins--" It has helped a lot with both the defense and the offense because we compete highly against each other. Jesse Holley and I were talking about this after practice on Thursday and we were saying that it was just crazy how we can go out and go after each other like that but we didn't seem to do that against Clemson but that is what we tried to get out of last week in keeping that intensity up every day in practice and carrying that into the game."
Q- Do you think you have hit that stride with your intensity and will be able to carry it over into the game against Miami?
Watkins--"We had a lot of fun at practice last week just competing against each other like that with that type of intensity and type of fun, yes we can take it over into the game on Saturday."
Q-What were you able to do or what were you able to work on that you were not able to do during a normal practice?
Watkins--"We worked on everything that we have worked on before except this week we have just had more fun. It was weird because we have never had live competition during scrimmages in our bye-week since I have been here."
Q- You have been around here, why do you guy do so well after a bye- week?
Watkins--"Coach Bunting does a great job of getting us guys to forget about what happened before; the whole purpose of the bye week is to get healthy from any injuries that you might have and to move on and get ready for the next opponent because it's like dividing your season up into quarters and we have two more quarters left in our season."
Q--What is the mood of the defense after what happened at Clemson?
Watkins--"We know exactly what we did wrong. Is not like they are so much better than us athletically, like they were so much faster that us -- we were just mentally messing up and that is something that has plagued the defense all season except for the Virginia Tech game, which is something we can go back and look at it and just say to ourselves that we can do it, we just have to do it. We just can't have those mental mistakes."
Q-What happened after that first drive when Clemson drove down the field and scored relatively easily, was they some doubting afterwards?
Watkins--"Not exactly doubting, we knew that we were messing up; we were finding ourselves out of position. We went to the sidelines and tried to get adjusted and we couldn't get adjusted as quickly as we needed to and we continued to make mistakes. We went in at half time and tried to get adjusted and we did we just made more mistakes."
