Shorter at Kennesaw State Quotes
Shorter at Kennesaw State (Sept. 19, 2015)
Fifth Third Bank Stadium
COACH BRIAN BOHANNON QUOTES
Coach Bohannon on the overall team performance:
“Well we didn’t play great today in a lot of areas; a lot of self-inflicted wounds penalties and turnovers. You know we weren’t sound in some areas. You can call it what you want, but at the end of the day we didn’t come out with the same pep in our step probably that we had in the last two weeks. But there’s very few times you get in those situations that you come out with a win. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids; they kept fighting. We had more adversities today than we had (to this point); it all happened at once. Every bit of adversities you can think of: penalties, turnovers, missed kicks, and big plays on the other side. At the end of the day our football team kept fighting, kept clawing, and found a way to win a ball game that was hard to win. We’re going to learn a lot from this game, as we do from every game. But I think we’re going to learn more from this one then we did from the first two, there’s no question about it.”
On the student section and fans
“I think the student section had a direct effect on us finishing this game. Their energy towards the end of the game, when things were kind of getting a little hectic, had an impact on our kids. (The energy in today’s game) was not near what it had been in previous games. Which I knew was coming, I just didn’t know when. It’s human nature with a young football team, you can’t ride an emotional high for 11 weeks in a row. This is something we can build on. We talk about building and getting better, and this is going to be a lot of teachable moments.”
Coach Bohannon on Trey White’s Injury:
“I think he just cramped up a little bit, he seemed fined. He could have gone back in again if we needed a play he could’ve gone back in.”
PLAYER QUOTES
Justin Thompson
Justin, how do you keep your head in the game after all it was a pretty rough one, but in the end you came through for the team? How was that?
“Coach every day tells us the next play is the most important play. So, if you miss a field goal you just have to forget about it, if you make a field goal you just forget about it and move on.”
So basically this week you are like the big man on campus because you pretty much brought the victory (room laughs). Are you going to walk around with a little more sense of pride this week?
“I mean coming with a win (allows you) walk around with pride but most of it comes from the offense getting in the position to kick field goals. I didn’t kick my best today, but I pulled through when it mattered. A kick is more of a snap and hold than just a kick.”
Taylor Henkle
Hey Taylor, so what was going on second half when they came out and were getting the ball in the air and was throwing a little more than they were in the first? What was you guys mentality going through that the whole second half?
“Yeah I think they got a little confidence when they hit a couple of those big ones. We kind of busted some coverage up a little bit, but you know they made an adjustment and we made an adjustment and they come out passing. We were looking more that they were going to run the ball and once they started throwing it, we gathered ourselves and we figured it out. I think that last drive, you know, we were trying to keep the ball in front of us, not behind.”
Trey White
Trey, as the quarterback you are going to touch the ball every play on offense, but especially in this offense you are making split second decisions on where to go with the ball. How much ownership have you taken of the offense and the leadership of that squad?
“Yeah, like you just said especially in this offense I hope I have taken a lot of it. I turn the ball over in the red zone and on a drive where we are moving the ball pretty well and I can’t do that. They played great, but we also shot ourselves in the foot, so that hurt us too. I got to do a better job on getting us into the right play, just as a whole as an offense, we can learn a lot in this but myself especially, I can learn a lot from this game because I hurt us.”
This is the first time you guys have faced serious adversity. Coach said he was more proud of you guys for this win than the previous two. Where do you guys rank this compared to the other ones?
“The next win is the most important one right? This was a total team win! The offense, we were able to move the ball but we just couldn’t put it in (the end zone) and the defense just kept us in the game. I am so proud of our defense, I am proud of everybody but our defense, man they came to play. That shows we work hard every day and I am glad it paid off.”
Dez Billingslea
On scoring the clinching touchdown
Dez was there any way you were going to take a knee on that one?
“Once I saw the ball hit the ground I kind of saw open grass, I was just like TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! (Room laughs). Really the only thing I was thinking was I got two options, either take a knee and win the game or if I run I better not fumble the ball (room laughs) or get tackled because then I’d have to hear from Coach Bohannon so that kind of fueled me.”
Talk about the crowd today, it was pretty energetic out there today. What did you think about the fans out there?
“I like to say we love our fans and we appreciate all the support. They come out here every game, well the past two home games and show us outstanding love and we feed off that. Especially in situations we were put in today late in the game. I know specifically for defense we fed of the crowds energy in that last drive just to make a play and end the game, so like I said, we love our fans!”
