Nov. 19, 2013

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Freshman offensive tackle/tight end Mason Zandi

On having a dual role on the team…
I just really wanted to get on the field and contribute to my team anyway I could. When Coach Elliott came to me and asked me how I feel about playing tight end, whatever helps the team win.

On changing jerseys as a tight and and offensive lineman
We got it down pretty quick, I would say in less than a minute we can get it done.

On gaining weight…
I got here about 255 and right now, the heaviest I have been is about 312. I gained a lot of weight and I am closer to where I want to be. I want to be around 325 to be a dominant center, or tackle in the SEC.

On playing close to home and gaining weight…
Well they always said there’s no cooking like momma’s cooking.

On how much time can you devote to catching passes…
To be honest with you, I don’t really practice catching the ball that often; I guess I just have pretty good hands. A lot of the blocking assignments for tight ends are pretty similar to the offensive line, so it’s easy to adjust.

Junior offensive guard A.J. Cann

On Coastal Carolina Obviously they are a pretty good team, I think that they are a tough team and we can’t underestimate anybody. We got to come out prepared and ready to play like we do any other game.

On the line’s development over the season…
I think we have been doing a pretty decent job this year so far and I think the only thing we can do is get better as a team, now that we only have two games left, the only thing we can do is get better… To me I think we have been playing pretty good, One thing we can focus on is just communicate more, we’ve been doing a good job communicating but there is some small things we can do to alert each other on the field.

Freshmen strong safety Chaz Elder

On his progress…
Knowing the plays was my biggest challenge on the field; athletic-wise I think I was (playing) okay.

On the mindset to overcome mistakes…
The defensive mindset, we know things are going to happen, mistakes are going to happen. So we learn to look past that, instead of staying down.

Head Coach Steve Spurrier

Opening Remarks
Coastal Carolina is 10-1. I find it interesting that three of our four non-conference games this year, three teams (have lost 1 game): Clemson, UCF and now, Coastal. Our out of conference play has been some good teams, very good teams. Coastal is setting all kind of records in the Big South Conference: points, third down conversions, red zone scoring – all kinds of stuff offensively. They got a running back, Lorenzo Taliaferro, averaging 133 yards a game. So he’s got over 1,300 right now, they got a receiver Matt Hazel who could play for probably anybody in the SEC, Their quarterback plays well, their defense – they’re not real big, but they really play assignment ball, they don’t beat themselves. That’s why they won 10 games. Their players are well-coached, Coach Moglia and his staff do a real good job. We’ll have our hands full. We need to play well. They are already co-champs of their conference, Big South. We’ve got to come to play, be ready to play and go from there, so we are looking forward to it – one o’clock game. Our fans need to come and scream, yell, help us out like they did last week. Hopefully, we can try and get our ninth win of the season. It’s a big game for us – our players know it. And we’re going to try and play a little bit better in a lot of areas that we haven’t been playing very well and see if we can become a little bit better team as we finish out this season.

On Connor Shaw’s ability to scramble since knee sprain…
He takes off running but he doesn’t (always) make the first downs. Yeah, we’ve not been very good on third downs the last couple of games, but one thing we have been very good on is no turnovers. You play with no turnovers, your chances improve tremendously of winning the game… But I tell you what, we are going to play Dylan (Thompson) a little bit this week. I told Connor (Shaw) yesterday we’re going to play Dylan. I said, “You play better when you know Dylan is going to play.” And you know, he does, he plays better.

On being pleased with the freshmen this season…
Yeah, I think our linebackers have been the most improved bunch: Skai Moore, Kaiwan Lewis, T.J. Holloman, Jonathan Walton and Larenz Bryant play in there some. Those guys made the best improvement probably as freshmen.

On the team and on Mike Davis…
First of all, our job as coaches is to try and win the game, and not publicize the guys for individual awards. If that happens, that’s fine, and that’s part of being on the team – there’s individual awards. But coaches are in charge of the team victories and the team morale.

Mike’s had a very good year, we all know that. He’s played well, and he’s still learning how to play – he hasn’t played a whole lot yet. And we are talking a little bit yesterday about protecting him better. He gets in there, and he stands around too much – that’s how he got hurt the other day. You can’t stand up and let about three guys take shots at you, and that’s how he got hurt. So we’re trying to get him to get all he can and get low and don’t take those hits. So he can do better. He can be a better running back, but he had a couple really good runs last week and a lot of times there was nowhere to go, also. But he’s doing fine and he’s got a lot of time. And whatever works out for individual awards that’s fine. But we don’t sit around and talk about those kind of things

On Coastal Carolina…
They move the ball. They run very well. This running back they got is about 230 pounds and he’s been running through everybody. We are going to have to tough it up and stop the run, like we did the second half last game and try to get them off the field. They stay out there a bit; they are very good on third downs because they have a lot of 3rd & 1, 3rd & 2’s. I think they are making 54 percent or something like that, so we’ve got to come ready to play.

On Connor Shaw compared to other SEC quarterbacks…
(Connor’s) winning record stands there with all of them. I see he’s like 24-5 as a starter. He deserves to maybe be known as the best one here, just because of the won-loss record, but obviously he plays with a good team around him and so forth.

On Shon Carson…
Shon’s a good back, I think he lead the state in rushing his last year… So he’s a proven running back and he finally popped that little draw play last week for his first long run since he’s been here. He’s ready to start this week, basically because Mike (Davis)’s hurt, Brandon Wilds is hurt, Shon’s been there so he’s the starter this game. He’s played pretty well, he’s earned it.

On Brandon Wilds playing…
He should be ready by the weekend from what our (athletic) trainer said. But he’s not going to practice full-go today.

On the FCS programs doing well…
I don’t have the answer for that, except that to say the skill players, there are a lot of them all over the country, and every school has some good ones. So they can hang in there against sort of the big university, and sometimes, of course, beat them. I don’t know what to tell you other than they’ve got a lot of good players and they’re well coached.