Akron Week Football Media Availability

Opening Statement
“(We play) Akron here at Williams-Brice Stadium at noon (Saturday). It’s the last home game for 20 seniors. Certainly, we need to send them out the right way and have our crowd out in full force to send these guys off right. There’s a lot they’ve given to our program. I really appreciate them.

“Akron is 4-7, but they beat Northwestern earlier in the year. Certainly, we need to have a great week of preparation. I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach (Terry) Bowden. I worked for him in 1995 and 1996 at Auburn. He gave me my first job. I’m certainly appreciative of him for that, and I’m very familiar with their staff and most of the guys there at Akron. They’ll do a good job and play well and coach well.

“Kato Nelson, the quarterback, is a dual threat guy and can do both. They really use him in the RPOs and some in the run game. He throws the ball well. (Van) Edwards is a really good back with a big lower body. We’re going to need to play the run better. (Andre) Williams and (Kwadarrius) Smith are two guys on the outside that really catch your eye as far as offensively, guys that make plays down the field for the. (Brian) Bell is a really good linebacker for them. They’re primarily a four-down team. Both safeties, (Jordan) George and (Alvin) Davis are really good players. They do a nice job pressuring the quarterback in the different packages that they have.”

On the team’s injury situation and positional updates
“Jaycee Horn was in a boot today. We still may get him for Saturday. We’ll see how that goes. In pregame Saturday night, he just didn’t feel good about pressing off and such. We still have an opportunity to get him back. Other than that, we should be good to go. A.J. Turner is going to rep at nickel for us this week. A.J. is a guy that, on special teams, you really see instinctively him being able to make plays and field blocks. He is a good tackler and a good space player. He has the look to be a good man coverage guy. He’s a good athlete, so we’re going to give him the opportunity to play on the defensive side of the ball this week.

On what he tells his players after this past Saturday’s game and heading into this week’s game against Akron
“I think it’s the approach of your program. It’s not something you come in that week and say ‘this is what we do.’ It’s what we talk about every week of the season, and we mean it, and we move forward. We, as coaches, spend the same amount of time in the office whether we are playing Akron, or whoever we are playing. It’s part of our preparation; our players understand that. Our players understand it’s not about the logo and who we are playing, it’s about us; it’s about our preparation, and how we prepare through the week to get ready for our ball game. Every game is a mindset game, and you have to have the right mindset, the right energy, the right focus, the right effort, toughness, and discipline on Saturday afternoon at noon. Those are all things we talk about all the time. The opponent is nameless and faceless; it’s our job to make a decision to be who we are on game day. And you have to do that by preparing the right way.”

On when they decided to move A.J. Turner over to the defensive side of the ball
“AJ’s been kidding with me for three years about playing defense. He’s a guy that showed, special teams-wise, we have some depth at the running back position right now, and have some guys that we have confidence in. It’s nothing that he hasn’t done at running back; it’s just that there is an opportunity possibly for him to move over and certainly help us this week, and we will see how it goes moving forward. He has a great attitude and came in to meet with (Travaris Robinson) for a lot of Monday and to go through and just make sure he’s learning some different concepts that we teach and being able to get him on the line and playing. AJ’s extremely bright.”

On if he though Jake Bentley should have been SEC Player of the Week
“I’m going to try and be politically correct. We are not big into individual awards here. It’s not who we are; it’s about the team. Jake would be the first one to tell you that. Jake played well because of how he prepares, how he watches film, how he practices. Jake played well because our offensive line played well, because they prepared the right way. I told our team, offensively, we are playing really good football, and I think a lot of it goes back to our preparation and how we practice. Our offensive line is straining in practice. I’d say the same for the other three position groups offensively: the tight ends, the receivers, the running backs, those guys are all practicing and competing the right way, and that’s a credit to them. But I do think it is important, when a young man does some special things, to get recognized for it. He’s the first quarterback in Southeastern Conference history to throw for that many yards against a top-five team, and five touchdowns. In the history of the league, (it) has never been done before. That’s pretty impressive, in my opinion. But I have learned; I’ve been in this league a long time, so I have learned that we have a saying: ‘it just means more.’ It just means more sometimes, depending on what your logo is. Call it like it is.”

On the hiring of Mack Brown at the University of North Carolina
“I’m happy Coach Brown is back in it. Good situation. He was obviously at North Carolina and had great success there. He will do a great job. He’s an outstanding football coach, you look at what he did at the University of Texas. When he came there, obviously they were struggling with a lot of different things, and (he) really built that program to where it is now. He will do a really good job. You learn from everybody you work for, as far as different ways to do things and different ways to manage things, and I think Mack was a master at managing the organization. He did a fantastic job with those things and I really learned a lot from him, and certainly it helped me in my career. I am very appreciative of that.”

On the message he is giving his team this week
“I talked to the team this morning and said it’s interesting how things work sometimes, how the Good Lord works in mysterious ways. Next year we have two open days. We practiced that this year, because of the hurricane. We had an open date, then played Vanderbilt, then had our normal open date that had already been scheduled. Next year we have five games, and then an open date, then we play Georgia, then we play six and have an open date, then play Clemson. So, we have been able to go through that process now. We understand that. The guys will tell you; I like to be able to practice things, regardless of whether it’s situational football. Our goal is to go to Atlanta, and if you go to Atlanta, you will be practicing at this time next year. We need to get used to practicing this week.”

On if this past Saturday’s game can carry over into next year through the offseason
“We lost the game; that’s the bottom line. We went up there to win the football game, and we came back with a loss. Other than that, just going back schematically and looking at things you did well and some things you probably would have done differently. I do think for some very young players that we have on the field, I think that you can gain some confidence from it, and we move forward.”

On depth at the buck position
“(Kingsley Enagbare) is a guy that can move outside and do that. We have some combinations of Rosendo Louis, who can do that as well, a guy that can go play on the edge if need be. We’ll have some bodies there.”

On the addition of the Dec. 1 game and the adjustments the Gamecocks have made with bowl preparation and recruiting
“Obviously, we got an extra week of the season. We don’t know what bowl we’re going to, so once we know Sunday we’ll make the appropriate adjustments. It changes recruiting. We’d have been on the road (last) Sunday. The majority, I’d say all of the staff will be out Thursday. We practice in the morning, so we’re able to go out Thursday afternoon and Thursday night. The majority of us will be out Friday around our walkthroughs that we have here in preparation for the game. During the season, the coordinators and myself and both line coaches, we typically stay in during the season, so coaches, we do go out recruiting on Friday. We do get, I think, 42 evaluations in the fall, so it’s not totally different.”

On the maturity of Jake Bentley in the second half of the season
“I think that you don’t want to take away anybody’s personality as a player, but you certainly don’t want to let your emotions affect your outcome, your productivity as a player. He’s an emotional player, so you don’t want to take that away from him, but I think he’s certainly channeled that at times maybe better. He’s playing efficient football, so we need to continue doing what we’re doing.

On the possibility of A.J. Turner playing defense next season
“We’ll look at that. This is something we’ve talked about before as a staff. We’ll see what’s best for our football team and what’s best for A.J.”

On the rotation of defensive linemen with the recent slew of injuries
“The good news is we do have some depth. Jabari Ellis has only played, I think, in one game, so he’ll be up for this week. You look at Javon (Kinlaw) and Kobe (Smith) inside, (along with) Josh (Belk) and (Rick Sandidge). (Kingsley Enagbare) is going to play more end and buck in this game. Shameik (Blackshear) and Griffin Gentry played a good bit Saturday night. Brad Johnson did a nice job Saturday night, so we’ve got plenty of guys to go around, and we’ve got some depth at the position.”

On the strengths of Akron’s defense
“They have two pick-sixes against Northwestern. They’ve done a nice job. You look at the two safeties that are really active in man and zone. They do a really nice job at linebacker. (Brian) Bell is very active. He makes a lot of plays. He’s from Lowndes County down in Valdosta, Ga. The two defensive ends do a nice job pressuring the quarterback. Todd Stroud, their defensive coordinator, is a guy I’ve known for a long time. He does a really good job defensively. His background is with the defensive front. He was with Chuck Amato at NC State, and they had some great defensive lines there. They’re well-coached. The do a nice job.”

On the positions he’d like to emphasize in recruiting and the possibility of changes within the coaching staff
“From a recruiting standpoint, obviously defensive back. I’d like more offensive linemen. You’re never going to turn down a good defensive lineman if that emerge there. That’s obviously a little bit of an emphasis, but again, you’re always trying to sign the best players that can help your organization. That’s the key part of that. As far as the coaching stuff is concerned, we’re on the verge of some really good things here, moving into the new Ken and Cyndi Long Operations Facility in the first of January. We’re on the verge of some special things here, and (with) our staff, I don’t anticipate any changes. I know our guys are working extremely hard (and) excited about our future.”