Sept. 13, 2005
Q: Coach Gailey said that he’d hoped that you’d have one big game to get you started; did you feel the same way? Was this the game?
“To me, a big game is not always defined by how many catches or how many yards you have. I went back and watched the film from the Auburn game, and I thought that game was a better game, all-around, for me because I got a lot of blocks upfield that sprang P.J (Daniels) some extra yards and we did a lot of things from a receiving standpoint that didn’t necessarily show up in the public eye. So I think that was a big game for me, and that was my first start, and it really broke me in and got me a lot more comfortable. Playing a team like Auburn, coming into the season undefeated and 15-0, was a big plus for me to go out there and do some good things. And then to come back to the Carolina game, that’s when I finally started getting some catches. So I wouldn’t really call it a breakout game because you don’t always define it as catches and yardage.”
Q: What there a time in the game where you said, “Hey, this is fun.”?
“Football has always been fun, as long as I’m on the field. I mean, you can’t have too much fun on the sideline. You have to know your roles, and when you’re called upon, you have to go and take advantage of it. That’s something that I haven’t done in the past: I haven’t taken advantage when I was called on.”
Q: Coming into the season, there were several questions about Reggie (Ball) throwing to Calvin (Johnson) too much and about needing to find other guys to throw to.
“The only response that I have to that is, wouldn’t you? If you were a quarterback, wouldn’t you? I can’t say what I would and wouldn’t do if I were at quarterback, but look at the guy. It’s hard not to. I’m at practice sometimes and there’s not a day that I go out where I’m not in awe of him. You just can’t keep the ball out of this guy’s hands. Even when (North) Carolina thought that they had him shut down, he comes back and makes catches. I think the best ball that was caught Saturday was the one he made out of bounds when he dove, stretching like 10 yards to catch the ball. I mean, Reggie is a smart guy, and even smarter for throwing to Calvin, so I don’t blame him.”
Q: At what point did you finally settle in to the receiving role?
“It was hard, especially coming out of high school. I wasn’t one of those big recruits that thought that football revolved around me. I was just happy to get the opportunity to play college football because I started football at a later age. I was always a baseball guy. I don’t think baseball even offers full scholarships, I think it’s only partial scholarships or something like that, so getting the opportunity was great. There were a lot of schools recruiting me, telling me that I was a quarterback, and it was kind of hard to make the decision to come here to play quarterback. There were a lot of schools that weren’t going to play me at quarterback, including the schools down in Florida that wanted me to play safety. So I came here thinking I was going to play quarterback, played it for a year and a half, and then changed. I was blaming myself a lot. A lot of the blame that I was placing was on myself, and not on the coaching staff for making that decision because after all, Coach Gailey was the guy that changed Tony Hollings to a running back. I never questioned his decision. I was just like, why at this time, when I felt that I could have peaked if I had just gotten one more chance? I understood that the Silicon Valley game was an up-and-down game for me, but I felt that coming into the next year, if I had gotten the opportunity to start one game, I could have shown how much I had improved. Anytime you work hard and you see that something is removed from you that you worked so hard to accomplish, you kind of get discouraged. But like I said, I never placed the blame on anyone, I just went back and observed and pretty much evaluated myself. It took me almost two years to get back to where I felt like I was at that time. Coach (Buddy) Geis was really the big motivator for me, and he was really the guy that said, `Life goes on. You’re not the first guy that has been moved, and you won’t be the last, so take advantage of it.'”
Q: Has Coach Geis been the person that you’ve talked to about everything?
“Coach Gailey has always been in my corner, but I think that his job as a head coach is not to worry about individual players. When he made that decision, he was always there to encourage me. If I caught a little hitch rout, he was always there saying, `good catch D-Bo.’ I was always like, `Coach, I DO have two hands!’ But he’s always been the guy that has been there motivating me above and beyond motivation, even with simple stuff. He knows how hard it hurt me to move, but he also saw an athlete that could probably play a lot more positions if given the opportunity. Coach Geis and another guy, that is not even with the football program, Bruce Heppler, the (Georgia Tech) golf coach, are the two guys that I could really talk to. But Coach Geis is the guy that you go to. He’s a laid-back type of person, and he also has a lot of experience with quarterbacks also, so he made the move a lot easier.”
Q: How much do you talk about your future, beyond Tech?
“That was brought up when the move occurred, but my future right now is the UConn game. You can’t really think about what is going to happen when the season is over because a lot can happen in the middle of the season. So my future is pretty much the next game, and one game, to me, pretty much defines a career. I have to go out now and be more consistent and come December 3rd, or after December 3rd, that’s when I’ll have to worry about a future and if there is one.”
Q: The team is 10-for-10 in the red zone, with five field goals. Is that a double-edged sword? Is it a mindset?
“Anytime you have a kicker like Travis Bell, the whole field is a red-zone for him. He’s an excellent kicker. But anytime you’re scoring points, it’s a plus. But I’m sure that anytime you get in the red-zone, you want to have the touchdown outlet. We have a lot of weapons down there, especially with Reggie being the type of athlete that he is. I’m sure everyone saw his spinning touchdown this past week, and that’s the type of stuff that I think that Coach Gailey likes to see, getting him outside of the pocket, giving him the run-throw option. I’m sure that we can be a lot more improved, but it’s still a plus that we’re scoring points down there. It’s more of a mindset than anything. But we have to be hungry and have to want to get the points. When you drive, and we’ve had a couple of long drives in the past two games, when you get down there, you have to make it count for something. When you learn all those plays and get down there and can’t score, it’s a disappointment. So it’s just a mindset. It’s not a play-calling thing or an execution thing, it’s more of a mindset.”
Q: What do you remember about the UConn defenders?
“I remember last year. I remember one number: 11. I don’t know the guys name, but he was probably one of the best, it doesn’t matter, ACC, SEC, Big East, whatever. He was probably the best linebacker that I saw. I think he graduated, but I remember that he was big and fast and could move. He was in that slot, so I remember that he knocked me around a couple of times. I just remember them being a quick, never-give-up defense. A lot of people say basketball, but I think that their football team is on the map now, and the way that they compete means that it’s always going to be a hard game.”
Q: How has being on the outside helped you more than being in the slot?
“I think the slot helped me more with the outside because the slot is so much more physical. You go up against those linebackers. That’s why I commend those guys like Pat Clark and JJ (James Johnson) because those guys are a lot smaller than me. Pat had six catches against Auburn, and to go down and do what he did, that’s a tough position to be in. You’re in there between the tackles or just outside, and with any play, you have to go down and block linemen. So that helped me prepare for the outside, and I now have a lot more space to work with. And I like the space.”
Q: Is it extra incentive going against a defense (UConn) that hasn’t given up any points this season?
“I don’t think that we’ll go out worried about a streak. All we can do is control what we do on the offensive side of the ball. You can look on the film and kind of get the personnel views and what kind of plays that they run and call, but we’re not the two teams that they’ve played before, and I’m sure that they don’t look at us like those two teams. Not from a talent aspect, but as a team. We’re Georgia Tech, and they are going to prepare for us the same way that they prepare for any other big game, and we’re going to do the same.”
Q: With you coming off not one, but two big wins, and all of the talk about a letdown game, how do you get your emotion up for a game like this, one between two key ACC games?
“Coach always stresses that football is an emotional game, and if you don’t play with any emotion, you’re not prepared. You have to go out and make sure that you’re going out and giving 100 percent every practice. As a senior and a leader, I have to go out and make sure that all of the receivers understand the importance of the game. The same goes for Eric Henderson with his D-Line, and Dawan (Landry) and Chris Reis with the secondary and Reggie with the quarterbacks. We just have to go out and be prepared for this game. UConn is a very good team.”
Q: Do you feel this offense is more diverse and creative this season?
“I think it’s a lot more athletic just because of our O-Line. Coach D (D’Alessandris) has those guys ready to play and they are some young guys. They have some bright futures. To go in and do what they’ve done against two good defensive lines in our first two games is tough. But no complaints. Those guys go down and knock heads all game line, and I think that they are the strength of our offense, because without the line, Reggie isn’t able to do his job and we’re not able to do ours. I’m not saying from a skill point of view, because the skill players are pretty much the same as last year, with the exception of Nate Curry and Levon Thomas, but I think the offensive line is a lot more athletic, which allows us to do a lot more.”
Q: What do you do to get ready for a game?
“I just try to mainly focus and tune out everything. I get into a zone where I can concentrate, where I know all of my assignments, and I know what my opponent is doing. So I do nothing too special other than getting into the training room because I like to sit in there as long as possible to get away from everybody, get taped up and just get ready for the game. I’m usually in there anywhere to an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.”
Q: Have you talked to your cousin (Uconn DT Afa Anoai) about the game? How close are you?
“When we were growing up, we were actually pretty close. I used to always go fishing with him when we were young. They lived in Pensacola with us for a while but then they moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where he ended up going to high school and playing ball. We kind of got separated a little bit then. I try to talk to them every once in a while. I haven’t talked to him this season so far, but I need to give him a call and see how he’s doing.”
Q: He’s got an injury that is going to prevent him from playing. Is it going to be disappointing not being able to play against him?
“It’s disappointing to see a family member hurt. I want the best for him. I want him to have as big a year as I want to have for myself, so it definitely hurts to see a family member down because I know the struggles that you go through mentally when you’re hurt. You start to doubt yourself and you start to wonder, when you do get back, if you’re going to be in playing shape. But he’s a great player and I know that he’s going to be fine, so I trust that he’s going to be back 100 percent pretty soon.”
Q: You said that there were doubts when you’re hurting. Did you have those during the off-season?
“No, not really. Our training staff took good care of me. They kept me focused. We did a lot of rehab over the summer and they had me running. I kind of kept September 3rd in my mind the entire time because I didn’t want to think about not being in that game, so I kept pretty focused throughout the whole summer.”
Q: How difficult was it for you guys as a line to get to UNC’s quarterback?
“What made it really difficult was that their linemen would set up about a yard behind their center, and that made it difficult because it gave them time to see where we were going and everyone knows that we are a highly-stunning defense. You have to give them credit though, because they had really good offensive linemen. I think I was facing a preseason all-ACC guy, and just across the board, they had some huge guys. They are definitely a team that I think is going to do some good things this year. I have to give them a lot of credit, they are a very good team. They schemed us well, they had a long time to prepare for us, so they did a good job. We just pulled it out.”
Q: Are you satisfied with the job you guys have done in the last two games?
“No, never. I think if we were the No. 1 defense in the nation, we wouldn’t be satisfied. I think that we have a lot of work to do, and we have to all get on the same page. But I think that the talent and the potential is there, we just have to get it all gelled.”
Q: What do you remember about the UConn offense?
“I actually just watched some film on them yesterday. They scored 97 points in two games. I don’t know the competition level that they were playing against, but obviously if you’re scoring that many points, you have weapons. We have to take them very seriously. They are going to be a force to be reckoned with, and we can’t take them lightly.”
Q: What is their (UConn) new quarterback like?
“He looked good. This guy can run, he’s definitely a threat with his legs. He can move pretty well and I believe that he’s a big guy, so we’ll have to get after him.”
Q: UNC’s Quarterback similar?
“Not necessarily. The guy from North Carolina ran pretty decent. He did score on us on that draw up the middle. We did underestimate his athleticism, but I think we learned our lesson with that and we can’t ever do that again. We have to be prepared for everything we play.”
Q: How and when is the depth on the defensive line working?
“We have some older guys in and some younger guys in there stepping up. Elris Anyaibi is coming in and giving me some blows and Omar Billy, a fifth year, is also coming in and doing a great job for us. I think that we’re all gelling as a defensive line, as a unit. We’re all on the same page. I look at those guys like my family. I would do anything for those guys. It definitely makes me feel a lot more secure when those guys can come in and help me and out and give me a blow, and give Eric (Henderson) a blow. I know that Eric never likes coming off the field, and that’s one thing that we are a little bit different about: I like to catch my breath here and there. But they have stepped up and helped us out and given us a lot better rotation than we have in the past.”
Q: How does that work? Is it predetermined before a game, or is it as it goes along?
“No, not really. We just kind of go with the flow of the game. Usually by the third series, I’m huffing and puffing. I need to start out the game and get the feel for the game. But whenever we can get some of the other guys in there for a base down or when we know that they are going to run the ball, that’s when we feel really comfortable with putting Elris and Omar in there. Especially with Omar, because he’s a bigger guy, a real strong guy, and he can go in there and stop the run. Elris is a lot like me in that he loops well, he runs very well, and he can spy quarterbacks and running backs well. “
Q: What has it been like having Eric back out there?
“It definitely helps. It always helps when you have a guy that does the things that he does. He causes so much attention that it kind of frees me up with one-on-one blocks and it helps me out. We kind of compliment each other. We help each other out with making plays. There will be a lot of times where the ball will be run to his side, and he’ll cut it off, and it will be cut back right in to me. So I try to help him out with tackles and he helps me out also.”
Q: Have you noticed a change in Eric? He seems a lot quieter off the field?
“He’s really focused. He knows what has to be done. He’s focused on the task at hand. He wants to have a very big year, and I think that he is. He’s a senior now, he’s matured, and he knows what has to be done. He’d definitely stepped up and become the leader that we’ve needed on defense.”
