Sept. 10, 2005
Recap |
Box Score
Illinois State head coach Denver Johnson
Opening statement...
"It's good to win. I was disappointed with our play early on in the game, especially with our special teams. We've invested so much time in our special teams and I'm disappointed and confused why we aren't getting better on our returns. We had three bad plays on special teams that lead to scores for Drake. All of their touchdowns were set up by poor execution in our kicking game. We need to look at the film and figure out what the problem is and get it fixed."
On the play of quarterback Luke Drone...
"Luke basically hasn't played in a football game for two years. You would expect him to be shaky, but he hasn't put us in a situation to think about putting in a new quarterback. Luke prepares well and is mentally strong, he's a great guy and a good kid. I've been pleasantly surprised by his poise and how efficiently he has played for us."
On the play of Laurent Robinson...
"Laurent is a weapon and asset to this team. It always helps to surround your quarterbacks with players like him. Luke has plenty of good players around him, he's the one on the field that has to orchestrate."
Illinois State Player Quotes
#44 Niall Campbell, Junior Linebacker
On the play of Illinois State's defensive line...
"We are real fast up front and get great pressure on the edge. We are getting better defensively, which showed in the game tonight. There is a lot of team chemistry, defensively and offensively and we are coming together well."
On the defensive play after the departure of Boomer Grisby...
"We are a good defense and have a lot more discipline."
#73 Justin Martindale, Junior Defensive Lineman
On the team's blocking...
"We had a weak point at the beginning, but we had put in some work on it in practice. The team performed well in the game and the blocked kicks were also something we have been working on in practice. We just worked hard everyday in practice and that is what we were going off of."
On the defensive play after the Departure of Boomer Grisby...
"I think it's a little too early to tell. We've proven ourselves I think so far, but we have to wait until the conference schedule starts."
#7 Luke Drone, Sophomore Quarterback
On Drake's short game, how he used that...
"We were light on the corner and we just had to see what they were doing in order to react. I think the offense, as a whole, played well tonight."
On how comfortable he is at quarterback...
"I think the coaches have done a great job with the offense and helping us become comfortable playing around one another."
Drake Player Quotes
#13 Connor Jostes, Senior Quarterback
On what needs to be done in future games to win...
"We want to play the toughest teams we can at all times. We want to line it up and challenge ourselves and see how well we do."
On what Drake's biggest troubles were in the game...
"We were lacking on the fundamentals. We had kicks blocked, missed tackles...it's not like the heart and effort weren't there; but when it came down to it, tonight we just didn't put it all together."
On lessons learned in tonight's game...
"We know what's wrong and again it comes back to fundamentals. At least we know now what problems need to be fixed for future games."
On still being number one...
"The games will tell us that we need to execute, make the kicks, stop the defense and score. Until we get that mindset we won't see how good we are. That is a bridge we will have to cross."
Drake Head Coach Rob Ash
On competing against two tough opponents to start the season ...
"Whether it hurt us or not will show up more in the next week or two. At halftime I was pretty happy with our team's performance. We wore down (in the second half) and maybe that was a result of last week's game and Illinois State's good strength and conditioning program. They're a big strong team. I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't do better in the second half, and we'll just have to wait and see how that affects us the rest of the year.
On his team's weaknesses in the game ...
"We made some fundamental mistakes. The bootleg plays and the wide receiver screens, it's okay to get fooled once but after the second or third time we've got to get those plays stopped. I guess if I could summarize it, if we see something we need to make an adjustment and stop it. Those are the kinds of things typical teams do and that's my biggest concern right now. Maybe we got tired but that can't be an excuse.
On what Drake will do to prepare for the next game ...
"We'll be fine. We are very outmanned overall when we play these Gateway teams. The amount scholarships they have and the size and speed of their guys really make a difference. As soon as we play some guys of the same size and speed we'll see a little bit of a difference.
