Sept. 27, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
Head coach Denver Johnson and senior center Stafford Davis met with reporters Tuesday at the weekly football press luncheon in the Kaufman Football Building. Coach Johnson and Davis discussed the upcoming game with Youngstown State and talked about their success to date. Here are the quotes from today's conference:
Senior center Stafford Davis on his transition from guard to center:
"The biggest difference is obviously snapping the ball. It puts you at a disadvantage because you're a one-armed man. That was difficult at first because I wanted to manhandle guys this year, but instead I just have to concentrate on making my block and getting up as fast as I can to do that."
On whether he likes guard or center better:
"If you would have asked me that question last week, I would have said guard. But after the last game, about mid-way through the second quarter, a light bulb went off in my head and I just got it. Coach (Greg) Laffere knew what he was doing moving all of us around, but it was rough at first. But now, we're all catching on at our new positions and playing well. The scary thing is that we're all getting better and we're going to keep getting better. The sky's the limit for this group."
On who helped with the transition to center:
"The first person I talked to was Jeremy Melville (former ISU starting center). He just told me to aim for certain spots when snapping to get to the block. But I also talked to Isaiah (Wiggins) because he's a smart player and knows what he's doing. I also talked to coach Laffere, and because I'm pretty high-strung, he just told me to relax and calm down. Plus, I think coach (Denver) Johnson is an NFL caliber offensive line coach and he's obviously helped a lot. So it's pretty easy to get help around here."
About the excitement going into conference play:
"We're having a great start going into conference play and we're excited. Coach Johnson told us we're 0-0 now and what we've done up to now doesn't really matter. Now we're just ready to put it on some people in the conference. This year we're talking about the playoffs and a national championship where last year we were just talking about having a winning record in conference. So we just have to go out and win some games."
On continuing to get better:
"The difference this year has been our practice. We continue to get better each practice. The coaches are doing a great job of not beating up our bodies and the players have done a great job keeping spirits up. So as we continue, we're going to keep the jazz level up at practice and keep working hard to get better each day."
On the upcoming schedule:
"Our games against Youngstown, Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa are the grinder part of the schedule. But our first focus is Youngstown and playing a good ballgame. I have no doubt that we're going to take care of business at Youngstown. I think this team is really good right now and even though we are playing a lot of good teams, I think we will come out ahead."
About the start of the offense:
"I don't think we have a weak spot on offense right now. The receivers can all run and catch and we have a smart quarterback. We also have three good running backs. Pierre (Rembert), Brian (Thompson) and Rafael (Rice) all have fresh legs and are running the ball well right now. They are the heart and soul of the team right now because they can run for 250 a game."
On quarterback Luke Drone:
"Well Luke's a man of few words sometimes. I'm proud of the way he's evolved. He's used to be really relaxed, was nervous and didn't say much. But now he just goes out there, says what he needs to and takes over as the leader. That's what a quarterback needs to do. He's done a great job and everybody respects what he's done so far."
Head coach Denver Johnson on the opener at Youngstown:
"We have a tough task ahead of us in this conference and road wins are precious. We get to open on the road at Youngstown who is 3-1. We know they are much improved from the team they were last year and know we have a tough game ahead of us. But the team is excited, and they should be, and we're going to go there with a plan in mind and hopefully execute well and come home with a road victory."
On worrying about the three nationally ranked teams from the Gateway:
"Our mantra is to take it one game at a time and when the season is over, we'll look back and count them up and see how we did. But right now, Youngstown State is the most important game of the year because it's the next one. We resist looking down the road too much, but our team knows how good some of the teams are in our conference."
On having his players sweep the weekly Gateway honors:
"I was glad to see that happen for our kids. We had some guys have some great individual performances last week. Obviously when you have guys win offensive, defensive and special teams honors, you know you had a pretty good night. I don't know if that's ever happened to us before in the Gateway Conference, but it was neat. I hope it happens again for us because that means we're playing some good football."
On the defensive success against Murray State:
"I was actually kind of surprised of the success that we had against Murray State. I think we went into the game with a sense of urgency to defensively to be sound, be assignment correct and to swarm the football to try to contain their running back and quarterback and we succeeded. So, hopefully we can continue to feed that mentality as we go on and continue to see quality players on offense like those at Murray State."
On the challenges Youngstown State poses on offense:
"They present us with challenges that they haven't in the past. They're throwing the ball more and usually when you think of Youngstown you think of pounding the football in the run game and throwing grudgingly. They are much more diverse than they have been on both sides of the ball and are going to present some long nights for the coaches this week."
On having three quality running backs:
"We've felt good about all three of these guys all season. We knew what we had with Brian and kind of knew what we had with Pierre after watching him in high school. And don't underestimate Rafael (Rice) as a back. To date, he hasn't lost yard. He just runs hard and always gains something every time. They're each a different style of guy, but what's been nice is that when B.T. got a little banged up; we put the load on a different guy's shoulder and know they'll help us out. It's really a great asset to us right now."
On the offensive production to date:
"You have to scratch where it itches. It the defense is protecting against the pass, you have to hurt them with the running game and vice versa. But right now our running game and passing game seem to be complimenting each other well and that all goes through Luke Drone. So far he's done a wonderful job with that."
