TI correspondent Tim Hadsell joined me today at the West End Zone for interviews. Here are a few nuggets he picked up:
Ammon Lakip
Starts with a personal statement. “First off I would like to start by apologizing to anyone directly and indirectly affected by my choices. And also say thank you to anyone who has supported (me), I can’t say how much I appreciate any words of encouragement or just support in general.”
Said there was a lot of encouraging texts and calls from teammates throughout his suspension. Especially from the older guys and he really appreciated that.
He said what fueled him to get him back on the team was really belief in himself. He also felt obliged to give back to his team. He mentions that "this is more than a team it’s a family.”
Said anything he needs to do to help the team win, he is willing to do. If that means he needs to be the best backup field goal kicker in the NCAA then that is what he will do.
Eric Mac Lain
Eric was really pleased about the running game. “Not much you can do but run the ball in that kind of weather. Said "it was fun to go against number 9 and 91 all night.”
When asked if the team is ready to kind of just get in a normal schedule after the Thursday night game then bye week. Mac Lain responded, "I can’t wait to get back into a normal rhythm. We havn’t had a type of pattern in our schedule (in order) to get into that rhythm but the team has an 8 week stretch now to be able to do that. It‘s going to be a marathon sprint to the end.”
Mac Lain had to come off the field for five plays. Said his helmet in fact broke and his shoe fell off. Said thanks to the speedy equipment managers for him only missing five plays instead of a whole drive that turned out to be a crucial one. Taylor Hearn was out for his replacement and he was very pleased with his play.
Pointed out that the Tigers under Dabo are only 3-5 against Georgia Tech. This is a rivalry that he wants to see Clemson start dominating again. “That option attack is obviously a headache and as a defensive coordinator that is something that you hate to prepare against. But I think that our guys are very technically sound and they have had great preparation against Wofford, and I think we’ll be okay.”
Eric was asked his opinion of now being the number 6 team in the country and how to team has reacted to this. He responded: “We dropped two spots one week and jumped six the next, where are we with the media? We don’t really know. We just have to control what we can control, just keep taking care of business. I think this is something that is really different about this team. Back in 2011 everyone (when we experienced this success) was sort of freaking out. But to us (now) all we have done is win and I don’t think there is an overexcitement or a distraction.”
Said Georgia Tech likes to exchange gaps with defensive linemen and linebackers and doesn't blitz nearly as much as Notre Dame. Also, he thinks there are going to be a lot of different disguises when it comes to coverages so this will test Deshaun’s ability to decipher the defense at the line of scrimmage.
Mitch Hyatt
Saturday was unlike anything he has ever experienced before. Gives credit to the fans for staying the entirety of the game through the tough weather conditions.
When asked what stands out about Georgia Tech’s defense, Mitch responded: “They don’t quit, they are everywhere. They are always running from sideline to sideline. They come off the ball hard, are physical and never quit.”
Asked to grade himself so far, Hyatt said: “I would say there are definitely some technical issues I need to work on that frustrates me here and there. However, Coach Caldwell reassures me that I have time and I am doing fine for where I am right now. It is mostly correctable stuff that I can work on during practice.”
Lastly, Mitch (Hyatt) explains how comforting it is to get to play next to Eric Mac Lain. He helps him out with blitz packages at the line of scrimmage and on different pass protection shifts. He says that Eric recognizes these things a lot it faster than him and this recognition will come with some time and experience.”
Wayne Gallman
Georgia Tech’s defense looks stout to Wayne. They are fast, they play hard and every down to the whistle. Says he is really looking forward to this game because of last year’s loss. Wayne said that it personally hurt to lose that last year.
Asked what it is like to run behind Mitch. He stated that whenever he goes to Mitch’s side there is always a little gap to run through. “I don’t know, there seems to always be something open on Mitch’s side.”
How satisfying is it to be more acknowledged as a hard-nosed football team that runs and plays sound defense. “Yeah, it is always good to be recognized for your run game. That is something that we (Coach Elliot and the running backs) really wanted to achieve. It is not always passing but we can run too.”
Wayne always motivates himself and he doesn’t really care about the media talking up C.J. Prosise before the game. However he did mention that he did in fact win that challenge between him and C.J. (Prosise).
Wayne was asked, is there a feeling that you haven’t played your best offensive game yet? Wayne (Gallman) says “I don’t think we have, I think we made a couple mistakes even though we didn’t have that many missed assignments this week. We still haven’t reached what we can do but we get that challenge every week so we will see."
Ammon Lakip
Starts with a personal statement. “First off I would like to start by apologizing to anyone directly and indirectly affected by my choices. And also say thank you to anyone who has supported (me), I can’t say how much I appreciate any words of encouragement or just support in general.”
Said there was a lot of encouraging texts and calls from teammates throughout his suspension. Especially from the older guys and he really appreciated that.
He said what fueled him to get him back on the team was really belief in himself. He also felt obliged to give back to his team. He mentions that "this is more than a team it’s a family.”
Said anything he needs to do to help the team win, he is willing to do. If that means he needs to be the best backup field goal kicker in the NCAA then that is what he will do.
Eric Mac Lain
Eric was really pleased about the running game. “Not much you can do but run the ball in that kind of weather. Said "it was fun to go against number 9 and 91 all night.”
When asked if the team is ready to kind of just get in a normal schedule after the Thursday night game then bye week. Mac Lain responded, "I can’t wait to get back into a normal rhythm. We havn’t had a type of pattern in our schedule (in order) to get into that rhythm but the team has an 8 week stretch now to be able to do that. It‘s going to be a marathon sprint to the end.”
Mac Lain had to come off the field for five plays. Said his helmet in fact broke and his shoe fell off. Said thanks to the speedy equipment managers for him only missing five plays instead of a whole drive that turned out to be a crucial one. Taylor Hearn was out for his replacement and he was very pleased with his play.
Pointed out that the Tigers under Dabo are only 3-5 against Georgia Tech. This is a rivalry that he wants to see Clemson start dominating again. “That option attack is obviously a headache and as a defensive coordinator that is something that you hate to prepare against. But I think that our guys are very technically sound and they have had great preparation against Wofford, and I think we’ll be okay.”
Eric was asked his opinion of now being the number 6 team in the country and how to team has reacted to this. He responded: “We dropped two spots one week and jumped six the next, where are we with the media? We don’t really know. We just have to control what we can control, just keep taking care of business. I think this is something that is really different about this team. Back in 2011 everyone (when we experienced this success) was sort of freaking out. But to us (now) all we have done is win and I don’t think there is an overexcitement or a distraction.”
Said Georgia Tech likes to exchange gaps with defensive linemen and linebackers and doesn't blitz nearly as much as Notre Dame. Also, he thinks there are going to be a lot of different disguises when it comes to coverages so this will test Deshaun’s ability to decipher the defense at the line of scrimmage.
Mitch Hyatt
Saturday was unlike anything he has ever experienced before. Gives credit to the fans for staying the entirety of the game through the tough weather conditions.
When asked what stands out about Georgia Tech’s defense, Mitch responded: “They don’t quit, they are everywhere. They are always running from sideline to sideline. They come off the ball hard, are physical and never quit.”
Asked to grade himself so far, Hyatt said: “I would say there are definitely some technical issues I need to work on that frustrates me here and there. However, Coach Caldwell reassures me that I have time and I am doing fine for where I am right now. It is mostly correctable stuff that I can work on during practice.”
Lastly, Mitch (Hyatt) explains how comforting it is to get to play next to Eric Mac Lain. He helps him out with blitz packages at the line of scrimmage and on different pass protection shifts. He says that Eric recognizes these things a lot it faster than him and this recognition will come with some time and experience.”
Wayne Gallman
Georgia Tech’s defense looks stout to Wayne. They are fast, they play hard and every down to the whistle. Says he is really looking forward to this game because of last year’s loss. Wayne said that it personally hurt to lose that last year.
Asked what it is like to run behind Mitch. He stated that whenever he goes to Mitch’s side there is always a little gap to run through. “I don’t know, there seems to always be something open on Mitch’s side.”
How satisfying is it to be more acknowledged as a hard-nosed football team that runs and plays sound defense. “Yeah, it is always good to be recognized for your run game. That is something that we (Coach Elliot and the running backs) really wanted to achieve. It is not always passing but we can run too.”
Wayne always motivates himself and he doesn’t really care about the media talking up C.J. Prosise before the game. However he did mention that he did in fact win that challenge between him and C.J. (Prosise).
Wayne was asked, is there a feeling that you haven’t played your best offensive game yet? Wayne (Gallman) says “I don’t think we have, I think we made a couple mistakes even though we didn’t have that many missed assignments this week. We still haven’t reached what we can do but we get that challenge every week so we will see."
