Paul Pasqualoni - Press Conference
9/4/2000 2:13:51 PM | Football
On Kyle Johnson's injury:
"Kyle Johnson had surgery yesterday. There is some ligament damage as well as a fracture. He'll be out longer than the four-to-six weeks we had predicted Saturday. After practice today we'll have more information. The surgery went very well. He'll be fine and the injury is not going to be career ending and the reality is he may be out for the rest of the regular season. It is a very severe blow to have him injured. We are certainly going to look into the possibility of Kyle applying for a medical redshirt."
On Kyle Johnson's attitude and his role with the team:
"He's doing fine. Obviously he is disappointed. He's a captain and for five years he has worked really hard. He came in here as a tailback and last year he made the transition to become a top-notch fullback. He can block, run and catch. In our offense he is the ideal fullback."
On the positives from the win against Buffalo:
"There were a lot of good things that happened in the game and we are most pleased with our preparation for the game. Our focus on the game, our attention to detail and our discipline both offensively, defensively, and on special teams was solid. We played hard throughout the game. We had to play some guys in this game because of suspensions and they stepped up to the plate and played well. Christian Ferrara, Louis Gachelin, Emerson Kilgore and Erik Kaloyanides all gave us very good performances. Josh Thomas played a good game. Cliff Snell played the best football he's played since he's been here. A lot of players played well and now they have something to build on. Playing a lot of people also builds our depth."
On the play of Troy Nunes:
"Troy Nunes played a very solid game. On every play there is a check, an audible, there is clock management, there is getting the team in and out of the huddle, there is getting the play called right. He does all those things right. The one ball he threw off the play-action, he just shouldn't have thrown it. He has to work on that and setting his feet."
On clock management:
"We've work hard on it. We've always worked hard on it. Troy Nunes did a great job with it. Managing the clock helps us keep up the pressure with a good tempo and a good bounce in and out of the huddle."
On Chris Davis' role:
"Now with some injuries we are going to take a look at Chris as a fullback. He is a big guy and he'll get some time at fullback. He needs to stay injury free- I saw him limping after one of his touchdowns. I hope he can develop and I hope he can help our team."
On the fullback position:
"George Scott, Chris Davis and Dee Brown will all be looked at to play fullback. Dee has played a lot of positions here and he is interested in doing whatever he needs to do in order to help this team. George Scott is in great shape. He has done a good job losing weight and now he is quicker and faster. Our challenge right now is to get our 22 best players on the field."
On improvements that need to be made:
"We need to work on our long snapping the ball. We weren't really happy with the blocked punt. It was a poor snap and we didn't execute our protection well. That is disturbing from a special teams stand point. We also gave up two sacks and we have to work on that. Two sacks is two too many. Those are things that we are going to work on."
On making opportunities and taking advantage of them:
"One of the great statistics from Saturday night was that we had the potential to score 49 points from inside the 20-yard-line and we did. It is great when good defensive play sets up the offense on the opponent's side of the field. That happened twice on Saturday and the offense punched it in both times."
On the special teams' play:
"One of the great things we did in special teams was our returns. We are excited about our returners. Will Allen and Pat Woodcock were aggressive in returning kickoffs. They are attacking the ball, almost recklessly bursting up the field. With Will Allen it looks like the years when we had Qadry Ismail, Jimmy Turner and Kevin Johnson come out of the end zone with a burst of speed and accelerate up the field. Malik Campbell went after the ball on punts. He has to use good judgement and he will learn. The good news is that we have guys returning kicks who have a passion for it, they want to catch the ball and run with it. We covered kicks very well, quite a few of their returns were stopped inside the 20-yard-line."
On the Cincinnati Bearcats:
"They are an awful good. They return 10-of-11 starters on offense and 8-of-11 starters on defense. We played them in 1998 and quite a few of those kids are still there. A lot of the guys we are going to play against have been grinding away since 1998. In my mind they have got to be one of the top teams in Conference USA. They have all their receivers back and they are a top-notch group of receivers. They have a great punter in Adam Wulfeck, great skill guys and everybody is back. To me they are a very good team."
On the Cincinnati game in 1998:
"We scored and played excellent defense. They were a young team then. Joe Daniels was a first year offensive coordinator, now he's been there for three years. It is a whole different operation there now than it was when we last played them."
On Cincinnati QB Deontey Kenner:
"He is an excellent passer and competitor. He is very athletic, so he runs around very well. They will run the option and quarterback draw play because he can be effective with those plays. He presents a multitude of problems as a passer and as an athlete. He is a Michael Vick-type quarterback. He's a senior now and he's got a supporting cast around him. He'll be confident. They put Deontey back there and they spread five receivers. You have to cover the receivers and defend a quarterback who has running back skills."
On PJ Alexander playing tackle:
"I think PJ can be a very good tackle. He can be a very good center, too. He is a very big guy. He can come off the ball and block you, as well as being a good pass blocker. I'm interested to see how he can perform playing tackle in a game. I've liked what I've seen in practices."
On the status of Vaughn Smith:
"I'm hoping that his shoulder is going to be fine. Hopefully he is going to be in the game."
On the Syracuse seniors:
"Our seniors have done a great job. Morlon Greenwood, Pat Woodcock, Will Allen, Dee Brown, Kyle Johnson and all the seniors have a lot to do with how focused we were as a team last week."
On the kickoff duties:
"At practice today we are going to compete. I thought Ben Kozik kicked the ball well on Saturday."
