Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Syracuse vs. Akron
September 6, 2008
Bruce Williams, Sr., WR
On the game:
“It’s a tough loss. The offense played great, Curtis Brinkley played great. The defense gave a little bit, but you just got to go and bounce back.”
On Coach Robinson’s comment regarding the strength of the offense:
“I agree. Curt [Brinkley] and Delone [Carter] are the best running backs in the BIG EAST and nobody can doubt that. We just needed to break a couple of our special teams and our defense needed to hold a little better, but overall, you’ve seen what Curt and Delone can do.”
On the shock of the outcome:
“We are stunned and shocked ourselves. We played our hearts out and that’s all we can do.”
On not expecting to lose to teams like Akron while playing for Syracuse:
“You can’t knock Akron because they’re a Division I team just like us, they have athletes just like us, and they showed it today.”
On the confidence of the team:
“Our confidence is never shaken. We just know what we have, we just have to bring it all together. Last week our defense helped, this week our offense played well. We just have to bring it together and bring our special teams in there.”
On the upcoming game against Penn State:
“It’s going to be a tough game. Their offense is going to walk all over us. We’re going to go back and get our heads right and prepare for Penn State.”
A.J. Brown, Sr., SS
On the problems faced during the game:
“Their offense is pretty good. They were calling the right plays. Our defense wasn’t making mistakes. They capitalized on our mistakes.”
On the difficulty of the spread:
“It uses up the whole field. You can’t just key on one thing. It calls on a lot of people to make plays and if you mess up, it can go a long way.”
On losing to Akron:
“It’s hard to lose to anybody. I don’t care if it’s to Akron, to Penn State, or to Northwestern. [Akron] is a pretty good team, they have a nice spread offense. They beat us and that’s how it is. We’re going to get ready for next weekend, that’s all there is to it.”
On who is to blame for the weakness of the defense:
“We have to be accountable for ourselves. They call plays and we have to execute them. We didn’t execute to the best of our ability. We just have to be accountable, we can’t put it all on one person.”
Cameron Dantley, Sr., QB
On the game:
“In the end, we really wanted to win. It was good that we had a good offense output today – one of the best we’ve had in a long time, but to still have an ‘L’ just makes it hurt so much more. It’s good that we could see how we improved and how we can improve. We’re still at a good starting point for this early in the season, so we’re going to keep building to get better like we usually do.”
On finding out he was starting today’s game:
“Obviously I prepared a lot when I was a back-up, but it just seemed like it was more important to study more, especially for teammates, knowing that I was going to start this week. My preparation was more than usual. I was just staying focused during practice, getting more reps was a little different for me. I started to adjust as the week went on. Just the whole situation, the whole week went by longer than I expected just because I was waiting to play. The game came and after the first couple snaps, I was okay.”
On his nerves going into the game:
“I played last year a good amount, but coming into this game, I was a little bit more nervous. I’m always nervous before a game, but I just had a little bit of jitters in the beginning. I tried to get those out of the way and after I did that, I was pretty good.”
On the frustration of losing:
“It’s tough. Going back a long time, losing is really tough for me and I know it is for a lot of other players on the team. A good offensive output is great and is something to build on, but in the end it’s a team effort. We all want to win as a team, offense and defense put together. We need to get that down.”
Nick Lepak, Fr., OT
On his feelings of making his first career start:
“In the beginning it is very overwhelming, but after the first snap it’s just fun. It’s a sport that I grew up playing, I’ve learned to have fun with it. I know this is a very high level – it’s very competitive, but at the same time you have to stay grounded to those roots and have fun with what you’re doing. That’s what I believe that I did today.”
On Syracuse yards gained on the ground:
“Our offensive line definitely takes pride in what we accomplished today. I know it hasn’t happened in awhile, but we just played what we played. We got on the keys and we have great backs that were able to get the job done out there.”
On what Tony Fiammetta said to him prior to the game:
“Just some words of encouragement. He just told me to have fun with it. It’s a great game and to be in the Carrier Dome was a good feeling. You know your nerves are running, but you just have to have fun with it.”
Curtis Brinkley, Sr., RB
On a rushing for a career high in yardage in a loss:
“Honestly, I’d say I don’t even care about the career high. I’d trade any of that for a W.”
On whether he felt like himself today:
“I played like that throughout the whole summer. When I get my turn, I go out there and perform and do what I know I can.”
Jake Flaherty, Sr., LB
On how the team feels about Coach Robinson taking responsibility for the defense’s performance:
“Well, I admire that but in reality it comes down to the defense. I know there are some things I could have done better and I’m sure every guy on that field could have said the same thing. I think everyone could say that they left it out on the field”
On whether the team can bounce back from the loss:
“Yeah we definitely can. We’re not defeated, we don’t feel defeated. It’s frustrating because we know we are better than that. We know we are capable of playing better. Everything is going to come together. I don’t know when, but it will.”
Arthur Jones, Jr., DT
On whether the team knows how to win:
“I believe that we are just waiting for that one thing to happen. I know we know how to win, we are just waiting. We need to go back to the drawing board and get ready for next week. That’s all we can do. “
On Akron’s long plays:
“They did a great job scheming us and they have a pretty good football team.”
Delone Carter, So., RB
On whether the coaches tell the running backs which will play in each series:
“It’s based on performance. Whoever has the hot first would play more. I played in the first then I had to wait until the second half to get in and I started to get hot.”
