Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Syracuse Football
Syracuse vs. Duke
November 8, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Student-Athlete Quotes
Ervin Philips, Freshman, Running Back
On facing Duke’s defense:
“They were not covering the outside flares a lot. We threw a couple of those and they were usually open and we just had to get out and make some space to try to make something happen. The flares were open all game.”
Brandon Reddish, Senior, Cornerback
On missing out on a bowl game:
“It hurts. We prepared so hard since training camp and for us to fall short hurts really bad.”
On how he improved over the last four years:
“It was a lot of being in the film room and watching different techniques. I also watch film tapes of NFL corners and see how they play. I watch all NFL corners tapes.”
On the best part of playing football for last four years at Syracuse:
“Just being out there with my brothers – knowing that we have each other’s backs and never giving up on each other.”
Corey Winfield, Sophomore, Cornerback
On the one play he gunned down the field and made the tackle:
“Well it’s just learning at practice, cutting them off and making them go the other way. Then making the play after that is just taking the coaching and putting it into play. When I got down there, I looked at him and I just remembered what coach told me, to cross his face, and then he ran right into my hands. Learning from the coaches is making me a better player.”
On if it stung that the game turned on special teams:
“A little bit, because you have to control the controllable. You have to control it, and that was something that could have been controlled. It hurts knowing that we could have controlled that and that it turned into that.”
Eric Crume, Nose Tackle, Senior
On a seniors perspective on coming up short this season:
“It’s been kind of upsetting. You always want to win a game you play, but it was still a fun season and I wouldn’t take anything back. It was unfortunate that we had a lot of injuries, and we didn’t come through on some of the execution things this season. I still had a blast, playing with a lot of great guys and playing for the coaches that I really love. So, I still take something positive from the season even though we had a losing record. I would love to win more games, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I know that I have brothers that are going to last beyond football. So that’s still a beautiful thing from this season.”
On if the team was cheated by all the injuries:
“It’s kind of hard to see a lot of guys go down, especially guys that are key contributors. It’s hard to lose starters, especially the offensive line, which are probably some of the most important guys on the offense because they protect the quarterback and make plays and block for the running back. So that was unfortunate. We can’t blame. We can only control what we control. We still have to go out and play whether guys are healthy or not. It’s still in our control, we control our own destiny even though guys went down. I still think it was in our hands, but it was unfortunate that we had guys go down that are key contributors to our game.”
Zaire Franklin, Freshman, Linebacker
On first start:
“I’m just trying to focus on making sure I’m right and making sure I’m doing my part. This being said, I felt a little bit more pressure playing at that much higher level with guys like Cam (Lynch) and Dyshawn (Davis) playing next to me.”
On bowl eligibility:
“Honestly, as far as bowl eligibility goes, I try to control what I control. But even if we had won today, it wouldn’t have made us bowl eligible – we would’ve still had to win two more. As far as it being senior day, I wouldn’t lie, I did feel a little bit like I had to press a little harder just because I want those guys to go out on top in their last game in the Dome.”
On Brandon Reddish’s coverage on Jamison Crowder:
“Brandon has been a great corner the entire year. He’s probably the most consistent tackler on our team. Every time he’s called upon he always rises to the occasion. It didn’t even surprise me that Brandon played him so well.”
On Crowder:
“He’s definitely a very quick kind of guy. He’s Duke’s offense really. They look to him on third down and whenever they need some type of play. Anytime you try to stop him, he still gets his. He’s a really great player.”
On special teams coverage:
“It’s definitely a little bit more pressure every time we are backed up. When you’re on the one-yard line you’re really more worried about not getting blocked. So you hold for that extra half a second to block and you don’t get to clog up the running lanes against an explosive guy like number three. You give that guy a little bit of space, he gets a vertical lane and that’s how it goes.”
On Julian Whigham:
“I don’t think it was really a match-up problem. I think Whigham played good defense both times. The guy made a fantastic play on the ball; it’s nothing against Whigham. That’s nothing you can really defend. Balls like that, 50/50 balls – unfortunately Whigham didn’t come down with it this time.”
Prince-Tyson Gulley, Graduate Student, Running back
On his career:
“There are some good memories and there are some bad memories but I just love being here.”
On not making a bowl game:
“It’s devastating. As long as I’ve been here, I’ve been here five years and we went to three bowl games out of those four years so that’s pretty much all I know, just making it to a bowl game. For us not to make one kind of hurt but you just have to take it on the chin.”
On getting surpassing 2000 yards rushing today:
“For a personal goal, to set it in the Carrier Dome, to be named with some of the great running backs that have done it, and it’s a big thing for me.”
Cameron Lynch, Senior, Linebacker
On the defensive performance this season:
“I’m proud of us. We come out and execute whenever coach calls a play; we come out and execute it at the highest level. We caused some good turnovers. It is one of the best defenses I have been a part of because we cause a lot of turnovers and talent. My freshman year we were a great defense, had great talent everywhere but we could never put it together on defense but this year was something special because we could. Tough loss today but bounce back on to Pitt.”
On feeling if the defense has to score:
“It gets frustrating but at the end of the day, it’s our defense versus their defense really. What they do or whatever the offense does, energy is the only thing we feed off of. Other than that we can’t control anything the offense does and they can’t control what we do. All we can do is go out there and play great defense, execute our calls and just go out there and play.”
Sean Hickey, Senior, Offensive Tackle
On his injury:
“It was kind of similar to what happened at Clemson and Pitt last year. It got rolled up on from behind. I had to go back in the locker room and get my leg examined. I was able to do all the moves. After the initial contact happened, once it settled down, I had to make sure my leg could do it and once I noticed it could, I went back out there to try and help them get a win.”
On not going to a bowl game:
“To know my Syracuse career ends in Boston is just not a good feeling. You get a lot of good memories at bowl goals whether they’re huge games or not, it’s a fun week and it’s good for the team to end the season on a good note. To know this early in the year that we aren’t going to have that, it’s disappointing.”
On ending his senior year:
“The only thing that sucks about this being your senior year is that you don’t want people to remember, when they think back at you as a player, to just remember this season. This senior class has been extremely successful since we’ve been here, especially the fifth year seniors because we were in the first Pinstripe Bowl. This senior class has had success so for this year to not go the way we wanted it to, it’s disappointing but we were dealt a pretty tough hand throughout this year. You can’t use it as a crutch or an excuse but the good teams can overcome it and I felt this coming in this year we were a good team and I still, deep down, believe that when we have all the pieces that we are but it was just too much for us to overcome.”
On playing through the injuries this season:
“It just comes down to that with the injury that you have can you still do your job. When I went out there, if I could not do my job then I would have come out because if I can’t do my job then I’m hurting the team. They’re going out the same way – if they can do their job they’ll be out there but if they can’t they won’t. (Rob) Trudo has still been able to keep a higher level of play, John Miller has done a pretty nice job, and Nick (Robinson) couldn’t overcome. It wasn’t pretty, so he had to take a couple weeks to get it right so it all depends, can you keep doing your job.”
On the final two games of the year:
“First there’s this week, when you have a bye week in week two and you have a bye week in week 10 or 11, it’s nine straight where it’s a rough go. At least the first four or five days I think everybody just needs to get away, get your mind off it and get healthy. That’s the number one thing this team has to do to be able to attack these last two games the way we want to. Once we start to get back, just getting back into it knowing that we only have two more games left, especially the seniors, at Syracuse. You want to leave a decent taste in your mouth when you walk off that field at Boston College.”
Tim Lester, Offensive Coordinator
On preparing the playbook during the week:
“This week with the two young guys, I let them cross out anything they wanted to; they did that first. Then, I came back to them again with the updated list and said, ‘Ok, now just circle your favorite 15 or 16 plays.’ I made those green on my sheet. I had two different game plans, one for Mitch, one for Austin. So they did a pretty good job at trying to narrow it down to what they felt comfortable with. We weren’t 100 percent sure that this would be the situation until about Thursday morning, so that started Thursday and Friday – trying to put together multiple game plans. I don’t really make a separate game plan for Austin, just run game wise. There’s less we can do there with the options and stuff. The AJ (Long) and Mitch one is normally the same.”
On Mitch Kimble’s performance:
“He did a good job, especially in the run game. He gives us an added element. So he helped us there, and he did well in the 30 package. He wasn’t as accurate as he wanted to be. He went to the right places every time. On his first time throwing the ball – he was off. We had a couple opportunities where he took some 1-on-1 shots. He just needs to throw a better, more accurate ball. Sometimes he just threw the ball too soon. A lot of times when you’re standing in your endzone, that happens. You have a tendency to get rid of it really quick. He could have held the ball a little bit longer so the matchup and the leverages would have cleared themselves, so he would have known where to throw it instead of just going 1-2-3 throw. We talked about that, and that’s something he’s going to learn as he goes along.”
On nervousness when Austin went down regarding the use of Jarrod (West):
“I thought about Jarrod a couple times. It goes through your mind. We practice it. Jarrod did a good job with it. If it had gotten to that point we would have changed a lot of things. But, in a season like this you have to be prepared for anything.”
On failure to reach a bowl game:
“It’s frustrating. It’s one of those things though, we are not in a position looking big picture. We just need to continue to focus on us and continue to develop the young quarterbacks so they know where to go with the ball at a higher percentage. Offensively, we are at a point where we are trying to get better at what we do. We have to just focus on us, and every week at practice that we can do that will help us get better.”
Syracuse vs. Duke
November 8, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Student-Athlete Quotes
Ervin Philips, Freshman, Running Back
On facing Duke’s defense:
“They were not covering the outside flares a lot. We threw a couple of those and they were usually open and we just had to get out and make some space to try to make something happen. The flares were open all game.”
Brandon Reddish, Senior, Cornerback
On missing out on a bowl game:
“It hurts. We prepared so hard since training camp and for us to fall short hurts really bad.”
On how he improved over the last four years:
“It was a lot of being in the film room and watching different techniques. I also watch film tapes of NFL corners and see how they play. I watch all NFL corners tapes.”
On the best part of playing football for last four years at Syracuse:
“Just being out there with my brothers – knowing that we have each other’s backs and never giving up on each other.”
Corey Winfield, Sophomore, Cornerback
On the one play he gunned down the field and made the tackle:
“Well it’s just learning at practice, cutting them off and making them go the other way. Then making the play after that is just taking the coaching and putting it into play. When I got down there, I looked at him and I just remembered what coach told me, to cross his face, and then he ran right into my hands. Learning from the coaches is making me a better player.”
On if it stung that the game turned on special teams:
“A little bit, because you have to control the controllable. You have to control it, and that was something that could have been controlled. It hurts knowing that we could have controlled that and that it turned into that.”
Eric Crume, Nose Tackle, Senior
On a seniors perspective on coming up short this season:
“It’s been kind of upsetting. You always want to win a game you play, but it was still a fun season and I wouldn’t take anything back. It was unfortunate that we had a lot of injuries, and we didn’t come through on some of the execution things this season. I still had a blast, playing with a lot of great guys and playing for the coaches that I really love. So, I still take something positive from the season even though we had a losing record. I would love to win more games, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I know that I have brothers that are going to last beyond football. So that’s still a beautiful thing from this season.”
On if the team was cheated by all the injuries:
“It’s kind of hard to see a lot of guys go down, especially guys that are key contributors. It’s hard to lose starters, especially the offensive line, which are probably some of the most important guys on the offense because they protect the quarterback and make plays and block for the running back. So that was unfortunate. We can’t blame. We can only control what we control. We still have to go out and play whether guys are healthy or not. It’s still in our control, we control our own destiny even though guys went down. I still think it was in our hands, but it was unfortunate that we had guys go down that are key contributors to our game.”
Zaire Franklin, Freshman, Linebacker
On first start:
“I’m just trying to focus on making sure I’m right and making sure I’m doing my part. This being said, I felt a little bit more pressure playing at that much higher level with guys like Cam (Lynch) and Dyshawn (Davis) playing next to me.”
On bowl eligibility:
“Honestly, as far as bowl eligibility goes, I try to control what I control. But even if we had won today, it wouldn’t have made us bowl eligible – we would’ve still had to win two more. As far as it being senior day, I wouldn’t lie, I did feel a little bit like I had to press a little harder just because I want those guys to go out on top in their last game in the Dome.”
On Brandon Reddish’s coverage on Jamison Crowder:
“Brandon has been a great corner the entire year. He’s probably the most consistent tackler on our team. Every time he’s called upon he always rises to the occasion. It didn’t even surprise me that Brandon played him so well.”
On Crowder:
“He’s definitely a very quick kind of guy. He’s Duke’s offense really. They look to him on third down and whenever they need some type of play. Anytime you try to stop him, he still gets his. He’s a really great player.”
On special teams coverage:
“It’s definitely a little bit more pressure every time we are backed up. When you’re on the one-yard line you’re really more worried about not getting blocked. So you hold for that extra half a second to block and you don’t get to clog up the running lanes against an explosive guy like number three. You give that guy a little bit of space, he gets a vertical lane and that’s how it goes.”
On Julian Whigham:
“I don’t think it was really a match-up problem. I think Whigham played good defense both times. The guy made a fantastic play on the ball; it’s nothing against Whigham. That’s nothing you can really defend. Balls like that, 50/50 balls – unfortunately Whigham didn’t come down with it this time.”
Prince-Tyson Gulley, Graduate Student, Running back
On his career:
“There are some good memories and there are some bad memories but I just love being here.”
On not making a bowl game:
“It’s devastating. As long as I’ve been here, I’ve been here five years and we went to three bowl games out of those four years so that’s pretty much all I know, just making it to a bowl game. For us not to make one kind of hurt but you just have to take it on the chin.”
On getting surpassing 2000 yards rushing today:
“For a personal goal, to set it in the Carrier Dome, to be named with some of the great running backs that have done it, and it’s a big thing for me.”
Cameron Lynch, Senior, Linebacker
On the defensive performance this season:
“I’m proud of us. We come out and execute whenever coach calls a play; we come out and execute it at the highest level. We caused some good turnovers. It is one of the best defenses I have been a part of because we cause a lot of turnovers and talent. My freshman year we were a great defense, had great talent everywhere but we could never put it together on defense but this year was something special because we could. Tough loss today but bounce back on to Pitt.”
On feeling if the defense has to score:
“It gets frustrating but at the end of the day, it’s our defense versus their defense really. What they do or whatever the offense does, energy is the only thing we feed off of. Other than that we can’t control anything the offense does and they can’t control what we do. All we can do is go out there and play great defense, execute our calls and just go out there and play.”
Sean Hickey, Senior, Offensive Tackle
On his injury:
“It was kind of similar to what happened at Clemson and Pitt last year. It got rolled up on from behind. I had to go back in the locker room and get my leg examined. I was able to do all the moves. After the initial contact happened, once it settled down, I had to make sure my leg could do it and once I noticed it could, I went back out there to try and help them get a win.”
On not going to a bowl game:
“To know my Syracuse career ends in Boston is just not a good feeling. You get a lot of good memories at bowl goals whether they’re huge games or not, it’s a fun week and it’s good for the team to end the season on a good note. To know this early in the year that we aren’t going to have that, it’s disappointing.”
On ending his senior year:
“The only thing that sucks about this being your senior year is that you don’t want people to remember, when they think back at you as a player, to just remember this season. This senior class has been extremely successful since we’ve been here, especially the fifth year seniors because we were in the first Pinstripe Bowl. This senior class has had success so for this year to not go the way we wanted it to, it’s disappointing but we were dealt a pretty tough hand throughout this year. You can’t use it as a crutch or an excuse but the good teams can overcome it and I felt this coming in this year we were a good team and I still, deep down, believe that when we have all the pieces that we are but it was just too much for us to overcome.”
On playing through the injuries this season:
“It just comes down to that with the injury that you have can you still do your job. When I went out there, if I could not do my job then I would have come out because if I can’t do my job then I’m hurting the team. They’re going out the same way – if they can do their job they’ll be out there but if they can’t they won’t. (Rob) Trudo has still been able to keep a higher level of play, John Miller has done a pretty nice job, and Nick (Robinson) couldn’t overcome. It wasn’t pretty, so he had to take a couple weeks to get it right so it all depends, can you keep doing your job.”
On the final two games of the year:
“First there’s this week, when you have a bye week in week two and you have a bye week in week 10 or 11, it’s nine straight where it’s a rough go. At least the first four or five days I think everybody just needs to get away, get your mind off it and get healthy. That’s the number one thing this team has to do to be able to attack these last two games the way we want to. Once we start to get back, just getting back into it knowing that we only have two more games left, especially the seniors, at Syracuse. You want to leave a decent taste in your mouth when you walk off that field at Boston College.”
Tim Lester, Offensive Coordinator
On preparing the playbook during the week:
“This week with the two young guys, I let them cross out anything they wanted to; they did that first. Then, I came back to them again with the updated list and said, ‘Ok, now just circle your favorite 15 or 16 plays.’ I made those green on my sheet. I had two different game plans, one for Mitch, one for Austin. So they did a pretty good job at trying to narrow it down to what they felt comfortable with. We weren’t 100 percent sure that this would be the situation until about Thursday morning, so that started Thursday and Friday – trying to put together multiple game plans. I don’t really make a separate game plan for Austin, just run game wise. There’s less we can do there with the options and stuff. The AJ (Long) and Mitch one is normally the same.”
On Mitch Kimble’s performance:
“He did a good job, especially in the run game. He gives us an added element. So he helped us there, and he did well in the 30 package. He wasn’t as accurate as he wanted to be. He went to the right places every time. On his first time throwing the ball – he was off. We had a couple opportunities where he took some 1-on-1 shots. He just needs to throw a better, more accurate ball. Sometimes he just threw the ball too soon. A lot of times when you’re standing in your endzone, that happens. You have a tendency to get rid of it really quick. He could have held the ball a little bit longer so the matchup and the leverages would have cleared themselves, so he would have known where to throw it instead of just going 1-2-3 throw. We talked about that, and that’s something he’s going to learn as he goes along.”
On nervousness when Austin went down regarding the use of Jarrod (West):
“I thought about Jarrod a couple times. It goes through your mind. We practice it. Jarrod did a good job with it. If it had gotten to that point we would have changed a lot of things. But, in a season like this you have to be prepared for anything.”
On failure to reach a bowl game:
“It’s frustrating. It’s one of those things though, we are not in a position looking big picture. We just need to continue to focus on us and continue to develop the young quarterbacks so they know where to go with the ball at a higher percentage. Offensively, we are at a point where we are trying to get better at what we do. We have to just focus on us, and every week at practice that we can do that will help us get better.”
