Tulane Green Wave College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2022

How has your Cotton Bowl experience been so far?

LB NICK ANDERSON: Southern hospitality from everybody at the Cotton Bowl staff. Each and every day, great experience. True experience with a New Year’s Six Bowl. And it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’ll never forget it.

If you guys are preparing for Caleb Williams. Does he remind you ‚Äì can you compare him to anybody you’ve faced?

LB NICK ANDERSON: I would say Shane Buechele. Shane Buechele, from SMU (Southern Methodist University), was also a quarterback that had a good amount of athleticism. Being able to escape the pocket and make pretty good throws down the field. And that would elevate his game. Being able to evade sacks and be able to make strong throws down the field. That’s one of the things we’ve been emphasizing in the secondary, being able to plaster the receivers. But I feel like we’re going to be well prepared to play on Monday.

You guys don’t get a lot of opportunities to face Power 5 teams. You did face Kansas State which won the Big 12 title in this building. What confidence did that game give you guys?

LB NICK ANDERSON: Overall, we had the confidence going into that game. Just really submit that program. We’re one of the premier teams in the country. Submit to that. We can play on the stage with the big dogs. So just having the momentum going forward really just shows we have belief in yourself, have belief in the program, our coaches, and fellow teammates.

Are you glad they had the season they had so people could realize, hey, that wasn’t just a fluke or anything?

LB NICK ANDERSON: Really when it comes to things like that, I feel like it’s know yourself. Knowing what you’re capable of. And everybody else is going to find out eventually. That’s one of things we’ve been focusing on in the season, focusing on everybody in the organization, focusing on what we can do, and when it’s our time to shine, shine.

Your DC (Chris Hampton) talked about your tackling ability as a team has saved you, even when you have a bad run or something like that. How did you become a good tackle team?

LB NICK ANDERSON: Just overall, the emphasis that the coach puts on tackling. Last year, we missed a lot of tackles, which lead to explosive plays. With us playing the drop-eight defense, you have to drop down and make tackles. That’s something we do every day tackling drills, approach the tackling. Tackling drills. Almost every day, ball tracking drills. So that’s one thing that has elevated us this year is being able to track the ball, carry in and out, and everybody tackling the ball.

What kind of drills do you guys do to focus on tackling?

LB NICK ANDERSON: Oh, man, hoop drills. Throwing the ball on the perimeter. Tracking inside-out drills, zone-drop drills, and breaking on the ball, carrying, just overall. They came up with a drill this week where we zone drop to our passing drops. They throw the ball to the receiver in the middle of the hooks, and everybody is chasing them. The coaches do a great job of coming up with things on the fly to elevate the game.

How much is just emphasis or repetition? How much is like want-to or just, hey, we just now repped it out so many times that It’s just muscle memory?

LB NICK ANDERSON: I feel like it’s a little bit of both, but overall, it comes to want-to. The object is to get the guy on the ground. Doesn’t really matter how you get him on the ground, you just have to get him on the ground. The overall mentality, know you’re going to get him down, and know you’re going to do the job for the team.

You want to set that expectation, the goal for the AAC Championship way back in August, I believe. What has it been like, and how have you led the team post-AAC Championship to this big game?

LB NICK ANDERSON: Overall, we started off in January. We always said the main goal would be winning the championship. Not 6-6. Not a bowl game. The first and only goal for the season was: Win the AAC Championship. And after that, we would worry about everything else.

So that’s been our focus all year. We got the 1-0 mantra. Winning week by week. We got to the championship game. We’re blessed to win it. But we are also blessed to have another game which is the Cotton Bowl. And we want to keep going 1-0. Keep the games separate. Go out there and win one more game.

How do you stay grounded in that 1-0 mantra post-AAC in this game? It’s a big game. How do you stay grounded in that ideology?

LB NICK ANDERSON: It’s one of the things that because you go 1-0, win or lose, you’re going to the next. So after the AAC Championship game, the next week we were practicing. So we haven’t had time to relish on the past victory because we’re trying to get another one. It keeps us moving forward. Keeps us with a sharp mentality. Always hungry. Always going forward and trying to win the next one. And that’s something that’s been a true testament to the season.

The games we lost, we brushed it off and kept moving. And with the AAC Championship game, we’re not done yet. Everybody on the team has the same mentality of going out on Monday and winning the game.

Chris said that Caleb Williams has Ja Morant and Kyrie Irving slipperiness. Do you guys watch any basketball highlights?

LB NICK ANDERSON: We do. We do. We do watch basketball highlights to show the different transitions that basketball players are able to make with the ball in their hands. And he definitely has the athleticism. His biggest strength is being in the pocket and making one move, and that’s to evade the sack and get out of the pocket and make a great throw down the field.

In the Pac-12, his pure athleticism and being able to step in the pocket and evade the sack and make a good throw down the field. Especially with the pass rushing, being under control and on the back end, being able to find the receiver and stay in coverage because something may happen, and you may have to cover him.

When did you guys start watching basketball highlights? I know Mike McDaniel taught receivers.

LB NICK ANDERSON: Coach Hamp [Chris Hampton] started us doing that in the off-season to develop our technique. Being one-on-one with the offensive lineman, blitz, having to make moves. So that’s just something we call Ja Morant moves.