WKU Hilltoppers College Football Pregame Quote, 09/16/2019

Going into the bye week this week I think it comes at a perfect time for us. We’ve played three games, had our ups and downs and I think we’ve learned a lot about our team, our staff. It’s a great week for self-evaluation, an opportunity to get better, an opportunity to develop some of our young guys who we may count on later this season. Hit the road recruiting this week really hard, an opportunity for our staff – as a whole staff – to get out and recruit, so we’re excited about that.

On QB Steven Duncan’s injury and timetable:

I do want to open with a statement about Steven Duncan, who had a foot injury in the third quarter. After the x-rays on it, he does have a crack in his foot. The doctors feel like they need to go ahead and put a pin in that, so we’re probably going to be losing him for several weeks. I don’t know when he would return, but it’s something we felt like we needed to go ahead and do just because of the injury. Disappointing for him, but we have to look at it as another opportunity for the next man up. I do like the quarterback room, we have several guys in there who I think can help us win. They have different skill traits and we’ll evaluate those guys. Obviously, you have Ty Storey, Davis Shanley and KT [Kevaris Thomas], all those guys I feel like bring different skill traits and can do a lot of good things for us. We’ll look at those guys this week and then have a plan for UAB for next week.

On the timing of QB Steven Duncan’s injury:

If it was going to happen it needed to happen now. Obviously, it’s disappointing, but it’s part of the game. That’s why you’re always training your guys and you have the next guy up. I’ve always said I’ve like the quarterback room, so I’m not overly nervous about the situation. It’s a little unsettling because you’ve played three games with a guy, he has had the game experience, so now you’re going to have to put a guy or two out there who hasn’t had game experience [this year]. But I really feel like the quarterback room, Coach Ellis does a great job with those guys, so matter who it is they’ll be ready to go.

On the effect on the offense of having a new quarterback:

You just have to find the timing again. And who knows? You never know, maybe it will bring a different spark. There are a lot of times where guys practice and they’re OK, and all of a sudden they get in the game and the lights turn on and they’re a totally different guy. That’s just football, our guys – no matter who the quarterback is – they’ll get accustomed to that person. We’ll try to put the guy in the right situation, we won’t change what we do, we’ll continue to do what we do. So, I feel good about who we will eventually put out there, I’m not overly nervous about that.

On what the team needs to work on during the bye week:

I really like our football team. I told our football team that there’s one thing that’s extremely hard for the coaches to instill in the players: the passion to compete. Even in the second half against Louisville, the game was out of reach but I really thought our kids kept battling and trying as hard as they could to try to go win the game. A lot of times that has to be a natural instinct and our players have that. No matter how good it is, no matter how bad it is, they’re always battling, they’re always competing, they’re always playing for each other. So that’s a tremendous positive for us. Now what I told them is, ‘Let’s take this bye week and do a lot of self-evaluation to improve and get better about the mistakes that we’ve made as a group; players, coaches, staff, all of those things.’ And that’s really the focus of this week.