Boise State Broncos College Football Pregame Quote, 12/27/2024

Q. How excited are you to play in this game on Tuesday?

RODNEY ROBINSON: I’m excited. Just thinking back since a kid, dreaming of moments like this, and then to actually be living in the moment, it’s nothing short of a blessing for sure.

Q. What’s been the moment it really hit you? This isn’t just the Fiesta Bowl; this is the College Football Playoff.

RODNEY ROBINSON: I’ve just been keeping my same process, my same routine. I think it will hit me once I walk into that stadium [State Farm Stadium], and you see the stadium start to fill. Once we get to kickoff, I think that’s when it will set in for sure, okay, I’m really here now.

Q. Opportunities to play in games like this, how much was that in your mind while you were recruited? That’s a little bit what Boise State is known for.

RODNEY ROBINSON: I’ve always been a winner. I came in with that winning mentality. Being a Group of Five school and things like that, our best shot was probably a Fiesta Bowl or a New Year’s Six bowl. I came in with that mentality. Every year, I thought we had a team to play in the NY6 bowl, but it just didn’t pan out that way.

But now seeing back then, short term, it turned out to long term. Everything happens for a reason.

Q. There’s so much talk that goes into this game. How excited are you guys just to put the ball down and get to Arizona?

RODNEY ROBINSON: I’m ready. I know a lot of guys in the facility are ready, too. But we still got to take it one game at a time. We’ve got to finetune the game plan, the little things here and there, but we’re ready to play some football. We’ve been sitting for two weeks, so we’re definitely ready to get back out there.

Q. What do you have to say about their quarterback, Drew Allar?

RODNEY ROBINSON: Big guy. Can make a lot of throws, definitely. He has complete control over their offense. They pose a lot of different challenges with their shifts and motion. They got a lot of different key pieces that make the offense go as well. He’s definitely a great player.

Q. When it comes to the shifts and motions, we were asking Jayden [Virgin-Morgan] about it; it’s easier said than done. But what is the key?

RODNEY ROBINSON: The key is really just communication and having our eyes in the right spot. Once we line up initially, we’ve got our first picture. But as soon as the shift happens, as soon as the motion happens, now we have to communicate. We have to talk whatever the adjustment may be so we’re on the same page.

If we don’t communicate effectively on the field when they’re giving us a lot of these shifts and motions, that can pose as cutting someone loose. That equals six at the end of the day.

Q. That secondary has a lot of snaps this year. How do you think you are at handling that stuff and communicating?

RODNEY ROBINSON: I feel very confident in this group. We’ve been asked to do a lot since the beginning of the season has started. Week by week, we’re asked to do different things. We got to change this and change that. We stepped up to the challenge every time. I expect nothing less from this back end this game.

Q. What goes through your mind when you see 34 [Alexander Teubner] back out on the field?

RODNEY ROBINSON: That’s my dog right there. I’m just excited. That’s a dude. He loves football. He breathes football. I know it was tough for him being out there and just watching. Having him back on the defense, it’s like our spark, another spark.

We got a lot of different sparks, but he’s that guy that will give somebody a wake-up call quick. You see that, okay, that’s the type of timing we’re on today. It’s definitely great to have him out there, a guy that’s going to play 100 miles an hour every play.

Q. I don’t want to say you’re a small dude, but you’re smaller. You play down in the box. He did the same thing, 195, and the situations he puts himself in. How fearless is that guy?

RODNEY ROBINSON: He’s completely fearless. I don’t even think he knows what the word “fear” means, honestly. Being in the box 80, 90% of the game, going full speed, he’s basically a backer at this point. It was definitely exciting. He definitely gets the defense going when he comes down and lays a big hit, for sure.

Q. New Year’s Six seemed to be a limit for this team of what could be done. Do you remember the first time you heard this expanded 12-team playoff proposal with the Group of Five inclusion? How excited did that make you to have that opportunity for something even more?

RODNEY ROBINSON: It was very exciting. Like you just said, New Year’s Six being the limit for Mountain West schools and things like that. You see a 12-team playoff, you look at the schedule, and say, okay, we’ve got a real shot here. This team was relentless all season, putting the work in. We’re not here for no reason. We put in the work to get where we are right now.

Q. Have you heard from any past players in the last month that said, okay, look, you have a chance to do something that only we could dream about?

RODNEY ROBINSON: I really haven’t heard from no past players about nothing like that. It’s just more so them congratulating us on winning the championship or winning different games and things like that.

Alex Mattison, I’ve been knowing him since I was a kid, so he’s definitely reached out a few times. But I haven’t really had no formal conversation about the playoff or anything.

But I will say, just for us to be in the position that we are in today, is because of the guys that came before us that laid the foundation and won the games to move up to different conferences. Allowing us to have just the facility we have today. I’m extremely grateful for the foundation that they laid for us to be where we are today.

Q. Have you thought about the emotions that are going to be there when you do hit that field on New Year’s Eve in Arizona, knowing what you guys have ahead of you?

RODNEY ROBINSON: The emotions will be high, but I try to be an even-keel guy. I’m going to be the same guy I was week one, week two, week three. I’m just going in there with a mindset of just doing my job and putting this team in the best position to win.

Q. Last time Boise State played in the Fiesta Bowl was 10 years ago, but the players don’t have any connection to that, right? But to walk in and see the three Fiesta Bowl trophies, there’s got to be some sense of familiarity with the Fiesta Bowl. Does that help at all with your guys’ confidence?

RODNEY ROBINSON: Oh, yeah, definitely. Me and Trell [Latrell Caples], since we got here, we’ve been talking about doing things like this. Not even last season, but two years ago, we’re literally watching Kellen Moore and those teams, those old games. We’re sitting there saying: Bro, we’ve got to play like this. We’re watching Winston Venable knock dudes’ heads off. This was the standard here at Boise State.

I kid you not, we probably watched every game from those older times and different things like that. That’s what I mean, it’s really cool for us to be in this position that we are in today.

But when you walk around and you watch those games and you see the pictures all around the facility, that gives you confidence. This team has been here. We had players in the past that did this before. But now we have a bigger stage. It’s a 12-man playoff. They didn’t get to live out those type of aspirations and dreams.

It definitely gives us confidence. Hopefully we have some of that Boise magic with us, for sure.

Q. Those guys didn’t get the shot that you’re getting. The shot that you’re getting is to go win a national championship. Does it feel like you guys get a shot at a little bit of unfinished business for the guys who helped build this place?

RODNEY ROBINSON: Oh, definitely. Like I said, it stems from the hard work, the time that all those people put in. We got coaches that played on those teams that are here. Being able to have them here to coach us and lead us in the right direction, and help us get better every day, it’s nothing short of a blessing for sure. Having the right man at the head position, he stays on us every day. He demands nothing short of greatness from us.

It’s just all coming together and it’s just a blessing to have everybody onboard, from strength staff to EQ guys to GAs or even the nutritionist. Everything has been coming together, and you see what it’s turned out to be this year.

Q. Take me back to the setting, when you and Latrell [Caples] decided to sit down and watch this. Do you have the DVD at home or searching the archives here?

RODNEY ROBINSON: In the offseason, I’m Cali, he’s Texas. Boise is a different environment for us. Since we’ve been here, every time in the offseason, we’ll go where there’s winter workout, summer workouts. We get the workout done. We’re in the same workout group because we’re skilled, too. Go get a workout done and go to one another’s house and that’s all we do, is watch football.

We’ll watch those highlights of games, but then we watch literally every game. Even our freshman year when we didn’t play, the 2019 team that won the championship, we watched all those games that season.

Then we watched Oregon. We’re literally sitting there, and when we watch the game, you’re seeing No. 1 in the country, No. 2 in the country. The school we were at was literally No. 2, No. 4 in the nation, whatever it may be.

That’s what motivated us going into the offseason, adding a little extra fire, adding a little extra edge for us to go out there and compete and workouts to put us in the position we’re in today.

Q. Whose idea was it to watch the Fiesta Bowl?

RODNEY ROBINSON: It was both of ours. We were clicking through games. We’re like: Let’s watch this game and that game. When you watch a game, then more pop up at the bottom. We’re just turning on games and just watching all of them, really.

Q. How cool is it to know there are going to be players here that will watch you play in that game?

RODNEY ROBINSON: That’s cool, too. I just hope, like the people before us have inspired us and motivated us to be where we are today. I hope that I can leave that same impact when I leave.