Oklahoma State Cowboys College Football Pregame Quote, 08/23/2019

We are in game-plan mode now. Still working hard but practices have been reduced somewhat. I like where our guys are at. We are excited. We will know a week from now. We are just finishing up, working hard and trying to get some quality work in before we have to fly out west.

On the quarterbacks:

We have a really good plan in place. It’s not something I’m going to discuss publicly at this time. There isn’t really anything that has changed that would be worth talking about today. Both of them are getting better every day.

On the kicking squad: 

We’ve been very lucky with our guys, the snappers, the holders, the kickers and the punters. Obviously, Tom Hutton is our punter, Jake McClure is kicking off and Matt Ammendola is kicking field goals. Those guys put a lot of time and effort in. They seemed to be doing very well at this time. I feel good about where we are at with those guys, just based on some experience. They should be a little better and they are a little bit stronger, which helps them with their art, which is kick the ball and kick it way down the field.

On the talent show:

Joel Tudman is our director of team development and our team pastor. He works with our team outside of football and so he wanted to do a talent show. I was all for it; it’s really good and the players enjoy it. So we had one and it was such a hit that I suggested that we have two a year. You find out stuff about players that you never knew. Some guys can sing and I didn’t know they could sing. Some guys can play a guitar and I didn’t know they play a guitar.

On the best performance at the talent show:

Israel Antwine was through the roof. Dillon Stoner and some of those guys were singing “My Girl.” They were singing pretty good. Some other guys did some other acts that were more up to date and I had no clue what any of that was. I can deal with “My Girl” and some of that stuff, but the new stuff, I didn’t have a clue.

On A.J. Green attempting magic tricks at the talent show: 

Yeah, A.J. better stick to playing corner. I don’t think anyone in there even knew what he was attempting to do.

On Bryce Bray at right guard instead of left tackle:

Coach Charlie Dickey is moving guys around some, and I’m not sure it’ll start that way. It could just depend on where we’re at and how Dylan Gaolloway is doing at left; so those guys will move around. As I’ve said, we’re always looking for three guards, two tackles and two centers. They’re kind of in that role at this time; but he’s practiced both positions.

On plans to use the redshirt rule this year:

The same as last year. We will play some skill guys on special teams and certain areas. In most cases, your big guys won’t play, unless you get in a game where you are way ahead. So, it will be very similar to what we used last year.

On LD Brown and Chuba Hubbard petitioning to be on kickoff returns:

You don’t see as many of them now with the rule changes, but they want to be back there. So, let them have at it. Let them work together and they want to try to touch the ball as much as possible.

On Malcolm Rodriguez’s physicality of being moved to linebacker:

If you’re going to draw one up, his agility and speed would be a big advantage there. His size could be an issue, we’ll see how it works. A lot of the game is played side to side now. It’s not played straight ahead so that allows him to come down and help us out a little bit in that position.

On how Rodriguez uses his wrestling experience to help him:

As quick as he is, he can duck them too. So if you have a 300-pound guy coming after him, I would highly recommend not letting him get his hands on him. He can duck him or keep his hands on him. You don’t want to take him on. He needs to use his skill set, which he has done pretty well over the week.

On if Oregon State will try to run and how important it is to stop that:

It’s like any other game, they would prefer to rush the football and use the clock. Their history with their coaching staff has been that, if you just look at where they’ve come from. The back they have won Freshman of the Year and their offensive line seem to be veteran guys who were good players. It would make sense that they would rush the football.