Tulane Green Wave College Football Pregame Quote, 12/29/2022

So Tyjae [Spears] says he wants to win desperately, but you want to win way more than he wants to win?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Yes.

Talk about that.

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Yeah. We go back and forth all the time about how bad we want to win and what it means to us to win. And, you know, one day ‚Äì it started with the conference game but carried on from then, talking about these big games. We want to win. No, I need to win, need it. And it’s just something that’s heavy on our minds. We just really want to win. We need it.

I don’t think too many people outside think you’re going to win this game, which you’re used

to by now. How important is it to finish off what you started?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: It’s very important. From the jump, there hasn’t been a lot of people who believed in us. And we proved them wrong again and again. And this is just another opportunity to do that. We’ve done it before, and now we’re here to do it again.

Obviously, at that point, nobody really knew where Kansas State or Tulane was and of course Kansas State won the Big 12 championship two weeks ago in this building. Both of you turned out pretty good. What did it do for you?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: It showed us we could compete at the Power 5 level. I think that’s the first Power 5 game we’ve won since I’ve been here. It just showed us that we’re capable of playing those big games and winning those big games, the tough ones, close. No lead is too big. No lead is too big. No trail is too long. So it just showed us that we can ‚Äì we had the capability to play at that high level.

And the way you did it, it’s not like you maxed out or played out of your minds and that you were the better team on their field. Did that even help more?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Oh, yeah. It showed that we’ve got grit and toughness to hang in there. And even not at our best, you know, we’ve got the ability, the talent, and the physicality to compete with these teams. And it really just set up the season in a great way to know that there’s only up from there, because we didn’t play our best, by any means.

Obviously, this day and age in college football it would have been easy for Tyjae [Spears] to say I’m not playing because I have better things. Obviously, Michael [Pratt], there were people that wanted him to come there. What does it mean to have everybody here?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: I think it goes to show the brotherhood we’ve built and family and not wanting to walk out on each other. Just the biggest game Tulane has had in a long time, and it just goes to show what we’ve put behind us and how much we all care about this and how bad we want that.

How did you guys go from what happened last season to what you did this season?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: I’d say just leadership and togetherness. The players have really taken the initiative this season to really take control of the team, and the coaches are there to guide us the right way.

At the end of the day, it’s our team. We play. We’re the guys that go out and put the helmets and pads on and play. There’s got to be a certain level of confidence and togetherness from the players and player-led. And that’s got to be a big, big factor in a team. I feel like we’ve really been able to put that together, of course with the help of Coach [Willie] Fritz. He’s given the captains a lot of leniency and a lot of leeway to go ahead and lead the team and let us make a lot of big decisions for us.

You announced a big decision last week. Whether you walked on senior day, did you even in the back of your mind at that time feel like you might come back, and how did that process evolve?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: It’s been on my mind since the beginning of the season. You know, just debating whether or not to go to the next level was a great opportunity, but to get your master’s from Tulane is also a great opportunity. And that’s one thing I talked with my mom about coming in the first year, deciding I was going to pursue a psychology degree that I needed to get a master’s to do anything. To cover myself from Plan A to Plan C, it was in my best interests to come and get my master’s while it was still free.

Was it a close decision, or did it end up being pretty easy for you?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: It was a close one. I always want to bet on myself and everything is going to be all right if I did make that decision to go ahead and go. But just the long run and paying myself forward, it was just a smarter decision to go ahead and come back and get my master’s and have one more year to really take care of home, really, and nourish what we’ve built here and carry that on and really establish a tradition the Tulane way.

Coach [Willie] Fritz said you were banged up in the beginning of the year and it took you a little while. What were you feeling and when did you start feeling like your real self?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: So I actually – I partially tore my – it was my UCL, inside one, the first week of – or Week 1, that week of practice.

And a couple other knickknack things, a couple of sicknesses and things. I really didn’t feel like my true self until probably Houston or ECU. And it was ‚Äì it was a big battle and just kind of when you can’t play the way you’re used to and you’ve got to figure out different ways. Honestly, it was a learning experience. And just learning how to find a way and make a way and teaching me a little more toughness too.

Not coincidentally, offense is in a different gear since you got healthy. How confident are you guys now, the second-highest scoring team in school history? The second half, you really scored that position. When people talk about USC being unstoppable, how do you feel about yourself?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Right. You know, there ‚Äì there’s, especially at this level, as an offense you’ve got to be confident. You’ve got to know when you touch that ball, when you approach that ball and you walk onto the field, that you’re going to score. You can’t think anything else. You can’t have any doubts in your mind. We’ve got to be utmost confidence.

And that’s not saying that you have to be arrogant, but it’s saying that you’ve got to be confident of yourself and your abilities and the guy’s next to you abilities and to be able to perform and handle their job. And I think that’s just as a ‚Äì as a unit, I feel like we’ve all got that and we all have the utmost confidence in each other.

What does the psychology degree relate to football? How have you used it in football?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: A lot with tells and watching film. You get to figure out what somebody wants and what they’re thinking. On the field you start reading body language and see people’s eyes and how they’re handling themselves and you can really tell when you’ve got somebody on their heels based on their body, hands on the hips, leaning over, a bunch of things to look for that psychology helps you with too.

What has Kurt Hester meant to this program? What was your reaction to him? It seems the buy-in was really fast.

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Coach [Willie] Fritz actually let the captains sit in on the interviews, listen to ‚Äì and have some input on who we were going to hire and, you know, captains, we really liked Coach Hester and the energy he bought and the plan he had coming in. And I think he’s brought just a different level of physicality to this team, speed, power-wise, all of that.

How much interviews did you see? How many guys interviewed?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: I think we had two or three strength coaches, and we also sat in on some of the OC interviews.

Were you pretty clear he was your favorite, [Kurt] Hester?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Yeah.

I covered that surge deal in the summer. The enthusiasm was off the charts. Just kind of – it was clear that everybody believed.

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: Yes. So by then he had already kind of instilled a little bit of just a warrior mindset in us, and that was kind of the top ‚Äì the cherry on top. And it’s always inspiring to see. The guy’s 60-plus years old, and he moves better than half the team. So that’s always just ‚Äì it’s insane to see, you know, just someone who just has that much will and fight in him. And I feel like it really rubs off on all of us.

During games, where does it help you best?

OL SINCERE HAYNESWORTH: He’s just‚Äì just that intensity that he brings and coming off the sideline and he’s there to shake our hands, pump us up, tell us to go hit somebody. Sometimes he’s watching and saw us hit somebody and come pump your tires up. It’s just a really great feeling. It’s awesome.