Actually my career-high performance Saturday against Georgia Tech was more painful than anything, taking on all those blocks from linemen. To get the win, it makes everything feel better.
There was never any doubt I could come back full-speed and return to form. Once i was cleared to play and given a second chance, I was determined to take full advantage of it and be the best that I can be.
Getting better every week is what you have to do. It’s important for us to get better each and every time we go out and play and practice. It’s going to be a gradual progression.
Winning makes everything feel a lot better. A lot of bumps and bruises don’t hurt as bad. Everybody’s smiling and everybody’s in a good mood.
It feels good to have the support of your fellow students and some of the faculty members sitting there, pushing you, telling you, ‘good job.’
We believe through and through that if we go out and execute our assignments, that we can play against anybody that lines up against us.
I hope its going to be crazy. I’m looking forward to it being real loud. I have seen them building up some more stands. I hope the stands are full and that fans stay the whole game and support us.
When you’re a traveling team, to have a crowd like ours rooting against you, its almost intimidating if they’re loud enough. It can be shaky to some people on a road team. But to have it supporting us, it’s going to give us energy offensively and defensively.
It’s just one game. We can’t be ACC champs without beating every team in the ACC. That’s what our goal is, so we have to line up and beat whoever is in front of us. That’s Virginia Tech right now, so that is all we are focusing on.
It’s not a grudge match for us. You can’t go out there with revenge on your mind, because that’s when you start to lose composure and lose sight of what your goal is. We are just going to go out there and focus on the task at hand, which is executing our assignment and trying to beat Virginia Tech.
Its just another game. I’m just happy to be back out there with my guys.
It is a different mentality this year because a lot of guys are starting to understand what the coaches expect from us. We go out there and do it, and we have fun doing it. We don’t have to think as much, so when you don’t have to think, you’re able to play faster. Experience is all it is.
To me, national recognition doesn’t mean much. As quick as they give you these national things, they take it away after just one game. It’s something for analysts and reporters to talk about, but it means nothing to us.
I’m just happy Russell Wilson is on our side. Having to play against that quarterback, our wide receivers and tight ends, our running backs, our offense in general, I’m just glad I’m not an opposing team that has to face all that in a game.
That’s tough, because each guy is going to have his own play, or they might have a special package to get the ball in each person’s hands. You have to be aware of every single guy on the field and what they’re able to do. You have to be mentally locked in, and that could be the difference between winning and losing a game.
