Transcript From Football's Weekly Press Conference
Nov 11, 2014 | Football
Video of Tulane football's weekly press conference
NEW ORLEANS - Fresh off a 31-24 American Athletic Conference win at Houston, Tulane University head football coach Curtis Johnson addressed the local media during his weekly press conference on Tuesday afternoon in the multi-purpose room of Yulman Stadium.Johnson reviewed his team's performance against the Cougars - which saw the Green Wave outscore Houston 17-7 in the second half to erase a 17-14 halftime deficit - before moving on to this weekend's Homecoming matchup with Memphis. A complete transcript of Tuesday's presser is below.
Kickoff for the Tulane/Memphis contest is slated for Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2:30 p.m. (CST) in Yulman Stadium and will be televised live nationally on ESPNU. In addition to the television coverage, Saturday's contest will be broadcast on the flagship radio station for Green Wave football - WMTI 106.1 FM "The Ticket" - and the radio call is available on the web at www.TulaneGreenWave.com via the All-Access Pass. Live game stats are also available on the official website of Tulane Athletics for free courtesy of GameTracker.
Tulane (3-6, 2-3 American) and Memphis (6-3, 4-1 American) will meet for the 31st time and the Tigers lead the all-time series, 18-11-1. The Green Wave hold a 9-7-1 mark against Memphis at home and the contest marks the first meeting between the two teams since the 2012 campaign when both programs were members of Conference USA. Saturday's game is sold out, but Standing-Room Only tickets are available for $35 each in the following areas: Capital One Fan Zone, upper levels behind lower bowl and general admission seating in student section after kick-off.
For additional information on Saturday's game, as well as future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283). The Tulane Ticket Office is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center and is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased on-line at the official website of Tulane Athletics - www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
TULANE HEAD COACH Curtis Johnson
Opening statement
"Thank all of you guys for coming out. You know, the weather is not as good. After we won, I thought the sky would be blue and the sun would be shining and everything, but the weather is a little bit dim. Going back to Saturday, it was a great win for us and great for our program - especially for me. It wasn't anything personal - just to see those young kids come out and play better and better. Offensively, we made our share of mistakes and we didn't play anywhere near as good as we wanted to play. Defensively, Parry Nickerson had a great game. Edward Williams, Royce LaFrance, Sam Scofield - those guys played well. On offense, it was all true freshmen scoring for us, including the kicker. What a difference a month makes. Last month, I almost killed him. Now, he's making field goals to put us ahead. Special teams helped us and Tanner [Lee] played probably his finest game. This young Dontrell Hilliard kid now, I'm going to admit when I was wrong. Guys, I was wrong and [running backs coach] David Johnson was right. He kept telling me to play him more and all of a sudden this kid is playing absolutely out of sight. It was a good win for us. We still made a lot of mistakes. We're still not as good as we want to be, but I'm proud of the way the guys came back. They learned from the Cincinnati game and all of the things that happened in that game. We had a player ejected, we ended the half pretty bad, we didn't do some things right, and they came back, fought back and they won a hard-fought game."
On the targeting penalty on Darion Monroe and the logistics of the rule
"The clarification, I just wanted some consistency with it. One minute, it's the location of the helmet. One minute, it's the crown of the helmet. One minute, it's the face. One minute, it's only certain parts of the helmet and the location of where the targeting foul can be called. If you ask me, it would be helmet-to-helmet crown, and that's what I would like it to be. Here's what we have to do: we have to start teaching tackling low like they do in the NFL. If you watch NFL guys, they cut them. They cut everybody down by the legs and we just have to start doing that."
On his feelings towards his players getting called for targeting in back-to-back games
"I'm definitely biased because I lost two of my best players in two weeks because of it. I'd just like us to have cleaner definition of all of it, just to make sure we're doing all of the right things. We need to go into the offseason and reevaluate the rule to make sure we're getting accomplished what it's supposed to accomplish."
On whether intent should be considered when making a targeting call
"It's not necessarily intent. It's just the affliction of the blow, where the location is and what they're doing. If you ask me if I'm targeting somebody to do something, it's kind of like a weapon. I'm using a weapon part of the helmet."
On if keeping the offense balanced and making sure the ball is spread among the running backs can create a problem
"No, I don't think so. You love to have a running game. If you have 80 something plays - if you're decent you usually get around 80-90 plays - and if you can give 20 plays to each, that's kind of what you want. These guys are so young and you package stuff up for certain guys. I'm not saying this to take anything away from any of our running backs, but I don't think we have guys who are great at any one thing. If you ask me, Lazedrick [Thompson] is a guy who is going to hit it when you want to pound at a defense and soften them up. Sherman [Badie] is a guy that's going to lightning it. He's going to run it. Dontrell [Hilliard] kind of does all of it. He reminds me a lot of Pierre Thomas with great balance and body control. Dante Butler is a little bit of both of them. He'll get you the hard yards and has great vision. I think we can fit all of these guys in."
On the developing options at running back
"I'm just shocked with how those guys are playing. If you look at it coming from a year ago, none of those guys had done one thing. Lazedrick played a little bit for us a year ago, but Sherman was in the library, hopefully, and Dontrell was looking for a prom date around this time last year. Butler was just kind of in and out of the rotation. I think those guys are fitting in well. I like what [offensive coordinator] Eric [Price] is doing with them. I like the way [running backs coach] Dave [Johnson} is coaching them. It's a win/win for us."
On what reservations he had on playing Dontrell Hilliard more
"I just thought Sherman was so electric after that first game, and then the next couple of games you had what Lazedrick was doing and Dante Butler was also having a quiet but good year. I really didn't have a fit on exactly what he was. You know the least about freshmen and the least about rookies. I just didn't have a fit on where he was and where he was mentally. The one thing I wondered - I don't want to get the quarterback hit - and the protection as a big concern for me with Dontrell. It wasn't anything that he did. It was just him being a young kid and he's doing fine. Tanner is getting hit less than anyone that I've been around. Some of it is him getting the ball off quickly and some of it is those guys are protecting him."
On the youth movement and so many freshmen playing key roles on this team
"What we've done and what we always said is we're going to play the best players that we can. I just think these freshmen are extremely local and extremely talented guys. We're just happy to have these guys come in. They're definitely good enough and smart enough. They've been coached well enough and so they understand the importance of doing the right things. Sometimes we thought they didn't with all the mistakes we made early in the year, but they're our best players right now. They're playing well so we're going to play them."
On what the Houston win can do for the confidence of the team
"What the kids needed was for something positive to happen to them. In some of those games, it was a play here or a play there and we got blown out because we didn't do two or three things right. I thought this was a game that we kind of began to put it all together offensively and defensively. Sometimes you play your best game and you may lose by 24. I don't think we've done that this year and we continue to hustle and play hard. If they do that and something positive like this happens. I think Houston is a really, really good football team. You just have to take your hats off to those guys and be thankful that it happened."
On if he saw something last week that indicated that the team is turning the corner
"Weekly, we've been kind of doing that. We've been practicing really, really well. When Joe Montana and those guys were with the 49ers, they knew they were going to win a Super Bowl because no balls were dropped, there were very few corrections and no mental mistakes. It wasn't any of that, but sometimes we aren't good or as experience as we want. If you watch us, we catch the ball at a high rate. Those guys hit the holes, they run and they run it into the endzone. I saw Sherman today for the first time look like the old Sherman. He's running into the endzone. Lazedrick is running into the endzone. When you're doing that without coaches yelling at you to run and hustle, you're doing something right. I'm not saying we're going to win, lose or whatever, but I like the direction we're going in."
On if being an 11.5-point underdog going into the Memphis game is a slight at his team
"No, not at all. When you look at it, we have 11 players [on the field] and we have to play the game. We haven't been playing very well for most of the season. We haven't put anything together in back-to-back games. We may be a 21-point underdog. I don't know. Our kids just have to come out and play the type of ball and the caliber of ball that we're capable of playing. If you look at [Memphis], they're a veteran team. These are the same guys we played against two years ago. All of those guys are the same with the exception of the quarterback. For us, almost everybody in the building is young."
On if Homecoming has a special meaning with so many local players on the team
"I'm glad that they are local and I'm glad that they're here. It's how you manage them. It's how you manage those kids and get their mindset right. We've had a couple of home games now. We're used to the stadium and we're getting used to stuff. They're used to their parents being around and it works for our benefit for Homecoming. You really, really want to do well for your parents. I just hope that we play well so they can be proud of their kids. I want all of them to play well because for Homecoming, everybody is going to be here and it should be a packed stadium."
On how Tulane was able to get Parry Nickerson to stay local and choose Tulane out of high school
"Keith Williams did a magnificent job with Parry and the recruitment of Parry Nickerson. We identified him very early here. I remember my first year here, we did a camp out here and he ran so fast. We couldn't believe how fast he was. It was him and Richard Allen. I still remember those guys at camp. We love him. I think Keith did an outstanding job in recruiting him and [Parry] was with us all the way through."
On how influential it was for Parry Nickerson to stay close to his parents
"Very, very influential. His mom, dad and sisters. His sister always calls my wife. They are a tremendous family and provide very, very good backing. He's a kid that wanted to stay home, wanted to be around his parents and I think it was great that we got him."
On Memphis and what they do well
"What they do is they don't make very many mistakes. I think their quarterback is playing much better. They're playing big, they're playing physical and they overcome stuff because they've played together so long."
On how emotionally ready Memphis will be for Saturday's game
"I think they're going to come in and be ready to play. Coach [Justin] Fuente really does a great job preparing them. He's really turned things to where he wants them to be. He stuck with those kids and those kids are really, really paying off for him. I like his team. He has a really good, good football team so it's going to be a tough game for us."
On if his son, Trey, playing collegiately at Memphis gives Tulane any advantage
"He knows a few of them, but I don't think he played very much with them. They were younger kids, he hurt his foot and he was done. He never played under this coach or anything."
On how close Parry Nickerson was from not being able to play this season or beyond due to a knee injury
"To be honest with you, we prepared for him not to play just because of the injury and him being a young kid. Young kids don't do well with coming back from injury. I was told early on that he may not be able to ever play. I was told that he may have to miss another year. One thing about Parry is that when you see him in the hall or wherever you see him, he's always positive and he always said, `Coach, I'm playing. I'm coming. I'm doing it.' When he had that much confidence, I was good. I saw him make a couple of plays in fall camp, and I knew he could play. I didn't know he could be a starter, but I knew he would play then."
On what lessons Tulane can learn from the way Memphis has built its program
"We had our seniors last year and they have them this year. That's the way you have to build a program. You come in, find out who your best players are and what year they are. We had our best players last year. Now, that's what they're doing. If you look at their roster, they're doing it the right way. They're a senior-laden team. There are seniors all over and older kids who have been playing for three years. They took their bumps and bruises their first couple of years and now they're playing well."
On what he learned about his team after its response to losing Darion Monroe against Houston
"The week before against Cincinnati when we lost [defensive end Tyler] Gilbert [on a targeting call], our defense [lost its composure]. You could just see it. They were coming off the field and reacting like it was the end of the world. This stuff isn't end of the world. We have three quarters of a game left to play. This time, and I heard them say it: `Next man up. Let's go.' In a week, they learned the difference between an injury or getting thrown out of a game and how you have to come back and how you have to respond."
On what he asked the officials on Saturday following Houston's on-sides kick late in the game
"My question was not so much the penalty. My question was if you throw the flag, why would you just go and pick it up. I didn't see the on-sides kick. I had another timeout. I was going to use my second timeout to make sure we were balanced because I had a feeling that they were going to it again. I wanted them to stop play and explain to me what happened more than anything instead of say, `There was no penalty.' You can't just throw a flag, wait about 10 seconds and go back and put it back in your pocket. To be honest with you, I thought they had too many men on the field. That's what I thought. I didn't see the guy jump offsides."
