Josh McDaniel

Football 9/19/2023 3:47:00 PM

LA Tech FB Press Conference | Week 4 (Nebraska)

RUSTON – Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie and select players spoke with the media on Tuesday in advance of the Bulldogs' matchup at Nebraska at Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 2:40 p.m.

Sonny Cumbie

Opening Statement…
"We are looking forward to getting back on the field. We had a good practice this morning and are really trying to move forward after last week's game with North Texas. The quickest way to do that is to get back out on the practice field and get to work again. We had a good first practice for the week. We know we have a tough game this weekend at Nebraska. They are a great opponent and this will be one of the greatest environments in all of college football. Their fan base is incredible. It will be a lot of fun for our players to experience that and go up and play against a great opponent. They are very big on defense. Offensively, they do a great job of running the football. They want to play a physical style of football on offense, defense and special teams. It will be a great challenge for our guys to match that and be able to compete. We are going to have to have a lot of great effort with the offensive line and defensive line. I am excited about the challenge ad looking forward to getting up to Lincoln, Nebraska to play this football game and finish out our non-conference slate."

On quarterback Hank Bachmeier…
"We are still trying to determine the extent of the injury and we will know more as the week goes in terms of his availability and ability to throw the football and how effective he can be with that shoulder injury."

On quarterback Jack Turner…
"Jack was ready and prepared to go in. He executed well and a did a good job of moving the football. We said all along we have a lot of confidence in Hank and Jack they are both good players. They both have gotten better because of each other. They both are in the film rooms together. They do a great job of supporting and challenging each other at the same time. Jack did a good job bringing us back. Hopefully all of our quarterbacks will be available Saturday but I was pleased with how Jack was ready to get in there and compete."

On running back room…
"We have sustained some injuries in the running back room and Coach Teddy (Veal) has done a great job of getting the next guy ready to go out there and play. Charvis (Thornton) it will be interesting to see how his week goes to determine his availability. I expect Tyre (Shelton) to play. I am encouraged by Marquis Crosby. I do not know if it will be this week or next but I think he is getting closer to helping us and getting back. He has been out for a signicant amount of time so we will have to be smart about how we get him back going and involved in our offense… Keith Willis is definitely out for this game and the forseeable future with a high-ankle sprain. We do have our hands full there and we are going against a team that is one of the top five in the country in rushing defense. They are only allowing around 55 yards a game. We are going to have to be creative with what we do in being able to run the football. We are going to have to be able to do that against a great opponent. I have a lot of confidence in Coach Teddy and a lot of confidence of those guys in the room. The running back room has displayed a lot of courage and grit through the first part of the season."

On Nebraska defensive line…
"There is definitely an awareness on our part with how big they are on the defensive line and how disruptive they are with their linebackers and defensive front. They do a great job rushing the passer and they are the biggest defensive front that we will play. They are huge up front and very active and athletic. There is definitely an awareness from our standpoint in pass protection and putting our guys in the best position to be successful."

On Nebraska's turnovers…
"I saw the difference with them last week. With any transition from one offensive scheme to another you are getting a quarterback's feet wet and it takes time to get rhythm and timing. Any time there is a transition it will take awhile with a quarterback. Some of the things you see in practice with a quarterback is the speed of the game is a little bit different and fast paced. Getting into the rhytym of the offense I think they did that last week. They do a great job in terms of running the football, their play action shots and they played smart football last week."

On preparing for heavy run game…
"We are going to have to figure out ways to get extra hats in the box. Both quarterbacks do a great job of running the football with zone reads and quarterback draws and with quarterback power. We are going to have to find ways to get extra hats to the box. As a result, we have to be really good in coverage on the outside. They do pose some problems. It is a lot different in terms of a structure standpoint than what we just faced. Chandler (Rogers) created plays with his feet because of the spread he was able to get some running lanes and take off. This is a little bit different because you have an idea where everyone is going to be at it is just in terms of executing. They are really good at what they do. From a defensive standpoint 40 snaps out of 40 snaps, we have to be exactly where we are supposed to be to be able to stop their run."

On slow starts offensively…
"We had six plays in the first quarter. On two third downs it is just execution to keep those drives alive. Hank threw a beautiful pass on the first drive of the game to Ryan Rivera. Ryan is a sure-handed kid. He has some of the best hands on our football team and he has made that catch numerous times. It is just getting guys settled in. This is Ryan's first and unfortunately only season with us. He is getting used to playing in a completely different offensive system than what he played at Cal Poly. From that standpoint, it is going out there and the next time that opportunity arrives I expect Ryan to make that play. Last game it was very easy to see that we did not convert out third downs. We had two of them in the first quarter and it was the same way the rest of the game. We did not do a good job of converting them on offense and getting ourselves off to a fast start."

On Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule's comment about Smoke Harris…
"It is a high compliment and high praise. Coach Rhule is a phenomenal coach. I competed against him when he was at Baylor. He has done a phenomenal job in terms of rebuilding programs and is very clear on what he wants in his programs and how he wants his teams to play. He has seen a lot of football coming from the Carolina Panthers. For him to say that about Smoke I think it is a very high compliment. We were watching practice today and we were talking about him as an offensive staff. Smoke has played here for six years. We are going to go back and count up how many practices he has been here at Louisiana Tech. For every practice, we have to slow him down. He practices at one speed. The production is phenomenal and the plays he made Saturday night were phenomenal but the way he has handled his business in his two years here you just cannot replace a guy like him. As many credentials as he has attained and how he practices every single day from a coaching standpoint he brings a lot of joy. It is a lot of joy to coach someone who practices the same way he plays with a lot of intensity and a lot of speed. I kid our guys all the time if you talk about the guys that have played a lot of football. There is a lot of miles on those tires. He has a lot of miles on his tires and he is still running like he is brand new. It shows his passion for the game. He is a joy for us to coach and is a really good football player. He has meant a lot to this program in the last six years that he has been here. I have said it after the first week, in this era of college football where you have stayed somewhere and entrenched yourself in the program and a community. It says a lot. This week is a big challenge because they are fast on defense. Our margin for error on the perimeter is very small because of how fast they are. They tackle well. So Smoke will be challenged from that standpoint."

On getting the ball in Smoke Harris' hands…
"It is trying to get him easy touches with all of our playmakers and trying to figure out what are advantages are and trying to expose those and play to our strengths. Throwing the ball vertically down the field to him and getting him in space. They are an attacking football team so we are going to have to make sure we win on our perimeter blocks whenever we do get the ball out in space. The main thing is when we get our opportunities we have to be patient with them and execute at a high level. We also have to be understanding that four yards and five yards against these guys is good and hopefully we can hit an explosive and continue to be persistence and consistent in execution and moving the ball down the field."

On improving defensively…
"In the second half in terms of reps and fatigue it caught up to it a little bit and part of that was us beign able to sustain drives on offense and keeping the defense off the field. Our first drive of the second half we should have came away with points and that would have gave our team more energy. Those are the things, we need to tackle well. In the second half we got a little worn out and missed tackles we should not have missed. We gave up more explosive plays in the past game than we had in a very long time. We have to win our one-on-ones because we play a lot of man coverage on the outside. They are going to know where we are at so we have to do a great job of playing the ball."

Jeslord Boateng

On stopping the run…
"Like Coach Cumbie said earlier as linebackers and a defensive line. Everyone needs to be tight in our run system and know where to go."

On forcing turnovers against Nebraska…
"We need to be more cautious of how the ball carrier is carrying the ball and know if their arm is up and tight. We need to know the pressure points and area of the ball so we can force more fumbles and things of that nature."

On complications of joining a new team…
"I played at there my freshman year while I was at Michigan State. It is a really loud environment and really fun. It will be a good experience for everyone on the team to play at that caliber of a level of Big Ten team."

On preparing for Nebraska's quarterbacks…
"They are kind of the same so I would say we are taking a similar approach and have a similar game plan."

On biggest difference between a Power Five team and Group of Five team…
"I would say the biggest difference is the interior between all levels of football. Up front there is a difference but football is football at the end of the day."

On Nebraska's top two running backs being out…
"It does not matter for us. Last week we did not stop the run at all so we are really focusing on that regardless of who is at running back."

Smoke Harris

On being a leader And getting the guys ready…
"You just do what you do every week. You don't change it everything stays the same and you have to look at different stuff differently each week because the results are different. You just have to be consistent every week."

On fast starts but not being able to get out to one…
"We just have to come out and do our job. We need to come and execute from the start, we are digging ourselves in deep holes and trying to dig ourselves out at the end. If we start fast and start the way we finish games I mean games would be very different."

On the difference between players in Power Five and Group of Five…
"I mean there are a lot of good players at each level. I feel like we have guys on this team that can play at Power Five and different group of five schools, it's the same. I'll say the front seven is probably bigger in the power five than it is in the group of five."

Bert Hale

On preparing for the environment…
"The environment is very crazy especially when you get into Power Five with the crowd noise. We have been preparing for that a lot and preparing for that a lot this week... We are taking lots of precautions for this power five to not let us get down, keep our heads in the game, and stay focused. It is tough going into a power five school with crowd environment and noise but we are going to do a lot of things to handle that."

On the run game coming alive…
"We started out rough with the run game which was due to our two starting running backs being down. It is the next guy up. We have modified a few things on the offensive line to try to get the running game started. We are looking pretty good now."

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Players Mentioned

#3 Marquis Crosby: RB; 5' 10"; Redshirt Sophomore; 2nd Year

#79 Bert Hale: OL; 6' 5"; Junior; 3rd Year

#6 Smoke Harris: WR; 5' 7"; Redshirt Senior; 5th Year

#10 Jack Turner: QB; 6' 5"; Redshirt Sophomore

#3 Jeslord Boateng: LB; 6' 2"; Redshirt Senior

#34 Ryan Rivera: TE; 6' 3"; Redshirt Senior

#19 Hank Bachmeier: QB; 6' 1"; Redshirt Senior

Players Mentioned

#3 Marquis Crosby
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Sophomore; 2nd Year
: RB

#79 Bert Hale
: 6' 5"; Junior; 3rd Year
: OL

#6 Smoke Harris
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Senior; 5th Year
: WR

#10 Jack Turner
: 6' 5"; Redshirt Sophomore
: QB

#3 Jeslord Boateng
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Senior
: LB

#34 Ryan Rivera
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Senior
: TE

#19 Hank Bachmeier
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Senior
: QB

LA Tech Athletics

LA Tech Athletics

Events and Results

LA Tech FB Press Conference | Week 4 (Nebraska)

Players Mentioned

#3 Marquis Crosby

#79 Bert Hale

#6 Smoke Harris

#10 Jack Turner

#3 Jeslord Boateng

#34 Ryan Rivera

#19 Hank Bachmeier

Players Mentioned

#3 Marquis Crosby

#79 Bert Hale

#6 Smoke Harris

#10 Jack Turner

#3 Jeslord Boateng

#34 Ryan Rivera

#19 Hank Bachmeier