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VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 24, 2018

Derek Mason

Nashville, Tennessee

Vanderbilt - 38, Tennessee - 13

DEREK MASON: I came down to see you yesterday, man, I know you're at home watching this, hopefully it bids you well. I love you my man. I love you, Randy, Noelle, and the family. I miss you. Let me congratulate Coach Pruitt because I talked to Coach Pruitt before the game and he's a class act. He came up to me and he said, listen, I watched you guys play and love what you guys are doing energy wise. Your guys are playing hard. And I congratulated him on the same thing, because I think, man, he's resurrecting that program. So shout out to Coach Pruitt.

With that being said, I thought our guys played well in all three phases. I thought it was a good ball game for the Commodores. And we needed to establish ourself defensively, offensively, special teams and I thought we did that. I told them coming in at halftime that we would get their best shot. Little did I know they would come out first play and they would go for a touchdown. But it was a wake up call for those guys and I thought they responded. This is the football team that I thought I had going into the season. Obviously we missed Ke'Shawn in the first half. It was amazing, I got to give a true shout timeout to Kalija Lipscomb, because he got hurt early in that ball game and nobody knew it and that dude played throughout it. So I mean hats off to that dude because he didn't have to, but he wanted to. And I think it speaks to a lot of these guys Ladarius Wiley, JoeJuan Williams, Dare, Jordan Griffin. I got a bunch of dudes, man, who have fought and battled here at Vanderbilt University. When people said that they couldn't do it, they have done it. When people say we were going to finish last, not so fast. I really want to say thank you to these seniors because these seniors deserve this. They deserve the opportunity to go bowling. They deserve an opportunity to go out on top. And for me it's been a long year, tell you what, I'm about ready for a nap. I'm being honest with you. I'm about ready for a nap but I'll get one. I'll get one because I'm going to party tonight. I'm going to party with my guys. I'm going to go home and party right there in front of that TV, sit down. With that being said I thought all these guys played well. I thought Kyle Shurmur had the game of his life, the game we knew he was capable of. We were able to take advantage because they kept loading the box. Late in the ball game they wouldn't allows us to run so we said keep throwing it. If that's what they're going to do, if they're going to give us the pass, then we got the right guy to light you up. And I thought he did just that. But again, it was a great ball game all the way around by this football team, this 2018 Commodore football team. And I'm so proud of them. I'm proud of them for sticking together when everybody thought that we hit the rocks and that we couldn't stand up. So it just goes to show you, I challenged these guys to stick with the process and the process had to do with being able to challenge themselves, being able to compete, and then when the opportunity came, to perform and that's exactly what they did. Relentless, tough, and intelligent. That's who they are. I appreciate them. With that being said I'll open it up for questions.

Q. All wins feel good but this one against the backdrop of needing the sixth win to go to the bowl, I guess in-state rivalry, how good does it feel right now?
DEREK MASON: You know what? It still hasn't hit me yet, really. I mean I'm excited, but it just hasn't hit me yet. Sometime maybe tomorrow, like the significance of it all will sink in. But you know what? It's sort of hard because your programmed. This time of year you're just going. Every day is like Ground Hog's day. So hopefully when I wake up tomorrow I feel differently.

Q. You talked about the importance of rivalry games. You've won three in a row in this one. What does that mean to this program, this fan base, etcetera?
DEREK MASON: Well Nashville is our city. I said that time and time again and I've about been laughed at. People didn't necessarily get on board, but now I think people have gotten on board. I think they understand. This isn't just about Commodore Nation. We live in one of the best cities in the country. And with that being said, we represent this city. We're vibrant, we're intelligent, we stand up and stand out in this city. I truly believe that when it's all said and done, this city has given a lot to Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt University's just now starting to give a lot back. And I definitely appreciate everybody who is come out to support us tonight. It was a great crowd. I loved seeing black and gold out there. And I've been out there many times where I saw more orange than I did black and gold, but not tonight. So it's just fantastic. Nashville's our city. Vanderbilt University's who we represent, so anchor down.

Q. What did you see on the Abdur-Rahim touchdown, and how important was that play for a guy like that to make a play like that at that moment?
DEREK MASON: We have been talking about Amir all year. It's just last two games he showed up. Again, college football's a junior/senior sport and when you got true freshmen stepping on the field, sometimes it just takes longer. It just takes longer. So for him I saw him make a great play, but I've seen him make those plays in practice time and time again. It's just finally starting to show up in games. I'm glad it was today because it was one heck of a catch.

Q. A lot of coaches are going to be turning the page now. You're going to be playing in bowl practices and looking at bowl destinations and all that. How does that process feel to you?
DEREK MASON: Man, it feels great. It feels great. I know one priority though is recruiting. The bowl thing will sort itself out. First thing I got to do Monday is get on the road and start recruiting because that's what this thing is about. We got to be able to sort of turn the page a little bit and move towards 2019 when you start talking about recruiting because the signing class signs on December 20th. So with that being said, we got to go.

Q. Three years in a row you played maybe your best game of the season against Tennessee. What is it about them that brings out your best?
DEREK MASON: I think these young men have a lot of pride in being Commodores. They do. Sometimes I think it gets missed in sometimes what we don't get done. But when it comes to playing in this game and understanding what this game means -- I think I told the story once before, every time I drive to work I drive by an orange mailbox and it sits in front of me consistently. And I told the story that I wanted to hit it several times as I'm driving home, but I keep my composure, I stay in the middle and I just keep driving. I've been in this rivalry game when we lost and I heard about it for 365 days and that's a tough deal. So with that being said, I think our guys understand that, they live in this city, they understand what this rivalry game is and I think -- they don't treat it any different, I just think they want it more right now. So with that being said, it's been fun playing in this game. You're only as good as the last one you played in, so tonight this football team will get a chance to relax and know that we won this football game and tonight is Commodores night so let's get it.

Q. It can be a cliche sometimes but the next man up mentality how present was that tonight with players like Amir and Khari making plays with other receivers and backs hobbled up?
DEREK MASON: I think it's apropos. I think that's really who we are in this deal. We talk about next man up. I know a lot of people use it, a lot of people say it, but when somebody goes down, somebody has got to stand up and I thought those guys stood up.

Q. You talked about your seniors, Kyle starts 15-15 to start the game, 367 yards. I mean, is that the script you would write for any senior on Senior Day?
DEREK MASON: You know, yeah, especially Kyle Shurmur. He, he's done everything that we have asked him to do. He's worked hard in the classroom, he's worked hard as a leader. Tonight he goes out and shows why he is a quarterback to be reckoned with in this conference. Obviously we wish we had more games on the other side of the win column, we really do, but Kyle's done his part. I think at the end of the day this young man has solidified himself as one of the best to ever play here at Vanderbilt University at that position and with that being said I don't think he'll be soon forgotten.

Q. You held the ball for 43 minutes today, what goes right that allows you to do that?
DEREK MASON: I got to give a lot of credit to the offensive line, Andy Ludwig, because here's what went right, when you talk about a defense, defense did a great job of getting the ball back and getting their offense off the field, but our offense did a pretty good job of driving the length of the field. When you look at those drives, we had some long drives. We put together football drives. Four-minute drives. I think that's a testament to not only the play calling but those guys being intentional about their actions behind the play calling. Like I told you before, coaches don't make plays come alive, players do. And tonight we just told them to focus on the now, stay in the middle and I think they just continued to grind. So I got to give the credit to the players.

Q. You kept them in second and long, third and long just about all day, what was the key to that?
DEREK MASON: Obviously what you do on first down dictates what happens there. I thought we were good on first down, I thought we defended well. And they took their shots, we guarded well down the field. I thought we challenged receivers. And when you do that you give yourself a chance. So I thought we learned a lot from last week's ball game about challenging these receivers and needing to make sure that we didn't find ourselves giving up too much space and not being able to get guys on the ground. I thought we challenged, we were able to get them on the ground and that led to long yardage situations and we found a way to get off the field.

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