STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 28, 2023

Zahran Manley

Postgame Media Conference

Washington 42, Stanford 33

Q. Just walk us through that interception that you got.

ZAHRAN MANLEY: We played man coverage. Rome widened his split so initially I was off. When he widened out I wanted to press him because I had a feeling they would go deep and take a shot. I think he ran a double move.

I just tried to stay on top, have good eye control. Tried to play his hands for the PBU, and then I just saw the ball and I just grabbed it. It was a heads-up fun play for me.

Q. There were quite a few plays where Penix had an extended amount of time to throw the ball. Talk about the challenge of their skilled receivers?

ZAHRAN MANLEY: They're a talented group of receivers. You know, when the quarterback scrambles you have to cover the receiver twice, so that's always a challenge. We're coached well to plaster the guy and have eyes on our man. That's really all you can do, just hope that you're in the right spot once he does throw it.

It's always a challenge, especially with a talented quarterback and talented wide receiver corps, yeah.

Q. Just what are the emotions like after a game like this?

ZAHRAN MANLEY: Yeah, like we're a resilient group and we're hungry, and every week we just try to get better.

Even though we lost the game, which is unfortunate, there is a lot of positives we can grow and learn from. That's really what we're trying to do. Just set the foundation for this team for the years to come with the new regime that Coach Taylor is setting forth.

We won't get too down on it. We'll watch the tape and get better and attack Washington State next week.

Q. Just in general, talk us through the game plan that April put together. What were the key points for your defensive unit?

ZAHRAN MANLEY: Shoot, just be aggressive. Simulated pressures, blitzes, try to make the quarterback uncomfortable really every snap. I think we did a good job at that. We also knew as a secondary that they were going to take this shot.

Just making sure that our technique was on pointe and practice during the scout periods we were attacking it like a game. You know, we got challenged a lot. Me and Collin got challenged a lot. I think we held up well. That's the game plan, being aggressive and, yeah, that's really all I can say.