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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 14, 2011

Emmanuel Acho

Q. This is it. If there's any more Achos, I don't know, but I'm going to miss you, man. How are you going to go out?
EMMANUEL ACHO: I'm going to go out with a bang. Hopefully I'm planning on playing my best game. I'm going to work this week to play my best game and just give it all I got for the fans, give it all I got for the team and just for the community that's supported me for so long.

Q. How do you want to be remembered?
EMMANUEL ACHO: More so as a person than as a player. I try to be the best player I can be, but I think Sam has been a testimony to that, and I've tried to be a testimony to that, just try to be a good person. It's not about what I do on the field but it's about who I help, who I can inspire and who I can affect off the field. You know, in 20 years I hope they're talking about me as a great person than a player.

Q. Talk about the senior class because you guys have had a pretty interesting four years. There was a lot of leadership and initiative taken to make things right this year, as well.
EMMANUEL ACHO: I think it's been a heck of a class. I think this class has come together. I love this senior class. I love the way that we've grown together. We've been through a lot, we've been through the ups, we've been through the downs. I like where we are, and I like the friendships that have formed.

Q. Hard to believe this is your last home game?
EMMANUEL ACHO: It's crazy. I was talking to Blake about it earlier. It was kind of surreal. I remember the first one, and now it's going to be my last one. I'm just going to try to take it all in, look into the stands, look at the entire stadium and just take it all in.

Q. Fozzy has been a leader for the whole team. Can you talk about what he's meant to the team?
EMMANUEL ACHO: I texted Fozzy last night, and I was doing homework and it came to my heart, and I just shot him a text last night, and I just let him know, God has a plan. Fozzy might have planned his own steps, but God orders his path. It was hard. I mean, it was hard for me to see him go down just because he's so charismatic, such a leader, so much fun, such a good guy, and it really hurt me seeing him go down. But it's going to be a tough loss. We have to build as a team around that. Everybody has to get better individually.
You know, I'm praying for him. I wish him the best. I wish him a speedy recovery. But it's clearly a tough loss.

Q. You guys play a pretty potent offense in Kansas State. What do you know about Colin Klein and having to defend him and that system?
EMMANUEL ACHO: Yeah, it's going to be a heck of a game. They're a physical team. They have a very downhill running attack, downhill running mentality. I'm excited for it because this is a big linebacker game, and I like that because I think our linebackers are kind of the backbone of this defense. Me and Keenan, it being our last game here, we're going to best game, we plan to, and we're going to prepare like that. I'm excited for this game. Kansas State is a very good opponent, and it's going to be fun.

Q. It doesn't seem like anybody has been able to stop Colin Klein. How do you plan on doing that?
EMMANUEL ACHO: He's one of those guys you've got to stop him before he gets started. You have to do that with any good runner, because when they get started, then they just start going and it's a lot harder to get them stopped then. We have to do our job to contain him, do our stop him before he gets started.
You know, as a defender you kind of pride yourself on a game like this. You kind of pride yourself on a team that wants to run the ball, and they're saying they're going to run the ball, and it's our job to tell them they're not.

Q. How hard are they to prepare for when you're facing these spread offenses a lot and they're kind of old school in some ways?
EMMANUEL ACHO: You know, I don't think they're too difficult to prepare for just because this is what you look forward to just as a defensive player. The Big 12 kind of takes you out of your comfort zone making you chase little skinny receivers around, but as a linebacker this is what you come to Texas for and this is why you're a linebacker, for a game like this, when a team is going to try and run it down your throat. I'm excited for the challenge and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. What about Kansas State is so frustrating for Texas?
EMMANUEL ACHO: You know, my guess, they seem to have our number. I think they beat us two of the last -- we're 2 and 5 against them, something like that, some stat Coach Brown told us. But it's a new year. It's a new year, it's a new game. So nothing historic matters. I think that's been proven in last week's game. History doesn't matter. It's all about what you do now. It's all about what you do currently.
I'm going to prepare for this Kansas State team, and this is a Kansas State team we're going to play, and we're going to have to play well against them.

Q. Mack talked about Colin Klein being such a big quarterback. Is that a factor for you going against an option quarterback?
EMMANUEL ACHO: Yeah, you know, I'm surprised he's so durable, but again, he's a tough guy, he's big, and he's a physical runner. We've faced running backs and guys like Taylor Martinez, but he was more so to run around you than to try to run through you. Credit to him for being so durable, being so tough, and it's our job to try to break him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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