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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORDDecember 27, 2015Brennan ScarlettAziz ShittuKevin AndersonPasadena, California An Interview With: BRENNAN SCARLETT KEVIN ANDERSON AZIZ SHITTU Q. For each of you guys, prior to watching Iowa, did you have a perception of them and what is one thing that completely changed after you started to watch them and prepare for the game on film? BRENNAN SCARLETT: Honestly, prior to the match-up, I hadn't seen Iowa play, but watching film, it was very clear that they want to run the ball and they're not trying to hide that at all. So that would be, I guess, the one thing that they're coming downhill, not trying to disguise what they're doing. So that's kind of my take on them. KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I watched a little bit of them. I definitely saw immediately how physical of a team they were, and that continued over into our film preparation. I don't know if anything has changed, but I've seen how well coached of a team they are that their O-line, they don't have errors. They don't give up sacks for free. So I've definitely noticed they're a well-coached and well-disciplined team. AZIZ SHITTU: I was able to catch a couple games this year coming back on the plane or so, just watching maybe their Minnesota game, stuff like that kind of before they became a top 5 team during this year. What they've shown on film all year is that they'll fight. That's kind of how we are too. Very similar teams, and they pretty much haven't changed. They're going to keep fighting and it's going to be a great game. Q. Aziz, your off-season, there is so much that's been made about what you did after the final game of the year. When you go back and think of those workouts, what was the message from the players to one another to make sure you didn't have what happened a year ago with your team regarding the record and stuff like that? AZIZ SHITTU: The message was kind of, this is kind of not where we want this program to be. Where guys before us have helped us get to this point, and it's kind of that it's on us to not let the history of where Stanford football is going and let it go to waste. We had a lot of guys come together as seniors and say how are we going to fix this? This is not the way we want to go out. How are we going to get this program back to where it needs to be? And I think we did a great job in the off-season with Coach Turley, working us all off-season. I kind of missed a little bit of the off-season because I was hurt. But being able to see these guys work, see myself working in rehab and all that stuff, it shows why we're here at this point right now. Q. The defense, nine new starters, or lost nine starters from last year. Have you carried that as a chip on your shoulder this year? When maybe did this defense kind of plant its flag and become the standard Stanford defense? KEVIN ANDERSON: So we've had, I guess, two starters from last year, but one thing that people maybe overlook is we have a lot of guys that have played a fair amount. Brennan's played a lot. Aziz has played a lot. We have a lot of guys who not necessarily started, but have experience. And after a game or two, especially Northwestern, I think that was a big point for the team in general after Northwestern where we came out and when you give your all and you lose, you look yourself in the eyes and as a defense we said we can be better than this. Now everyone has started one game, so everyone is a starter and everyone has the experience of starting. So I would say that's kind of a turning point for our team in general, but also our defense where we said we can be a lot better. I think that was able to translate for the later part of the season. AZIZ SHITTU: I think it also put a big chip on our shoulder because everybody's saying nine new starters coming in on the defense this year, like Stanford on defense is not going to be as good, all this stuff. And we're hearing all this talk all through the summer. We have an ear on it, but we're not really listening to it. We're still on our work. But hearing that and you guys are not going to be good enough, and to tell a Stanford man he's not going to be good enough, you don't think he's going to take that very well. So we worked hard and try to be the best we can. BRENNAN SCARLETT: Yeah, I remember prior to the Northwestern game throughout camp Coach Andersen had kind of a PowerPoint slide and talked about the last couple years of the Stanford defense and how great they've been and kind of the stat sheet, right? Then he had the 2015 defense, it was all question marks. So he told us we really control our own destiny, and it was at that point that we're like, okay, I felt like we all came together and said let's be a great defense. These past years defenses have paved the way and now it's our turn. Q. Aziz and Brennan, similar offensive line that you guys practice against day in and day out. How important is it to maintain a line of scrimmage in a physical football game like this? AZIZ SHITTU: That's going to be the biggest key to the game. The team that stops the run first, because we're both going to come out and try to run the football. The team that stops the run first is probably going to come out with this one, because the game's probably scheduled for like 3 hours and 30 minutes, but it's not going to take that long the way both teams want to run the football. So being able to control the line of scrimmage, being able to get in the back field, do things like that is going to be a key factor who to who comes out with this one. BRENNAN SCARLETT: I totally agree. Maintaining the line of scrimmage. For us, focusing on getting knock back, that's kind of the biggest keys for us. We know that it starts up on the D-line as far as how successful the defense will be. Q. Brennan, the phrase "intellectual brutality" is a phrase you hear a lot around Stanford. For someone who first got there and now you've gone through an entire season, what are some of the grounded principles that have influenced you as a student-athlete on this team? BRENNAN SCARLETT: It's a couple things. Accountability is one, it started in the summertime with workouts and being with Coach Turley and seeing guys make a mistake and do what we call think about it. You know, you get on your elbows and toes and you think about the mistake you just made. Right, that's huge to focus on accountability. Also attention to detail which translates in the whole program really from the workouts and the training sessions to being on the field in your position, and even going into your school work, which is something that I love and personally it touches me. Yeah, those are kind of the two things that I really enjoy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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