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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL AT THE CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: CLEMSON VS OKLAHOMA

December 29, 2015

Eric Striker

Miami Gardens, Florida

Q. Do you think that the Clemson offense is going to say, wow, you're beautiful?
ERIC STRIKER: You know, I don't know what they're thinking right now. I don't know what they have in their head. I'm not thinking that they're thinking I'm a beautiful guy to be honest with you, but I'm sure their mind is focused on other things.

Q. I always love to ask defensive guys, when do you know you've made your (expletive)?
ERIC STRIKER: You can say that on -- are you on the radio? What's this radio? Oh, you're on serious? You're cursing?

Q. I got you speechless, didn't I, beauty?
ERIC STRIKER: The word threw me off. You play the game to win like everybody else, and you prepare all week. A lot of people say you win it during the week. You've got to show up on game day and win it. We prepared. We prepared really great. I'm proud of the guys, the young guys who had a great practice and everybody has been focused, so now we've just got to go out there and leave no doubt at this point. It's a championship drive, so I think that talent don't win these games when you're at the championship level. I think the will is what gets you past these games, right, because we're all talented. I mean, that's nothing that we don't -- everybody knows that. But who has the will to want to win it.

Q. I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. Will you introduce Samaje Perine?
ERIC STRIKER: Who am I introducing him to, the people on the radio? People on the radio, you have a mean, green, big-bodied machine coming at you. What time is it? Right now, around noon. Give it up for Samaje (growls).

Q. I talked to Coach Callahan this morning. Coach Cal said he's only inviting a couple players to his wedding. You're one of them.
ERIC STRIKER: That means a lot. Coach Cal has had a lot of great players come through that program. A lot of guys who have made it to the D-1 level, great athletes, and for me to be picked out of many, you talk about the '03, '04 team, I mean, all them guys is phenomenal guys. You talk about the '05 team, lost the T-Bowl in '05, Nease, great athletes on that team, and so on. Even the guys I played with. So that means a lot, and that means that he thinks highly of me and I appreciate it. I think he picked how many guys? Only just a few -- three or four or five guys. I mean, that means a lot. I don't think coach Cal is bad. I think he's banking on my personality. That's why I got there.

Q. What did you learn from him?
ERIC STRIKER: He's a great motivator. I think his motivational speeches are the best. I mean, before that game in those locker rooms, especially the ones before we played Plant, it was just some of the best speeches you could ever have to go win a game. That's the one thing I can remember. He's just a great guy, good guy, but he's a players' coach, relates to the guys well. I mean, that's one thing, when I talk to Matt, you talk about Cody Waldrop, he had these conversations where we want to go and win for this guy. I mean, he deserves it.

I'm not a tattoo guy, but a lot of my teammates, they have the Armwood logo tattooed on them. That's how much impact he had on our lives. I keep it in my heart. I'm not a tattoo guy, but if I was, I would definitely have a tattoo. So he's had a big impact on a lot of our young kids' lives and putting us in a place to be the best that we can be and D-1 ready. I always say Armwood was like a mini-college. It was, the way he ran the program. Guys weren't late, guys were meant to be on time. It was a system that you had to follow in order to be successful. That's what we did. He made me into a winner. I never knew nothing about winning until I got to Armwood to be honest.

Q. He said that when he met you as a ninth grader, you were playing baseball at the time, right?
ERIC STRIKER: I was playing baseball, I was.

Q. You thought you were going to be a baseball player?
ERIC STRIKER: Is this mic on? It don't matter, do it?

Q. He said he thought you were going to be a baseball player, not a football player.
ERIC STRIKER: Yeah, you know, I played both sports growing up, and I'll tell you what, I still miss baseball now. I miss the sport sometimes. I actually took BP at Barry University. Some of the guys hit it a little bit just after practice swinging the bat a little bit. I lost my touch. Baseball, that sport, you've got to be consistent with what you're doing with your craft. You can't take some months after baseball, let alone years. I love baseball, and I played it, have fun with it, just like I have fun with football. It was that thing like Striker, you're going into spring, because in Florida they have spring football, so you're going to do spring football or you're going to play baseball. I was like, Coach, I'm going to play baseball.

Q. He also said that the thing that struck him about you was your maturity even as a ninth, tenth grader. Where did that come from?
ERIC STRIKER: Well, I think I'll check myself. By I time I got to the ninth grade, all those childish things that you did in middle school. You get tired of being silly, you get tired of being the class clown. You get tired of getting in trouble. I'm in high school now, got to pick it up, be more mature, have more responsibility as a young man, so I just took that step. I haven't really changed my personality, I just got more mature and more disciplined.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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