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DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: JACKSONVILLE STATE VS NORTH DAKOTA STATEJanuary 8, 2016John GrassJermaine HoughEli JenkinsChris LandrumFrisco, Texas THE MODERATOR: We'll start off with an overview from coach, then have player questions, then come back to coach. Give us an overview. COACH GRASS: We're honored to be here. It's a great venue. I take my hat off to the NCAA and FCS Football Playoff Championship Series. A fantastic job. Team Frisco, hospitality has been at an all-time high. We've had a great time since we've been here, from the time they met us coming in, it was rainy that night, it was late, welcomed us with open arms, made us feel comfortable. Anything we've needed, they've bent over backward to take care of. Run on a timely fashion. Had a great time last night. One of our players' favorite thing was the Miracle League. A special time. Puts a lot of things in perspective. We're glad to do community outreach stuff like that. What a great venue that was. Our guys really enjoyed that. Texas Barbecue Bowl was a lot of fun really well. Fed us really well. Took care of us. Our guys had a good time last night as well. It's been a long time coming, but 11:00 tomorrow we're going to actually get to play some football. It's been a long time, three weeks since we got to play. A lot of water has gone under the bridge with the Christmas holidays, New Year's. I think they're happy to get on the field and play against somebody else instead of practicing against ourselves. We feel fortunate to be here, very blessed, excited about tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: We'll start off with questions for the student-athletes. Q. Chris and Jermaine, it's been announced that Carson Wentz will be the starting quarterback. Talk about the challenges he presents. JERMAINE HOUGH: It's just a great opportunity. We've been preparing for both quarterbacks to play. With him having the name he has, all the recognition he has gotten throughout the last couple years, it's going to be a great opportunity for us to go against him. When the ball kicks off, we just got to come together as a defense and play like we've always been playing all year. CHRIS LANDRUM: Like Jermaine said, we've been prepared for both quarterbacks. It's a great opportunity to play against him with all the recognition he has. He's a great football player. The other guy is, too. They pretty much do the same things, but their offense opens up a little more with Wentz in. It will be a great opportunity for our defense. Q. Jermaine and Chris, did you almost wish he would play, face them at their best? How much were you up for that challenge? JERMAINE HOUGH: Well, like I said, we prepared for both of them. We wanted him to play. He's going to give us a great game. It's going to be good playing against him. We just got to come together as a team, like I said, just do our part. If we do our part, it don't matter who plays. When we play at our best, it's going to be good. CHRIS LANDRUM: Like Jermaine said, again, we prepared for both quarterbacks. At the end of the day, Coach Grass preaches that. No matter who we play, it's not about the other team, it's about Jacksonville State and how we play. Q. Chris, there's been a lot of talk about their offensive line being NFL quality. What do you see in that matchup? CHRIS LANDRUM: I see a very physical matchup. They do a lot of good things offensively. Their offensive line is their strength. It will be a great matchup. They don't beat themselves. They wait for you to get out of position. They impose their will. They're going to run the football. You know they're going to run it. They know you know they're going to run it. They're going to continue to run the football. It's going to be a great matchup up front. Q. Chris, for your journey that you've gone through when you were at Auburn, transferring, has this given you a moment to reflect on everything you've been through, competing for a championship now? CHRIS LANDRUM: I mean, when I got here, I knew I didn't make a mistake when I transferred. Coming into the program with Coach Clark was the head coach then, Coach Grass was still here. Coach Grass took over. He kept us steady. Nothing really changed. It's just been a great opportunity for me to be here and to get a chance to play with the teammates that I have. It's just a blessing that I came into this football team and with these guys. I mean, the brotherhood we have, it's like no other. It's something that I won't find anywhere else. Q. Eli, the fact that there is a quarterback on the field tomorrow that's getting a lot of NFL attention, you're not playing against him, but what does that do to up the challenge for you? ELI JENKINS: Yeah, I guess so. I really never seen him play because, like you say, I watch film on the defense. But I heard he's a great player, just like the guy that won eight in a row for them. They got two great quarterbacks, probably more than that. Just to be on the same field with this guy, it's an honor. Q. For all three players. Have you had a moment to think about what this championship run means not only to your football program, but to your school and the fact that more people now know who Jacksonville State is? JERMAINE HOUGH: It means the world to our city. We're trying to put the city on our back. These last couple years, we haven't put Jacksonville State on the map. It's been 24 years since there's been a championship. It will be great to bring this back home to the city. We have opened a lot of folks' eyes with the run we've been making, so now we just have to finish. ELI JENKINS: Like Jermaine said, it's great to be doing the things we're doing. I see smiles on everybody's face around campus. When I go to Dollar General, McDonald's, all they want to do is talk about football. It wasn't like that three, four years ago when I first got there. It's a blessing to put smiles on those faces. CHRIS LANDRUM: Yes, it's great because not only for us as a team, but for our fans. They support us so much. Our attendance level was one of the top in the nation. I feel to do this for our team and also do it for them and for the university is a big recruiting thing for Jacksonville, not just football-wise, but student-wise. Just open their eyes up to where Jacksonville is and everything, so... Q. Eli, North Dakota State's defense has had great success stopping the run in the playoffs and their defense has played well. What do you see from their defense? Is it comparable to anybody else you played this year? ELI JENKINS: Yes. North Dakota State, top three defense we probably played all year. They play hard, physical. They run to the ball. Like Coach Grass said one time, the first thing he saw when he turned on the film was those guys play hard. They have a great defensive scheme and great coaches. It's going to be a good game. You said they stop the run. We run the ball pretty well. We going to see what goes down. THE MODERATOR: Men, congratulations. You're dismissed. Thank you. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. You said all week you expected Wentz to play. Your reaction now that he is going to play? COACH GRASS: Glad he gets an opportunity. A guy that's had his type of a career deserves to play his last college football game. For the sake of the game and for him, you want him to be able to play. You hate to see a guy that gets hurt in his senior year. My heart went out to him when I heard he got hurt during the middle of the season. You want to be healthy and be able to finish it up on a healthy note. I'm glad he's getting to play in this championship game. He's had a fantastic career. He's a phenomenal athlete. You're not a top-five predicted quarterback going into the draft and not be really good. He can make every throw. He can run the football. He's a very intelligent kid. He's a great quarterback. I'm happy that he's playing. Q. Do you sympathize with Coach Klieman having to make a decision with us asking him every day? COACH GRASS: You do, because you want to keep everything under wraps. I'm sure going into the playoffs, everybody they played, they didn't know if he was going to play or not. That's the coach's advantage when they don't know which quarterback is going to play. They're not a lot different with either quarterback. Both quarterbacks can get the job done. It's just the talent level is a little bit different at the position, for sure, with him in there. I think it's an easy decision to play him in this game. You have a top-five draft choice quarterback, you going to play him for sure if he can play, and he wants to play. Q. What does Carson Wentz do to the matchup? What are the keys you see there? Their offensive line being so strong, getting pressure on him I imagine is going to be a big thing. COACH GRASS: They run the ball extremely well, which is what they want to do, establish the run game. So you got your work cut out for you there, for sure. It does not take away quarterback run. Both those quarterbacks run the ball equally well. You know they're still going to do that. The passing game is where it changes the game. Their play-action stuff, letting him get outside the pocket, make throws down the field. He can make the out-throw however distance you want to make it on the opposite hash. He can make those throws down the field that are precise throws. He's a talented guy there. That's where it changes the game the most to me. When you break it down, last year with him, the rest of the year without him, they run their stuff. They're not a lot different in play calling, what they do, when either one of them's in the game, I don't think, other than when Stick had to become the starter early, they protected him some until he grew into being the full-time starting without Wentz. Schematically it didn't change the game a whole lot either one of them that plays, it's just the talent level. Q. What does it mean to have the chance to take down North Dakota State, them having won the championship five years in a row? COACH GRASS: Well, I take my hat off to them. They're a class act, great program. What a run they've had. We haven't been here before. First time ever in FCS football. It's all about us winning a championship, it's about our team, how we play, not really who we play. That's kind of the way we look at it. We have a lot of respect for what they've done. I think I've said this several times during the week, I don't think you can go to any sport at any level and find the success they've had over the last five seasons. What a great task they've accomplished by doing that. Like I said, it's going to be a special day for us being able to play in this game and hopefully coming out with a win. Q. You've mentioned before that a big priority with you is not just the football program, but the school and the community. Could you tell what this run has done not just for you guys on the team, but for the community and the school as a whole. COACH GRASS: It's been huge. I think you can tell it through our playoff run, just our attendance. We averaged right at 20,000 for the regular season, but during the playoffs our folks just packed it out. It's good to see the excitement around JSU football. That helps our university in so many ways. It helps all the local cities in the area. Our alumni are very proud. It's been quite a ride there. That's why we play. We play for the university, try to make all our alumni proud of the product we put on the field. So we don't take that lightly. It means something to us. To see excitement there, like the Friday night ESPN game was just a huge night for us. Just through the playoffs, we had great crowds. It was a pretty special deal. Q. You were a student at Jacksonville State. You saw the playoff runs they had, a national championship game they lost. When you were a student, did you ever think someday you would be coaching in one of these games? COACH GRASS: You know, probably not. I'll put it like this. God's plans for you are a lot bigger for you than your dreams could ever be. I lay it in His hands and He's got me in a good spot. Sure has blessed me in the coaching profession. I'm honored to be here coaching at a special university. The university means a lot to me and my wife, we're both alumni. It's pretty surreal for sure. Q. Is it fair to say back then you were probably concerned about maybe one day getting to be head coach at Asheville High School? COACH GRASS: That's pretty good. Not many guys get to be coach at both their alma maters. I've been head coach at my high school alma mater and college alma mater. You're right. That was quite a special time, as well. THE MODERATOR: Good luck. Thank you. COACH GRASS: Thanks a lot. Appreciate y'all having me. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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