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MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL: BAYLOR VS BOISE STATE

December 26, 2016

Bryan Harsin

Phoenix, Arizona

COACH HARSIN: We're close to game time. We're excited about that. Had a fantastic time here and just want to say thank you to everybody with the Cactus Bowl, all the volunteers, all the people that have helped make this experience for our players and our coaches one of the finest.

We've been in Arizona a few times. And we have history here. And this certainly is no exception to the first class that we've received and really thankful for that.

Looking forward to the game. I think we've had a great week of prep. Did get a little bit of rain one day, and we stayed out in it. And certainly did get some work done. And I think it brought some juice to the football team, because the weather the next day was fantastic.

But a lot of energy, lot of excitement. Now it's time to get ready to go out there and finish on the 27th against a very good Baylor team.

Overall, you know, as far as this season has gone, to get to where we are right now, you work extremely hard every single year to put yourself in the position to hopefully win a championship. But certainly to play in a game that has significance at the end of the season.

And the Cactus Bowl and Motel 6 did a great job of pairing up Boise State and Baylor. I think it's a game people want to see. It's certainly a game that's very interesting in college football. And I know for both sides a lot of respect on what both players and coaches have done throughout their seasons and over the past couple of seasons.

So it's going to be a fun game for us, three and a half hours, go out and give our very best football, and we're certainly looking forward to it.

I want to say thank you to all the media as well. I know over Christmastime and Christmas Eve you guys have been here covering us, covering Baylor, and so just want to say thank you to all of you as well, because it's been fantastic and we're looking forward to tomorrow night.

Questions?

Q. We asked you a little bit back in Boise, but starting fast -- the last couple of bowl games you've been starting off fast. With a month between games how are you able to do that and how do you hope to continue to do that tomorrow?
COACH HARSIN: Well, we're going to find out. I think it always goes back to your prep. It's that mindset going into the game. And you haven't played in a while so everybody worries about timing, everybody worries about kind of getting back into it. Don't ease into it. We've got to go out there and play and play fast and certainly we're playing a team that has a lot of speed.

I think the biggest thing is just the mindset of the practices and the preparation leading up to it. We haven't changed much. We treated it like we're going into a regular season game.

We just had more time. Some young guys have got a little bit of extra work. But this preparation has been about how do we take and maximize our time to go out there and play our last game our very best.

And I think in the previous bowl games, we've had good starts, because we came out there and we've attacked it and we've executed. We've made plays.

It's still football. You've got to go out there and still execute and you've still got to go out there and make the plays. You've got to create some momentum.

Special teams, turnovers, tackling, conditioning shows up, and I think we've tried to prepare ourselves the best we can in those areas.

Q. Yesterday Jabrill was out there at the event at the convention center. Are you not expecting to have him tomorrow night?
COACH HARSIN: No, he got hurt at the event yesterday handing stuff out. So he's not going to play in the game. No, we're not expecting him. So he was injured after the last game, and we tried to see where he was at, if he could come back. He's not going to play in this game. He's actually going to have surgery a little bit sooner before everybody gets back.

So he's got a couple of things he's got to repair. So he'll be not playing in this game here. And it's unfortunate. He wanted to. I know he wanted the finish the season but just not able to right now.

Q. Just with any game, what concerns you with Baylor?
COACH HARSIN: That's a big question right there, what concerns us about Baylor. A lot of things. I think you start with they do have a very fast football team. So I think if you're not just talking from the offensive standpoint also on defense, also on special teams, and they've been in a lot of big games.

This is a good football team. And these guys have -- give them a couple of years ago these are one of the teams that was in that conversation for a playoff opportunity. And you've still got quite a few players on this team that were around.

They've had some injuries. They've had some other things that have happened throughout this season that I know were probably very difficult to deal with. But those guys want to play well. They've had more time to prepare. They've had some time to kind of digest everything that's gone on. There's been a new coach named.

I certainly remember that at Arkansas State when there was a bowl game that was a little bit later and I was named the head coach. Well, I got a chance to be around and watch. And those players knew that this is where we're going, we're moving forward in this direction, so they had some hope. So these guys, they're looking forward to this game. They want to go play their best. I think their young quarterbacks had more time to prepare.

So really I think the last half of the season Baylor, they played well, they played hard in those games, they didn't win those games. But I see a team that's got a lot of really good individual players that has played really well in a lot of big games.

And so this will be the best football team we've faced all season. This will be the biggest test we faced all season. And that's why I think everybody understands that. I think that's why this game is so intriguing is because of that.

Q. You've got I think five Arizona players on your roster and three more coming in next year, something like that. Has Arizona become fertile recruiting ground for your players?
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, it has been. Scott Huff, our offensive line coach, recruits this area. He's a former Husky. He gets it around here. But I just think the culture of Boise State really fits guys in the West Coast and Arizona. And when they come there and they see it, the quality of living, the university, the program, obviously the football, and to be quite honest, the games that we played here, if you do go back to that first Fiesta Bowl, there's talk of Boise State, and these guys are young guys.

So they've heard of our program for quite some time just because of the games we've been in. And that has helped us in recruiting.

But the guys that have come out of here have been really great players for us. And we feel like we have great connections here with the high school coaches and we know -- they know what type of players we're looking for and we're going to continue that. So it's been a great area for us to recruit. And we want to continue that and we're looking forward to this year.

Q. Coach, what are your impressions of Baylor freshman quarterback Zach Smith, and can you draw any parallels to maybe what he's going through now to what Brett Rypien went through last year?
COACH HARSIN: Well, he's a really, really good-looking, physical player. You look at his high school stats, very impressive. As far as what he's gone through, a little bit of the same. I think their season and when he came in, under the circumstances, he's probably had more pressure on him because of he's really the last guy standing. And he is a tremendous player. And just being a quarterback guy, you know, I always kind of look at those situations because you wonder, you never know when you're going to be in it.

And we certainly were a few years ago, when we had Brett step in there and have to play. And I think you learn quite a bit. You're thrown into the fire. You learn.

You are going to have failures, how you handle it and how you respond is extremely important. And he's done a pretty good job. I think he has battled in there. And that's the one thing, give him some more time in these bowl preparations, let him digest more of the season, and go, here's the things that I have to get better at, because he is so young.

And I think when we go play we're going to see a really good quarterback back there playing. And I think that guy's the future of their program. Certainly the experience is going to help him. But there are some comparisons in there.

He's a young guy that has been thrown into a tough situation. And we're watching him going this guy's really good, and we're going to be prepared for when we go play.

Q. Jeremy is here. Wanted to ask if you've heard any decision he's made regarding his future?
COACH HARSIN: Yes. I was wondering about that right there. First it's Jeremy McNichols' birthday. Give him a little hand. (Applause).

Yes, we've had that conversation. Today is that day. Jeremy has decided after this game that he will move on to the NFL and we're excited about that. That's a great opportunity that we have players on this team that are going to get a chance to live that dream. He's certainly done a tremendous amount of great things for us.

And you know this is not an easy decision. That's one thing I want everybody to know. It's not an easy decision. There is a lot of things -- it's your team -- it's your future. It's about getting that degree, because we all know that football ends.

And having that piece of paper, when it's all said and done, is really, really important to the guys that are sitting up here. At the same time, you've got to decide, hey, this is where your mind's at and where you want your future to take you.

So fully expect that we continue and prep today and I think a great opportunity for him going into this game to go have a great game, to play his very best, to finish. And he's certainly practiced that way. He's done that throughout the season. And expecting that to happen tomorrow night and really excited for him and very appreciative for what he's brought to Boise State.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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