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MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL: BAYLOR VS BOISE STATE

December 26, 2016

Mario Yakoo

Phoenix, Arizona

MARIO YAKOO: As an offensive lineman I do our thing and at the end of the day we gotta get Brett the time to hit our shots and whatnot. And we've got to make sure that there's not people just running in Brett's face are free hitters and we should be good.

Q. I know you're really close to Jeremy. First I want to start off, every game I watched at home where they scored you had a handshake. Talk about the bond that you share with him.
MARIO YAKOO: Just over the years, ever since he came in, I've been a part of this -- him since his official here. I was big in him from Utah and whatnot. Just created a bond, strong bond that can't be broken. I've watched film with him almost every single day and it's just a bond you want to have between a running back and his offensive line.

And touch on them, fired up for J Mac. He deserves all the recognition he's getting right now. And fired up for the opportunity he has. I know he's going to take advantage of it. He's a young running back. Only his third year playing running back. That's going to be huge for him. I'm fired up for it and couldn't be any more proud of a friend.

Q. With him, he said that he kind of made the decision about halfway through the season. Did you see it before then or when did you kind of like, dude, you need to get on and get to the next level?
MARIO YAKOO: We've always talked about it before the season. We talked about you have a good season and the running back's shelf life it's not as long as you want it to be. You've got to be realistic about it.

And yeah, we've talked about this multiple times. I've given him my opinion on it. And he just was undecided. So leaning towards the end of the season you could start to tell this decision was going to be made. And yeah, it's huge for him. I'm happy for him and I'm going to support him whatever decision he made whether that was to stay or come. I was going to support him on his decision and I'm fired up for him.

Q. You started later playing football, if I remember right, when you told me the beginning of the year, when I first talked to you the first time, what about your future? I know you told me you have aspirations to the next level. What are you looking forward to the most?
MARIO YAKOO: I'm looking forward to a big game tomorrow. I think it will springboard me into everything I want to do from then. Then I'll sign with an agent. And I'll continue pursue my dreams. I'll start training. I'm not sure where I'm going to be training yet.

And come pro day, come combine, come the all-star games, I'm not sure what I'm going to be in. And then I'll pursue my dreams as well.

Q. What brings Baylor the most challenge for you guys?
MARIO YAKOO: They're just a physical defense. They like slanting a lot. They like moving a lot. They like to get the offensive line on edges so you can't double team them.

So that will be big for us. Just as an offense communicating what they're doing and at the end of the day we've just got to be physical and play our football.

Q. Is this going to be the toughest game you guys have faced all year?
MARIO YAKOO: Yeah, it will. Yeah, it will. They've got some dogs on defense. They've got really well-structured, they're pretty sound. They hit their gaps. And at the end of the day they've got really good players. They're in the Big 12 and they've got some good players there that represent that conference and it's going to be a big challenge for us.

But as O line, we'll be ready for the challenge and we're fired up.

Q. Bulletin board material, Cannon promises win. I know you read it. What did you think of it?
MARIO YAKOO: That's just his opinion. Let that be. Let the (indiscernible). Come tomorrow, at the end of the game, we'll see whether he was wrong or right.

Obviously we noticed whatever he said. But that's just more to fire us up. And as a team I can tell you we're fired up and ready to get out there. We're ready.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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