	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: MIAMI VS WISCONSIN

December 28, 2017

Malik Rosier

Miami Gardens, Florida

Q. Do you guys practice today?
MALIK ROSIER: We practice later on. I'm pretty sure some of the guys are at an FCA or something like that while we're doing this, and then we'll meet up after this event.

Q. We were talking to some of the defensive guys from your team yesterday about your schedule, how it changed because of the hurricane and the long grind. I think Manny said that he thought you guys needed a break. Was that difficult to deal with, having the bye and changing things around?
MALIK ROSIER: Yeah, kind of. I feel like the biggest thing was just the injuries. We had guys that technically weren't injured, but they were hurt throughout the game, they were hurt throughout multiple weeks, and it was almost sometimes like we wouldn't practice people because they were injured or hurting, and they got contact, they might have been out for the game on Saturday. I felt like that played a huge factor. As you can tell, we had Mark Walton go down, we had Chris Herndon, we had Ahmmon Richards. And when it comes to 11 games, that's eye grind. That's something you don't normally hear of. I mean, for the guys that stayed healthy and stuck it out, I tip my cap to them because there's multiple guys that if they wanted to, they could have been like I don't want to play this one, and they did, they grinded it out with us.

Q. I know you guys don't want to use any of that as an excuse because it is always next man up, but did you just ever take a moment before that Clemson game and go, oh, my gosh, I'm going into the ACC Championship without some of my best offensive weapons. How do you deal with that mentally when you're down some of those guys?
MALIK ROSIER: I just felt like you kind of can't cripple your offense. If you go into a mindset like that, you'll never have a chance to succeed. As you can tell, Darrell Langham stepped up in multiple games, made big plays, so the confidence level for like our second-string receivers really didn't affect how I played. I had confidence in Darrell and in Cager, as well. I felt like the biggest thing was just going through and trying to lead. Sometimes it's hard because you've got young guys -- we had young guys playing everywhere now. You've got a running back starting his first couple games with Travis and Deejay Dallas, Jeff Thomas is a freshman coming in, Mike Harley is a freshman in. So there's many plays -- it was my first experience ever being in the ACC Championship game or Miami experience. Clemson has been there multiple times. They acted very professional with the way they acted. It was just an experience in itself. I mean, we don't expect to make any excuses when we play Wisconsin. We can't. We've had two weeks to prepare for them. They're a great defense, and we've just got to come out and play just very sound offense.

Q. I think one of the things Manny talked a lot about yesterday was, at least from a defensive standpoint, it took a little bit in the Clemson game for them to be like, okay, this is happening, there was a little bit of that shock factor because Miami hadn't played in a game like that, Clemson has. He says this game could be kind of another teaching point. It's another step in the maturation process for this program. Do you guys see it like that, too, that a big game like this is only going to help you guys build as you try to get back to where you want this program to be?
MALIK ROSIER: Yeah, I mean, I think it is. I don't know, the Orange Bowl is one of the top-tier bowls that the ACC can go into, so that speaks a lot for Coach Richt and his staff and what they've accomplished over these two years. The Orange Bowl, yes, is a tier bowl, but for us, we were thinking more of like the playoffs, and that's something we're going to strive for next year. And so for us, this is a step towards that because when you win this game, it propels you into next year, and so that's the biggest thing. We've got to show that we can win consistently versus great competition, and so Wisconsin is a great team, and we've just got to come out and perform.

Q. Elaborate on what winning does for the program if you win this game.
MALIK ROSIER: I mean, it speaks numbers. Wisconsin has dominated their division this whole year up until the Ohio State game, and they still played Ohio State very closely, so they're a very admirable opponent. I highly respect them and their coaching staff. Everyone on the team is coached very well. They're blue-collar kids. So just winning this type of game speaks numbers. It's going to help us in the bowl selection, it's going to help us in many different ways. Just to come out with a win, win everything, especially sending these seniors off in the right way, they deserve it. They've grinded with us. They've stayed with us through a coaching change. So just to send those guys off the right way.

Q. What has this season been like for you personally, just going through being the starter and the whole thing the season has been for you?
MALIK ROSIER: It's been a lot, you know, just going from being -- at one point we were ranked No. 2, No. 3 in the nation, I think kind of now dropping off. I think the big thing is just staying level-headed and keeping the young guys and even some of the older guys that are trying to prepare for the NFL, keeping their head in it because the season is not over yet, we have one more game against a very good opponent, and like Coach Richt says, the team that wants it the most, the team that prepares the best usually wins the bowl game. So we've got to come out prepared, we've got to come out and be ready for these guys, because they're coached very well. They're not going to bust any coverages, and if you're not prepared, they'll wind up putting up 30, 40 on us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297