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ROSE BOWL GAME: GEORGIA VS OKLAHOMADecember 28, 2017Emmanuel BealPasadena, California EMMANUEL BEAL: For us, man, it's all about being us, being Oklahoma, being what Oklahoma defense is about, playing like we can play. Q. What is the Oklahoma defense about? EMMANUEL BEAL: I mean, we're fast, physical, really fast, and strong. Q. You guys struggled against some of the big spread teams. Do you think you're better equipped to go against a more traditional run game? EMMANUEL BEAL: I mean, I feel like we're equipped to go against anyone, honestly. With the Big 12 you get like different looks out of different formations, so it's pretty hard to be consistent when it comes to like defense, honestly. But I feel like with this more traditional run, they've got a few formations where we don't have to worry about the spread as much, so it'll be simple for us. Q. Do you prefer this as a guy who's (indiscernible) especially over the last year? EMMANUEL BEAL: Honestly going from the Big 12 to this, yes. Like the Big 12, like you said, is more spread. Wide receivers are quicker, faster. They're smaller, so it's like they were like nets out there versus SEC you've got the big wide receivers. But they're more aggressive wide receivers. Q. Is it personally better, and why if so? EMMANUEL BEAL: We face good backs all year, but these backs that we're facing are like NFL-caliber backs. For our defense it's going to be a good test. And like I said earlier, for our DB's, these wide receivers, 6'4" wide receivers, 6'3", they're really fast, physical. It's going to be a good test for our DB's. Q. You've had a kind of unique journey in your career. EMMANUEL BEAL: Yes. Q. What were you like when you went to that junior college after high school? EMMANUEL BEAL: Yes, I walked on to my JuCo. I was a 185-pound defensive end. My offensive coordinator, he was like, you're sure you're not a wide receiver. I'm like, no. I still get that today, are you sure you're not a wide receiver? Yeah, I'm sure, now that I've moved to inside linebacker. But that journey, I think it lasted until like my whole semester there, so the whole time I was just wondering how my career was going to play out, if I was to have a career in college football, but now that I'm here, I'm truly blessed to be here. Q. When the Oklahoma people came, who was -- EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, everyone jumped on board, Penn State, TCU, Arizona jumped on board, a lot of different people from a lot of different schools. Q. You filled out physically at the time you were at JuCo? EMMANUEL BEAL: Not like here. I mean, I didn't really get like my size and stuff until I got here. I'm still trying to gain a little bit of weight so the coaches will make sure I eat a lot. Q. So you must have felt like -- this had to be a dream. EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, honestly, it was a dream come true. Coming out of high school with no offers, walking on at junior college, you never expect to be at a place like this. Like it doesn't happen. So to be here, it's a really good feeling. I met a lot of new brothers on the way, a lot of good people, a lot of good coaches. Q. Who would have been somebody that kind of gave you that confidence during that time? EMMANUEL BEAL: Honestly, it's like me doing this all along. Like I had no help with walking on at junior college. It was like, you're just going to do it or you wasn't going to do anything. Q. Guys don't get a lot of credit on your offensive line. How have you seen those guys in practice? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, man, it's crazy because for a Big 12 offense, they're big, they're fast, so like for them to match my speed sometimes at practice is just like -- it gets annoying sometimes. But it helps you because you know like some teams aren't -- some offensive lines aren't as fast as our offensive line, they're not as physical, so it helps us prepare for big games like this. Q. How have you seen those guys do everything you've been able to do? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, they're taking that up and eating that up. Like that's no big deal for them. That's what they do. Q. How different is it to go up against Baker Mayfield live than just watching him in practice? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, he does the same things in practice. It's just annoying. The same treatment everyone else gets, we get, as well. Even worse because we're in practice. Like there's no difference. Q. Even though you know it's coming -- EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, yeah. There's always a kind of move -- you have him beat right here, but there's always some on the back end. You're like, dang. Q. He's going to make it to the NFL, obviously -- EMMANUEL BEAL: Yes. Q. When you look at what he does, how much of what he does (indiscernible)? EMMANUEL BEAL: I think his leadership will translate very well. The way he presents himself, you've just got to follow him. Like his attitude about the game, you just have to follow, especially for like offensive players, they'll follow him. It's no big deal for him. Q. (Indiscernible)? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, his swagger, his whole demeanor, it's college football, everyone likes it. When you get to the NFL, it's not going to change. People are going to like it. I think it's kind of like these wide receivers nowadays, these little tight, flashy wide receivers, they like that, so he'll have good connections wherever he goes. Q. What does he do that we can't see because we don't play against him? EMMANUEL BEAL: One thing I don't think he gets enough credit for is his leadership on the field. In practice, he's leading like 10 times even better. You see his offense, his offensive players really follow him during practice. They depend on him. I mean, Heisman quarterback, that's what's going to happen. But one thing that is like unappreciated is his physicality. He don't care who you are. If he can run through you, he'll run through you. Q. Have you been run through by him? EMMANUEL BEAL: No, no. Q. Has he tried to run through you? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, yeah, he's tried. We don't do that to our quarterbacks, especially our Heisman quarterbacks. Q. (Indiscernible)? EMMANUEL BEAL: When he throws like 80-yard bombs on us, yeah. He's like, why didn't we blitz that time. Q. (Indiscernible). EMMANUEL BEAL: That felt great. Like my whole family was there, all my friends, they love Ohio State. That's what happens when you grow up in Columbus. That's it, you're an Ohio State fan. You can live in Cleveland, you're an Ohio State fan. That's how things go. But to go there and win, man, that was a dream come true. Like I don't know what I would have done if we would have lost again to them. But that was my whole reason for going to Oklahoma. I seen we had Ohio State twice, and I had two years left of eligibility. I was like, yeah, that's where I'm going. Q. Did you get a lot of grief from your friends the year before? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, man, my friends drove down from Columbus. They were Ohio State fans deep down in their heart, but they wanted to see us win. But they were telling me, you're going to do good, but you're going to lose. That's all I kept hearing the whole way. I was like, I'm not listening to you. And well, that's what happened. Q. How often do you talk about -- I know you've had some shirts made. EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, our whole focus was to get to Atlanta, and I think from last year, we didn't talk about it enough last year, and I feel like this year that's all we talk about is getting to Atlanta, the steps we have to take to get to Atlanta, the important games we have to win, the practices we've got to have, and finishing in the weight room and classroom, as well. And I feel like that's brought us to this point. Q. When do you think that started? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, in summer workouts, yeah. You know, like you said, we had the shirts made and everything, and ever since then we've just been going up from there. Q. Were those just like workout shirts? EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, our workout shirts. Q. What did they say? EMMANUEL BEAL: They said Atlanta ATL on the front of it. Q. (Indiscernible). EMMANUEL BEAL: I mean, like I said, we had wristbands, as well, we had the shirts. Mine, of course, broke in practice. But -- Q. Your shirt? EMMANUEL BEAL: No, my wristband. We had wristbands, we had shirts, and we just had to keep like a little aspect of Atlanta as close as we can to make sure people don't forget what's our goal here. Q. Why do you think -- when you said you didn't talk about it, why do you think that's the case? EMMANUEL BEAL: I mean, I'm not sure. Last year was kind of a blur to me because I was new. Like I was trying to figure out myself as well as college football. I'm not sure. I can't answer that question. Q. Can you talk about the game in Columbus when you saw Baker plant the flag -- EMMANUEL BEAL: That should have been me. I wish I would have thought of that, yeah. I really do. Q. Who started talking about Atlanta so much? EMMANUEL BEAL: I believe it started with the coaches, and we just followed. Like I said, it had to start somewhere, and we just took it and ran with it, like everyone wanted to get here. Like you never know what it takes to get there, you've just got to know you have to work hard to get there, so that's how we've been doing. Q. You were talking about the running backs earlier, their freshman quarterback. As the season has gone on, what changed about him? EMMANUEL BEAL: He's definitely got more comfortable. He's definitely got smarter. I feel like he's a big threat in the run game, especially if you need to get out of the pocket, 6'2", 225, it's kind of hard to come downhill and tackle a quarterback like that. But the most impressive thing is his deep balls I like to say, and his balls give his receivers a chance. Q. Can that catch a defense off guard? EMMANUEL BEAL: I feel like that's something they'll use in the championship game. Like I said, they've got three backs. They haven't really let their freshman quarterback get loose, and I feel like that's something they'll do in this big game. Q. So you're expecting to see more of it? EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, yeah, of course. Q. Where is the defense at? EMMANUEL BEAL: We're a lot more comfortable with our style of play. We're playing as one. Like I said earlier, you know, college football you have -- everyone wants to be a leader. Freshmen want to come in and be a leader, and you have to learn like you have to follow first before you become a leader. Q. What's it been like for you to have (indiscernible)? EMMANUEL BEAL: He's really grown up a lot. Like he's took the inside linebacker spot, which he's never played before. He took it and he ran with it. You see him in the film room late night. I mean, I'm in the film room with him, but he's in there more than I am, so he's really took that Mike linebacker spot and just ran with it. Q. It seems like the other teams in the playoff, they're all top-six defenses in the country. What do you have to prove in this game? EMMANUEL BEAL: I just feel like it's a lot of statistics going around, so for us we've just got to win, as a team. Play team ball, defense. You know, dealing with SEC teams, they like to run the ball. People say that's been our biggest troubles all year, so for us it's just coming downhill, stopping the run. They're going to pass it, we're used to that, so we'll just see how that's going to go. Q. What's that like in your league playing against those offenses and actually going back on the field so quick? EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, I mean, you've got to be in shape, going two plays, five seconds, you definitely have to be in shape, especially in our league going against Texas Tech. I was like, wow, we've got to play these guys again. We had to run extra that week. Q. Did you know what shape you had to be in when you got to Oklahoma? EMMANUEL BEAL: No, I didn't. I just tried to get my weight up, but that didn't work. I came here 205 last year and played the whole season at 205. I mean, you never just know, dealing with the Big 12, dealing with college football. It's hard to gain weight. Q. What young scout team guys have impressed you? EMMANUEL BEAL: Austin Kendall, definitely. He's definitely a person that I can see like running a program like Oklahoma. Let's see. Kyler Murray, as well. You just get different type of quarterbacks in different type of situations when we're going against different teams, and you have different type of scouts. I think our O-line that we deal with, our scout O-line has been like the most impressive. They're big. For freshmen, they're really big, and they're physical. Q. A lot of people know Kyler is sort of Baker's successor. Do you think it'll be a pretty good battle between him and Austin? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, yeah. I would like to see how that works out in the spring because the spring doesn't tell it all, but it tells enough like what's going to happen with the quarterback situation, so that'll be interesting to see what happens. Q. You've played close to Caleb Kelly. Does he talk about the hometown pride he has, being from Fresno? EMMANUEL BEAL: Oh, yeah, he'll make sure you know. In the summertime he'll have his little button-up shirt with the flower on it. Yeah, he'll let you know. He's excited to be here, too. Like that's all he's been talking about, coming here. Q. What is it about it that you get the sense from him that he wants to represent it well? There's been other guys from Fresno who have come and haven't done so well, but he's still here. EMMANUEL BEAL: He's just happy. That's one thing he's happy he's going to represent. That's the way he is. He's going to represent where he's from, his hometown. He's here, and he's going to represent Oklahoma with pride. That's just how he is. Q. You're not from anywhere close to Oklahoma but you made your way there. What is it that you guys have found going so far away geographically? EMMANUEL BEAL: I'd like to say it's our coaches. They like to deal with it. They like to learn what type of people they are. When you have coaches like that that want to get to know you -- it's really hard to get coaches like that, but they want to do that, and then you have the players on top of that who's there, who's been through the same situation you're going to go through so they can lead you through the way, and that's been the whole key. Q. Emmanuel, Georgia's linebacker (inaudible) has gotten a lot of accolades this year. I wonder what your impressions are. EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, I like him. He's a smooth linebacker. It's really hard to get hands on him. He's smooth, he's quick. He gets off blocks well. He uses his hands well. Q. Have you had a chance to watch much film of guys who play on your side of the ball? EMMANUEL BEAL: Like my defensive players? Q. The other team. EMMANUEL BEAL: I usually don't tend to watch their defensive players, but when you have a window of time, I watch their defense, yeah. Q. (Indiscernible) it doesn't seem he has any ego. Did you sense that? EMMANUEL BEAL: That starts out with his mom. Like I say, he has a lot of pride but he's really humble about everything he does. You know, and his mom is the reason. She's a good woman. I've met her a few times. She's a really good woman. It was all about how he was raised. He was raised to be humble, church-going guy. Everything you'd want out of a five-star player. Q. When you think about the linebacker group, you guys came in together. You talked about how you guys grew from last year to this year -- EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, it's just about, like I said, people wanting to be leaders, people that was leaders, and I think when we found out who our leaders was, we were able to play on the defense and everyone else was ready to follow. Q. That relationship came (indiscernible) from your perspective? EMMANUEL BEAL: That's a great relationship that they're in the same meeting room so they have a great bond. They know what it takes to get the job done. Q. (Indiscernible). EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, they called us pretenders at the beginning of the year, and we just ran with it. That's for us not to forget where we come from or what people said about us and all that extra stuff. He takes that everywhere he goes. Q. (Indiscernible). EMMANUEL BEAL: I am not sure, but he got it done. He made sure everyone knew. Q. Do you have any favorite Baker stories? EMMANUEL BEAL: Him planting the flag at Ohio State? Yeah, that's my favorite. Q. (Indiscernible). EMMANUEL BEAL: I really thought that should have been me. Being from Columbus, Ohio, I wanted that to be me. I wished I would have thought about it, but he took it around with him. Q. What did he say when people got outraged about it? EMMANUEL BEAL: I loved it. It didn't matter to me. I didn't see nothing wrong with it. Q. What does the sign say in the locker room, for home games, too? EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, it's in the locker room. Q. Do you keep it on a wall or something? EMMANUEL BEAL: Do you want it? Q. Can I have it? EMMANUEL BEAL: No. But yeah, it's on the wall. We have that on the wall. Q. Who put it up there? EMMANUEL BEAL: He did. Q. When did he do that, like -- EMMANUEL BEAL: The weight room. We got called pretenders. Right after that. Q. Who called you that? EMMANUEL BEAL: ESPN. Q. Corso? EMMANUEL BEAL: Yeah, someone from ESPN, he made sure we didn't forget. Q. (Indiscernible). EMMANUEL BEAL: I mean, that's something we heard all year, so for us it just goes in one ear and out the other. We've gotten to this point, and you don't get to this point without playing defense. So for us, it's just all about going out there and doing what we usually do. We've got three great running backs we're going up against, so we'll have to be physical. That'll be a good test for us to see how physical we are. Q. Why is it that Big 12 offenses put up so many points? You obviously went up against Ohio State in '16. Is that more indicative of what you guys are on a national level, is that just Big 12 offenses? EMMANUEL BEAL: I'd like to say the Big 12 offenses are definitely much different. We spread everyone out just to run the ball. It's kind of different. It's a lot more passes that you get with it. Three passes out of four plays, something is bound to happen. A lot of yardage is easily taken away. So that's the difference. Q. When you're talking about those running backs, I don't know if discouraging is the right word, you lose one guy, there's another guy, you lose another one, here's another one? EMMANUEL BEAL: I mean, you just have to be in shape. You can't take no place for granted. Every play is a big play, especially with the ball in their hands because they're all alive and want to finish the run. Q. (Indiscernible) 62 percent out there as a freshman. What do you have to do to lower that number? EMMANUEL BEAL: You know, you've got to blitz him -- at the end of the day, he's a freshman and he's obviously been in this type of game, a big game before, so for us to just send in pressure, see what we can do to dish up the passes, get hands in his visual spaces, so we'll see. That'll be a good test for us, as well, just to stop the run, stop the pass. They run, run, run, pass, so that will be a good test for us. Q. I guess for them the one game they lost was the run was taken away, so that's where it starts, right? EMMANUEL BEAL: Right. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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