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ROSE BOWL GAME: OHIO STATE VS WASHINGTONDecember 29, 2018JoJo McIntoshPasadena, California Q. During your last year as an athlete, you're in grad school? JOJO MCINTOSH: No, I'm not in grad school. I took classes this year so that I would be eligible to play. Q. Favorite class this year? JOJO MCINTOSH: I took an education class this year. It was about education around the world. Different education systems. I took it with some of my teammates. That was a very interesting class. Really liked that one. Q. How was the season, kind of being the leader? JOJO MCINTOSH: I would say being the leader on the team is not too hard. We've got a lot of good guys and a lot of guys play that role as well. If I'm not a leader on the team, somebody else is. I think everybody can play that role really good. I think we do a good job. Q. The advice you gave for the Pac-12 Championship to the younger players? JOJO MCINTOSH: The guys just go out and fight. Every game is a football game at the end of the day. It's going to have a different title, but it's a game. Just go out and keep doing what we do and go have fun. Q. Ohio State players were in here. They were talking all about the different look you guys presented, the secondary being as deep and as talented as it is. Theoretically, if you had to play against your secondary, what would you translate (indiscernible)? JOJO MCINTOSH: What the quarterbacks do? I can't talk about that, no. Q. They were all talking about strength, just keeping everything in front of you. How much does Coach Lake stress that, taking (indiscernible) giving up those four yards, making sure nothing goes over your head? JOJO MCINTOSH: Yes, as a DB at any school, you don't want the ball behind you. If the ball gets behind you, it's a touchdown. You've got to keep everything in front of you, make tackles. Coach Lake does a good job coaching us, getting us the right calls to play in every coverage. He gives us the tool to be successful. Q. You guys are turning out secondary talent over the past really decade. Now that it's your time, your last game, what do you feel? How do you see it coming your way? JOJO MCINTOSH: The guys are always working. They're always getting better. They're always little grinding. Because they want to get better. I don't really have to say too much to leave behind with these guys because I know they're going to work; I know they're going to grind. Everybody is always ready to fight. They want to take this program to the next level, and they're going to keep doing that. Q. How much do you get the sense, the senior class, (indiscernible) how important is it sending you guys out the right way? JOJO MCINTOSH: I mean, it's a big deal. Every senior class at every school wants to win their last football game and have a great season. And I feel like we've been having a good season, and we've got one more game, a big one, and it's time to go out and have some fun. Q. Receivers, you talked about that relationship and (indiscernible) can you talk about that? JOJO MCINTOSH: The receivers are nice. They've got a lot of talent on the outside and the inside. The quarterback has a lot of tools to use. Q. Is there anything that (indiscernible) that you've seen? JOJO MCINTOSH: I mean, Ohio State is the number two passing team in college football. The number one team is in our conference, Washington State. So it's a little similarity there. Q. Just California, you have over 30 kids on this roster. Tell me about this state, how they make great football players. JOJO MCINTOSH: I don't know how all the good football players are from California, but it just happens like that. We play some good football here. There's a lot of guys, like you said, on our team. We enjoy it. We enjoy being here. We're going to have so much fun playing in the Rose Bowl. It's a dream to a lot of us. Q. How important is this state to recruit? Obviously Coach Pete has done a great job up in Washington, but to get the players in this state? JOJO MCINTOSH: All the talent is in California. Come down here to Southern Cal or NorCal, you'll find guys, and those guys are ready to fight and compete. Q. You spent a lot of time up in Seattle. But what do you love about this state and being back here? JOJO MCINTOSH: My family, that's the first thing I love about being here. And there's so much to do. So much to see. California is a great state. Q. Blue skies, the sun pretty good? JOJO MCINTOSH: Oh, yeah, it's nice. It's a change-up from the weather in Seattle. Q. Are you going to have family there? JOJO MCINTOSH: Oh, everybody is going to be there, friends, family. Q. Were you able to scrounge up some tickets? JOJO MCINTOSH: I told everybody you're going to have to buy some tickets. Everybody is using their tickets. It's a big game. Q. Your mom just graduated -- JOJO MCINTOSH: Yes, she just got her nursing degree. Q. You must be very proud. JOJO MCINTOSH: I'm very proud of her. Q. They're still close by here? JOJO MCINTOSH: Yeah, I just seen them last night. We went down to my grandma's house. She lives 15 minutes away from here. Q. Jimmy Lake behind you here, obviously five years now, the records, the numbers (indiscernible) speaks for itself. What is it about him, his coaching style, the way he goes about things that makes it so relatable for you guys, allows you to have the success you're having? JOJO MCINTOSH: He does a good job coaching it to us. He gives us the tools, but he makes sure we understand it because we have a lot in our defense. Our defense is difficult to understand, but he takes his time out to slow it down for us and makes sure we can play fast. Every play, every call is the right call. We just have to execute. Q. How would you describe your schemes and the way you go about things? We've heard it -- he's described it as more NFL -- JOJO MCINTOSH: Yeah, it's definitely more of an NFL defense. Like I said, it's difficult to play in. It's a lot of checks and a lot of stuff that we've got to watch out for, and I think we do a very good job of it. Q. What in particular makes it so difficult, just so much to learn and so many things -- JOJO MCINTOSH: Like one play can have like five different components based on the offense, and the players will make that call. And he'll teach that to us, and we go out there. We just all know what's going on and we all play. Q. What's it been like for you to be in this defense for five years now, see this thing grow and to this point where obviously this is the standard? JOJO MCINTOSH: It's fun. Because in our defense, it's always going to be guys on top. So you guys got like Byron Murphy and Taylor Rapp balling. So it's fun watching our defense play and being a part of it. Q. Is there something when Jimmy was recruiting you or even when you first got the, sort of a light bulb moment (indiscernible) with you guys and your relationship? JOJO MCINTOSH: Yeah, so the first time I got to meet them was at the Boise State camp. So, yeah, I was doing good after camp. They reached out me. They really liked me. They were all cool. My parents really liked them. I mean, we just connected right away. Q. What do you think about the matchup of the Ohio State offense? JOJO MCINTOSH: Good team. The film doesn't lie. They're a really good team, actually. I'm excited to play them. Good competition. Q. Studying, what was your kind of process? JOJO MCINTOSH: So basically we have what we call hot folders, and we'll break up different formations that they run and we'll watch that and we'll try to look for tendencies. Also look at players' tendencies, see how they relief off the ball and such. Q. We've been asking everybody: It's been 18 years since Washington has been in the Rose Bowl; what do you think it was about this specific team and this group of guys that has the program back in this game? JOJO MCINTOSH: We just kept fighting all year. It wasn't a perfect season. We had some losses, but the guys kept fighting. We know to control our own destiny. After every loss we could have backed down and said whatever, give up. But guys kept fighting and kept coming back. Q. What do you think about the culture of the locker room and resiliency? JOJO MCINTOSH: Coach preaches adversity all the time. Everything is not going to be perfect. Even if it is, there's something going on. So our guys are always ready to fight, always ready to compete no matter what happens. If our bus breaks down on the way to the game, we'll find a way to get there. Q. What do you think you'll miss the most? JOJO MCINTOSH: I think I'll miss my teammates. It's like sad. They tell me all week, oh, it's your last week with us, and I don't want to hear that because I'm going to miss them. But I'm going to miss those guys. Q. What advice would you give to the young athletes, especially athletes from LA, about kind of being able to be (indiscernible) athlete and academically (indiscernible)? JOJO MCINTOSH: Use your resources. When you get to college, there's a lot of resources for you. There's no reason why you should fail a class or get kicked out for your grades or be ineligible, because you've got the resources. Use them. Build your resources as well. You go to college, there's a lot of people there that's not playing football but they're also doing good things. Build those relationships. And football might be the path. It might not be. But you've got people that can help you get to where you want to be. Q. What resources did Washington put in front of you to help you succeed? JOJO MCINTOSH: They helped us with a lot of tutoring. They have mandatory study halls for us, just made sure we got our work done. People looking out for us, our student advisors. Q. (Indiscernible) explain why a student-athlete should be a student-athlete? JOJO MCINTOSH: All year. Basically being a student-athlete it's hard work. School is hard. University of Washington is a great school. But like I said, you have a lot of resources. You've got a lot of tutors, student advisors. There's all these people that want to help. You've got guys looking out for you, the coaches. To our coaches, it's very important. School comes first. If your school's not good, you're not practicing, you're not playing. But that shouldn't happen. Like I say, you have people watching over you, people helping you. You've got a lot of resources at the University of Washington to help you with your future. There's a lot of students there that are going to do great things that are not football related. Build those relationships with those people. Find what you love to do, basically. Q. To kind of pivot, mentioning those other kids and even those special kids you have on your team, what is it like, the relationships that you've built over your time playing and both off the field? JOJO MCINTOSH: I built a lot of relationships with a lot of people, and I think everybody should. Everybody's different. Everybody can help you and you can help a lot of people. Those relationships are good. It's like building a whole new family away from your family. But, yeah, it's good. I don't know what else to say. Q. Being able to think about the fact that you're here at the Rose Bowl and you've got the emblem on your hat and everything like that, does that feel extra sweet when you get to go experience that going out? JOJO MCINTOSH: It feels good. Rose Bowl, I've always wanted to play in this bowl. I'm very excited to play in the game. And a great opponent in Ohio State. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I think our guys are ready to go. Q. Growing up, did you ever dream of being able to play in this game? JOJO MCINTOSH: Oh, definitely. Shoot, the game is not too far. It's one of the biggest bowl games out there. And so growing up always imagined myself playing in the Rose Bowl. Now I'm here. Q. In the recruiting process, how much were you getting looked at by USC, UCLA, the teams that play (indiscernible)? JOJO MCINTOSH: I was actually committed to UCLA. I would always go to the Rose Bowl and I would watch UCLA play. And then when Coach Pete decided to go up to Washington, I called Coach Pete the next day and I asked him if he had a spot for me. I decommitted from UCLA, went up to Washington. I don't regret my decision. I've always been in the Rose Bowl watching USC play UCLA or UCLA playing other teams. Q. You say Coach Petersen has been a driving force for getting talented athletes to go up there? JOJO MCINTOSH: Coach Pete, the whole coaching staff is amazing. And my parents loved them. I loved them. So I had to play for them. Q. What's your biggest challenge going into the Rose Bowl outside maybe (indiscernible)? JOJO MCINTOSH: I mean, the biggest challenge is Ohio State. They're a really good team, and they've got a lot of good players. So that's going to be a big game for us. Going to be a tough game. We'll go out and just fight. Q. Shoutout to your teammates? JOJO MCINTOSH: Yeah, I talked to those guys. Q. What stands out to you? You mentioned the Ohio State offense. What really stands out to you guys? JOJO MCINTOSH: I just watched the offense, but they've got a really good quarterback and some really good receivers. That's what we're going up against. Those guys can make plays all over the field. So we're going to have to make plays as well. Those guys are going to attack us and come out strong. So we've just got to defend it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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