SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: LSU VS GEORGIA

November 28, 2022

Micah Baskerville

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

LSU Tigers

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Micah Baskerville. If you have a question for Micah...

Q. Could you pick a few things talking about Coach Kelly's process, a few examples of things that were really new to you this year that you found to be very helpful.

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Okay, well, first I say doing the little things. He harps on that a lot because in every game there's something you got to do. If you keep doing the little things, the routine plays, then we see it come out successful.

Another thing is our mental preparation. He's big on our mental preparation. He feels that if we do have great mental preparation, we can play fast, play free and give all our effort without thinking.

Those are some things that I see about his process that he talks about a lot that are very important.

Q. Could you give an example of an activity or something you have to do to improve your mental preparation or focus on the details?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Yes, so he brings a lady in. And one thing that helps our mental preparation is just breathing, breathing, learning how to get to our optimal goal and how to -- you know, not getting there too early. So that's one thing.

Another thing is visualizing yourself making plays. He believes that if you see yourself there, it's going to come to fruition.

So those or some examples.

Q. When did this become a realistic goal for you guys? Did y'all even talk about the SEC championship game back in the summer, given the coaching change, stuff like that?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: No, sir, we weren't talking about that. We were talking about what was important now, just buying in, everybody making their own time to work out, everybody doing their questionnaire, things like that.

We didn't talk about it as far as that's going to handle itself, but we have to work our way and get there and be prepared.

Q. When you lost the early October game to Tennessee, did you think something like this was possible, you could turn it around?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Not right off the bat. But after having the conversation, I had a conversation with a couple coaches, some of the teammates, we was like, Man, we still got a lot of things to do, we still got a lot of things we can accomplish.

After that we came together, had a little player meeting, talked about we still got things that we can accomplish. So we came together as a whole. Coach Kelly came and talked to us, gave us a great message, told us to finish strong. That's what we're trying to do.

Q. What's it about these freshmen and their mentality that stands out to you? If you could think back to when you were a freshman, what enables them to start as freshmen?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Well, what stands out to me the most is really the mental preparation, the mental. They focus so much on the mental. I feel like everybody has great talent in college football, but that only takes you so far. You got to have the mental preparation to excel yourself.

I'd say that right there, those young guys like Mason Taylor, Will Campbell, Emery Jones, Harold Perkins, they don't think as if they're freshmen. They think that they've been here, they've been playing in college forever. That's where Coach Kelly harps on.

We've been doing this all our life, so once you have great preparation, anybody can play.

Q. What is the preparation that they go through? What was a moment that you realized they have what it takes?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Just how they walk onto the field, how they talk. They're some dogs. There's nothing to them, but they came in expecting to play. They showed us they had the mental process, the mental toughness, everything that they needed. That's why.

Q. I wanted to ask you about your impressions of what you've seen on film of Georgia's running backs, Kenny McIntosh, and then the offensive line as well in terms of the challenge for you Saturday?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: They have some really good backs. I know one of 'em personally. That's going to be a tough challenge to stop the run.

They have a good offensive line, good size. I see that they're physical. Our goal is to stop the run. We feel they're going to come out and run it on us because of last week. That's our challenge that we're going to have to stop so it doesn't happen back-to-back weeks.

Q. We talked to Coach Kelly, and he said there was an understanding amongst the players of what you let slip away the past weekend. Could you walk me through the last 48 hours and how you have responded?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Well, we do understand what we had slipped up with. Now it is what it is. It's on to the next game.

So really we just want to finish the year strong. That's our motto. We come to finish this last game or two, these last games or two, with a dub, and that's our mentality.

Q. You mentioned the players meetings you had after Tennessee. Who was there? Just defensive players or the full team?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: It was the full team.

Q. Who ended up standing up and saying something?

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Our captains, of course. They orchestrated the meeting. Our captains called it. We had other guys in amongst of the other team that they had the opportunity if anybody wanted to say something or thought of something, then everybody had their chance to say it.

We had a lot of great guys, a lot of young guys, a lot of older guys that just came and speak their mind about how they felt about us as a team, things we needed to get better at, things we need to do if we want to go where we want to go, so...

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Micah.

MICAH BASKERVILLE: Thank you.