CHEEZ-IT BOWL: OKLAHOMA VS FLORIDA STATE

December 26, 2022

Adam Fuller

Camping World Stadium

Florida State Seminoles

Press Conference

Q. Coming to Orlando, what do you see in the first practice and what do you like?

ADAM FULLER: Today, we combined Tuesday and Wednesday. Had a bunch of situations and we give the guys about two days off.

So, it was important to get them out here and try to make it as physical a practice as we could. I thought our guys showed up with good energy, come back tonight, correct some of the things and move forward tomorrow.

Q. Talk about everybody being intact to play the bowl game in this different time and age; how happy are you come into a bowl game with a team that's dialed in and all your players ready to go?

ADAM FULLER: I'm grateful for these players, grateful for these coaches. It starts with Mycah, how selfless he is. He sets the tone every day and our players follow.

I think the way we have gone to work the last three weeks after the Florida game, it represents who we are. Our guys care about each other, they care about representing this great university. They care about playing well.

They have got high standards and doesn't always guarantee success, but it guarantees what it looks like out there right now. I just feel really grateful to be part of this football game.

Q. How was this morning getting ready for Dillon Gabriel, talented quarterback; what's it been like preparing for a quarterback like that?

ADAM FULLER: Yeah, I would like to stop the run, the pass and the screens, all of it. But, their quarterback is really good. He's played in this style of offense for a number of years. Shane and Randy [Shannon] and Tatum [Bethune] have played on the same team as this quarterback. I feel we have got information on him.

But, he has been really successful everywhere he has been. Offense has not been the problem. He is really efficient. He is a competitor and has really good pace on his touch passes. He has really good feet. He had that one run against Nebraska, where he ran away from them. He is a complete quarterback, and he is a winner, two different schools now.

We like playing against competitors, because it brings out the best in all of you. So, we are just excited. It will be a good multiple on Friday.

Q. We heard from Coach Atkins about the importance of blocking off distractions for the guys that are here. Talk about your side on the defense what conversations are you having with the fellas and how are you encouraging them to dial in and remain focused?

ADAM FULLER: Well, I think you need a certain level of focus in everything you do. It is a little bit different in Bowl games, because certain away games, you get off the plane and you have a Friday night routine, you wake up and either the game is at night in the morning. You have a routine.

You really don't have as much opportunity to get distracted. Here at the bowl, part of the allure playing in good bowl games is you have opportunities for distractions. It is important for our guys to be able to venture and enjoy some of those times.

But, you don't prepare for the bowl game when you get to the bowl game. You prepare for the bowl game, last December, last January, last February. You have classes and you have all different things that pop up in these guys' lives. I think you have to trust what you have done throughout the year to get to this point.

Sometimes when you get back, shoot. We were all distracted last night, Christmas, you have a team meeting. I think when you garner a collective group like we have of good, young men and you put them all in a room. I think that draws the right energy to point in the right direction.

So, you never want to take anything for granted, and we won't. But, I do trust the group, and we will have them focused, but that is every day, and that is definitely a battle that we understand what we need to do each day.

Q. How and why has continuity been such a big key for you guys, your improved play on defense? You mentioned sifting through a lot of options beginning of last season, but that you've set on something, it explains itself but how does that make itself a successful unit?

ADAM FULLER: Part of being a coordinator is you have to create structure for your group. That comes with putting certain pieces together in the right positions, and then what are the rotations look like and they can't always being the same every year because you have different players. Then injuries come up.

So, our job is to make sure that the right guys are playing with the right pieces and substitutions happen. So kind of how we coach, all three levels of the defenses. We do have some consistency in putting guys in different spots and moving them around and different pieces, so that when guys have to step up -- I heard Jammie saying there's multiplicity in the training in the back end. That happens because you are going to need them all, and they need to be comfortable playing in different positions. You have to have comfortable coaching and making sure that all works together.

We have settled in our group, and I think the connectivity of our back seven playing together with our front four is important, and it is been part of our growth.

Q. Statistically, you guys are one of the best defenses in the country; I know you don't are about statistics and it's about how you guys play on the field. But is there a defining way an Adam fuller defense is playing right now? How would you describe the way you guys are playing?

ADAM FULLER: Well, I mean, our job is to get stops every series, right and so probably the proudest I've been, what I want to look like is we have games that we played really good for four quarters.

We have had games that maybe we gave up a score in the first series of the second half. But usually our responses, I think that has been the growth that I have really enjoyed seeing the most, is just our guys connectivity to each other in all things, and I think we have done a really good job of that. I am excited to see that take place one more time with this team.

But we want to do what we have to do to win the game, and I think our offense and our defense, our special teams, have all played well as a team this year. That is why we have had the success we have had, and looking forward to that happening one more time for this team.

Q. Did you ask Santa for Jammie and Jared to come back next year?

ADAM FULLER: No. I didn't. But I should have. Good question. That was tremendous.