|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: OREGON v WISCONSINDecember 28, 2011Eddie PleasantPASADENA, CALIFORNIA EDDIE PLEASANT: I've been watching college football a long time, and being from Southern California and being an SC fan when I was little, they always have opportunities to go to games like this. I always wished to play a game like this when I was here. Now that we're here, we have to finally win one. We have to get this win. Q. Is that weighing on you a lot? EDDIE PLEASANT: Oh, yeah. I don't know about anybody else, but as a player, it's weighing on me a lot, a big part. I'm done after this game, but still it's something that I felt like we accomplished everything here but the BCS game, so that's one thing I feel like we need to really get done. Q. Is it stuff that you felt like you guys let go or you just got beat? EDDIE PLEASANT: Well, they're both pretty close games. One of them came down to the wire, another one came down to just a few more mistakes with the Rose Bowl two years ago, so it's not like they're blowout games. It's always coming down to the wire. Just one team always finds a better way to finish. Q. Was the running back‑‑ he fell on you? Is that what happened? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yes, he fell on me and then they said his wrist was down. There was all kinds of stuff, yeah. Q. Do you ever think about that? EDDIE PLEASANT: I used to think a lot more about it back then, but as the season started, I don't think about it anymore. He made a great play. It is what it is. They won, so they're feeling pretty good over there, so I guess I got the short end of the stick. Q. When you see it, do you scratch your head like what the heck happened? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, because it never happened to me before. You see stuff like that happen all the time.  One of my close friends is LeGarrette Blount. He does stuff like that all the time to me. When it's happening to you, you're like, man, that's crazy, but it is what it is, and you can't do nothing about it now. Q. You were (Indiscernible) what kind of a job do you think he's done? EDDIE PLEASANT: He's done a great job. Coming in, he's played behind a lot of great players and he got his opportunity to come to play. He did a great job against the LSU game. Did a phenomenal job. I think he got player of the game. Then he came against Nevada and got hurt the following week. It's kind of crazy, because I had the same kind of injury he had last year. It's not something you want to play with. I felt like he's doing a great job with that. He's not letting his spirit be down. Even though he can't play the way he wants to play, he's still out there, staying in the game and coaching the young guys up. So I think he's doing a great job. Q. Pretty frustrating your senior year? EDDIE PLEASANT: I feel like it would be very frustrating if I was in his position. But like I said, he's carrying us over really well and he's still doing a great job. Q. What was your experience trying to manage it and trying to play through it? EDDIE PLEASANT: Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have ‑‑ mine's probably not as bad as his. I can still play through it. But seeing how worst his was and having to be in this position, I don't know what I would do. It was something that I would have to play through. We're having a good season. It was nothing that was going to make me sit out in the games, you know what I mean? But I felt it was pretty good throughout the year. Q. The last couple of BCS games, do you feel frustrated by how they ended up? Were you able to take any satisfaction from that? EDDIE PLEASANT: I'm going to say no, just because we didn't get the win. You know what I mean? We didn't get the win. But we did some great things in those games. We had some takeaways. We held Auburn, the highest scoring team held our offense to 20‑something points. We did some great things in that game. You tend not do think about those things when it's the last game and the BCS championship game and you don't win the game. Q. What about Russell Wilson, their quarterback? EDDIE PLEASANT: He shows great poise under pressure. Seems like he has nobody in his face. He avoids really well. He makes a lot of good plays on the run when he has pressure in his face. He's a pretty good quarterback. I was impressed to see how short he was not to be that tall and the way he flings the ball, you know what I mean? Watching him on film, he flings the ball 50 yards on the run. To see him in person, I can't believe wow I can't believe he throws the ball like that. But he's a great football player and I'm looking forward to playing against him. Q. He's a baseball guy too. EDDIE PLEASANT: I didn't even know that. Q. He played second base in the Rockies' organization. Are you able to see some of that? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, now like you said that, he's probably a shortstop or something like that, yeah. Q. So what's it been like for you at Oregon? It was a great decision? You grew up and it worked out for you? EDDIE PLEASANT: It was a lovely decision. I'm happy with my decision. I have no regrets. I didn't want to stay in California, and I didn't want to go too far. I felt like Oregon was a great place. Great coaches, had a fun ride, changed the program around you know what I mean? I feel good about the decision I made. I wouldn't change it for nothing. Q. You're getting closer to the end of your time at Oregon. How much do you think the things you learned from there helped you enlighten your life? EDDIE PLEASANT: It has lots of stuff to do with everyday life. When it comes to somebody has to get a job, you can't be late. You can't be late to football practice. Being late to football practice I feel is a lot more scary than being late to a regular job because coaches don't play that kind of stuff. And that helps you out when you do get older to get a job because you've been trained to do the right thing. When you do get into the real world, it's a lot easier for you. Q. Going back to college what do you do to rise up and be a better person (Inaudible)? EDDIE PLEASANT: That was three years ago. I felt like I had already done that. Q. I believe you have. But I'm asking in those situations, what do you have to do to sort of learn from that experiences like that? EDDIE PLEASANT: You've got to move on. Take your punishment as a man and move on from it, and that was what I did. Q. (Inaudible)? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, I was a little surprised. I thought he would have come. He came with a lot of great things at us besides just going to the bowl game, just for the simple fact that they couldn't make one. Yeah, I was a little surprised it is what it is. Lot of guys end up doing that kind of stuff. I felt like he had a decision between him and his parents and they felt it was the best thing for him to come back, and that's what he did. Q. (Inaudible)? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, it is, but you know he probably comes from a wealthy background. He's probably not even in it for the money, but yeah, I think it is. But he's probably not even in it for nothing like that. He's out there having fun like most of us are. But at the same time, most of us do need to take care of family. Like I said, he's probably a wealthy person and didn't look at it that way. Q. (Inaudible)? EDDIE PLEASANT: It's a big deal. It's a BCS game and there are only four BCS games, so any time you get a chance to play in one of them, you know you did something good throughout the season. It's not the National Championship Game, but we're excited to be at the Rose Bowl. We had a lot of fun last time besides the win. Not getting the win. We're looking forward to it and we're excited to be here. Q. Is there more pressure? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, me personally, I feel like just because it's my last game, and we've been here twice and haven't gotten a BCS win, for the most part, I feel that pressure. I feel like we need to win this game. This will be a big statement game for us. Q. You're not asked to blitz a lot. How fun is it when you see what you guys can do and the defense can do? EDDIE PLEASANT: When we're back there, we can't really sit there and look to see what they're doing. We've still got keys of our own. But it's great to see those guys, Dion, Terrell, all those guys get in there and have an opportunity to make plays and get sacks. It feels good knowing that we're deep in coverage there and they come up with the sack. It feels good. But for the most part, when those guys do good jobs like that, it makes it a lot more easy for us. Q. The turnovers aren't coming as easy earlier in this year than they were last year. The pressure at least was always there, and the defense was still having some success. But is that something that you're involved with more and more? EDDIE PLEASANT: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. A lot of things have changed over the last couple of years. Coach has done a great job. Like I said, he doesn't get as much credit as he deserves, because our offense does such a great job. But I feel like you said, interceptions are coming a little earlier this year than they were last year. I feel like we're turning that around as we get deeper into the season. Q. Is that something that defense takes pride in those stats? EDDIE PLEASANT: Especially as a DB. You take pride in getting turnovers, especially interceptions and fumble recoveries. Any kind of takeaway, you better your chances of winning a ballgame. Q. Is that something you worked on a lot the last couple of years? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, yeah, I have to work on that. That is the main thing. Being able to play in space and being able to make plays on the ball and being able to make tackles. That is all it is to play defensive back. You can't do that, you can't play defensive back. Q. Pretty rewarding? EDDIE PLEASANT: Yeah, yeah, it felt good, you know. Coach put us into a great defense. Got a great disguise going. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|