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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: STANFORD v WISCONSINDecember 28, 2012Zach ErtzPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Can you talk about two offenses that value the tight end? This is a great match‑up, is it not? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, we've had a history of good tight ends. They've had some good ones too. It's good to see that the position hasn't gone away with these two offenses. Q. Did you ever worry about that? It seemed like it was a dying breed for a while. ZACH ERTZ: No, I knew Stanford was going to run an offense that utilized the tight ends. I think we brought four tight ends in my class, and I always knew that we'd use a tight end. I don't know if I knew it would be this much, as much as we do. But, yeah. Q. I know you look at Wisconsin's defense. But do you look at their similarities? ZACH ERTZ: I haven't paid attention to their offense. There are not a lot of teams that use the tight ends like we do, just moving us all over the field. I don't know if they do that, but I know they use their tight ends. Q. If you could make a case for tight ends and why it's a skill for college football, what would you say? ZACH ERTZ: A lot of us like to think that we're too big for the DBs, and too fast for the linebackers, so it's kind of a match‑up problem in our opinion. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Josh Garnett, without a doubt. Yeah, and he wasn't even fazed at the end. He said he could have eaten three more pieces. He had seven, and he could have eaten easily ten, but we just ran out of time. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: I know Andrus had like four or something. He was three behind. So I don't know if that's necessarily close. Q. How has it been? ZACH ERTZ: It's been fun. Last year we didn't do nearly as much as we did this year. Two days ago we were at Disneyland. Last night we were at the Clippers game, and today's we're going to the Improv comedy show. So the first three days we've got a lot on our slate. But as the week goes on, there is less and less so we can focus more on the game. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, at the back of my mind, we're always thinking about Wisconsin, obviously. That's the only reason we're down here. But Disneyland was a great experience, and just hanging out with the guys over there was something that I'll never forget. Q. How many times have you been to Disneyland? ZACH ERTZ: Oh‑‑ Q. Dozens? ZACH ERTZ: Probably around a dozen. Q. Did you hit some rides? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, we hit California Screamin' twice, the Matterhorn, the Cars race, Space Mountain, and just some little ones. Q. So when you were down here (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: No. Q. So you're not tired of that? ZACH ERTZ: No, that was good. Q. How much is it to get out in play action? ZACH ERTZ: Levine and I both get a lot of yards off the play action. We're a run first offense, and the offense starts with Stepfan, obviously. So if we get him rolling, that usually sets up the passing game as a whole. Q. Why do you think that works with tight ends so well? ZACH ERTZ: I just think when we can get into those big people personnels, we're able to stay on the field. The receivers are usually out of there, and it's usually two tight ends, an extra lineman and two running backs. So the defense is thinking run, and we spring a pass on them. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: They're tough against power. They see it every day in practice. They go against Montee Ball and all those guys over there. So they've seen power before. But we're going to stick to what we do, which is running power, and hopefully it works. Q. Can you talk about strength versus strength? ZACH ERTZ: I think both teams pride themselves on being physical. I know they. Do they've got some big boys over there. So it's going to be a battle in the trenches, and we're looking forward to that. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Probably getting movement up front. Their two D tackles are 330 pounds. We haven't seen that really. We had one guy be big, and another guy be small. But those two guys up front will be a good challenge for our guys, and I think that's something that we're looking forward to. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, they're good at what they do, so they don't shy away from that. They kind of sit in cover four, and they kind of bring pressure on third downs. So they're good at what they do, so I don't think they shy away from that. Q. What do you think of that third down defense. The six guys, not knowing who they're bringing? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, we've seen that before. They do it well. That front is interesting. We've been kind of going against that for the past two weeks. Hopefully our plan will work out in the game. Q. What is the big issue with that front? Just recognizing who is coming? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, you don't really know who is coming. They've got all five guys kind of walking around up right. You don't know who is coming or where they're coming. So that is the big problem with that. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, they've had a month to prepare. We've had a month to prepare, and everybody knows who everybody is. UCLA did some unique things against myself and Levine, so we had Drew and one heck of a game. We thought he should have won MVP, but we're happy for Kevin, obviously. He played awesome, and he's playing at a high level right now. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: I don't know what to expect. I've seen a lot of unique coverages that I never thought were possible. But I'm excited to see what they have. Q. What did UCLA do? ZACH ERTZ: They double teamed me a lot and just safety over the top the whole time, corner over the top. It was unique. But I think we've learned from that as players and a coaching staff. So we have answered for that now. Q. You guys obviously worked closely with the offensive line. How have you seen that group with Johnston being gone? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, I think we have one great leader in Sam Schwartzstein, and he sets the tempo for everybody else on that unit. He's done a heck of a job this year. We have David Yankey who is obviously the best guard in the country. Whatever you want to call him. We kind of put him in positions to be successful. He's probably the best player on the line right now, and some of the things he does is very impressive. Q. For a younger guy, I guess he was a younger guy last year. I don't know how young he is now. But with all the influx of offensive linemen, are he and Sam sort of the veterans of the group now and showing these guys how to get it done? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, all five of our guys are juniors or above. But I think Cam too, and those two are kind of the key guys on the offensive line because they were starting last year. And I think those three have helped Andrus and Josh and Kyle Murphy, especially. But some of those young guys, like Johnny Caspers, Nick Davidson, they're going to be very good in the future. So I'm looking forward to seeing how they go. Q. Did you guys have fun at the basketball game? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, it was good. We had a nice little suite up there. Q. It wasn't much of a game, was it? ZACH ERTZ: No, the Clippers killed them. They won by like 29. Q. Not to belabor this point, but how soon after this New Year's are you going to make the decision? ZACH ERTZ: I'll probably talk to Coach Shaw a few days after the game. We haven't spoken about what we want to do after. So we'll talk maybe the third or something, and see if we want to have a face‑to‑face meeting, then I'll probably drive down to Stanford a few days after that and I'll talk to Coach Bloomgren, Coach Hamilton to see what they have to say. Then I'll get that input and talk to my family. The week after, maybe. Q. So you haven't made your mind up in your head yet? ZACH ERTZ: No. I mean, the good news is I am on pace to graduate. I only have three classes left. So I've been fortunate enough to have this option. And I haven't thought about it too much. Q. If you do come back, will you take graduate work? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, I'd either double major get a Masters degree in something. Q. You don't know what? ZACH ERTZ: No. Q. As you look at the future of this program, it looks pretty bright for next year. But in your mind, what will the offense be, and what will the offensive line be? ZACH ERTZ: The offensive line are some of the best in the country, in my opinion. I mean, with David and Cam and Danser and Khalil coming back along with Andrus and Kyle and Josh having another year under their belt. There's no reason they're not one of the best lines in the country. All five of our linemen next year will have a ton of potential. I think they'll blend well because they're all very good friends off the field. I think it's going to be something special to see. Then we have Kevin, obviously, coming back for the next three years, and he's going to be something special too. I mean, I know you‑‑ No, Kevin Hogan, away from the O‑line, but Kevin's going to be special, obviously. Stepfan's a once‑in‑a‑decade guy. You can't really replace Stepfan with one guy. It's going to be a committee with Ricky seal. Anthony Wilkerson and Remound Wright. All three of those guys can do a great job. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, they're good up front and they're good at what they do.  They don't do a whole lot on first and second down. But on third down, you'll see all five guys up front walking around. All six guys up front walking around, and that kind of poses a challenge because you don't know where they're going to be or who is going to come. But I think we've got a good plan going into the game, and I'm just excited for it. Q. Do they play zone coverage? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, they play a lot of cover four, cover three. They'll play some manned coverage on third down and in the red zone. They kind of stick to that zone coverage because they're good at it and it works for them. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: As a whole the offense kind of stepped to the side and Stepfan and Sam told us we've got a decision to die side on how the season's going to go. Just because we lost to Notre Dame and Washington, doesn't mean our season's over. Notre Dame's not even a conference game. And in the off‑season, we kind of won the Pac‑12 Championship. So overreacting to that loss or that decision in the game is no reason for us to get emotionally hijacked. And I think that set the tempo for the rest of the year. Q. Do you remember that (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, I would say coming off a loss in any means, you always want to start that Tuesday on the right note. I don't think we did that that week. But I think the seniors did a good job of getting the team together and making sure that everybody knew that we still had our one goal in mind, and that was easily established or easily attainable, I should say. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, if we have a poor practice, the players know it, and Coach Shaw kind of says that's unacceptable here. We strive to be great every day and to get better every day. We are getting worse, obviously. I don't see if you've seen that sign. The one that hangs on our practice field, and I think it's very true. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: During camp it was kind of Brent and Josh. Those two guys. We knew Kevin was going to be good, we just didn't know how soon he was going to be good. As the season progressed, he kind of evolved as a quarterback. And he was making impressive throws in practice. And I think the coaches kind of slowly started to put him in the game, I mean, the Cal game was kind of a coupling out party, but not really. All five plays were very impressive. In the Colorado game, we kind of put him in, and we never looked back from there. Q. Is that the moment when you realized he's our guy? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah. Throughout the year I was always supportive of Josh, and obviously, because he was the quarterback. And then once we made the switch to Kevin, I wanted to see what he could do in the game. And it was very impressive. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: That he's very calm out there. You never see him get too high or too low after a good play or bad play. I think that's good for any quarterback, but especially in this offense when we look to the quarterback so much. We had Andrew last year and Kevin kind of exemplifies a lot of the same characteristics. Q. Is that pretty wild to say (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, I think seeing Andrew last year the way he approached the game on and off the field was big for Kevin. And a lot of the young quarterbacks. I think Kevin learned a lot from him. Q. (Indiscernible) what is the story behind that? ZACH ERTZ: I think he and Anthony Wilkerson were rapping one day at practice, just freestyling, and he said Kulabafi. Somehow. I don't know what goes on in that kid's mind. He said Kulabafi, and it kind of stuck ever since. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah, he's good. Q. What is the difference? ZACH ERTZ: Stepfan Taylor during meetings and everything, you never hear him say a word, and then once he turns into Kulabafi. He's a completely different person. Q. Have you ever been in one of his videos? ZACH ERTZ: I haven't. I'm trying to get into one, so hopefully I'll be able to. Q. How has this offense changed for you? ZACH ERTZ: I think we're very confident. We're a very confident offense right now. I think a lot of this has to do with Kevin. We went on a run and beat four or five straight ranked opponents and that falls a lot on Kevin. Just his ability to keep plays going with his legs is something that we didn't have in the beginning of the season. But I think it's played a big role in this offense. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: If we could feed him the ball 40 times in a game, we would. But if we have to go two tight ends and two receivers and spread us all out, that's what we're going to do to win the game. Q. Is that a team mentality? Even though you might not get ten catches, you're fine in running the ball? ZACH ERTZ: Yeah. I mean, the offense goes where Stepfan takes us. Like I was saying the offensive line and Stepfan kind of carries this team. And I think that's what sets the tempo up front. As we are able to wear teams down, that sets up the play‑action passes and the whole passing game. Q. (Indiscernible). ZACH ERTZ: The one thing that sticks out is even though they have five losses, they've only lost all five games by 7 points or less. So the ball just didn't bounce their way in some of those games. So they're a very good football team.  They do a lot of good stuff on defense. They're big. They're fast outside, and they stick to what they do. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH ERTZ: I don't know necessarily Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State, because those teams are more spread. But they're very similar to Oregon State in our opinion. Oregon State was a very good team, and we barely beat them. So I think this is going to be another one of those games. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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