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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: STANFORD v WISCONSINDecember 29, 2012David YankeyPASADENA, CALIFORNIAS Q. How are you feeling? DAVID YANKEY: Good, thank you. How are you? Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Good, good. Everyone is excited for the game. That's our main focus. Q.  When do you turn it up a notch, the intensity? DAVID YANKEY: Probably, I mean, today. Today is a big day. Today is‑‑ Wednesday is the last hard practice, and then after that we start polishing it up. Q. Congratulations on being here. DAVID YANKEY: Thank you very much. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: I think so. I don't go to a whole bunch, though. I'm pretty sure they do them with Coach Shaw every now and then. Q. Do you do that like internally at Stanford? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, I don't watch a whole lot of local TV, I guess. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: It's good. Haven't got to spend a whole lot of time there. They keep us pretty busy. Been going around doing events. The Improv Comedy Club last night, the Clippers‑Celtics game. It was great. Q. How was that? DAVID YANKEY: It was great. It was fun. They blew them out. It was crazy. Q. I thought they'd be good this season but they're really having a great season. DAVID YANKEY: 16 in a row. Q. The first half of the season (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, very true, very true. We'll see how it goes. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, I think that's what they were saying. I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: It's very modest. It's not like one of those huge trophies. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: I guess so. I might get out of here without getting asked a question. We'll see. Q. What position is Stepfan Taylor? DAVID YANKEY: Running back. All‑time leading career rusher for us. Q. What's it like in the huddle with (inaudible)? DAVID YANKEY: He's obviously different than Andrew, but he's calm, cool, collected. His demeanor in big moments, it's awesome. He doesn't let anything really overwhelm him. Q. Did you play basketball with him? DAVID YANKEY: No, I never got to play basketball with him, but I heard he's a pretty good player. Q. As far as when he's calling plays, his confidence down the stretch, what kind of difference does it make? DAVID YANKEY: It's awesome just to have a quarterback that's more confident. We knew we had to help instill that confidence as the season kind of wore on just because making your first start at Oregon State, a ranked team, is kind of tough. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: You know, I mean, his ability to scramble and his athleticism, it helps a lot. As an offensive lineman you always love that in case something goes wrong as far as protection, he can still make a play. Q. I was hoping to talk to you a little bit about the art of playing guard. What goes into that and what are some fundamentals of that? DAVID YANKEY: So some of the keys, we have basic rules like how much depth we want to get, where we want to pull to based on the play, so remembering all those things while you're pulling and just having it be almost natural and instinctual by the time you get to game day is important, and then also it's just kind of a just being in space and feeling out how all the blocks are going. Q. At what point do you attack a linebacker or a lineman and at what point do you wait to see what they may do? DAVID YANKEY: Usually I like to attack them because either way it makes them make a decision. But yeah, as you're coming into the line, you kind of don't have a choice sometimes, as well, because you're moving forward and they just happen to be there. Q. How would you evaluate what you guys have been able to establish, the aspect of your running game? DAVID YANKEY: I think it's definitely gotten better. Our gap game is one of the things we hang our hat on. We love to be physical and just pound the ball. Early in the season our offensive line was still kind of gelling, we were having a couple issues, but as the season has gone on we've definitely gotten a lot better and our double teams and pulling. Q. When you look at Wisconsin's defense, they go against pulling offenses quite a bit, too. Does that show up on film? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, it shows up on film a decent amount, but you know all throughout training camp they're going against that Wisconsin offense that's very similar to ours and they're going to have answers to the pulling game and we're going to have to make adjustments and play really hard. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: They play really hard, they flow really well, just seeing the puller, you can tell they've seen it a lot before, and also just how physical they play. They like to make big hits on linemen, they're not afraid, so it's going to be a good, physical game. Q. Human nature would say when you have a quarterback making his first four starts (inaudible)‑‑ DAVID YANKEY: Yeah. Q. How tough is it for him to kind of maintain that level of play that he was having before? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, well, one thing that coach Shaw always like to say is there's no momentum between games. Every game is its own entity, and so what matters is how we prepare for the game. Hogan has just been incredible. Kevin has done a great job preparing for the game. He knows the game plan front and back, and he's really doing a great job, and I know he's getting himself well prepared. Q. Are you surprised by that? He's only a freshman. DAVID YANKEY: You know, it is just really impressive. That's the only way to describe it. I'm not surprised because I've seen it in him since he was a true freshman red shirting, but it is great to see, and it's awesome to have a leader that's so into the details and just such a competitor that whenever he messes something up you can tell he's immediately frustrated trying to fix it. Q. How does it feel to have your name up there? DAVID YANKEY: I can't see it, so I don't know. I'm not too worried about that stuff. Q. What's been the funnest moment so far this week? DAVID YANKEY: I think the funniest thing is actually last night at the Improv club, before the show started we had some guys going up on stage and just singing karaoke style and the whole team really got into it and we were clapping and singing along to one of the cool boppy songs, actually. It's called "I Go to Stanford, Brodie". It was a lot of fun. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: It was just all of us like in the back room and then the people serving got to watch, as well, got to witness the special event. Q. How did practice go yesterday? DAVID YANKEY: It was definitely different. It was fun to have people out there getting to watch practice. It always adds a new dimension when you've got people out there. You want to be on your best behavior and also playing well. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, yeah, he does that a lot during practice. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Ryan Devlin, he's one of our assistants, he's always walking around and he's got a whole play list that is for practice. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: We always have our suggestions, but not all of them make it in. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: No, it's not in our game plan, it's just been our regular play list, and it's been a lot of fun getting ready. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Yep. They're definitely enjoying it, as well, you can tell. But all of us know we're here for one reason, and that's to win the Rose Bowl. That's how we got here, and that's why we want to finish the season the way we planned to. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: I think I was most looking forward to the Beef Bowl, the Lawry's Beef Bowl, and that was a lot of fun. Coach Shaw put a limit on how much we could eat, but also a great time. It was a lot of fun there. Q. What was the limit? DAVID YANKEY: Two steaks per person except for the guys that‑‑ he let Josh Garnett go three, the freshman. He got to eat a bunch. Q. When you look at this Wisconsin team, obviously they've got a lot of really (Inaudible.) How do you think they've grown to where they are now? DAVID YANKEY: I think they've grown immensely. I don't know as much about the offense or what troubles they're having there, but their defense is playing at a high level. They're not letting up a lot of points, and they're a good, stout defense. They don't blitz a lot, but they don't let the offense have many opportunities. Q. What kind of stuff (inaudible) tackles and more fundamental stuff? DAVID YANKEY: I don't know so much on defense because they've looked pretty good all year even from the early games when we've been watching the Oregon State game, and they've looked pretty stout. It was a low‑scoring affair, as well. Q. And from I guess a defensive standpoint do they look like some of the Pac‑12 teams? DAVID YANKEY: They're a pretty traditional four down defense, so we've seen a lot that before, but they're probably one of the stouter defenses we've played, you know, a low‑blitz percentage and then third down they'll come at you with some crazy stuff. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: He's kind of a quiet guy. He's not the most outgoing. But he's a competitor. That's the way I like to describe him because he's not‑‑ he doesn't talk about it, but when he's out there on the field, you can tell all he wants to do is win, and he's the same way in just like playing around, basketball, rec league, all that stuff. He can tell he's an extreme competitor, and he's taking that to the football field in terms of the physical game and the mental game, so it's been awesome to see. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: You know, I think it definitely did reenergize us quite a bit. In that Colorado game he went on something like six straight touchdown drives, so he was definitely a little bit of a spark plug for this offense. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, I think early in the season there was a lot of that, but as the season has worn on, people have started to let go of that and just talk about us as a team, which has been really good, because that's what we're focused on. The ghost of Andrew Luck isn't going to win us any games, unfortunately. Q. What's your sense about (inaudible) interesting situation. DAVID YANKEY: I think he's been doing great. You know, he seems to be more locked in than ever. He really wants to focus on the game, and he's still having fun being loose and relaxed, but you can tell that his preparation has not changed at all a bit for the game. Q. Did he surprise you (inaudible) so easily? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, I didn't‑‑ I was talking about the Colorado game earlier, and I was surprised because I realized we'd gone on six scoring drives, something like that, when he went in, but when I looked back and saw his stats after the game, I was like, wow. I realized he was making plays on the field but I didn't realize how many. That's kind of how he is. He's quiet and unassuming but he makes plays all the time. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Like I said, he's an ultra competitor. He's always ready for a fight, and he wants to win, come out on top, and guys respect that just naturally. Like you said, we'd seen it in practice, we'd seen it in training camp, all that stuff, and we knew he had a chance to be good, but it was a lot of fun seeing him actually do it and winning games with him. Q. Was it a tough adjustment? DAVID YANKEY: I didn't think it was a tough adjustment at all. As an offensive lineman it doesn't matter who's behind us, we've got to run block and pass block as well as we can to make the offense successful, and it just made it easier with him making more plays. Q. Was there any worry when you heard coach was making that switch? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, you know, there were rumors of it, and I just trusted Coach Shaw, Coach Pep, Coach Bloom, they're all going to put the guys out there that are going to give us the best opportunity to win the game. That's their job, and it worked out obviously very well for us. Q. (Inaudible.) He said you guys are goofier this year than last year. Is it a laid‑back vibe? DAVID YANKEY: I wouldn't said laid back. We're all about the workers union and winning games, but it is funny, David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin, they're much more stoic guys, serious more often, and Kevin Danser and Kalil Wilkes and Sammy Schwartzstein are all‑‑ they lighten the mood a little bit sometimes, and it's a lot of fun. Q. (Inaudible.) Is it fun to be a part of an offense that has that kind of identity? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, most definitely. We practice hard to be able to help make plays. I heard Coach Pep called offensive linemen play makers earlier in the week. I don't know if I agree completely with that, but it is a lot of fun to matter a lot to the playbook and to the coaches. Q. Have you gotten to look at on film Wisconsin's Indy defense? What does that look like to you? DAVID YANKEY: Are you talking about the radar, the walk‑around type of thing? Q. Yeah. DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, they were doing that a lot in the championship game. It's fun seeing that because it presents a very specific challenge. For us it's all about communication and being able to know where people are going and passing games. Q. And that communication really starts with Sammy Schwartzstein at the center spot, right? DAVID YANKEY: Yep, Sam Schwartzstein. He's been great, driving the bus for us all year, and he's going to continue to do a great job. He's always extremely locked into the playbook. He knows it front and back like no one else, and he's going to get us right on game day. Q. With a guy like that driving the bus what is your role on the offensive line? DAVID YANKEY: My role is just to block people, I guess. We all have to make calls and everything, and like I said, Sammy drives the bus and everyone else just has to block people and make plays happen. Q. Have you seen any looks like that during the regular season defensively with two down linemen and a bunch of guys in a two‑point stance moving around? DAVID YANKEY: We haven't seen that specific look, but I remember last year we'd seen Notre Dame do it with three guys walking around. There was maybe one team we played this year that's done the walk around stuff, so we've seen it before and have some experience with it. Q. Looking at that Notre Dame loss, kind of controversial I guess to see the least. Was that a turning point in your season because you guys could have won that game quite easily. Did you guys kind of look at yourselves and say, hey, we've got something special hereafter that game? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, we realized that we didn't make enough plays to win the game. We let it go out of our hands, and we never wanted to be in that situation again. And so I think our team really worked very hard after that point in the season to get to where we've been, and we've been competing with every team, and it's been great. Q. What's this week been like for the players with all the opportunities but still trying to focus? DAVID YANKEY: We're treating it as a completely new week where we're reinstalling everything as far as game plan, so for us our focus has to be on football. The main objective is to win the game. Everything else is here because of the game. So it's been a lot of fun, enjoying those things in our free time, but our focus is still on meetings. Guys were glad to be back to football after we had like three days off after Christmas and everyone was glad to be back in meetings and practice and all those things. Q. What's it like for you guys to have such a long break game to game? DAVID YANKEY: It's definitely a strange feeling. You know, it's good to get a little time off at the end of the season because the body is feeling it by Week 13, 14. You know, it's kind of indescribable. It's not like any other game you have all year, and I think that's also what makes it so special. Q. If you had your choice, how many weeks would you guys have off? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, I think I'd probably choose two, maybe one, just like keep rolling in the season, something like that. But yeah, that would probably be my perfect time for a bowl game. I just like staying in rhythm. Q. The Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, is there something special about this BCS bowl? DAVID YANKEY: Oh, most definitely. Our goal for the past four or five years, even before I was here, has been to win the Pac‑12 championship and make it to the Rose Bowl because that's all we can control. So it's been awesome going to the BCS Bowls the past few years, and guys have done a great job, but to make it to the Pac‑12 Championship and win it has been an incredible feeling, and it's been an awesome ride so far. We just want to finish it off right. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, definitely. Their defense is different schematically than ours, but in terms of physicality and wanting to stop the run and stuff like that, they play in very much a similar way. Their safeties fire hard and they're all about stopping the run. Q. Is there anyone on film that you're focused on on the defensive line? DAVID YANKEY: I know No.11, the defensive end, he's been very good, watching him play. He's very impressive along with both their D tackles. They're very big guys, like run stoppers, and you can't forget about their middle linebacker No.44. He's kind of just a stout guy who kind of just tries to blow people up and make plays. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: I think that's definitely what it is. Neither team wants to come in and just play finesse style football, and we both hang our hat on the fact that we're physical teams. They're from a very physical conference in the Big Ten, and they don't want to let that reputation down, and we don't want to let the reputation that we've built up over the past couple years down. So it's going to be a good smashmouth football game. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: Oh, it's been awesome. It's kind of incredible just because I got to play last year and played with Andrew Luck, and then now‑‑ Stepfan Taylor obviously, and now he's a career leading rusher in Stanford history, a guy like that who can just make plays and cuts on a dime. Even if there is a D‑lineman in the backfield every now and then, which we're never happy with, he still makes them miss and makes a play out of it. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: I did not watch it live. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: I was shocked. I mean, give all the credit to them for putting up all those points. But you don't usually hear of that in a championship game where you have two of the best teams in the conference going at it to put up 70 on them and blow them out like that was really impressive. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: You know, I heard they ran the ball really well. I don't watch the offense, I was just watching the defense, who did play extremely well except for one play on Martinez, really, which was quite an incredible run. But no, they played really well, played really hard on defense. They were well prepared. Q. I know you're always preparing for the next game. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: You know, I don't think so. I don't want to come up for air just yet and breathe. We've been grinding for a long time, and it's been a lot of fun this season, and we've enjoyed our wins, but I think after this game is when I'll be able to really appreciate it all. But right now, like I said, the focus is on the game. Q. (Inaudible.) DAVID YANKEY: To the Rose Bowl? No, it was Oregon. We were at the Fiesta Bowl last year and then the Orange Bowl before that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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