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DISCOVER BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: ALABAMA v NOTRE DAMEJanuary 5, 2013Damion SquareMIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA Q.  Tired of the hype? DAMION SQUARE: Just glad the game is nearing. We've been practicing for these guys for almost a month now, you know, and this is not usual. Usually during the season you've only got to wait a week to hear all the hype on ESPN and things like that, but we've been hearing it for a month, and it's time to go play some football. Q. How significant is it knowing this whole routine, having been here before? DAMION SQUARE: I mean, hopefully it'll play in our favor. We're a team, we practice to play on this level. We practice to play the last game of the season. We train in the summer to play the last game of the season, and we're here, and hopefully we have a good day of preparation today, and come out and put on a good show. Q. A win on Monday would give your senior class the school record for wins. How significant is that? DAMION SQUARE: You want to be remembered for something, and you live life to be remembered and do great things so that you can leave a legacy here when you're gone. That's all we're trying to do, just come out here and play big‑time football, and like I said, try to play the last game of the season. Hopefully we can come out of here with a W and leave a legacy here at the University of Alabama. Q. Coach Saban announced last night that a couple of the younger guys got sent home. What kind of attention getter do you think that is for the other younger guys here this week? DAMION SQUARE: We come down here to try to do the right things, and Coach handled it in the proper way that he felt he should handle the situation so it wouldn't be such a big distraction to the team. Like I said, that's over, and now we're just focused on game time. Q. The difference between 2010 and 2012 in terms of the seasons, talk about that. You're smiling; what's the smile for? DAMION SQUARE: In terms of playing on the next level, you can tell that that team had greater talent in terms of that‑‑ we've got guys on our team that's willing to play hard, you know, and I think willing and talent, they go hand in hand. You can have guys with great talent, but if they're not willing to play and prepare like these guys are on this team, then you'll have the results we had in 2010. And just the way these guys respond to the leadership of this team is so big, man. I love playing with these guys. I come on the sideline and these guys believe what I am saying, they believe in my experience on the field and the amount of snaps that I've played here at the University of Alabama, and these guys take what I say and they actually try to go execute it on the field as if I'm a coach or something like that. I just love playing with these guys. These guys are willing to play four quarters, 60 minutes of football against anybody in the country, and I'm just happy to have these guys on my team. Q. What do you think that senior corps learned in '10 that has helped to make '12 different? DAMION SQUARE: Back to the willing part. You know, understanding that nothing is given, nothing is given to you just because of the talent or the top‑notch recruits that you have. We almost became complacent. We were winning over 10 games a year, and we just felt like it's going to happen for us regardless, all we've got to do is walk out on the field. Well, this year we learned that, also, in playing a game like Texas A & M. You can't just walk out on the field and play games; you've got to execute from week to week. That's what we learned from 2010. You've got to go execute. Q. How do you handle star recruits now that the program is so successful that might come in with a sense of entitlement? DAMION SQUARE: I'll tell you one thing, Scott Cochran gets those guys right on the first day running 110s. You become real humble when you get out there in that Alabama heat when it's 90 degrees in the summer, and you're running with those guys. I think it's just the work that you put in with one another. Everybody becomes on the same level because you understand that those five stars are not going to help you one these 16 110s. That's the thing that humbles guys when they come in, whether they're a five‑star recruit or a two‑star recruit. You're going to lean on your brother out there running those 110s in the heat, and that's what brings you together, the work. Q. What's the main difference between last season's defense and this one's? DAMION SQUARE: I don't think there is a difference. Q. Really? DAMION SQUARE: I really don't. Q. If I suggested a different kind of (inaudible) would you reach across the table and hit me? DAMION SQUARE: I mean, we had great pass rushing in Donte Hightower and Courtney Upshaw. Those guys were a different type of dudes, body, speed, and willing. Those guys just had a different attitude towards this game. But I think collectively with the numbers collectively, we play great as a group. We don't have that guy that's standing out as a 12‑sack guy or anything like that. But across the front I had more sacks than in previous years. I think pretty much every guy that touches the field gets to the quarterback exceptionally well. So we don't have one guy that's racking up all the sacks. So collectively I think we've made up for those guys. Q. You've heard the comments on TV, how does that play? DAMION SQUARE: We come to play Alabama football. That's all we can do, and I think we'll be fine just doing that. Q. How do you guys get to the point where you can have a team that doesn't need a superstar? How do you get to a point where egos don't have to play in? DAMION SQUARE: Like I said, it's the work. You become humble when you come here and you put this work in with these guys, and you see that every day you come in in the morning, no matter who you were before you got to this university, you're going to have to get better here with a guy on the side of you no matter where he came from. So I think it's the work, standing out there with the guys and just knowing that we're trying to get to a point as a team, and not as an individual, and I understand that individuals succeed as the teams succeed. I think Coach pushed that throughout the years here at the university, and I think guys have gotten to a point, we win games, then guys will get the accolades that they deserve. Guys come to this university believing that, so they buy into the team, and if the accolades come at the end of the season, they shall come. If they don't, then... Q. Is the standard higher at Alabama? DAMION SQUARE: We practice and we work out to be in this game at the end of the year, and that's what we work for. So if that's high standards, then I guess so. Q. Do you think there's any other team in the country that can go into every season with the expectation, or realistic expectation? Because I know Toledo thinks they're going to win the National Championship at the beginning of the year, but the realistic expectation that a National Championship is the only viable result to a good season? DAMION SQUARE: Well, I can't speak for any other team, I just know that's how we work at the University of Alabama. Whether it's realistic or not depends on where you end up at the end of the season. Q. Was that an adjustment coming to Alabama? Did they have to almost beat that into you to get everyone on to that page? DAMION SQUARE: No, we recruit that way. We recruit guys that want to win. We recruit guys that want to play in National Championship games. We recruit guys that want to play in the last game of the year and play in BCS games every year. I think that's the attitude in the recruiting process; they recruit guys with that type of characteristics, and we all come together collectively and try to reach this point every year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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