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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYJuly 26, 2013Jake FischerTerrence MillerRich RodriguezCULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Representing Arizona, Coach Rodriguez, wide receiver Terrence Miller, line backer Jake Fischer. Coach, we'll take an opening comment. COACH RODRIGUEZ:  Appreciate everybody coming out. It a pleasure to be here. I have had a busy week. It's a great turnout, excited to go into the second season certainly as a coaching staff making the transition. Thought we learned a lot about our team, about what we need to do moving forward, got a great group of young men in our program, a lot of fun to coach, a few guys to replace, outstanding seniors. I like this team. I like their attitude. I like what's being built at the University of Arizona, moved into our brand new facility, this Monday, excited about the Lowell‑Stevens Football Facility. Q. Coach, last year you gave up 498 yards per game defense. What are you going to do this year to shore that up besides the nice line backer sitting next to you, Jake Fischer. COACH RODRIGUEZ: It does start with guys like Jake. We were young at times and certainly we had a few injuries that hurt us. We knew coming in that we were going to be hanging on a little bit defensively just because of our lack of depth and experience. A lot of guys are back, you're older, stronger, a little more experienced, certainly; and we're going to have a little more competition and depth. And hopefully we will be luckier as well keeping guys healthy. Our guys never quit. They battled although times defensively and we knew we were hanging on a little bit. I like what we do defensively and I like the players coming back and I think they're going to play with a chip on their shoulders, and you will see better defense this fall. Q. We have a fan question for all of you on Twitter, and he is an ASU fan. COACH RODRIGUEZ: Short answer! Q. How much does last year's Territorial Cup weigh on your minds throughout the day? COACH RODRIGUEZ: None! TERRENCE MILLER: None. JAKE FISCHER: None. COACH RODRIGUEZ: Next question. Q. Terrence, could you give us a sense of where you're at physically now and what it's been like getting back from the injuries last year? TERRENCE MILLER: I'm feeling great. After last year's injury it was terrible for me, ending my season like that early, but fortunately I was granted a fifth year and right now I'm feeling great, running back up to full speed and feeling healthy. COACH RODRIGUEZ: I'm glad you asked that because by rule I'm not allowed to ask that ourselves, any other questions with regard to the workouts this summer and how they went, please ask so I can get educated. Q. Can you talk about your quarterback situation? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I know there is a lot of concern, certainly from the fans and I understand that because Matt Scott was so good last year, he had a phenomenal year and was a great leader. We have some talented guys, B.J. Decker got some great experience last year, Jesse Scroggins was hurt all spring, so we have some unknowns there and other guys in the program and freshmen coming in. The talent is going to be there. What's going to be critical for us as coaches is putting those guys in different situations to see who emerges and we might not know the answer by the first couple of games but we got enough talent there we'll be okay. Q. Coach, you guys played in some midweek games, you have one this year against USC. How does that change your preparation in terms of the midweek and nationally televised? COACH RODRIGUEZ: The midweek is a little different, but fortunately I've played a few throughout my career. I love the Thursday night games; I think it's great exposure. I think the guys love being in a prime time game Thursday nights so you have to plan your practices. You move the calendar back and treat Thursday like it's Saturday and make your schedule accordingly and you have a ten‑day window. When it's tough is when you have a 5‑day window and as long as it was the same for both teams that never bothered me but the way our league does it is you have a ten‑day window to get ready for it and it should be fun for our guys. Q. Coach Rodriguez, I was wondering if you could talk about the Hard Edge videos you guys have been making and who is the best actor? COACH RODRIGUEZ: The guys to my right and left will probably say they are. It's been fun. We started off just going to have the coaches dress up in this place where it's beautiful. They make movies and stuff, in our cowboy outfits and sending it to our recruits saying "the posse has come to get you" and then it became a marketing thing and we took our players out there and released a Hard Edge 2 and there will probably be a Hard Edge 3 coming out so all of these players want to be movie stars, anyway; and Tucson is great, we can tell them you can come to University of Arizona, play football, get a quality education and start your movie career. Even though it might be 15 seconds, Terrence had the serious look coming out and Jake had the Clint Eastwood stare. It was fun. Q. For Rich, do the new guidelines that the Pac‑12 has adopted in terms of contact and recovery during practice in spring, does that mean much of a change for what you guys have done mean anything? COACH RODRIGUEZ: I think our league and about every coach in the country has went to those guidelines anyway, if not even less contact than that. Because as a coach you have to be concerned about the welfare of your team and you know your team and you know how beat up you are and what you have to do and how hard you have to work on hitting and what you have to do. So I think everybody has worked hard on it and I think most of the coaches in our league and most throughout the country are already kinda doing that anyway. Q. With Austin Hill's injury this season how has that changed the dynamic for your receiving correspond? TERRENCE MILLER: Means everybody else has to step up. I have to take a bigger leader role in the room and the younger guys in the receiving room have to step up. He's a big part of our receiver room, but we've got to make up for it. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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