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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: DUKE v FLORIDA STATEDecember 2, 2013Lamarcus JoynerCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA Q. You guys have always spoken so highly of what Kelvin Benjamin has been able to do on the practice field. I'm curious as you've seen him grow over the last couple of years, what has allowed him to start doing those things more consistently on game day in your opinion? LAMARCUS JOYNER: I'll just say his overall character changed, his perspective on everything. He brought it to the program, and he's been the most improved person, and that has converted into his play on the field. Q. When you say most improved person, is there something you noticed that jumped out at you and he's got that more mature approach or whatever it is? LAMARCUS JOYNER: He came into college with the freshman blues. Everyone coming to college, he's the man, and then you come into a new environment, it's a culture shock. You've got to find new people to trust. I mean, after a year of being with Coach Fisher he started to buy into the system, and he's been doing tremendous things for this program. He's been believing in the program and he's been a tremendous team player, just small things that people have to grow into. Q. I want you to go back to Jimbo's first year. You guys made it to the ACC Championship game, gave up quite a lot of points to Virginia Tech and lost that one. Between Jimbo's first year and now, where has this program come the furthest? Where are you guys as far as what Jimbo is trying to do? LAMARCUS JOYNER: I think that you just look at it from him being the leader, and from our perspective you just see a leader that's leading your program and you see a man of character and living by the words that he speaks, and that's the kind of things you want to see as players, someone you can trust. That first year he had to come in and change the culture around here. It was a great era under Bobby Bowden, and Coach Fisher was new, so everyone had to gain that trust for him. I just think he's a tremendous person and a man of character. For him to be able to do that, leading us that way, everyone just bought into the program, and you see every year, year in and year out, we've progressed. Q. You've already had your senior day and everything like that, but two more games left in your college career regardless of the outcome. Are you trying to kind of slow everything down and cherish every moment, even every practice? Kind of prolong this as much as you can? LAMARCUS JOYNER: That's been my mindset since I've been here because I understood that I couldn't be here forever, and year in and year out, just more in love with this organization, with the things that Coach Fisher has going here. I'm just going with the flow every day. I'm doing everything to the best of my abilities, to complete myself here as a player and as a person, and just having a great time with Coach Fisher and just loving my teammates. I mean, I know life must go on. We all have new things and better things to go on to, so I'm just enjoying the time right now and just going with the process. Q. Last year were you able to see in Jameis what he's been doing this year? Has he surprised you with how good he's played this year? LAMARCUS JOYNER: Absolutely I had been able to see it since last year what Jameis is doing. It's not a surprise to me, because like I said earlier this year, I just remember the kid making the throw when he was on scout team giving the defense a look that I seen EJ had progressed him to consistently making those throws over and over again. To see the guy as a freshman making those kind of throws and the kind of confidence and the natural ability that Jameis has to lead, I mean, I just had no choice but to prophesize (sic) that this guy would be this way. It's something I expected. He works hard, he's a great teammate, so these are some of the things that I expected from Jameis. Q. Going back to Kelvin, how do you defend him? How would you defend him? LAMARCUS JOYNER: He's a big kid. I mean, got speed, run like a deer. I just got to understand where my help is on the field. The guy is a beast. Just understand that you can't get into a fist fight with that guy all the time. He's bigger than the average cornerback. You just have to play that guy knowing where your help is on the field and using the right technique. He's a guy that can frustrate you and get you out of your technique because of the things he's able to do, so you've got to understand where your help is and understand that with technique and opportunity you'll be able to make a play on a guy like that, but you have to be technique sound. Q. Is that kind of the strategy whenever you go against someone, and I know there's not a lot of guys with that type of size, but when you go against bigger receivers? Do you have to kind of depend on your help and is it hard to just kind of go up against a guy when you're playing against somebody who's five inches taller? LAMARCUS JOYNER: You know, that's the beauty of football. It's a team. It's not track where you've got to go train and run the 100 by yourself. I think for the whole 60 minutes, wherever you are on the field you have to depend on your help. You must understand the game and you must understand where your help is, especially to defend guys like Kelvin Benjamin. For me I just understand that I must use technique and be fundamentally sound and understand where my help is. Those are the things that I depend on when I'm going against any guy, and especially a guy like Kelvin Benjamin. Q. Just from watching Jamison Crowder this year and facing him last year, where is he better this year and what kind of receiver is he to go against? LAMARCUS JOYNER: Well, I mean, I remember the guy being a little younger last year and being a talented receiver that we needed to know where he was at on the field at all times. I think that this year what separates him from last year is just the confidence level. I mean, when you have success you get that confidence, and you know what you need to do to get the job done. He's someone we just must know where he's at all the time on the football field and understand what we need to do to watch them and to be able to attain him. Q. How is the Duke offense different than the Duke offense you faced last year and the year before? LAMARCUS JOYNER: I think those guys have‑‑ just as Florida State has bought into Coach Fisher's coaching, I think those guys have bought into their team. Those guys have a lot of confidence and belief in what their coach is telling them, and they've been executing. Last year you can see that it was a new system for those guys, and they was trying to get things right, but now you just see a group of guys that believe in each other, and when you have a belief you can do a lot of wonders, man, and I just see a team that believes in each other and has a great coach and some smart players, and I mean, they're on a roll. Q. Does this ACC Championship game this year have a different feel for it compared to last year when you guys didn't have the perfect record going in and there wasn't as much at stake or does it not have a different feel? Is it just business as usual; it's just the next game like Coach Fisher has been saying all year? LAMARCUS JOYNER: I think for us it's business as usual. I mean, I think it doesn't make sense to change the key to success. I don't think we have to do anything more or anything less, we just have to prepare. It's about the power of preparation, prepare for these guys the right way, and we understand what's at stake, but we understood that all year. I mean, it's business as usual. We're going to game plan for these guys, going to respect them, go out there and give them our "A" game because we know they're going to do the same. We expect to have a great, competitive ACC Championship game. Q. When Coach Pruitt came in this off‑season, what was your first impression of him as a person and how long did it take you to buy into him as a person and his new scheme that he's been running? LAMARCUS JOYNER: I just remember having a conversation with Coach Pruitt over the phone, and from that conversation I knew what kind of character man he was. To see him come in and to see his hunger to get this program better and install his defense and his philosophy around here, it was just a great experience. It was like almost that love‑at‑first‑sight thing, just meeting him and just speaking with him, just the intelligence he has and the care and the love he has for the game and to make kids better around him, it was kind of easy for all the guys buy into it. That's exactly why we're having success this year, because of that trust factor. Q. Before you got a chance to talk with him, when you saw that you guys were bringing in three new defensive coaches, were you kind of worried about the chemistry or learning the new system? LAMARCUS JOYNER: You know, to be honest I wasn't worried at all because I feel like that's the nature of the beast. We're all in the business, it's no secret about it, that it's about people's livelihoods. Someone can be there one day and gone the next. I kind of understood that, so I kind of‑‑ it was a great challenge for me. I think it was going to be a maturity step for me because if I could have made it through this, then I'd be able to make it through other difficulties in life. I understand the nature of the beast and I understand that's the way the game is won today. I looked at it and I saw the good in it and looked at it as an opportunity. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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