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ROSE BOWL GAME: MICHIGAN STATE v STANFORDDecember 28, 2013A.J. TarpleyPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Were there any special times there? A.J. TARPLEY: If you watch Workaholics, Montez from Workaholics was there, and I believe Dion Lewis who I believe is maybe a writer from Conan O'Brien. A funny guy. Q. That and Disneyland is going well too? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah. It was great first day, walked around the place. And our second year here, it was nice, kind of know which rides you want to hit and whatnot. But it was good. Q. How is practice going? A.J. TARPLEY: Good. Yesterday it felt good to be back out there since we had three days off for Christmas and Disneyland day. But it was good. Weather was nice. And we had a good practice. Q. Michigan State's offense, what have you seen out of them on film? A.J. TARPLEY: They bring a little bit of everything to the table. They're a very well‑rounded offense. They spread the ball around as much as any team we played. They don't really key on one guy through all this success. You have to stop all them. You can't just stop one of them. They're a very physical team, like we expected. We saw it on film. It's going to be a battle out there. Q. I know you guys always preach stopping the run, that way your pass rush can be unleashed is the formula? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, it's the same formula for us every game. We want to come into every game with our game plan, which is stop the run, defend the pass. First things first is if we can't stop the run, we can't stop them. That's going to be our first goal. Q. Langford (indiscernible). What have you seen of him on film? A.J. TARPLEY: Well rounded. He has speed, powers, moves in the open field. Great pass catcher out of the back field. So he brings a lot to the table for them and their offense and he's going to be a tough guy to stop, obviously, and we're looking forward to competing. Q. The offense has evolved from quite a bit from day one. How much film have you watched on them from early in the season to late in the season, the offense? Is it hard to see that in the Rose Bowl? A.J. TARPLEY: We focused on the later games just because they hit their groove with multiple quarterbacks in the game this season. We want to focus on them right now, which is an elite team. They beat up everybody in the Big Ten. Hat's off to them. And they're a very impressive team on film. Even though earlier in the season they had their struggles, it didn't slow them down in terms of wins. Right now, they're firing on all cylinders. Q. The perception of Stanford football, years ago, win every four years with the senior group (indiscernible) and this sort of thing happens. What has changed and what's allowed this to happen? A.J. TARPLEY: Everything's changed. And that starts with the coaches and players obviously through the recruiting process and everything. First and foremost, you've got to give credit to our strength and conditioning staff, Coach Turley and his staff. But the guys on this team and coaches on this team, I came in here, redshirted my first year when we went to the Orange Bowl, but you could tell the culture was changing from we will not accept defeat from‑‑ let's say we lost three points by USC. We were not going to accept those types of games. We wanted to win every game, no matter who we played. We weren't going to change our goals no matter who we played. We wanted to win. It's just that kind of culture where we will not back down to anyone that has brought this team up to success. Q. What was your perception of Stanford football when you were a kid? A.J. TARPLEY: I'll be honest, I didn't know much about them. I played most of my football and grew up mostly in Minnesota. And didn't really watch much Stanford games. Obviously knew John Elway and a couple other guys, but I didn't know much about Stanford and necessarily the whole Pac‑10 as it was back then. So in the recruiting process, it was a surprise, but it was an honor after I learned more about the school. Q. What got you out here? A.J. TARPLEY: First thing was the education. Coming into the process, you know, an education will last a lifetime. Football will have its ups and downs, but I did believe in Coach Harbaugh and his staff and their goal that they were going to turn the program around. It was one of those things where all those guys over here who committed to a teamthat was‑‑ I don't know if they had two losses that year or what, but everyone committed to this the belief we could change the program and change our country's perception. Q. Were you a Big Ten guy then growing up? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, I watched obviously the Minnesota Gofers, Ohio State, all those Big Ten teams and growing up watching them play. I did get to see the Rose Bowl, obviously, which playing in it second for our second year in a row is a great honor. Kind of humbles you. Q. What's your perception of Michigan State? What was your perception growing up? And how has it changed, not just with respect to the opponent, but I'm just talking about a mental perception as you watch things unfold? A.J. TARPLEY: I mean, they've been a great program over the years, just as a couple of the storied programs in the Big Ten. Watching them specifically, I'd say they're a tough, physical team. They're always going to be near the top of the Big Ten, just how they play and their style and what they do over there. Q. So when you were 10 years old, perception was second tier below, when you say Michigan State football, what would you‑‑ A.J. TARPLEY: I can't remember necessarily one thing that I would say about them. I just knew that them, Michigan, Ohio State were always going to compete to be the best team in the conference. Q. Now we're a few weeks removed from it, tell us the truth about‑‑ was it hard this year with the schedule, finals being right after the Pac‑10 Championship? I know I was exhausted. I know most of the students were exhausted. Were you exhausted at the end? A.J. TARPLEY: Yes, that's one of those things coming from Stanford, we're not going to have different treatment from the regular season. All those guys having finals and staying up extra late. You might pull an all‑nighter the week after the game to get that studying, to get that work in. We did that, and it was tough on us. But that's why we came to Stanford, to be great in every aspect. We don't want the shortcuts. We want to do what it takes to succeed in both the classroom and on the field. Q. And how nice has it been to have(indiscernible)? Do you finally feel recovered? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah. It's been great. Not just for me, but for everybody. It's kind of a relief you're done with this first quarter. And you'll be ready next quarter, but right now you're nice to have no school, just focus almost like a pro football player, like we say during Bowl prep, where you're coming to the building 8:00 to 5:00 and you're just working on football, nothing else. Q. Only weakness seen from the defense all year especially down the stretch is teams have had a big first drive. That first drive (indiscernible) how shutdown and dominating you guys have been most of the games. I know guys talk about game plans running differently, things you haven't seen before (indiscernible) trying to stop that first drive? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, you know there's a fine line between your tendencies and sometimes just the way that things turn out. But we definitely have focused on our weaknesses and that one specifically. And we want to stop them that first drive but also the other drives. That's where that fine line comes into play where you want to have the same game plan throughout. Obviously you'll be a little hyped up in the first drive. You don't want to let them score. You don't want to reinforce maybe this tendency that we had. But that's one of those things that we'll mark on it, but we won't spend too much time on it, just to note that we want to play our entire game, not just focus on one drive. Q. In my amateur scouting, their quarterback kind of‑‑ when he wasn't under pressure, he makes every play on the money. When he was under pressure, threw a lot of balls up for grabs. Almost like two different players. Have you guys seen stuff like that? And how much emphasis is there on getting (indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: That's hard. That's our emphasis every game. Obviously you know that. But we have noted that we want to get pressure on him just like any other quarterback. And if we stand there let him get in the rhythm, then he's going to burn us and torch us because he has the arm and he has the receivers to make the big plays all over the field. That's one thing we will focus on, like always, is getting pressure on the quarterback. Q. When teams have had success earlier this year, would you say it's because they've done things early in games that you haven't been expecting and it's taken a while to adjust, or what's been behind that? A.J. TARPLEY: That's been one of the things. We come in every game prepared. We have, at least. And when they do have success, there's a variety of things that's happened. And all it takes is one guy obviously on defense. All it takes is one guy, slip up or just not get exactly what he was supposed to and they can get pass success on it. Like I said before, it's one of those things we don't want to harp on it too much, but we do want to stop them and kind of contain everything they do. Q. So when you look at, I think, the USC game is the best example. You guys really dug in as the game went along. What would you say the key was to that game and (indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: That's just the mindset of this team, is when our back is up against the wall, we played our best football. And that's a good thing and a bad thing in terms that obviously it's great to see that, that we can all step up when our back is against the wall, but we also don't want to wait until our back's against the wall to play our best football. That's one of the things we've tried to get better on. In terms of the USC game, we knew as a defense we needed stops every possession. That's how we came into it. We were fighting our tails off, scrapping for every inch, for every yard, and the combination of things just in terms of the game, the atmosphere, what was at stake, and just the needed pressure for getting stops. Q. I think the goal line spans when I think of the defense. Is there a play for you that's emblematic for the success you guys have had as a unit? A.J. TARPLEY: It's hard when you look at a play like that. I wasn't out there, but people won't notice what everyone on that play did. And last year when Ben Gardner had the stop on the fourth and goal in the Rose Bowl, everyone obviously credits Ben Gardner on that play, but when you look at the play, you'll see that Shane Scov is standing up, Travis Frederick is there, All‑Conference Center, All‑American Center. David Parry is standing up his guy. He's got penetration in the backfield. Henry Anderson, Josh Mauro. Those guys are on all fours scrambling on the ground about a yard in the backfield. There was even another guy that was holding up a pile. And all that combined is what it takes to have those stops and plays like that and the one in the Pac‑12 Championship game, the goal line stand. It's awesome to see how‑‑ not all these guys might not get the credit in terms of on the stat line. Shane Scov made tackles (indiscernible). If you watch a play, look at every guy, you'll see everyone is straining. And they're doing their job to what it takes to get that stop. And plays like that are essential to our team, and you can really see what kind of team we are. Q. You mentioned Ben. I know that he didn't play your position, but I've read that he's still been helping out. He's been standing up piles to get better view of things. Has he told you anything during the game that's become invaluable for you that you notice? A.J. TARPLEY: Yes, essentially him playing against the "O" linemen. This is his fifth year. He's played against everybody. He knows what to do in what situation. Probably for me I probably won't have as many questions for him or comments for me as other "D" linemen, but he's helped in terms of let's say it's a pass rush move when he jumps at me, what do I do. And he's helped me with that kind of stuff. He's out there helping and doing what he can to help his team out. Q. Guys like Kevin Palma, Peter Kalambayi, since practices are closed, really haven't been able to see how they've progressed. But I've heard bits and pieces from coaches that they're coming along. I just wanted to know what your perspective is? A.J. TARPLEY: No, they are. There's a lot of guys coming along. For those guys, these practices and Bowl preparation have been vital. That's essentially game plays, in‑game plays for them where they're going against other college D‑I scholarship athletes and they're getting the reps. So it's the reps before spring ball that are going to help them and get them in a better starting place for spring ball. Q. Do you feel that you're in a big‑time leadership position with these guys in their Bowl practices, how important they were to them? And obviously you're one of the elder statesmen now of the group. Are you tutoring them, I should say, along certain things? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, and what's great about this team is myself and the other leaders, is we never try and push our leadership on the young guys. They have things that they're going to need to learn themselves, whether it's taking on a point guard, you can tell them all you want, stay low, you're going to get hit, blah, blah, blah, they won't fully get it until they get knocked down one time. That's one of the things. It's been nice. You kind of direct the younger guys, but at the same time they're grown men and they're going to figure out things on their own that we can't teach them. So just watching them in the process and giving them an extra tip every once in a while is what we try and do. Q. Do you have a moment in your career that you remember where things‑‑ a play that didn't go all that well, but say maybe got knocked down by a pull‑in guard. Was there a moment you said, wow, I learned something by doing that? A.J. TARPLEY: You know, last year in the Rose Bowl, going against Travis Frederick, I think he's the best center that I may have played against so far, and we ran a cross blitz, and he kind of threw me to the side. And that's just one of those plays where not necessarily you weren't not expecting that to happen, but you were coming in there for success, and it's just one of those things if you don't give it, if you don't strain to your utmost ability, then you will get blocked in that aspect. And I can't necessarily pick out one play, but that's just an example of how things could turn out. Q. (Indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, you know, it's kind of like a Stanford athletics thing. Q. How long has that been around? A.J. TARPLEY: I'd mess it up if I tried to credit someone. I believe when Richard Sherman and those guys were here, the Orange Bowl year, I believe it was going on. Q. (Indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: I'm not sure if that's when it started, but that was my first year here. I believe it was at least in the process during that time. Q. What is the whole concept all about (indiscernible) a great team that has academic standards? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, you know, we're having fun with it. There's always been the theories out there that say you can't be good, you can't be the best team in football and the best team academically, for the other sports as well. Everyone has their doubts. It's one of the things that the program has fun with it in terms of we're just poking fun at ourselves. You can call us nerds for going to Stanford, but we feel we're pretty good student‑athletes. Q. (Indiscernible) I saw it a couple times on ESPN? A.J. TARPLEY: Tyler Gaffney and Shane Scov actually in the Oregon game we had them on for the press conference afterwards. That's when it got‑‑ it got a little bit of publication from that. Q. Is that the first time anybody's ever done that? A.J. TARPLEY: I think so. I'm not sure whose idea it was. Someone handed me a pair of glasses as I was walking in, and we just rolled with it. Q. How do you explain your ability to have high academic achievement, to be able to (indiscernible) not only are you a successful team but you're sometimes (indiscernible) how do you go from being a model student‑athletes to axe murderers (indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: That's part of being as best as people as we can be in all aspects of our life. And coaches have talked about it before. Coach Turley has talked about it and the other coaches where you want to flip a switch. When you're in class, you give 100percent of your effort to class; you don't think about football. When you're on the football field, you let all your in‑class worries‑‑ you have a test tomorrow‑‑ you let it all go; put 100percent on football. I think that's how as a team we're able to accomplish what we are on and off the field. Q. May be overstereotyping a bit but (indiscernible) a lot of spreads and speed and here we have almost throw‑back style football, and (indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: It's fun for us in terms of we want to play against all types of offense and we want to stop all types of offenses. But those specifically playing against so many spread teams and hurry‑up teams, obviously this is what they say it's a new era of college football. And there's many teams that are changing that type of offense every year, and the Pac‑12 seems like we get a new team every year that will convert that type. But for us defensive players, it's one of those things we want to make sure we're in the best condition possible, because we will be running play after play. And as a defense, all of us have to run to the ball, or at least that's what we coach on defense. That's what we want to do on defense. And that's how offenses are able to do it when they hand the ball off, make a throw, not necessarily all of them have to run after the guy to stop them. Whereas as a defense, our nose tackle is going to run after a wide receiver that's running down the field. And that's how we play. And that's one of those things we've had to adjust. Our coaching staff and players have done a great job doing that. Q. (Indiscernible) mirrors your style as far as (indiscernible) we're going to (indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY: Yeah, I know. It's nice to have that style of game. For me personally, whoever they want to line up against, someone to play against. But it's nice to have that smashmouth football team that they're the bullies in their‑‑ in their conference, too, and we know it's going to be an old‑school Rose Bowl where teams are going straight at each other. There's not going to be‑‑ there's obviously going to be plays, a little bit of trickery, but there's not going to be any misconception in what the teams want. Each of us is going to run at each other, and whoever is going to stop the other one first is the team that's going to win. Q. (Indiscernible) the techniques, offensive linemen when you were able to watch (indiscernible) is it kind of a mutual admiration society, like they respect how you play (indiscernible)? A.J. TARPLEY:  Definitely. And Michigan State is a team‑‑ everyone talked about Ohio State through the season, but we have utmost respect for Michigan State in terms of they beat everybody in their conference and they punched them all in the mouth and they came away with victory every time. And that's something that you have to respect. We definitely have respect for their football team and their style of play. They're going to run it right at you. And those are the teams that‑‑ like we always say: Respect everyone but fear no one. And we're very excited for this game, as are they, and it's going to be a great football game. Q. Tell me a little bit about Derek Mason and (indiscernible) defensive coordinator? A.J. TARPLEY: I don't know if I could point out one thing that makes him good, but he's just‑‑ first and foremost, he's a great guy that cares about all his players. And you'll hear stories of other college programs that's not necessarily the case. But Coach Mason for me is he's a guy that he's brought a different culture. Him, Vick Bangio [phonetic], and Jason Tarver have brought a different culture to Stanford football. My first year here our coaches talked about laying a foundation to be a great defense, and we're tired of being the defense that just wanted to hold them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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