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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: CENTRAL FLORIDA v BAYLORDecember 29, 2013Tyson SummersGLENDALE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How important has the dedication and understanding of what everyone is supposed to do in a year where there's been a constant rotation on the defensive line? COACH SUMMERS: It was a young group. When I got there in 2011, Troy Gray was a true freshman starter that kind of really wound up losing his job last year to another guy. There was certainly some depth there, but there were a lot of young guys who hadn't played a lot of football at this level. I think the amount of time that they've spent extra in the off‑season, in the spring, summer, what they do during the year, the secondary the same way. Anytime you run into what we've done this year, like you said, where there's been a lot of defensive linemen playing in front of them, I think it only helps them to know what fits. It helps them correct because they know where the guy should have been. That's been the blessing with the kids. Q. How do you keep them from getting too hyped on game day? COACH SUMMERS: It's like anything else. How they feed off of you as a coach. I think how you practice, how you handle them. I think the structure that we have on our entire team, what Coach O'Leary brings with the structure we have, the type of pace and tempo we practice at, builds into being advantageous for us. Those young guys, early on in the season, they might have gotten a little bit overhyped. But we've played in a lot of big games this year, been able to go on the road, win some big games. Right now they're excited to play Baylor. Q. Having that experience late in games, is that going to help you out if you get in that situation again? COACH SUMMERS: I certainly hope so. I think the biggest thing that comes with it is those guys don't panic. There's not a better example than the Louisville game where we're down by 21 and there's no panic in those kids' eyes, not one bit. I think they believe we can play good defense, go and play with anybody in the country. Obviously, that's why we're here. Q. You sit back at the end of the year and look at what would have been two‑deep at the beginning of the year, progression of guys over the season. The comparison, has there been a moment when you looked at that? COACH SUMMERS: I think the thing that's probably the biggest adjustment is the amount of true freshmen that played. Barnett we signed up as linebacker ended up playing defensive line. We have two other true freshmen that we had to play. Justin McDonald played really well for a true freshman the last couple games for us at linebacker. I think if you looked at the evolution of how it's progressed through this period of time, particularly with that group of kids, the true freshmen, it's been neat. Again, that's where, to me, Coach O'Leary does an outstanding job of saying what's the best fit and being able to put the best personnel on the field. Q. (Indiscernible)? COACH SUMMERS: I'm sure it certainly would if it was a normal week, if you had six or seven days. Obviously we had some time, so that's probably what helped us as much as anything. If we had a couple extra days leading up to it, in between that and recruiting, to take our time and do a good job with it. Q. Your time at UCF, Coach O'Leary came through the defensive ranks, what have you learned coaching for him? COACH SUMMERS: I think the thing that stands out to me is the structure of our entire organization. The organization we have each day from a practice standpoint, all the details that go into it, the things that we're going to sit there and constantly try to pride ourself on is toughness, being sound in what we do, playing hard. I think those are the things, we're never wavering with that. Being sound in what you're teaching, not trying to complicate things. I think that's why UCF has been as successful as they have through his entire tenure he's had here. Q. He says the difficult challenge now is you've gotten to the top of the mountain at the Fiesta Bowl, how do you carry that forward? COACH SUMMERS: I think as you sit there and look at it, again, I'm making on assumption here, but what we do is what we are. What we do is what we do. I don't know that it can be turned up any more than how we are right now from how we practice, from how we meet, many of those things. I think as long as we continue to do the right things, which I know we will, we'll continue to be successful. He's got a plan. We'll continue with that plan. At the end of the day, as long as we follow his lead, we'll be in the right place. Q. Give me an idea of how you describe your defense to people who have never seen it before. COACH SUMMERS: I think if you were sitting there watching it, we're going to be a very sound defense. We're not going to be overly complicated. We're going to try to be in the right place at the right time, not beat ourselves, being able to do things with that toughness. Q. Looking at the tape, a couple of players have said they've never seen anything like Baylor runs, especially with the splits on the outside. How much of a challenge is it facing this Baylor offense? COACH SUMMERS: Obviously, they're one of the best offenses in the country. Obviously it's a big challenge. They do some things that put you in difficult situations. We've got to do a good job of just maintaining the defense we played all year. At the end of the year, that's where we have to have some success. Q. When Oklahoma State had success, it seemed like they were able to shut down the run, focus on the backside, the splits outside. Is the focal point the running game at this point? COACH SUMMERS: They've got good players everywhere, have a good scheme that allows them to involve a lot of people. I don't know if there's just one focal point. They do a good job with the run game and throwing it, as well. Q. What have you been impressed with Bryce Petty? COACH SUMMERS: I think with the quarterback, he certainly is a guy that's done a really good job all year. Q. Both of you have played underdog roles recently. Do you see that as a similarity between these two teams? COACH SUMMERS: Yeah, I think so. I think what you've got is two good programs that are on the way up. They're able to do some things kind of for the first time in school history. But I think what you have, too, is two head coaches that have done an excellent job and have been able to be at a place for a longer period of time. Having a continuity in your staff, being able to have that is as much of an example of the two programs as anything. Q. Have y'all seen this kind of team speed this year? COACH SUMMERS: I think we've certainly seen teams that have good wide receivers, good runningbacks. They have a lot of depth at those positions, and the speed they have with those things. I think it would rival anybody we've seen. They've got a lot of size on the offensive line. They certainly have done a great job with the scheme, and obviously the offense has proven itself time and time again. Looking forward to the challenge. Q. Can you see a different with Reese in there? COACH SUMMERS: He certainly is a speed guy. They understand what he means to them obviously. So, yeah, he'll be quite a challenge along with the rest of their receivers. They've got a really good group. Not just him, but there's four or five different guys that you've got to be able to hope to do a good job with. He's certainly a threat and runs very well. Q. What do you think of their crew of runningbacks? Three guys that play quite a bit. COACH SUMMERS: They all do an excellent job. I think they're all a little bit different as you watch the tape in some things they do. Some of them are a little bit different with their size, those kind of things. The scheme and the running game doesn't change based on who is in there. They do an excellent job with all three of those guys when they're in there, with the run game and pass protection. Q. How would you describe how you play defense? COACH SUMMERS: We're certainly fundamentally sound. We try to do a good job of playing within ourselves. If you go back to old school, Football 101 that I learned coaching high school football a long time ago, if you can play good run defense, you can prevent big plays. If you can do those two things fairly well, you usually have a pretty good chance. I think if we're able to do those two things... That's kind of what we've hung our hat on and we have to continue to. Q. You lost your defensive coordinator. Is that tough before a bowl game? COACH SUMMERS: He did an excellent job for the last two seasons for us. Really between he and Coach O'Leary, they've done an excellent job of putting together game plans, captivating the kids, run a lot of ballgames the last two years. We're excited about the opportunity. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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