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ROSE BOWL GAME: MICHIGAN STATE v STANFORDDecember 29, 2013Jeremy LangfordPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. How did you start playing football? JEREMY LANGFORD: My dad played football, and it's just something I like doing. It was an activity for me when I was a little kid. Q. Jeremy, give me your first impression of being out here and getting ready to play in the Granddaddy of them all? JEREMY LANGFORD: Just making it more of a business trip. Enjoying the trip and having a good time with your teammates, but when it's time to practice, you've got to take it more seriously. Take it as a business trip, but we're here to win and play in the Rose Bowl. Q. Talking to Connor, we were talking about (No microphone) they feel like they're ready to play even with the criticisms. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: It's a team sport. You're riding the defense's back since the beginning of the season, and they're doing a great job. Now we're clicking on all cylinders as a team. And just the publicity doesn't matter for the offense, it's more winning. We win a Rose Bowl and we all get publicity. Q. I want to ask you, are you really active (No microphone), how do you (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Carries in a row definitely get me going. Sometimes you don't get all the carries you want, but you have to make the best of your opportunities. That's what I did when I wasn't making carries. I had to make my ten, 12 carries the best I could do with them. Now that the season is going on, I'm getting more carries in a row and I'm feeling a lot better about it. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think it's the fourth quarter mentality. It's running the ball hard for four quarters and not taking a play off. Just my pass is getting a lot better, and the defense is getting a lot better. I think my speed is definitely one of my key assets I try to use the most. But I'm kind of more of a running back. Q. Where do you feel you have to (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: As a running back, you don't really think about it as much when you're playing running back. You think about running the ball. Q. Oh, come on. It's natural to want to block, come on. JEREMY LANGFORD: I know, but you never really think about it. But I know Coach Warner talks a lot about it during camp. It's something we worked on a lot as a group and individually. That's something I want to do better to be an overall running back and be successful in college football. Q. How important is ball security especially when you look at (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Ball security is in important in every game, especially in big games like this. That could be a key moment in a game is one turnover or one fumble. You've got to take care of the ball as a team. Q. When you look (No microphone) are you conscious about the high end or is it something you have to actually think about? JEREMY LANGFORD: It's a natural reaction. It's playing running back in practice and something we work on a lot again. It's ball security. Then at the beginning of the season I had a couple problems, two or three fumbles, and now I focused on it a lot more because that's important. That could be a key aspect of the game if I do drop the ball. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: He's a good person to get along with. He's somebody you can always talk to him about something. Off the field, he's a character. He's different and he's funny. On the field you never know. It's like he flips a switch. Off the field he likes to have fun, which I like. I do the same thing as well. Q. Do you ever have a little fun with Coach Mark Dantonio. Coach Dantonio never smiles. JEREMY LANGFORD: I've seen him a couple of smiles when I watch the copy of our games. We might have finished the game good. But, hey, he's the head coach, sometimes you got to smile every now and then. Q. (Asking about preparations.) JEREMY LANGFORD: It's amazing being out in California. Flying from the snow and flying to the sun. It's a lot different here, but at the same time, we go to practice and we all have different mindset. We're here for a business trip. We're here to play the Rose Bowl and win. Our mindset changes when we're off the field. We're enjoying the trip. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: That's what the Big Ten is about, I think basically. It's like Big Ten is pound the ball; it's a physical game. I think Stanford is bringing the same mindset as the Big Ten. It will be a great, physical game. Q. What have former Michigan State alumni told you about this game? JEREMY LANGFORD: It's nothing. I knew myself that it's a big game. It's one of our goals from the beginning of the season since my freshman year. We want to get to the Rose Bowl and be Big Ten champs. It's a good experience. I think I enjoy it even more when I'm done playing college football. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Yeah, I think it's first representing Michigan State that's across our chest. We got here as a team, and I watch the games, but I never really thought it put anymore pressure on us than we had on ourselves not being here in 20‑plus years. The pressure is on us already and we're just ready to play. Q. What was it like for you before you became the starter? You were one among many really, right? Was it stressful for you? When did you become the starter? At the beginning of this season? JEREMY LANGFORD: Yeah. Q. In spring ball were you the guy? JEREMY LANGFORD: No. In spring ball there were three tailbacks. Then Coach D brought a linebacker over, Robbie Bullough. He wanted to compte. That's what it is, and it brought the best out of me. In college football there is going to be competition, and that's what brought the best out of me. Q. What would you say your strength was? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think my strength was my speed. Just playing four quarters in a game and never giving up wins. I'm not breaking the runs on what I want. I keep running hard in the game. I've become more of an overall block with pass blocking. The defense is better. I'm working on everything overall. Q. The pass blocking is always a tough thing for a lot of guys to pick up. What was it like for you? JEREMY LANGFORD: It's tough, it's still tough. But I know it's something you have to do to be a three‑down back. That's what I want to work on to be successful in college football. Q. Feel good to have a few weeks off before facing a physical defense like you will see in Stanford? JEREMY LANGFORD: Yeah, I think Stanford is more like a Big Ten game. They play like any other Big Ten team. It's going to be a tough, physical game, and I'm excited to play in it. Q. How does the body feel, I guess, and how did it feel after the Big Ten Championship? JEREMY LANGFORD: I'm never going to feel a hundred percent, but I'm feeling good right now. I'm excited to play the game, I think as is the overall team. The excitement of the game. I'm feeling close to a hundred percent. Q. What was it like for you guys (No microphone) what's that been like? JEREMY LANGFORD: It's amazing. I think when we run out the tunnel, that's going to be the point when I do realize we're here, we're playing here. But it's been a goal of ours since my freshman year in college. It's something we want to do. It's amazing. I'm enjoying the time, but at the same time we have to realize it's a business trip. We're here to play in the Rose Bowl and trying to win. Q. When you started picturing it, did you ever have this in mind? JEREMY LANGFORD: No, I never even thought about that part. We played one game at a time and never looked too far ahead. Now it's Stanford, and it's a big, physical game. Q. Talk about pass blocking performance, and one thing almost no one asks running backs about. Both teams look really good in the rushing attack and pass‑rushing. What have you been working on to try to get the quarterback? JEREMY LANGFORD: It's something that I've worked on all season is pass blocking. When you're a running back, you never focus on it as much. You think about running the ball. But that's something Coach Warner does a great job of talking about and during practice. It's individual and blocking the man in front of you. Beat the man in front of you. Stay low and do what you have to do to get the job done. Q. Any guys specifically that you're working out for on the blitz? JEREMY LANGFORD: With their defense, I'm not sure who will come through. I know I have to be the running back and be the guy that helps the quarterback throw the ball and pick up any guy that comes through. Q. What do you eat? JEREMY LANGFORD: Pregame I eat one meal, and at the same time I eat dessert right after. So if I'm hungry or not, I still go to dessert. I look for the same thing before the game. In pregame I try to eat a little bit more wraps (indiscernible). The intensity has been crazy. We've all been competing like we're playing another team. We want to win a Rose Bowl, and that's why we're here. The intensity has been crazy? Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Becoming more of a team. Not just having one or not just being a running team, not just being a passing team. It's overall. Like I think you never know what we're going to do on offense. It might be running the ball, throwing the ball, but I know we have each other's back. It's more of a team game right now. Q. Is there a point, a play, a huddle end of the game that you say, wow, we can throw the ball, we can play pass, we can drop back, is there a moment where you felt that? JEREMY LANGFORD: I know after the Notre Dame game going into the Iowa game is where we really saw a team effort. The defense played great. Connor Cook threw the ball great, the receivers caught the ball. I didn't have the best game, but I pass blocked good, which is important. It's overall a great team effort to come out there with our first Big Ten game win. Q. I know you've been asked a million times what was your first thought when you saw Stanford on tape? JEREMY LANGFORD: I don't know what they could come out in. Coach Warner said the same thing. You never know what they're going to be in, so you've got to read their defense and pay attention to who the linebackers are. When you're pass blocking, stay a little longer, because you just never know who, just protect the quarterback. Q. With the game a couple days away now, there has been a lot of build‑up. How do you try to avoid, I guess, the hype? JEREMY LANGFORD: Coach has been talking about it since we got here. Sometimes that might be the down play of Big Ten teams when they come to California because Stanford has already been here. They're just enjoying their time too much. But we really emphasize the fact that it's a business trip. We're here to play in the Rose Bowl, but at the same time we're here to have fun. That's what we're doing having fun. But at practice, it gets more serious and more focused. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Yeah, but at the same time it starts being Legends Champs and then being Big Ten championship. Those are goals of ours. Without being Legends Champs or Big Ten Champs, you can't be in the Rose Bowl. So that's where it starts at. Q. What do you take away from? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think a lot of wood. That's what we were talking about before we came here. Coach D said we have to finish what we're doing. We have to finish our circles if we come here to lose, it won't feel great, but it's a goal of ours that we made it here and now we have to finish our goals. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Just a different front they play. They play a lot of different fronts and it's hard for offenses to adjust to them. Offensive lines might get confused. I think it's just the multiple different fronts they play. Q. The way their linebackers move, they don't play a lot of 3‑4 defense when their outside linebackers come around. JEREMY LANGFORD: You never know where their linebackers are going to be at. They never lineup in the same spot all the time. They're all over the place. I think it's more of a confusing defense for us watching it coming out of the Big Ten. Q. What was that like? JEREMY LANGFORD: It took a minute to settle in. As of right now, it still hasn't hit me yet. And I was talking to a former player. He said when you're done playing college football two years from now, I think you'll realize what we've done even more. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: No, I think it's time we need it for everyone's bodies. We played a tough season through the Big Ten. Had the Big Ten Championship game. I think it helped us out a lot to have a break to get our bodies back together and just get focused later on for the game. Q. What was the reaction (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: We were in Indianapolis, but we saw it was like a riot on campus. There was a lot going on campus, which is crazy. It's something that I think hasn't been done since I've been here. But the reaction from our fans and MSU, it was crazy. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Yeah, right now, because the number four is playing in the playoff. I think it's a good idea, and I'm excited to see what happens next year. Q. What's it mean for Spartan fans going into the Big Ten Conference? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think for Spartan fans when we have a goal, we go out there and reach our goals. It puts Michigan State on the map to know that we want to be one of the elite teams in college football. Q. Are you looking forward (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Just continue to enjoy the trip, enjoy the weather. Then when it's game time just run out of the tunnel and seeing all the people. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: Just the multiple different fronts they play. Sometimes they can confuse offensive lines and quarterbacks. I think it's just us being focused and paying attention to where our linebackers lineup at and where our D‑linemen lineup at. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: The linebacker? I think he's a physical linebacker. He's more of a physical linebacker. He's going to the ball hard. All the linebackers as well, they all play hard and physical. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think it's the chemistry of all of us. You never lose a step without somebody, and we know that's something we have to do to win. We came to California to finish the deal and complete our circle, and that's what we're here to do. Q. (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think it's very important. We didn't come to California to not finish the deal and finish our goals. It's something that Coach D talked about, finishing everything we do. It won't feel the same if we come out of California with a loss. We're here to win and play hard. Q. Is that something you guys discuss in tapes? (No microphone)? JEREMY LANGFORD: I think it has to be more of a team effort. We know sometimes the offense has to finish the game and keep our defense on the sideline. It's our time to step up and make plays. That's what we do in our season, and what we continue to do in the Rose Bowl. Just finish the year off right. Q. Is your family coming? JEREMY LANGFORD: Yeah, my family should be here tomorrow to enjoy the weather. Q. What's it mean being here and playing in this? JEREMY LANGFORD: I don't know. I think in ten years from now when I look back, I'll think about the Rose Bowl. Q. Fans want to know, you had 23 (No microphone) what was your mindset? Who helped you out on that play first of all? JEREMY LANGFORD: It was a great celebration. I wouldn't want it any other way. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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