The senior from Spanaway,?Wash., says that once his playing career is done his ultimate goal is to one day teach the game to others.
The former high school quarterback, former safety, former punter and former standout shortstop in baseball has been a four-year contributor for the Montana defense.
Q. What do you expect from UNC coming in here?
A. We definitely expect them to play hard, just like any team that comes in here. They’ve got nothing to lose. Just like every other team in our league, they have guys that are playmakers. It’s up to us to stop those playmakers and stop big plays from happening ... I don’t want to say they’re young, but they’re inexperienced. This is only their second year in the Big Sky and they’re making baby steps into this league. They’re still growing for sure.
Q. With a winless team traveling here to face the undefeated Grizzlies, what do you guys do to make sure you don’t underestimate or look past them?
A. The intensity at practice is going to be escalated to a different degree just to insure that we know we’re not going to go in on Saturday and just roll over them. Our team has so many seniors that we’re able to keep the mindset of the team focused and we make sure the underclassmen realize that just because a team is winless, it doesn’t mean they’re not going to come in here and play hard.
Q. In high school you were a quarterback, safety, punter and shortstop on the baseball team. Which was your favorite?
A. Growing up, until my junior year in high school, I was all about baseball. I’d played baseball since I?was about seven years old, I was always around baseball.
I started to get into tackle football in third and fourth grade because of my older brothers, who all ended up playing college football. They got me into football, but it wasn’t a big deal for me until I started to mature physically and mentally and realized that this was a good chance for me to get a scholarship and go to college.
Q. Was it weird for you to try to make the switch to linebacker when you got to college?
A. My biggest hardship was getting up to speed (as a linebacker), because everything is so much faster at this level. That was the hardest part for me. The mental part wasn’t too hard for me. I’ve always been a physical player, I’ve always loved hitting. But after playing safety my entire high school career and then - poof - I’m a linebacker that was difficult, but I don’t regret it. I think playing linebacker has brought out some positive qualities in me.
Q. In an emergency situation, are you prepared to come in and punt for the Griz?
A. I could do it. Last year when Tyson Johnson went down with an injury, Torrey Thomas and myself both went and helped Dan Carpenter get ready to punt. Even though I hadn’t punted in three or four years, I could still do it. (I’d like) more of a rollout situation than an actual punt situation, though.
Q. You guys are still undefeated, but dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 in the nation in the Sports Network poll this week. How does that feel?
A. It’s something that we really don’t look at, but from a team standpoint we try to go out and prove to people that we are the No. 1 team in the nation. That’s what we strive for, we strive to be the best. The poll is like a slap in the face to us right now. To drop like that - no matter what our offense or defense does n and still being undefeated is a slap to us. But, once again, we don’t dwell on it.
Q. What are your memories of your interception return for a touchdown against UMass in the playoffs last year?
A. We were in our nickel package. I remember the play, it was a Cover 2 drop for us and I remember (Mike) Murphy made a great play putting pressure on the quarterback and the ball fluttered my way. I?broke an arm tackle and took it to the house.
Q. Talk a little bit about the linebacker group on this team. What do you see yourself bringing to that group.
A. We all have different traits and strengths that we bring to the group. I think a lot of the younger guys look at me as maybe a second Coach Ty (Gregorak). He has taught us how to run this defense and how to run it well ... Something I’ve been able to do is really get to know this defense, really break it down and get to know the ins and outs of it. One of the things I want to do in my life is be a coach.
My role on the defense is to be the No. 2 SAM behind Loren Utterback, but we don’t want a drop off between our ones and twos and we don’t feel we have a drop off at all ... We all make plays in our own right and we all bring a different type of mentality and different strengths of the group.
Q. Being No. 3 in the nation, being undefeated but at the same time getting out-gained on offense the last couple of weeks, is there a sense internally that you guys still have a ways to go to get to where you want to be?
A. Definitely. We’re not even close to where we want to be. Ideally, we want to hold every team under 100 yards rushing and under 150 yards passing, that’s a perfect world. But it’s the game of football. We push ourselves every weekend to try to become perfect and we get ourselves ready for what could happen. We don’t look forward to the playoffs, we play one week at a time, and hopefully it goes in our favor every week.
Q. You’ve played some special teams here, do you like it or is it one of those things that just has to be done?
A. I love special teams. It took a while. As a freshman and a sophomore, you’d rather be on the field playing every down than playing special teams but the older I’ve gotten the more I realize how important special teams is.
Lightning Round
Seen any good movies lately? I just watched “Gladiator,” again. It’s not a new movie, but it’s still “Gladiator.”
Favorite class in school? Social stratification.
Best place in the Big Sky to play besides Missoula? PGE Park in Portland.
Toughest guy you’ve ever had to tackle? Lex Hilliard.
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