Colorado-Kansas State Quotes
October 18, 2008 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Dan Hawkins
On If He Planned on Playing Tyler Hansen as Much as He Did
“Yeah, we wanted Cody [Hawkins] to kind of start off the game and get going. Let Tyler take a look at what was going on, be able to talk to him a little bit and kind of confirm what we were seeing, versus what we thought, and then get it going a little bit and see how the whole thing went.”
On Hansen Not Knowing All of the Offensive Sets
“That's a lot of it. I thought [Offensive Coordinator] Mark [Helfrich] did a good job of just simplifying things a little bit for
On His Decision to Take off Tyler Hansen's Redshirt Now
“Maybe it was because of his legs, you know he can really run. It was a huge sacrifice for him, but I think it also speaks to the kind of camaraderie we have on our team. We've been messing around with Eugene [Goree] playing offensive line, and he's had to make that switch. Obviously for Matt [Ballenger] to take a step back a little bit, versus him stepping forward, and even Cody had to give a few things up. I'm just really pleased with our program and our guys, because I think they're really getting what this whole thing is about. I think that's the biggest lesson for them. It's not something that you want to do necessarily, but we talked to
On When He Decided to Use Tyler Hansen
“Before we started going on Tuesday. I think we just looked at where we were on offense, and what it is we wanted to do and what we thought we could do. We felt like his athleticism at quarterback was going to give us another dimension, and it did.”
On the
“The best thing about it is, again, I think we've got a number of kids that are just more concerned about the team and winning, than they are about themselves. I gave Nick Nelson a big hug in there; down the road, I say that all kids get their just-do in the end, you can't buy respect, you can't buy those things. I think for all of those guys to just say, ?I'm here, I'll do what you want me to do, however you want me to do it. I'll play, not play, I'll signal.' Matt [Ballenger] went over and ran scout team [this week]. He's a big guy and he's the closest thing we had to Josh Freeman. Again, that was a huge sacrifice for him to go over there and do that. Our coaches do a great job of just loving each guy up and making them feel important. Like I told Nick and Matt, that's a lot of humble pie; but they've all eaten it and eat it again, and the man that can deal with it is going to come up aces in the end.”
On If He is Concerned about
“Are you concerned about the stock market?”
On Keeping Tyler Hansen a Secret
“I don't think they prepared for it; which, by the way, I have got to give the local media mad props. For being out there and watching it everyday and not saying anything, that's huge right there. I know a lot of coaches bust on the media and I appreciate you guys doing that. I know we talked a long time ago, when you guys wanted the gates to be open, so you could come in there and watch practice and I said, ?Hey, if I can trust you, you can trust me.' That was big, that scored a lot of points with me; because I said, ?Let's see how far this thing goes, because one of those guys just may not be able to stand it and throw it out there.' That's huge props to all of you who watch practice everyday. [
On Keeping Hansen in the Game After he Threw an Interception
“It's one of those things again, people always think the quarterback has got my last name and I don't look at it quite as harshly. But at the same time, I say, ?Hey, the kid is playing pretty good.' I didn't hold it against [Tyler Hansen]. It is hard to tell a quarterback to never throw an interception. That is a hard concept.”
On Not Kicking a Field Goal at the end of the Game
“At that point right there, one, I had confidence in the offense, which that didn't happen and I just felt like hey, we had one blocked and we had one missed so we're probably better off, just for the psyche of the whole team to say, hey, lets put it on the line and go. That's not to discount Aric [Goodman] by any means. I just said hey, I thought we had a good play but unfortunately we didn't get it but we wanted to get a first down and ended on offense right there.”
On What Can be Done to Improve the Passing Game
“We just have to keep working, we have to be creative. A little smoke, a little mirrors, move people around a little bit and use the weapons that we have and keep battling and scratching to try and move the football. It's been well documented that we've been dinged and we have to be creative and work our way around it. I think our guys are doing an awesome job with that.”
On Using Cody Hawkins at QB on
On Going Through Tough Stretch of Losing On If He Has Ever Taken a Redshirt Off a Quarterback On the Fumble Caused by Cha'pelle Brown On On Running a Two-Quarterback System On Playing 22 Freshman So Far This Season General “Credit “They did a good job of keeping our returns down. We'll look back and have plenty of what-ifs, plenty of second-guessing to do, I didn't obviously do a good enough job with our offense this week”. “We were there, close to make a play and we didn't make it. I don't want to take anything away from On Play of Defense “I was very pleased with our defensive effort, particularly in the second half. That's one of those games where the head coach ought to be able to get us some scores there at the end, and I was unable to do that.” “I thought our defense, by and large, tried to play a very sound game. We'll look back at this one and say, 'What it? and woulda, coulda, shoulda. But the reality is we didn't.” On too Many Third and Longs Given up Defensively “I don't look at it that way. Yeah, we'd like to stop all the third downs. The one third down at the end, the third-and-15, that was a real big play on their part. We were in maybe the only coverage the particular route could've hurt us in and it did.” On Play of “I had a pretty good sense that they would run the ball by whatever means they could. I had a sense they'd use all three runners, I had a sense that they could use a couple of different quarterbacks.” “His game in particular I wasn't familiar with. But the idea of the quarterback running with the ball from that position, a lot of people are doing it these days and he was definitely a factor and able to convert. That was very positive for him.” LB Brad Jones ON PRE-GAME SPEECH-“We were at a fork in the road. We lost three games and two of them we probably shouldn't have lost. This game was a pivotal point in our season, where it could go either way and it seemed like this win was the culmination of all the hard work we have put in.” ON QB JOSH FREEMAN-“He is better in the sense that he cannot take a sack. I had him three or four times that I thought were sacks and he will just throw it to the feet of his receiver and make sure its not intentional grounding. He is just really good at avoiding sacks. He is a big dude. The quarterback is never bigger than me.” ON THE OFFENSE-“The offense did such a great job. I don't know what to say. We were so impressed with the play of the offense, as a defense. We were amazed. They knew we were doing good and they were taking it to their defense. I was just so excited for my offense to be playing this well.” FS Ryan Walters ON PLAY OF SECONDARY-“We didn't want to give them time to sit back and pick us apart, which they are capable of doing. He's got a great arm. We were trying to not let him think and get rid of the ball quickly.” ON OFFENSE-“I'm proud of our offense. They kept the ball in their hands and did a great job of getting first downs to get the time off the clock. Tyler Hansen did a great job and Cody [Hawkins] did a great job as well.” ON DEFENSE-“We did a great job up front of getting them in second and long and third and long situations.” CB Cha'pelle ON QB JOSH FREEMAN-“He likes to pass more than run but if he has to run he will. I saw a couple plays where it took three guys to get him down. We prepared the same way though. We had to prepare for him passing the ball.” ON MENTAL STATE OF TEAM-“I feel good about the team. The coaches were never down on us, they just made sure we got back up. We have another week and another tough game ahead of us. One game at a time, so we're getting ready for CB Gardner ON TEAM EFFORT-“You have to give it to both of us, offense and defense. We just went out there and wanted this win. I think the key thing was to finish this game.” ON QB JOSH FREEMAN-“He's really good. We tried to do our best to shut him down but obviously he is a good quarterback.” WR Josh Smith ON CATCH ON THIRD-AND-15-“I got my reps cut down because of the injuries. I knew as long as I was on the sidelines I would continue to stay ready. Just because I'm not in there every play doesn't mean I'm not ready to go. I know when those guys see me come out on the field they put their best food forward so I knew on the third-and-fifteen the team was counting on me. I make every play for the team.” ON PHYSICAL CONDITION-“I'm fine. After that win I'm feeling real good. I'm not feeling one injury right now. When we get those end results like that I feel good. But I'll let you know in the morning.” ON SPEICAL TEAMS PLAY-“I love the extra attention. I like the people behind me knowing I can make big plays on special teams. That's what I wanted to bring to the table when I took the role. I want to make guys kick the ball away from me. I want them to be scared to kick it to me because they know that I'm a threat. It takes a lot of courage to be out there and take on those tasks.” WR Scotty McKnight ON USING TWO QUARTERBACKS-“We knew this week that we might use Tyler [Hansen] in the game. We've seen it all year, he is an excellent player. He is very mature for his age and has a great arm. Not to discount Cody [Hawkins] at all because he is an incredible leader on this football team and we need him just as much. I'm glad they established both of them tonight and it went fairly smoothly for our first time. They were both able to make some plays to help us win tonight. We look forward to figuring this out and getting the job done.” ON TOUCHDOWN CATCH?“Oh man, that thing was pretty. Its like he wrapped it up and threw it in the air for me like it was Christmas time. I got out of my break and was like ?Oh my God this thing is nice.' There was no challenge in catching that ball it just fell into my gloves.” DL/OL Eugene Goree ON TYLER HANSEN-“It was real smooth. We put him in there and he made plays. And it went well after that. ” DT George Hypolite ON JOSH FREEMAN-“He (causes) a lot of problems because he is a big guy and he has a really electric arm. He is not necessarily elusive; he is just very hard to bring down. So he makes a lot of plays, not necessarily with his feet, but he is able to stay in the pocket, take hits, bounce off, and still throw the ball pretty accurately. He did a lot out there today. He had a few big scrambles and he made a few big plays with his arms. As long as you can still contain a guy like that and make tackles, you did a good job.” ON GETTING STOPS-“We figured our offense gave us 14 points, they only had 13 and it was the fourth quarter, and we had to step up and make a big play. If they can't score, they can't win. As a defense collectively we did a great job of everyone trusting each other and doing their job.” ON GOING INTO THE 4TH QUARTER-“I really don't think we had to say anything. We have gotten to the point as players where we know how it's supposed to go.” QB Tyler Hansen ON SORENESS-“My legs kind of hurt right now, but I will be alright. Just going to go in the cold tub and take care of my body a little bit.” ON GIVING UP REDSHIRT-“On Sunday, after the ON CATCHING KANSAS STATE OFF-GUARD-“They obviously weren't expecting all that running, but they adjusted pretty well after that. I heard a couple guys talking like ?who is this guy.' They were trying to get into my head because they knew I am a freshman.” ON SPLITTING SNAPS WITH CODY HAWKINS-“I like it, it's fun. It mixes it up a little bit. You can see who is going in and who is going out. They have to put in new personnel. It helps a lot.” QB Cody Hawkins ON DAD'S PHILOSOPHY-“A lot of it has to do with the type of guys we are recruiting and the type of program we have. No one really tries to stand out as an individual. I think the biggest thing for us is that everyone in this program puts the program first in every way. We all have a lot of respect for ON STRUGGLING PASSING ATTACK-“I think a lot of it has to do with situations. The way the we have been running the ball it would kind of be foolish to throw it, because there is no point in putting it in the air when Rodney [Stewart] is making plays and our offensive line is performing as well as it can. I think with the guys we have and the running back we can move the ball whenever we want. And we can throw the ball when we need to.” ON SPLITTING SNAPS WITH TYLER HANSEN-“I think Coach Helfrich does an awesome job of preparing us. He makes sure all of us know the game plan well going into the game. Regardless of who the guy is, you need to know every single aspect of the offense and the game plan. Although you might not get all the reps in practice you have to know that stuff. On Tyler Hansen's first touchdown pass, he has never run that play; that was always one of my plays. We got into a situation on the field that, TB Rodney Stewart QB Josh Freeman ON GENERAL- “We knew it would be a dogfight, we just couldn't pull out a win. The game played out a lot like Coach Prince told us it would. We know who we are; we just wish we could get some plays back. We just have to come back and learn.” DE Ian Campbell ON COLORADO QB TYLER HANSEN- “In this game, in this day and age, you need to be ready for anything. He was a decent runner and able to play the quarterback read game. He did a good job.” RB ON THE OFFENSE?“Our running game showed a little tonight. ON HANGING TOUGH? “We knew the whole game that we were right there with them. We knew that a play or two could have changed the game. We never gave up.” ON HIS ROLE ON THE TEAM?“We're all here to win. I'm just going to do my part.” DB Joshua Moore ON HIS INTERCEPTION?“When I saw the post-corner, I just undercut the route.” DB Tysyn Hartman ON THE DEFENSE?“The defense played good today but not great. It was definitely an improvement [from previous weeks] but it wasn't enough.” ON TEAMMATE JOSHUA MOORE?“Josh has had a great couple of games. It's good to have him give us a spark” ON K Brooks Rossman WR Brandon Banks ON WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE LOSS- “Everyone had miscues out there tonight. We miscue as a team and we lost as a team.” ON LB Ulla Pomele LB John Houlik
“I said before I knew we were going to go through a tough stretch and we have. I kind of told our guys the other day that horrible, awful, despicable
“I don't know necessarily that I've ever done it with a quarterback. We have done it with other players before. When I was at
“That was huge, that was big. Again, it's just one of those things that has happened for us a little bit through the stretch is we haven't really had a bunch of momentum changers and igniters, but our defense stepped up and made the plays they had to make and that was big right there. It's a one-point game so anything can matter, but I think more than anything else it just shined a little bit of a light on us and gave our guys a little bit of juice to kind of go alright, lets go. That was the other thing too; when we went for it on fourth down I thought it was awesome, because I really love the chemistry of the guys. All of the defensive guys were saying, ?Do it again, we've got your back. We'll stop them, whatever you want to do; kick it, go for it, whatever you want to do and we'll stop them.' “
“I thought Ron Collins and Greg Brown did a good job of mixing it up. I think they had a little bit of a problem because our guys did a good job of disguising some things and bringing some things that we haven't shown necessarily before. As it kind of got down to crunch time at the end we went with our base package and tried to keep everything in front of us. I thought there were enough nice change ups to throw them off guard a little bit.”
“I hate it. But it is what it is. I didn't like the fact that I was so slow and short and not very athletic either but I had to deal with that. Again, the awesome thing is that these guys are great with it and they're supportive of each other. We'll deal with it as it goes. I think in all honesty if you don't have two guys that can put their ego aside and have enough faith in their coach and their team then you have problems. Both of these guys are studs about that and they've been very supportive of each other, rallying around each other, helping each other out. That's why we end up winning.
“As you just kind of go along each guy sometimes learns and grows and moves. I'm looking at these guys and loving where they're at and I think they're having a lot of success and playing pretty well against a tough schedule as they continue to grow and get better and our staff can continue to put more wrinkles in the game plan and have more buttons to push on the space shuttle, you've got something really good.”
Ron Prince
”That was a great football game. We've been trying to put ourselves in a position here for three years to be able to have a close ball game like that, with the ball, to have a two-minute drive to go win it, and we didn't get it done. We came up short.”
ON WINNING ?“it feels pretty good. We lost three games in a row and it just feels so good to get back to our winning ways.”
ON WIN ?“We were fortunate to come out and play tough all game. Their offense had a great quarterback and some good receivers. I'm proud of the way we played and I'm proud of our team effort.”
ON WIN ?“Yes it feels good. This team is very capable of going out there and getting a win. Good things happen when this team plays together. That is what we did and that is how we showed up today. We had a big win over
ON THE GAME ?“I thought it was going to be a more high scoring game but the defense really stepped up and held them. We had some opportunities out there that we missed and the defense really bailed us out. They played great and saved us. Obviously it feels great to get a win after a few weeks of not getting one.”
ON TRANSITION TO OFFENSIVE LINE-“It's going good. It's pretty much the same fundamentals. Set in and push in the front. I am still learning how to read defenses. I just play my position the best I can.”
ON DEFENSE-“I think we played really well. We gave up one big play. It was a combination of a miscommunication and just getting put in a bad situation, and they hit us for a touchdown. But outside of that, I think we played very well.”
ON SETTLING DOWN-“I knew I was going to play a little bit so I kind of prepared my mind for the game and just stayed calm and tried to do the best possible. On the second series, it started to slow down and I was starting to make plays. I was kind of stressing out after the fumble on the first play. I thought I was not going to play the rest of the game.”
ON QB SITUATION-“I don't know, I was just so excited for him to get out there. Tyler [Hansen] is one of my good friends. You come to
ON FIRST TOUCHDOWN-“It was unbelievable. It wasn't what I thought it would be. Because I have played so many games, probably if I had scored in one of the first games it would have been more exciting.”
ON THE LAST PLAY- “If I had got out to the right, I might have been able to get it to the end zone for my receiver to make a play”
GENERAL? “A loss always hurts. We showed improvement on defense but also a lot of things we need to fix. Part of us getting better is getting used to each other and getting more confident with each other. We definitely had no quit at all.”
ON THE DEFENSE? “The defense just has to perform a little better. We only gave up 14 points but that wasn't good enough. I feel disappointed because we didn't win. If we had won, it might be a little different. The defense can build off of this game.”
GENERAL?“We wanted to string two wins together, and we didn't.”
GENERAL?“We try to make field goals at the beginning of the game so it doesn't come down to having to make them at the end.”
GENERAL- “It was a hard-fought game. That was a good football team. Unfortunately we couldn't make enough plays to win. I love to play in games like that but tonight wasn't our night.”
ON COLORADO QB TYLER HANSEN- “He was good, very athletic. You definitely have to be prepared for something like that. We were able to adjust and in the second-half did a lot better at being able to read our keys.”
GENERAL ? “It was a huge loss. We really wanted to come out here and get a win. We haven't had consecutive road wins since 2003. We didn't quit, we kept playing until the end. Every Big 12 game is tough so we need to look at film and get better.”
