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Postgame Quotes: Utah vs. Southern Utah
8/29/2024 11:19 PM | Football
UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement...
"Good start to the season. Obviously, it was good to see Cam and Brant Kuithe back out there doing their thing. They hooked up three times for touchdown passes. Great effort by Dijon Stanley tonight. He had in the neighborhood of 200 all-purpose yards. Defense, lights out, shutout. [We] did what we were supposed to do. Southern Utah is hard-playing team. They played hard and we just had some talented guys out there making plays, but its good to get that one under our belt. Obviously, the degree of difficulty increases this week, Baylor coming in to town, or next week I should say. Non-conference game, but it doesn't matter, every game is critical in college football. So, we have to be ready to be at our best next week. We'll come in tomorrow and watch this film and make corrections and give our players the weekend off and come back Monday ready to roll and get ready for the Baylor Bears."
On how he felt about Cam's runs…
"It was good to see him moving quick and being able to cut and do his thing, but a little too much contact tonight. We'll try to reinforce that more if we possibly can, but he's so competitive. That's just his nature, but a little more contact than we would've liked."
On if Cam had to shake off every rust…
"I think it was the Cam of old. At least tonight, he was sharp, 10-of-14, a bunch of touchdowns, five touchdown passes and didn't miss many throws. There's a couple he missed but not many."
On how he'd like Cam to approach contact…
"Sliding is a good idea, step out of bounds if it's in the vicinity. Try to avoid those direct shots. You don't want to take those shots and we'll watch the film. There were probably two or three times where he could've done a little better job of getting out of harm's way."
On what he saw from Dijon Stanley…
"Great stuff. You saw him on a little rail route of out the backfield a couple times, big plays. Made some nice runs, too. Got to the edge two or three times and he's an explosive guy. He's not the biggest kid, but he's quick, he's fast, he's tough and he's very smooth and athletic."
On what he thought about Elijah Davis' play…
"I thought he held down the fort, did a nice job. Came off coverage once. Fortunately, it was a holding call, so it didn't end up hurting us. That was him that had an interception, was it not? Had an interception. I thought he did a good job and we're going to have to take a hard look at what our best configuration is going into next week. I thought Smith Snowden played well on defense, he's a really good football player. The front played well. Scooby, we call him Scooby , Elijah Davis is a guy that's been in the program, this is his third year. He's got a lot of ability; he just needs to continue to get more repetitions."
Quarterback Cameron Rising
On how it felt to be back out there…
"It's good. It's nice and easy when you've got a guy like [Brant Kuithe] that's going to go and make your job easy. Just a great team win. Just got to keep it rolling and focus on next week."
On what his first action felt like after such a long time away…
"It was special, but all that focus goes away once I say set, go and get the game going and just focused on winning."
On if he was supposed to have four rushing attempts…
"It's football, you've got to do stuff."
Tight End Brant Kuithe
On how it feels to be back…
"It feels good, but I've been preparing for two years and it just feels good to know I can still do it. We still have a lot of games to go and just can't wait for next week."
On if there were any butterflies…
"I mean, we've been practicing for those type of catches. You just have to make sure to catch it because it's so wide open. It's just football. At the end of the day, we practice it so much and it's just pitch and catch."
On the tackles he broke to score his third touchdown…
"I saw the end zone and I'm a little slippery. It feels good and they just couldn't tackle I guess."
On what it felt like to get hit again…
"I wouldn't those were really hits [on the last touchdown]. I got hit a couple times where I got bent back and it felt kind of crazy. Those really got me awake. It feels good."
Defensive End Van Fillinger
On what the sideline is like when the defense pitches a shutout…
"When Scalley is happy, everyone is happy. That's all we could ask for. It was great."
On what tonight was like for him…
"I felt healthy. I felt great. Feel very grateful now since I had to play last year not healthy. How it feels to play healthy, it's just a blessing. It was great to be out there and see how I can do when I'm at full potential."
Running Back Dijon Stanley
On what it felt like to be out there tonight…
"It felt excellent. That was my first collegiate touchdown and not only that, it was my first touchdown in a the RES. It was super turnt. It was like the biggest moment of my life almost. It felt really nice to score today, that being the first of my career and it was excellent."
On if there's extra pressure when he's wide open…
"I would say you get a little bit more nerves when you're that open. You feel like its harder to catch the ball, but its everything that we go with in practice. We run the plays over and over, so its just practice how you play."
On what he feels like his role will be in the offense…
"Just anywhere that they need me, they could use me. I feel like they have a special skill set. Wherever I'm useful they could put me at, whether its receiver, whether its running back, flexed out, motion. I just want to be useful to the team and see us win."
SOUTHERN UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach DeLane Fitzgerald
On what Utah's defense did that made it difficult to move the ball…
"They're really good in the front seven and then their length causes a lot of people problems. Take your hat off to them, great football program. They're well coached, they execute. They're big, strong, tough. I don't know if I could praise them any more. That being said, the false starts and holding penalties really hurt us. We had an opportunity to sustain some drives and to make something happen and to get a few more points on the board. Obviously, anything would've been more than what we got, but we had an opportunity to get 14, 17, 21 points on the board and we just kept sabotaging ourselves. Twice we had third-and-two and we're going to play two downs and we get a false start and it ends up being third-and-seven."
On what happened on Dijon Stanley's two touchdowns…
"Absolute defensive breakdown. They put him in the backfield and they ran the pick route out of the backfield with him on the wheel a couple times and we didn't pick him up. The linebacker let himself get picked one time and another time, it was just a busted coverage. Good for them. And then, when the game was out of reach, they had an opportunity to break some tendencies because you don't want him just catching the ball out of the backfield, so when the game was out of reach and they're up 40, they handed him the ball three or four times so upcoming opponents won't think he's just a receiver."
On if he feels closer to choosing his starting quarterback…
"I'm not. Maybe after watching the film, they'll be something that triggers something in me. I think they're both really good players. We keep bringing him up, but Justin Miller came here two years ago and threw for 40 percent, went to BYU last year and threw for 40 percent. Justin Miller is an all-conference quarterback for us. It would be really, really hard to make a determination on which one of them played better or of who's the guy after tonight. Had one of them put together a drive and scored points, we're not taking out a quarterback after he scores points."
On his impression of Cameron Rising…
"I don't know if he's a Heisman candidate, but if he wasn't a Heisman candidate coming into the season, he looks really good after week one. He's definitely one now. I hope we didn't do him a disservice. We didn't cover anybody. We didn't make the windows very tight, we didn't make him have to be very accurate on throws. I'm disappointed in the way we covered tonight, because what shouldn't happen at the Division I college level, they shouldn't be wide smack open. I think he's a really good player."
On his final thoughts on the game…
"Glad to get out of here alive. We're healthy. Cade Bowring, he rolled his ankle and hopefully, he's OK, but we wanted to get in and out of here healthy. We're thankful to do that. That's a good football program. Salt Lake City, I'd be proud."
Wide Receiver Mark Bails
On what lessons the team can take from this game…
"Piggybacking off what coach said, false starts and the offense coming together and believing we're better than the guys out there. I feel like if we got those drives like he was saying, it would be a different game. There were plenty of times we had a third-and-two and we got a false start. We can just learn from it and build from there next week."
On what his experience has been like coming to Southern Utah…
"It was a big adjustment at first, but I always felt like I was ready for it. With coach, every week, it doesn't matter the ranking they are, just be you and play football. Coming in, we were confident. We didn't care if they were No. 12, we were just going to go out there and compete."
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Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement...
"Good start to the season. Obviously, it was good to see Cam and Brant Kuithe back out there doing their thing. They hooked up three times for touchdown passes. Great effort by Dijon Stanley tonight. He had in the neighborhood of 200 all-purpose yards. Defense, lights out, shutout. [We] did what we were supposed to do. Southern Utah is hard-playing team. They played hard and we just had some talented guys out there making plays, but its good to get that one under our belt. Obviously, the degree of difficulty increases this week, Baylor coming in to town, or next week I should say. Non-conference game, but it doesn't matter, every game is critical in college football. So, we have to be ready to be at our best next week. We'll come in tomorrow and watch this film and make corrections and give our players the weekend off and come back Monday ready to roll and get ready for the Baylor Bears."
On how he felt about Cam's runs…
"It was good to see him moving quick and being able to cut and do his thing, but a little too much contact tonight. We'll try to reinforce that more if we possibly can, but he's so competitive. That's just his nature, but a little more contact than we would've liked."
On if Cam had to shake off every rust…
"I think it was the Cam of old. At least tonight, he was sharp, 10-of-14, a bunch of touchdowns, five touchdown passes and didn't miss many throws. There's a couple he missed but not many."
On how he'd like Cam to approach contact…
"Sliding is a good idea, step out of bounds if it's in the vicinity. Try to avoid those direct shots. You don't want to take those shots and we'll watch the film. There were probably two or three times where he could've done a little better job of getting out of harm's way."
On what he saw from Dijon Stanley…
"Great stuff. You saw him on a little rail route of out the backfield a couple times, big plays. Made some nice runs, too. Got to the edge two or three times and he's an explosive guy. He's not the biggest kid, but he's quick, he's fast, he's tough and he's very smooth and athletic."
On what he thought about Elijah Davis' play…
"I thought he held down the fort, did a nice job. Came off coverage once. Fortunately, it was a holding call, so it didn't end up hurting us. That was him that had an interception, was it not? Had an interception. I thought he did a good job and we're going to have to take a hard look at what our best configuration is going into next week. I thought Smith Snowden played well on defense, he's a really good football player. The front played well. Scooby, we call him Scooby , Elijah Davis is a guy that's been in the program, this is his third year. He's got a lot of ability; he just needs to continue to get more repetitions."
Quarterback Cameron Rising
On how it felt to be back out there…
"It's good. It's nice and easy when you've got a guy like [Brant Kuithe] that's going to go and make your job easy. Just a great team win. Just got to keep it rolling and focus on next week."
On what his first action felt like after such a long time away…
"It was special, but all that focus goes away once I say set, go and get the game going and just focused on winning."
On if he was supposed to have four rushing attempts…
"It's football, you've got to do stuff."
Tight End Brant Kuithe
On how it feels to be back…
"It feels good, but I've been preparing for two years and it just feels good to know I can still do it. We still have a lot of games to go and just can't wait for next week."
On if there were any butterflies…
"I mean, we've been practicing for those type of catches. You just have to make sure to catch it because it's so wide open. It's just football. At the end of the day, we practice it so much and it's just pitch and catch."
On the tackles he broke to score his third touchdown…
"I saw the end zone and I'm a little slippery. It feels good and they just couldn't tackle I guess."
On what it felt like to get hit again…
"I wouldn't those were really hits [on the last touchdown]. I got hit a couple times where I got bent back and it felt kind of crazy. Those really got me awake. It feels good."
Defensive End Van Fillinger
On what the sideline is like when the defense pitches a shutout…
"When Scalley is happy, everyone is happy. That's all we could ask for. It was great."
On what tonight was like for him…
"I felt healthy. I felt great. Feel very grateful now since I had to play last year not healthy. How it feels to play healthy, it's just a blessing. It was great to be out there and see how I can do when I'm at full potential."
Running Back Dijon Stanley
On what it felt like to be out there tonight…
"It felt excellent. That was my first collegiate touchdown and not only that, it was my first touchdown in a the RES. It was super turnt. It was like the biggest moment of my life almost. It felt really nice to score today, that being the first of my career and it was excellent."
On if there's extra pressure when he's wide open…
"I would say you get a little bit more nerves when you're that open. You feel like its harder to catch the ball, but its everything that we go with in practice. We run the plays over and over, so its just practice how you play."
On what he feels like his role will be in the offense…
"Just anywhere that they need me, they could use me. I feel like they have a special skill set. Wherever I'm useful they could put me at, whether its receiver, whether its running back, flexed out, motion. I just want to be useful to the team and see us win."
SOUTHERN UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach DeLane Fitzgerald
On what Utah's defense did that made it difficult to move the ball…
"They're really good in the front seven and then their length causes a lot of people problems. Take your hat off to them, great football program. They're well coached, they execute. They're big, strong, tough. I don't know if I could praise them any more. That being said, the false starts and holding penalties really hurt us. We had an opportunity to sustain some drives and to make something happen and to get a few more points on the board. Obviously, anything would've been more than what we got, but we had an opportunity to get 14, 17, 21 points on the board and we just kept sabotaging ourselves. Twice we had third-and-two and we're going to play two downs and we get a false start and it ends up being third-and-seven."
On what happened on Dijon Stanley's two touchdowns…
"Absolute defensive breakdown. They put him in the backfield and they ran the pick route out of the backfield with him on the wheel a couple times and we didn't pick him up. The linebacker let himself get picked one time and another time, it was just a busted coverage. Good for them. And then, when the game was out of reach, they had an opportunity to break some tendencies because you don't want him just catching the ball out of the backfield, so when the game was out of reach and they're up 40, they handed him the ball three or four times so upcoming opponents won't think he's just a receiver."
On if he feels closer to choosing his starting quarterback…
"I'm not. Maybe after watching the film, they'll be something that triggers something in me. I think they're both really good players. We keep bringing him up, but Justin Miller came here two years ago and threw for 40 percent, went to BYU last year and threw for 40 percent. Justin Miller is an all-conference quarterback for us. It would be really, really hard to make a determination on which one of them played better or of who's the guy after tonight. Had one of them put together a drive and scored points, we're not taking out a quarterback after he scores points."
On his impression of Cameron Rising…
"I don't know if he's a Heisman candidate, but if he wasn't a Heisman candidate coming into the season, he looks really good after week one. He's definitely one now. I hope we didn't do him a disservice. We didn't cover anybody. We didn't make the windows very tight, we didn't make him have to be very accurate on throws. I'm disappointed in the way we covered tonight, because what shouldn't happen at the Division I college level, they shouldn't be wide smack open. I think he's a really good player."
On his final thoughts on the game…
"Glad to get out of here alive. We're healthy. Cade Bowring, he rolled his ankle and hopefully, he's OK, but we wanted to get in and out of here healthy. We're thankful to do that. That's a good football program. Salt Lake City, I'd be proud."
Wide Receiver Mark Bails
On what lessons the team can take from this game…
"Piggybacking off what coach said, false starts and the offense coming together and believing we're better than the guys out there. I feel like if we got those drives like he was saying, it would be a different game. There were plenty of times we had a third-and-two and we got a false start. We can just learn from it and build from there next week."
On what his experience has been like coming to Southern Utah…
"It was a big adjustment at first, but I always felt like I was ready for it. With coach, every week, it doesn't matter the ranking they are, just be you and play football. Coming in, we were confident. We didn't care if they were No. 12, we were just going to go out there and compete."
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Players Mentioned
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