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Fresno, California
Tim Skipper took to the stand on Monday, early afternoon to discuss the challenge in the upcoming game against UNLV. He alluded on various topics such as, the injury report, ways to get the team fired up to start strong, and an in depth look at the UNLV Rebels.
Skipper gave out loads of respect to the offense run by the Rebels. With their whirlwind style, involving loads of eye candy it should create a challenge for the Bulldogs defense. In addition, Skipper provided some bright spots when talking about the inspiration provided by the coaching staff this week.
All in all, by taking the stand with a huge smile on his face Skipper is optimistic and fired up for this monumental showdown in the Mountain West. This is big as the Bulldogs look to extend their winning streak against the Rebels to seven in a row.
Opening Statement:
“It’s another opportunity to compete in an NFL stadium. I’m excited to see the Red Wave compete and cheer loud. Just being able to compete with this team is the main goal; I think our team’s in a good spot. This will be our fifth straight game after a good training camp, and we’ve been having great weeks of practice, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow and Wednesday, and then Thursday to get out there and play a complete game. So, that’s what’s exciting me right now.”
Skipper on Last Week’s Win:
“Yeah, that game was a little different. It was very windy in the beginning, so we needed to start fast, and we were against the wind in the first quarter, so we needed to get points, and we ended up getting points there. In the second quarter, we kind of took off a little bit when we had the wind, so that was huge. Then, to start the second half strong and get some more points and keep the lead into the fourth was so encouraging. Just to see the guys playing four quarters was awesome. And to get our first road win was huge to set up for next week; that was good to see.”
Skipper on UNLV:
“Yeah, they’re going to give you some formations you don’t normally see, so that’s where it all starts. Then, they’re going to try to manipulate ways in the run game to get yards. I mean, they’re going to do whatever they have to do with motions and formations. They are good at running the football. Their quarterback, who transferred in from Holy Cross, is doing a great job with them in a short amount of time of learning that offense and executing it, so it’s going to be a challenge. They have a lot of threats; they have receivers that are fast too, and the quarterback’s good and accurate enough to get it to those guys, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. I’m excited for it, though; that’s why you get into this business and into these games, is for these types of challenges. So, we go on the road to play in an NFL stadium and play at their house, but I know the Red Wave will be there.”
Injury Updates:
Camryn Bracha: “Camryn’s injury is going to be a long-term thing. We’ll have to take some time, and we’ll find out about him as we keep going through this thing. But, I will say this: he’s a tough kid, he’s a fast healer, so we’ll see how it goes after a couple weeks go by, and we’ll see where we’re at.”
Malik Sherrod: “With Malik, hopefully, he can get out there and practice, and he can go. He kind of tweaked something in practice last week, and that’s why he couldn’t go. That’s when it was a game-time decision. So, hopefully, we can get him back, but it’s all about how he practices and how he looks, and all that stuff, so we’ll see towards the end of the week.”
Skipper’s Thoughts on How to Get the Guys Fired Up to Start Strong:
“Definitely, Coach Coyle has done a great job with the defense. We’re always preaching turnovers and some kind of history lesson in his own little way, something that’s going to hit the guys and touch them a little bit before the game. Obviously, he coached me, so I know how he can get people ready to go play. He does a great job before we hit the field on Saturdays, reminding them of things and keys to the game and stuff like that. But I really think we’re well-coached. I think we have great coaches on the defensive side of the ball. I think the players respect them and listen to them, and they do exactly what we are preaching them to do as we are coaching them throughout the week, and the guys just buy in.”
Skipper on Trick Plans
“I mean, we always got all kinds of tricks up our sleeves; it’s just a matter of the situation if you see them or not. Their quarterback last week was like a magician, so a lot of the stuff they were doing involved a lot of trickery to me. Just with anytime he got out of the pocket, we didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Skipper’s Thoughts on the Early 12:30 Kickoff
“We don’t get our afternoon nap now; that’s basically the main difference. We just wake up and go play the game now. It’s not wake up, walk through, eat breakfast, go back to the room, lay around for three hours, and then eat pregame meal, do some more walkthrough stuff, then go play. Now, we get to wake up and go, like when we were kids, right? All games were always in the morning, so that’s kind of normal to me. We’re a morning practice team, so I’m kind of excited about that; we’ll get to go home, and it’s not 2 AM.”
Written by: Brody Jacobson and JJ Metz
