MITCHELL EVANS
How did the mentality change for you knowing the offense was down receivers tonight?
“Obviously, our room kind of had to step up. Same with the running backs. I feel like we all kind of did that. Holden [Staes] was taking on more and a different kind of blocking role than what he’s done before in the past and executed. We were doing a bunch of 22 personnel with two running backs and two tight ends out there because we had to. But even in the receiver room, Tobi [Tobias Merriweather] and Rico [Flores Jr.] stepped up and had to take a surplus amount of reps for that. They kind of knew that, and they stepped up.”
Was this was one-handed catch better than last week’s?
“I don’t even know. I was, again, not expecting it, because I was doing my reset. I turned and it was there. I don’t even really know what happened. Did he tip it? I don’t even know. Did he tip it? Did I tip it?”
You tipped it to yourself.
“I did that? Wow. OK. Well, I should have caught it the first time then. I don’t know. I guess, maybe.”
What does it feel like to make that third-and-10 reception on the last drive?
“We’ve executed pretty much every two-minute drill that we’ve had this season. And we practice it a lot. We do it every Wednesday. Our two-minute mentality is we feel like we can execute whatever we have to, whatever look comes at us, because they were throwing everything at us there at the last second. But we didn’t panic. We didn’t flinch. We weren’t scared. We didn’t back down. Sam ran on what was it like fourth-and-16 or something like that? That’s pretty sick. Do what we had to get the fricking first down.”
Why didn’t you panic or flinch on that last drive?
“Our mentality: champions respond. That’s kind of the role we took on this week. We didn’t back down, and we didn’t give up.”
What did Duke’s defense do to make it tough to run in the second half?
“They had a good defensive front and box. They were stout guys. They were doing a lot of stems with the D-line — stemming left, right, whatever. They were throwing a lot at us. Especially when we were doing our back blocks and our inserts, they were spilling them. They were just a good defensive line front. They game planned like we game planned.”
How are you feeling at the end of the game? What does it take to have the stamina to come through after playing so much?
“Tired. Sam’s out there. The O-line's out there. The defensive line’s out there. They’re playing a lot of snaps too. If you’re asked to do that, you gotta do it. That’s what the offseason’s for. You gotta train, you gotta train, you gotta train. Because you could play 40 snaps, you could play 60 snaps, you could play two. You gotta be ready for every snap you take.”
AUDRIC ESTIME
Coach Freeman said you should have went down on the one-yard line. Were you even thinking about that in the moment?
“Not going to lie: I wasn’t. I just saw it. I saw the opportunity and took it.”
How did it feel to run that one in?
“It felt great. That was a result of the whole offense staying down until we come up. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter battle. We just hit it when we needed it, when it mattered the most.”
Did you have any expectation that play could spring for a touchdown?
“Yeah, honestly. We knew that we had them. We knew that something was going to pop. We just had to stay strong. We knew it was going to be a fourth quarter game. We knew it was going to come down to the end. We just executed. The offensive line blocked perfectly and I saw the lane and I hit it.
What can you say about your defense keeping you in the game and Howard Cross III specifically?
“Our defense played great. We knew they were going to play great. We knew it was going to be a tough game. They knew that. They knew their quarterback was going to be able to run the ball, but they handled him well. We had a great week of practice Monday-Friday pushing each other, offense and defense going at it. They did really good, and they responded back well.”
How was the game plan adjusted with wide receivers out?
“We needed some guys to step up, young guys to step up. We knew we were going to be in more 11, 12 personnel. But that was a challenge that me and the rest of the running backs were willing to take on. That’s what we did.”
Where did that touchdown rank for you in terms of football memories?
“I’m not going to lie. I never put a game out like that. I never scored with a couple seconds to go. I think that would be one right now, honestly.”
How much is the confidence at the end of the game related to Sam Hartman being at quarterback?
“Yes. Sam’s one of the best in the business. When the pressure’s on, he’s at his best. Him converting on that fourth down was huge for us. Honestly, without that play, we wouldn’t have been able to have the opportunity to score right there. That’s just a result of the player Sam is and the teammate he is. He’s doing whatever it takes to win the game for this team.”
How do you stay patient and not get frustrated when the holes aren’t opening up?
“Especially games like this, you can’t jump to the next quarter. You gotta take one play at a time. That’s what we did. Honestly, it wasn’t pretty. But we got the job done. We knew that team was going to bring everything they got. We brought everything we got back at them. It was going to be a four-quarter battle. That’s what we did. We finished in the fourth quarter.”
How did the mentality change for you knowing the offense was down receivers tonight?
“Obviously, our room kind of had to step up. Same with the running backs. I feel like we all kind of did that. Holden [Staes] was taking on more and a different kind of blocking role than what he’s done before in the past and executed. We were doing a bunch of 22 personnel with two running backs and two tight ends out there because we had to. But even in the receiver room, Tobi [Tobias Merriweather] and Rico [Flores Jr.] stepped up and had to take a surplus amount of reps for that. They kind of knew that, and they stepped up.”
Was this was one-handed catch better than last week’s?
“I don’t even know. I was, again, not expecting it, because I was doing my reset. I turned and it was there. I don’t even really know what happened. Did he tip it? I don’t even know. Did he tip it? Did I tip it?”
You tipped it to yourself.
“I did that? Wow. OK. Well, I should have caught it the first time then. I don’t know. I guess, maybe.”
What does it feel like to make that third-and-10 reception on the last drive?
“We’ve executed pretty much every two-minute drill that we’ve had this season. And we practice it a lot. We do it every Wednesday. Our two-minute mentality is we feel like we can execute whatever we have to, whatever look comes at us, because they were throwing everything at us there at the last second. But we didn’t panic. We didn’t flinch. We weren’t scared. We didn’t back down. Sam ran on what was it like fourth-and-16 or something like that? That’s pretty sick. Do what we had to get the fricking first down.”
Why didn’t you panic or flinch on that last drive?
“Our mentality: champions respond. That’s kind of the role we took on this week. We didn’t back down, and we didn’t give up.”
What did Duke’s defense do to make it tough to run in the second half?
“They had a good defensive front and box. They were stout guys. They were doing a lot of stems with the D-line — stemming left, right, whatever. They were throwing a lot at us. Especially when we were doing our back blocks and our inserts, they were spilling them. They were just a good defensive line front. They game planned like we game planned.”
How are you feeling at the end of the game? What does it take to have the stamina to come through after playing so much?
“Tired. Sam’s out there. The O-line's out there. The defensive line’s out there. They’re playing a lot of snaps too. If you’re asked to do that, you gotta do it. That’s what the offseason’s for. You gotta train, you gotta train, you gotta train. Because you could play 40 snaps, you could play 60 snaps, you could play two. You gotta be ready for every snap you take.”
AUDRIC ESTIME
Coach Freeman said you should have went down on the one-yard line. Were you even thinking about that in the moment?
“Not going to lie: I wasn’t. I just saw it. I saw the opportunity and took it.”
How did it feel to run that one in?
“It felt great. That was a result of the whole offense staying down until we come up. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter battle. We just hit it when we needed it, when it mattered the most.”
Did you have any expectation that play could spring for a touchdown?
“Yeah, honestly. We knew that we had them. We knew that something was going to pop. We just had to stay strong. We knew it was going to be a fourth quarter game. We knew it was going to come down to the end. We just executed. The offensive line blocked perfectly and I saw the lane and I hit it.
What can you say about your defense keeping you in the game and Howard Cross III specifically?
“Our defense played great. We knew they were going to play great. We knew it was going to be a tough game. They knew that. They knew their quarterback was going to be able to run the ball, but they handled him well. We had a great week of practice Monday-Friday pushing each other, offense and defense going at it. They did really good, and they responded back well.”
How was the game plan adjusted with wide receivers out?
“We needed some guys to step up, young guys to step up. We knew we were going to be in more 11, 12 personnel. But that was a challenge that me and the rest of the running backs were willing to take on. That’s what we did.”
Where did that touchdown rank for you in terms of football memories?
“I’m not going to lie. I never put a game out like that. I never scored with a couple seconds to go. I think that would be one right now, honestly.”
How much is the confidence at the end of the game related to Sam Hartman being at quarterback?
“Yes. Sam’s one of the best in the business. When the pressure’s on, he’s at his best. Him converting on that fourth down was huge for us. Honestly, without that play, we wouldn’t have been able to have the opportunity to score right there. That’s just a result of the player Sam is and the teammate he is. He’s doing whatever it takes to win the game for this team.”
How do you stay patient and not get frustrated when the holes aren’t opening up?
“Especially games like this, you can’t jump to the next quarter. You gotta take one play at a time. That’s what we did. Honestly, it wasn’t pretty. But we got the job done. We knew that team was going to bring everything they got. We brought everything we got back at them. It was going to be a four-quarter battle. That’s what we did. We finished in the fourth quarter.”
