Sun Belt Media Day Interviews - TXST

[BobcatDis]

Coach Franchione - http://youtu.be/iDhBkQg7nVI

 

 

Mike Orakpo (LB) - http://youtu.be/YOCiComijnU

 

2013

Earned All-Sun Belt Conference Second-Team honors by Phil Steele…elected team captain…named Honorable Mention All-SBC by league coaches… made 12 starts…tallied 71 tackles to rank fourth among team leaders…led the team with 4.5 quarterback sacks, 10 tackle for losses of 38 yards  and three forced fumbles … recorded a season-best of 11 tackles, including four solo, at Idaho … had eight tackles against Prairie View A&M and seven stops against both Arkansas State and UL Monroe … tallied six tackles versus Wyoming … had five tackles, two forced fumbles and a pass breakup in Texas State’s season-opening game at Southern Miss … also had a forced fumble and 1.5 quarterback sacks against Prairie View A&M … broke up a pass against Georgia State and Troy … also had hurries versus ULM, Idaho and Troy ... set a Bobcat school record in the incline bench after lifting 500 pounds ... received Supercat Award for skill players in spring workouts.

College

A key cog in Colorado State’s defense in 2010 and 2011 ... earned Third-Team All-Mountain West Conference honors (Phil Steele.com) as a sophomore after finishing ninth among conference leaders with 7.2 tackles per game ... played in 12 games with 11 starts in 2011 ranked third among CSU leaders with 87 tackles (49 solo) with three tackle for losses ... also broke up a pass and picked off another...led team with 10 tackles versus Northern Colorado ...played in 12 games a freshman ... tallied 37 tackles, including 21 solo stops, two sacks and 2½ tackle for losses ... also forced a fumble, broke up a pass.

High School

Was a First-Team All-District 21-4A selection as a safety ... listed by MaxPresps.com as one of the top 20 linebackers in Texas... led Houston’s Westbury High School in tackles as both a junior and senior in 2007 and 2008 ... recorded 88 tackles and three interceptions as a senior ... returned one interception for a touchdown ... led the Rebels to an 8-2 record and the second round of the Class 4A playoffs in Texas ... had a 24-yard run on a fake punt against Sharpstown ... earned All-District honors as a junior linebacker after registering 92 tackles, three sacks and two interceptions...served as team captain as a senior...played for coach Keeath Magee ... selected to participate in the National Down Under Bowl.

Personal

Born on Feb. 5, 1991 ... son of Aurthur and Gloria Orakpo ... has an older brother and an older sister...Older brother, Brian, was a First-Team All-American at Texas in 2008, when he also won the Nagurski Trophy and Hendricks and Rotary Lombardi awards before the Redskins selected him in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

 

David Mayo (LB) - http://youtu.be/gqIEYTYB5xM

 

2013

Played in 10 games … made nine starts … named a team captain … was named All-Sunbelt Conference Second-Team by College Sports Madness and Phil Steele … named Honorable Mention All-SBC by league coaches… led the SBC and ranking 12th nationally in solo tackles with an average of 6.0 per game … ranked 13th nationally and fourth among Sun Belt Conference leaders in total tackles with an average of 8.9 per game … averaged 10.0 tackles in conference only games to rank third among league leaders … also ranked second among league leaders in interceptions with four … tallied a career-high 16 tackles against Troy … his 16 stops were the second-highest total in the SBC and the most by a Texas State player in a single game …  tallied 13 stops against Louisiana and 11 each against Western Kentucky and ULM … earned Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Sept 2 after intercepting two passes and logging nine tackles and a quarterback sack for a loss of nine yards in Texas State’s season-opening win at Southern Miss … also intercepted a pass against ULM and Arkansas State … recorded one quarterback hurry against Wyoming and had 4.5 tackle for losses … recorded 2.0 tackles of losses of six yards at Troy to lead Texas State … it also was the most tackles for losses in a single game by a Bobcat this season … tallied a tackle for losses of nine yards at Southern Miss and one yard at Louisiana … assisted on a tackle for a loss of two yards against Western Kentucky. 

2012

Played and started the first seven games … ranked among the top seven players with 41 total tackles … recorded a season-best of 13 tackles against Nevada … also had eight stops against Stephen F. Austin and New Mexico … recorded five stops in his first start at Houston … had a season-high of seven solo tackles against Nevada … recovered a fumble against Texas Tech … broke up a pass against Stephen F. Austin. 

Previous School

Named a two-star recruit by Rivals.com … named an All-Pacific Conference selection as a freshman … helped lead Santa Monica to the Pacific Conference championship and a berth into the American Bowl … recorded 68 tackles, including eight tackles for  losses … also had one quarterback sack, broke up two passes and recovered a fumble

High School

played in the East-West Shrine game while representing Columbia County after his senior season at Scappoose … named an All-State Second-Team selection after leading the Tribe with 10.6 tackles per game … also played running back and ran for 1,116 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior.

Personal

Born on Aug. 18, 1993 ... son of Wayne Mayo and Lori Haggans.

 

 

 

[BobcatDis]

It's hard to hear the volume on some of this so here are the interviews on paper:

 

Head Coach Dennis Franchione

Opening Statement

I think the preseason was probably a good starting point for now. We all know that .50 cents and that will get you a good cup of coffee somewhere maybe. You've got to play the games and see how they go. Obviously Lafayette needs to be picked where they are with the amount of people they have returning from the kind of team they've had. Arkansas State , I think, deserves to be up there with what they've done. Joey's done a great job a South Alabama . I think they've got the look of a good football team. Todd's done a great job at Monroe . Then you've got Larry that's always done a great job there. It's kind of the returners at the top and the rest of us filling in. We're kind of a newbie returner I guess. So we got the middle of the pack somewhere.

 

On surprises in the Sun Belt Conference

There are a lot of crumby locker rooms in this league when you go on the road. That wasn't a surprise. I don't think this league gets as much respect as it probably deserves. Having been in the SEC and the Big 12, I kind of relate the Sun Belt to like a mini-SEC. There are really good defensive lineman in this league, which I think is a quality that the SEC carries very well. With so many southern teams, that stands up. Good coaches in this league. Every week they do a good job of getting their teams prepared. I had played some Sun Belt teams but I had a little bit of an edge when you're at Alabama and Texas A&M. Not that I didn't respect this league, but I think it's a tough, tough league. We were the best non-AQ league out there last year. You've got to have everything in order to go out in this league and play. You've got to recruit good athletes and you've got to coach well.

 

On the off-season

We had a good spring. We probably had more changes in our program this year than in any time since I've arrived. From changes in our offense to a new defensive coordinator in John Thompson, who most of the people in the Sun Belt are familiar with. I got tired of trying to go against him and beat him so I got him on my side. I like that. John does a great job and he's a veteran. He did a great job at Arkansas State so he knows the league very well. We hired Brad Bedell from Arkansas State . We've made changes on offense, we've made changes on defense. We did a good job of absorbing a lot of that in the spring. We're having a pretty good summer. For us, I always allude to the process that we are going through. We get to be in the same conference two years in a row for the first time since I've been here. That's kind of exciting. We kind of know the colors and faces and the names that we're going to face. We got bowl eligible last year. We were one of the teams in our league, like many, that didn't quite get a game. I think are players are hungry to try to do a little better so that they can try to get one. For what we have gone through, it's unique to a lot of people. Appalachin State and Georgia Southern are certainly going through it now. Our first year going back we were neither fish nor fowl. We were in transition, we weren't in FCS, we weren't FBS, there was no hope for post season. That was unusual. The second year we went to the WAC, our stadium wasn't done, we really didn't have a division 1 profile. It was the first time for our guys to play 12 FBS games back to back. The year before we had played Tech and Wyoming but that year was like "woe, there's another one coming this week." They had to get use to the change of speed at that level, change of physicality at that level. Then last year we play in a new league and we get a little bit of a feel for that. We're proud of the fact that we got bowl eligible in our second year of FBS football but we need to keep growing and want to accomplish a little bit more. One of the good things for us is that we have our quarterback back in Tyler Jones. He played last year as a true freshman. Some night he kind of flew by the seat of his pants. He has what I call "IT." He just finds a way to get things done and move his team. I think he's a winner. He won a state championship in high school. That's nice having him back. That's somebody to build around on that side of the ball. We have David Mayo and Mike Orapko here, our two fine linebackers, probably as good in tandem as I've ever had. And then we have a corner in Craig Maeger who I think is a really good football player. We had a guy named Darryl Morris make it with the 49ers that played corner for us a couple of years ago. Craig is certainly in Darryl's category as a player. We're not without question marks as every team probably has a little bit this time of the year. Although Lafayette 's only question mark may be who they are going to put in the game because they've got a lot back. We've got a few on defense. We lost some guys in d-line and safety that have to step up and come through. Offensively we have a lot of returners. We have 91 career starts in the offensive line. It's been a long process to re-build our offensive line. We've got all of our tight ends back. We've got our running backs back. For the most part we're going to be a little bit new at receiver but I don't think we're going to drop off there. We weren't very good on offense last year so we have where to go but up but I think we will be better on that side of the football.

 

On becoming more physical

The only way to address it is two-fold. Number one, recruit. We're trying to upgrade our talent on our roster to more FBS level. And number two is to try to be as big and strong as we can get in the off-season program and take that into practices. When you are going to have the opportunity to have a physical practice, you are physical. Sometimes when you're learning new things on offense and defense, mental impedes physical a little bit. You kind of have to balance that as you make changes on both sides of the ball. But that would be the primary ways I think.

 

On new teams entering the Sun Belt

Georgia Southern has been good for a long time. Willie Fritz does a great job. Willie was at Sam Houston, we played him our first year. He's an old Pitt St Gorilla like me. There aren't many of those out there but we're proud. Willie will do a good job there. He's going to make some changes but they'll be good changes. Georgia Southern and Appalachian State and those guys will fit very well into this league. There's some familiarity with some of them, I know, with some of the teams. Appalachian has played Troy and some of the teams in this league. How quick they get to the level they want to be remains to be seen, how quick they make the transition. But they're not void of talent. They beat Florida the last game so they obviously have some players.

 

When I arrived at Texas State I thought we played in a six foot and under league. We didn't have the size to play FBS football. We needed more athletic ability, more speed. It takes time to continue to upgrade your roster to the level of player you need to play in this conference and to play FBS football on a week in week out basis.

 

On new DC John Thompson

John has been a coordinator at three SEC schools. He's been a head coach, he did a marvelous job at Arkansas State . I've gone against John. He gives you all kinds of problems to deal with. I think the thing that was most impressive to me is that he followed a fairly popular guy in Craig Navair, who was our defensive coordinator. It was really fun to watch him in spring practice because our players embraced him very quickly. John has some little magical touch about him that players like his scheme of defense, they really like the way he coaches them, they gravitate to him. For an old ball coach like me, it was fun to watch him coach his guys and to see them get better as spring practice wore on. We're not where we need to be after 15 practices. With John and the water under the bridge he's had, we've got a lot of confidence that things are going to get worked out and that they'll have a chance to be as good as they can be.

 

On being comfortable in the league.

I don't know if I want to say I'm comfortable, they're pretty good. I think it is comforting to kind of know where you are going and who you're up against. They're not just numbers and players on film now. You've actually been on the field. Our players were embarrassed with the way they played against Lafayette . We gave Arkansas State , we were 21-21 at the half. Tyler got hurt and we didn't play very well in the second half to give ourselves a chance. But just those games, I think rests a little anxiety of what's this team is going to be like. Not so much for me, I've coached against Arkansas State before and schools but maybe for our players I think it does. It gives them a little better feel for what they're in.

 

On the schemes in the Sun Belt

This is an imaginative league. I don't want this to sound like anybody is unsound. They're still sound fundamental football. But you go from the Troy pass offense to the more physical styles of Lafayette . Each week you're seeing a pretty wide cross section of offensive and defensive football. I think our coaches recognize a little bit that in order to put their players in competitive situations in the national level, the imagination needs to be there. They do a good job of it. I think that's one of the strengths of the coaching staffs in this league. They've looked at this and "said how can we put ourselves in a position to climb to that elite level. This is the best way for us to do it." For years it was kind of toss it back to the tailback and run downhill and be physical. They're broadening their scope a little bit but this league certainly is brawn.

 

 

 

LB Michael Orakpo

On the off-season

It's been going good. We've been preparing for game one. We've been having a strong off-season. Everybody has had strong attendance and everybody has just come to work.

 

On new DC John Thompson

We've got a new defensive coordinator. So it definitely took us awhile to get acclimated to his new defense but I definitely think that we're going to take a step in the right direction. We're going to improve from last year. We did pretty good on defense last year but I think we definitely have the opportunity to be better.

 

On being named pre-sason All-Conference

It's really nice to actually put your school out there with other schools and being able to be recognized on that list is a really good experience for me. But at the end of the day it really matters what you do during the season. That's really what I'm focused on right now. Getting my team into mode, competing in the Sun Belt, trying to win the Sun Belt Championship and seeing what happens in the post season because that is what really matters.

 

On goals

An individual goal would be to actually be considered for one of the awards, get some kind of postseason play, just getting myself in the position to try and play on the next level. That's probably a personal goal for me.

 

On improving personal stats

I don't discuss my personal stats because then it will be invalid. I've just got to keep them on my wall just for me. Getting better than what I did last year. My numbers last year have to be better. In every one of my stats, I need to get better than what I did last year. It's definitely on my wall.

 

 

 

LB David Mayo

On his knee injury

Before this, I've never had knee problems as far as hurting my knees. And the knee injuries I did have, they weren't very serious comparing to tearing ACLs. I tore my meniscus and I tore my MCL. It definitely was an eye opener. I could seriously ruin my football career. It was good that we had such good trainers to help us out with recovery. I just did everything they said. And I was back. Now my knee feels as strong as ever.

 

On what his motivation is returning from injury

Playing on Saturday. When you've got all of those fans out there and you make a good play, the competitiveness, the camaraderie with your teammates, there's no other feeling like it. It's just playing the game that we love.

 

On playing with Orkapo

It's awesome. Me and him playing next to each other, it's great because I know he's going to take care of his stuff, I know I'm going to take care of my stuff so we have each other's back. It goes that way with leadership roles. Keeping guys in line, making sure guys do the right thing. Working hard, coming out everyday with a purpose. Working with 'Rkap (Orkapo) is a great thing, we get a lot done together. I definitely believe that iron sharpens iron. When he's doing great, it makes me want to do better. He wants to do better. Whenever you have higher competition, you want to raise your level to that competition. I think we definitely make each other better.

[NorthoftheBorder]

Let's see:  We will go undefeated, win the conference, earn a berth the NC game and win the NC!!!  Standard stuff!!!  LOL!!!   :D

[BobcatDis]

Let's see:  We will go undefeated, win the conference, earn a berth the NC game and win the NC!!!  Standard stuff!!!  LOL!!!   :D

Haha yeah right.  We don't even have the DL to win conference.  Baby steps, Baby steps.  We are very fortunate to be this far along already into the FCS to FBS transition.