AUDIO: Petrino, players Monday press conference
UA head coach Bobby Petrino addressed the media for the third day in a row today, chatting with us here at the Broyles Complex about the Western Illinois game and the upcoming game in Little Rock against Louisiana-Monroe.
Some of the same points were hit on from Sunday’s teleconference. The coaching staff have been watching video of ULM’s 34-0 loss to Auburn on Saturday. ULM’s quarterback sticks out, as well as an experienced linebacker corps. Two cornerbacks and a safety are new for ULM, Petrino said.
The head coach has also been watching tape of Louisiana-Monroe’s upset of Alabama last year in Tuscaloosa, Ala. in preparation of this year’s Little Rock opener. Alabama jumped up early on the Red Hawks last year, 14-7, but then let the team back in the game with defensive stops. ULM scored 14 unanswered points to win 21-14.
“That’s what you worry about the other night [against Western Illinois], too — that you don’t get on them and take care of your business,” Petrino said. “Then they get the energy and the momentum shifts.”
Petrino says Arkansas’ running game, which produced just 76 yards last week, needs to improve, especially with the return of Michael Smith as starter from a one-game suspension. Senior quarterback Casey Dick, who threw for a career-high 318 yards Saturday, and sophomore tight end D.J. Williams both addressed the running game issue today.
Both are happy to get Smith back. Arkansas true freshmen at running back had some problems with protection, giving up two sacks, Petrino recalled Sunday, against WIU.
“It’ll provide a lot of experience back there for us,” Dick said. “… It’d just be nice to get all that experience back there and everybody be on the same page.”
He also believes the true freshmen and all the new starters will be more comfortable Saturday with one game under their belt.
“I think they’ll be more comfortable,” Petrino said. “There was no doubt there was some anxiety there [against WIU]. Some of them trying to go 110 mph, not really controlling their speed and their movements. … That happens a lot when you have that much anxiety. Your balance is off, you fall down, a lot of things happen.”
Without further delay, here are a couple raw audio files from today’s presser.
Head coach Bobby Petrino:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Senior QB Casey Dick:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.