Alabama Week: Logan Thomas press conference transcript

LOGAN THOMAS

CHALLENGES BAMA D PRESENTS

“They give you a bunch of different looks. They’re a traditional 4-3 team, but they’re not afraid to switch in and out of even and odd fronts. That creates a little confusion for the offensive line, but it’s something that we’re prepared for. Then obviously defensively that’s their strong point, they understand how the game of football works. They know how offensive football is. You’ve just got to take your shots when you’ve got your chances. But the thing with them is you’ve just got to take what they give you. Put drives together.”

Logan Thomas

IS THERE AN ADVANTAGE WITH BAMA NOT SEEING THE OFFENSE

“I think it helps that they haven’t seen it. Coach Loeffler and Coach Saban have played against each other plenty of times. I think he kind of knows what to prepare for. It’s nice not to have everything out there; that they know everything of what we’re going to do. Kind of it’s like an element of surprise.”

IS THE OFFENSE FULLY OPERATIONAL

“I don’t think you ever reach a 10, a perfect 10. I would say we’re probably about an 8 and a half a 9. That’s just because we’re kind of still young in the offensive stages. As the next couple weeks come about I could see us moving further and further up. We’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better. We can be as good as we want to be. We’ve got the athletes, we’ve got the talent, and we’ve got the want to. Just a matter of if we do it.”

IS BEING THE UNDERDOG AN ADVANTAGE

“I don’t think you ever get an advantage either way by what people say. The advantage is made out on the football field. Obviously a little bit of the pressure is taken off of us. We’re the ones that are expected to get beat by 21, or whatever it is. So that makes it a little easier in that aspect. I think it’ll be even. We don’t expect any Alabama team to come out dead and come out expecting us to be under the radar at all. They’re going to come out giving 100% that’s just how they are.”

ON THE DIFFERENCE OF THE LACK OF PRESSURE

“For me it doesn’t change it at all. I put the pressure on myself to do well and get these guys prepared and ready to go. I’m one of the few that were… or me and DJ are the only two that traveled to play these guys the first time. We’ve been trying just to get an idea of what to expect. Just because nobody has ever seen the way Alabama prepares and how they come out. The type of team they are and how disciplined they are. Just try to talk to them and let them know what to expect because it can be shell shocked especially since how young we are on offense.”

TARGET NUMBERS TO BEAT ALABAMA

“To win any game you want to have one or less turnovers. That’s what we expect. Bama will beat you by many different ways but turnovers is definitely how they do it. They thrive off of great field position. That’s how their offense gets it done. We’ve got to take care of the football, we’ve got to complete passes when they’re there. Not have any drops. And no mental mistakes. If we do that we’ll be in the game the entire time and give ourselves a great shot to win it.”

IS THERE AN INTIMIDATION FACTOR

“I don’t see anything timid about these guys. I think these guys are just excited and ready to play. I think the youth is going to do enough for them as well. The first couple of plays they might be all over the place a little bit. But I think in general they’ll be just fine. Football players kind of have a different mentality than anybody else. We’ll be just fine in that aspect, once they get adjusted it’s just another game. Just got to go out there and execute.”

ON WHAT HE REMEMBERS FROM THE 2009 ALABAMA GAME

“I just remember that we looked at it as two historic programs. They were playing a lot of great football at the time. Alabama coming back trying to regain power. A lot of the talk was just about the athletes they have and the differences in the look of their players versus our players and how they played the game of football and how we play the game of football. They’re more of the ground and pound we’re more the spread it out and be able to run it a little bit type of guys. Talk in the locker room was no different than it really is for any game. You know you’re going up against a great opponent. Just got to go out there and prepare. I guess it was Tyrod that was… he was the one that was expecting to have a big season. It’s kind of the same but it’s extremely different as well.”

ON FOCUSING ON SUSTAINED DRIVES

“No we haven’t even talked about trying to sustain drives. What we want to do is just take what they give us. They don’t really allow you to have a big play down the field, and if they do you’ve got to make that play count. You’re only going to get so many of them a game. Especially against a team like Alabama you’ve got to make those plays. Their offense is going to do enough to get them a lead and get them a win. But our offense has got to do enough to do the same thing. We know our defense is going to do a great job. We’ve just got to do our job go out there and get it done. Like I said there’s no, getting things done like sustaining drives. We just want to take what they give us because that’s all they’re going to do. They’re going to make you have a long drive.”

IS THIS THE BIGGEST GAME OF HIS CAREER

“I would say it is. Just because it’s the start of my final season and we’re playing against the back to back champions. We’re playing against the #1 team in the country. It’s my first time doing that obviously. They’re the team to beat, they’re the team everybody knows about in the country. We’ve just got to go and represent and just got to play well. If we play smart, physical and don’t have a lot of mental mistakes we’ll be just fine. I’m excited to take the field.”

IMPORTANCE OF GETTING THE LEAD

“You definitely don’t want to play from behind against this team. They’ll just line it up and just run the ball right at you the entire time. They do it with the best of them. For us we’ve just got to come out and make sure we get what’s done. Not force anything. Don’t turn the ball over. If we don’t turn the ball over we’ll be just fine. Sometimes punts are ok and that’s just what we had to realize.”

WHAT WILL THE MEDIA SAY ON SUNDAY

“I can’t put words in y’alls mouth or whatever, but I think you’re going to see a different team than you’re used to seeing here at Virginia Tech. I think you’re going to be writing about a chance of us having a superior season.”

HAVE THE DROPS IMPROVED

“I think these guys have gotten a lot better. The drops this Saturday, I don’t think we had any drops in the scrimmage. They’re getting lined up the right way, they’re in the right splits. They’re doing things the way things need to be done paying attention to the small details because that’s what’s going to make us great.”

WHAT DID A&M DO AGAINST ALABAMA

“I checked out the A&M film. Like I just said, they took what the defense gave them. A lot of Texas A&M’s big plays were just Johnny Manziel making plays with his feet and finding an open receiver. Two of their last three losses were against scrambling quarterbacks in Johnny and Cam Newton. Those guys being able to make plays down the field when things break down. You’ve just got to stay within the framework and then when things do break down just use your God given ability to do what you can.”