Q&A: D Front Three - cusa-fans.com

[mr. pony]

Q&A With SMU’s Defensive Front Three
Hunt, Frazier and Taylor Could Hold Key Against Houston On Saturday
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://cusa-fans.com/

DALLAS – End Margus Hunt, nose tackle Marquis Frazier and end Taylor Thompson, as well as defensive coordinator Tom Mason, took questions after SMU’s practice on Thursday. The Mustangs (4-3, 3-0) face Houston (3-3, 2-1) on Saturday. A win puts SMU solidly in the West Division driver’s seat. The Mustangs are coming off a 28-21 loss at Navy. Houston lost last week to Rice, 34-31.

(Hunt and Frazier were interviewed together; Thompson and Mason, separately, a short time later.)

*Important stuff first: Can the Texas Rangers close out the Yankees this weekend?
Frazier: “I feel like they should. I really haven’t been watching them that much. Sorry, Rangers. But I’m supportive of the Rangers, even though I’m not from Texas. I support them 110%. I feel like they can beat the Yankees.”

*Six games or seven?
Frazier: “Game 7, because I feel like the Yankees, they’ve got the ‘Super Team.’ The Rangers, they can do it. It’s just, I feel the Yankees will come back and try to make it a show at the end.”

*Follow the Rangers, Margus?
Hunt: “A little bit. I haven’t seen a game yet.”

*Will they wrap it up?
Hunt: “They’ve been good. I don’t know the history that much. I’ve just heard they haven’t had that much success in the franchise. I’ve been keeping up on it. I’m guessing they’re going to take it right now, in the sixth one. If not, then definitely in the seventh one.”

*Follow the Rangers, Taylor?
“No.”

*No prediction?
“I couldn’t tell you.”

*How about you, Coach?
Mason: (laughing) “No, I’ll leave that one alone.”

*The offensive line has a nickname: The Goon Squad. Does the d-line have a name?
Thompson: “Not really. Rushmen? I don’t know.”


Margus Hunt

*What impresses you about Houston true freshman quarterback David Piland?
Frazier: “He’s a freshman and he’s getting the job done. He’s accurate. I don’t know what his quarterback rating is, but our coach said it was pretty high. Being a freshman and your quarterback rating being pretty high, I think that’s impressive.”

Hunt: “They definitely made the offense easier for him than it was, probably, for [injured starter] Keenum, but he gets the job done and we need to just get on him.”

Thompson: “He throws kind of side-arm and he’s a freshman, so I think if we can get to him, we can rattle him up and get in his head.”

Mason: “I think he’s a kid that’s getting better every week. They’ve got a really good one down the road. Obviously, he hasn’t had the experience that he needs, but I think he’ll be as good as Keenum down the road. He’s an impressive young quarterback.”

*What’s the key to slowing down Houston’s offense? They lead the league in scoring.
Hunt: “We had the challenge last week [at Navy] to play assignment football. We have to do our assignments well and we have to execute them. I’m pretty sure if we do all those little things, we can slow them down, definitely.”

What’s the team’s mindset now, getting back into conference play?
Frazier: “The feeling’s alright. We just came off that loss, but everybody’s excited to come back into conference play. Most everybody’s offense is the spread offense in Conference USA so everybody’s excited about that. All we’ve got to do is just play our assignment and get to the football.”

Thompson: “I think we’re pretty positive and we know that we can go and win out, win the rest of the conference games and have a really good shot at getting the conference title, if we just take every game one game at a time.”



How about the defensive front’s performance to this point?
Frazier: “I feel like our front seven is doing pretty well. Our coach actually told us where we’re ranked. I think we’re ranked 57th in the nation. That’s not our goal but it’s close to it. Hopefully, as we keep working, I know we’re going to get better and get to our goal, where we want to be at.”

Hunt: “Coach Mason gives us a lot of freedom to, like, mess around, to take ownership of the defense. So whenever we have a team period, we try to innovate something new, start reading off of guys. We’re getting a lot of freedom to let it loose. Everyone knows the schemes and we’ve got each other’s back.”

Thompson: “I feel really confident how we’re all playing. We’ve learned the technique really good and have had time to progress individually in this defense. I would trust them with anyone that we play. I have confidence that we can go out and play with anyone in the country. … The chemistry is really good between us.”

Mason: “I think they’re doing really well. That’s a good a group as you’re going to have at this level. They’re playing hard, they’re playing strong. Hunt’s really come on. The Navy game was a big test for him, because you’ve got to play with toughness and he played tough the whole game. I was very impressed with him. Taylor Thompson I think is one of the top defensive linemen in the country. Marquis Frazier’s not a real nose tackle but he’s playing out of necessity, and you’ve got to respect a kid that will change positions on just what’s going to benefit the team.”

[ALEX LIFESON]

Good stuff Rick, thanks!

[larskjenstad]

Agreed, love interviews where questions are not just about the game. Reallly good job on the questions...keep up the good work.