The University of Akron Athletics
Ianello MAC Media Teleconference Quotes and Audio
October 25 | Football
Opening Statement:
"Western Michigan outplayed us on Saturday and did a very nice
job executing, but most of all had an impressive margin of victory
against us. We are looking forward to going to Temple to play them
this week. We get to play at a great venue at Lincoln Financial
Field. Temple is a program we admire, respect, and hope to emulate
as we build our program here at The University of Akron. We know
it's going to be a challenge and a great opportunity and we have a
lot of things we know we can improve on on the field this
week."
Regarding preparing for Temple:
"They are a very impressive team physically. When they lined up in
pregame warm-ups against Penn State you were trying to figure out
which team was Temple and who was Penn State. They do a great job
creating matchups on offense. They are very skilled at the tailback
position with Matt Brown and Bernard Pierce. They have really
impressive tight ends with Morkeith Brown and Evan Rodriguez.
Michael Campbell is a very talented receiver, and I have also been
impressed with quarterback Mike Gerardi and how he's managed the
team since he went in the game against Bowling Green. On defense
they have a lot of guys up front that can create issues off the
edge with Adrian Robinson Jr. and Muhammad Wilkerson. They are a
veteran team with five seniors on their defense and are very well
coached."
Regarding how he will approach the team this
week:
"I didn't meet with the team on Sunday. Today will be the first
opportunity to meet with the team since Saturday night's loss. I
expressed disappointment with our performance, and I hope they are
disappointed. I do feel we are a better team than what we have
resembled the past couple weeks, but we have no evidence of that
and we still have a lot of things to play for, and a lot of
positives we can get out of this season and that will be how I
approach the team today."
Regarding how to defend Temple's running game:
"It comes down to tackling, we have to do a great job of getting
off of blocks. They are going to get their yards because Temple has
two great running backs. We have to eliminate the big runs and be
in the right place to make the tackles when the opportunity comes
our way."
Regarding areas of improvement for his team:
"There are some things we need to work on with this team. We have a
lot of work to do, and if you're a competitor then you haven't
liked what we have done the last few weeks. The only people that
can change it are us and nobody is going to feel sorry for us or
hand us anything, so we need to go out and improve and get ready to
play on Saturday."
Regarding defending Temple:
"Brian Wagner and Mike Thomas have both been outstanding players
for us this season. Brain is leading the team in tackles, and if
both of them could come up big for us that would be great, but we
have to do a good job with the line of scrimmage, because it's
going to be an important part of this football game and we also
have to do a good job with our defensive front, because their
offense is very solid."
Regarding the team's quarterback situation:
"Matt Rodgers is out of this game with a concussion, so our backup
is Dylan Potts, and Patrick Nicely will be the starter for
Saturday's game."
