Comments today from members of the WKU defense about facing UAB on Saturday.

Defensive coordinator Nick Holt

    UAB: “Offensively they’re very productive, got good skill, some really fast receivers, two, three good running backs, quarterbacks are solid players. When those guys are clicking, they’re good on offense. They’ve had some good outings against some people.

“We’ll have our hands full again, we just gotta do a good job of keeping everything in front of us and not giving up big plays this week.”

   Similar to any other opponent? “Maybe Middle Tennessee, maybe similar to Middle Tennessee. They’ll do a little more two right end stuff and they throw the ball a little down the field a little bit more.

“Obviously they’re not like Navy, but they’re more conventional with some other people that we’ve played.”

    Going back away from the option: “Well, you know we get to work against our offense every day, so that always keeps us abreast of what we see in our conference. I don’t think that’s gonna be an issue, if anything, it makes us even a better football team in the long run playing against the option because you have to be so sound fundamentally, getting off blocks and things like that, not that we did that all the time, but it forces you to be a good football player against option football.

“So hopefully it transcends that here this Saturday.”

    Stopping two quarterbacks: “With our defense, every week has been a learning opportunity. We got a lot of grit on defense. Our guys battled and we went into that last week’s game and we battled tooth-and-nail and we out-fought those guys in the long run at a tough place against a very good opponent.

“Our guys, every game they’re getting a little bit better, and what I like about ‘em is they’re resilient and they keep coming back.”

    UAB’s loss to FIU: “They create a lot of big plays. What happened with them last week is they turned the ball over and they had some penalties. They had a couple long plays called back and had some bad luck and the other team capitalized on some balls.

“It’s just one of those days where they turned it over and the game kind of got out hand. But they were right in it until the fourth quarter, quite honestly. They’ll come up here and play really well and we gotta be on our game. For us, especially on defense, we can’t take anybody lightly. We gotta battle tooth-and-nail. Look at every game. We’ve had a chance to win every game, but every game’s been tough.”

    MTSU’s two tight end sets: “Well you gotta play the run a little bit more, and they do a lot of good play-action and they do have some option out of it. They do some unique stuff out of all their two tight end. Then you can’t lose your eyes because they lose use their tight ends in the passing game and they’re both really good athletes.

“You gotta prepare to stop the run, but they got some good play-action stuff – and they run some of the option, the read-power off that and they’re good at it. And their backs are good enough to hurt yah.”

Defensive tackle Bryan Shorter

    UAB: “They’re a pretty balanced team, like 50-50 run and pass. We gotta prepare like we always do. Coach is doing a good job of doing that.”

    Home game: “It gives us a boost. Being at home, everybody loves being at home. We just gotta protect our home field.”

    Transitioning away from the option: “Like I said, coach is doing a good job of preparing us, so it won’t be that hard.”

Linebacker Nick Holt

    Home game: “It’s huge. We get a little crowd noise, it’s harder for the offense to get their calls in, and it just has such a better feel when you’re playing in front of your own crowd and home town and all your friends and family, it gets you more fired up. You really wanna protect your home.’

    UAB two tight end sets: “It affects (the gameplan) because their tight ends are very athletic players. They can run and catch the ball down the field, but also stay in and block. So they’re gonna definitely be a challenge.

“They like their tight ends a lot, they like to do a lot of different stuff with them, so it’s gonna be a good matchup.”

 UAB compared to MTSU: “After seeing Middle’s quarterback, very athletic obviously, this guy is very similar. And they got a very similar backfield with two very good running backs. Middle definitely prepared us for UAB, but UAB is a different team. They’re very good, they got a lot of great skill players.”

    Big plays: “From a DB standpoint, we gotta stay on top of the deep ball. But really it starts up front with our D-line. Our D-line’s gotta get in this quarterback’s face quickly and make him make ill-advised throws or get some sacks and cause some fumbles.

“We gotta get in his face early and not let him sit back there because their receivers are – they’re track guys. They’re really fast. If we let him sit back there too long, there’s a better chance of them getting behind us.”

    UAB possibility of two QBs: “Teams respond differently to different quarterbacks. They could have a total different demeanor, tempo with a different quarterback, so that’s gonna be interesting to see how that plays out. Both of ‘em are good players, so we’ll see how that plays out.”

    Week of practice: “I think they’ve been going really well. They do a lot of stuff our offense does, so that’s really helped, where a team like Navy, that’s completely different. At least our scout teams guys, they know what plays to run, they know what to do, so it kind of gets us playing faster.

“We’ve had a good week of preparations.”

Safety Marcus Ward

    Playing UAB: “It’s good. I get to play against some guys I played in high school, like their running back Jordan Howard, I played against him my senior year, he’s a good back. I get to relive some of those memories, but it’s gonna be good. A good test for us.”

    UAB offense: “They’re good. They went up to the wire with Mississippi State, played them really well. Last week they kinda got tripped up against FIU, but they’re a good team, they got good skill players, so we really gotta be on our Ps and Qs this week.”

    Turnover Wednesday: “Today we just kinda focused on getting interceptions, being in the right spot for those. Also, when we go tackle, to make sure everybody gets a strip, gets a strip attempt so we can get the ball out and make ‘em fumble.

“When we do ‘Turnover Wednesday,’ that’s really our goal. We just try to come out here and get as many turnovers as we can.”

    UAB’s two tight end set: “It kind of makes me play in the box a little bit more, playing as kind of a linebacker. That just makes me be a little more up with linemen coming in my face, and tight ends and stuff.

“I really got keep my eyes right this week and keep them on my assignment.”