The Western Kentucky football team held its final practice Monday before Wednesday’s Bahamas Bowl. Comments here from junior defensive end Gavin Rocker and sophomore wide receiver Taywan Taylor.

Gavin Rocker

    The CMU offense: “They’re a running team, we know that. We know that they’re a hard-nosed team. We know that they’re pretty big up front, also, but for us we just got to come focused and enjoy the bowl game and everything but still not forget what we came here to do.”

    Defense: “I think we’re focused. I think we’ve built up a great amount of momentum over these past four wins, and we just want to continue to build on that.”

    Thomas A. Robinson Stadium: “The stadium’s actually pretty nice, the track and everything and then, plus, it’s the Bahamas, so you really can’t ask for much more.

    “It was really nice online. Then just to see it here, to see it first hand is surreal. Same thing with the hotel. It looks great on the postcards, but actually walking into that lobby was awesome.”

    Defensive keys: “The keys for us is to just play football and stay focused. I think that’s really the main thing when it comes to bowl games. You’re in a new town or a new city or whatever, so we just gotta make sure we stay focused and understand it’s a game.”

    Team ready to go? “Yeah, we’ve had a couple days here, so everyone has got all their little jitters out. Now it’s time to play football.”

Taywan Taylor

    CMU defense: “They’re going to bring a lot to the table this game. We got to watch to film on them a little bit yesterday and they kind of do a lot of different things on defense. They like to switch it up, like to confuse us a lot, but I think we got a good gameplan. I think we’ll go in ready for ‘em.”

    Thomas A. Robinson Stadium: “I love it. It’s beautiful. It’s a great environment for us. It’s a great place. It’s a grass field. It brings back old memories from high school, so it’s going to be fun playing on it.

    “It’s everything that we expected. From seeing the pictures, we knew it was going to be lovely. Actually seeing it in person it’s even better. It just makes us more excited and makes us more ready.”

    Offense ready to go? “Oh yeah. We’re locked-in. We’ve been having a great time, enjoying ourselves down here. Now it’s time to get focused, it’s getting close to game time, so we’re about to get ready for business.”

    Atmosphere for the game: “I’m hearing it’s supposed to be sold out. We’re hoping it’s going to be a good crowd. I got a chance to talk to some people inside the resort and they said they’re going to come out and watch us play and they’re excited to see us.

    “They’re excited to see WKU football and they’re excited for the game. I’m ready to go.”