North Carolina State University Athletics
Coach Amato Quotes From Sept. 18 Press Conference
9/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
On defense:
We played with reckless abandon Saturday night. We talked to them on
Friday
about throwing their bodies around in there. We reinforced that Saturday
before they went out. What helped our defense most of the night was the
fact
that our kickoff coverage was much better.
On kicking game:
We had good kicks. Austin did a good job of getting the ball where it
was
supposed to be.
On the conference:
The conference is good. There are good coaches in this
conference. There
are talented players on all the teams in this conference.
On Rivers and protection:
He's going to get a sense of what it is like to have 4, 5, 6 and
even 7
very fast people coming at him. The people that will protect him will
also
face this challenge. We've definitely got to step up in the line to make
sure we give him the protection he needs so he can concentrate on
getting
the ball to the people downfield. He does a really good job of knowing
when
he's going to take a hit and still delivering the ball to right guy.
Hopefully, we can continue that the rest of the season, and I think we
can
because, even though he's 18, he's a strong 18 with an incredibly strong
will. He studies the game. He tries to find a way to put himself over
the
hump.
On Georgia Tech:
Georgia Tech is doing things well right now. They are sending
more people
to the quarterback than they have in the past. I think the big reason
for
that is the fact that they have an experienced defense, namely eight
starters returning from last season. They are well-coached. George
O'Leary does a great job.
On Koren Robinson:
He's doing more of things now that we ask him to do than in the
past. He's
got game-breaking ability and one of the things that helps him in that
area
is that he is a big receiver. He can use his speed to just run by
people.
On team mindset:
Success breeds success. We are 3-0 and the players feel good
about
themselves. If we can keep them feeling good and keep them concentrating
on
the task at hand, we'll be ok. We've still got to cut down on our
mistakes
on the defensive side of the ball.
On importance of a nationally televised game:
This type of game is the best selling point for our program
because if you
want to watch a game on Thursday night, you've got to watch NC State.
It's a
good forum for us to express the positive aspects of this program. The
best
thing we can do, from a recruiting standpoint, is go out Thursday night
and
win.
On Getting Nate Goodson back
Nate has been a tackle for us in the past. In the type of defense
that we
play here, you need those 'edge' type players. He is as probably as
quick a
guy as there is coming off the ball. He looks like the 'edge' players
that I
coached. We wanted another guy out there on the end, because we feel as
though we have enough people at the tackle position. I just wanted to
take a
look at him there, because he just adds more quickness for us at that
position and he is a pretty good athlete. Sometimes he gets a little too
excited and draws attention to himself instead of the team, but overall
I'm
just glad to have him back.
With Jamison coming along and having a good game Saturday and Corey Smith coming along with some good improvement over the summer, we feel like those three guys along with George Anderson are pretty solid. The key is being able to depend on those four guys without having to use any freshmen.
