Q&A: DT Ziggy Hood, Missouri

What are your current height, weight and workout numbers?
Hood: Right now I am 298 at 6’3. As far as testing, we haven’t really tested (yet). We are still in the process, but after the Senior Bowl we will get that.

What does it mean to you to be invited to the Senior Bowl?
Hood: I the invite about one or two weeks before the Alamo Bowl. Hearing some information like that made my day. It basically made me feel good at all of the hard work I put in.

What did it mean to finish your career out on a positive note like that after an up and down season?
Hood: It is always a positive thing to finish the season with a victory and it didn’t matter if it was a BCS bowl or something else because it is always good to win the final game. For our senior class to go to four bowls and win the last one is just outstanding.

What is the highlight of your career?
Hood: Coming in with a 2005 class not knowing what we would accomplish...right now I would say going to four bowls and putting Missouri on the map.

Who is the best player you have faced in your career?
Hood: I would have to put Duke Robinson as a tough guy I went against.

Who is the best player on your team?
Hood: I would probably put Chase Coffman in there. he has been battling through some injuries but that Baylor game opened my eyes when he came through in the clutch and got us a victory when we needed one.

Where are you working out in preparation for the Senior Bowl and the combine?
Hood: CES in Atlanta, Georgia.

Who are some of the players you are training with?
Hood: Graham Harrell, Oklahoma's wide receiver (Juaquin) Iglesias and Trent Williams, and a couple other guys. I think the quarterback from Arizona (Willie Tuitama) is out here (too) just to name a few.

What are you working on most in training?
Hood: Right now I'm working on my speed staying low. In games I tend to play high when I get tired and it causes more problems when you are taller. I am trying to condition myself to play low and with better leverage.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Hood: Sleep as much as possible to rest. If not then to stay at the house and play games and just chill out for a while. Not too much. Just really laying around the house and getting rest.

What is your favorite video game and which system?
Hood: XBOX 360. I am playing Prince of Persia. I really like the Call of Duty series.

What is your favorite movie?
Hood: I like that Clint Eastwood Gran Torino but I also liked the Dark Knight.

What music is in your iPod right now?
Hood: I listen to mostly southern rap starting with Zero and Tra.

What are your future goals?
Hood: Hopefully if I am blessed to play as many years as I can in the big leagues and try to establish myself as a dominant player. If not I want to be a great backup and provide help and end with a good note. I want to try and head in the direction of coaching so I can bring a young player up in the world to get a better opportunity to play.

Photo Credit: Mizzou Media Relations

Q & A: Aaron Curry, Wake Forest

CFI: What does it mean to win the Butkus Award and beat out all those great linebackers?

CURRY: For me the most pleasure is not beating out the other great linebackers, it's knowing that Wake Forest is being recognized on a national level. Wake Forest has players that are just as good as any other players in the country.

CFI: What was it like to meet Mr. Butkus himself?

CURRY: It was a great experience to be a linebacker and to meet arguably the best linebacker to ever play the game, a guy that all linebackers model their game after was great. I was in shock when I first met him and the most amazing thing was he still had that fear factor about him. When you see him he gives you that feeling that he's violent and could rip my head off. He was just a great person to talk to…it was amazing to talk to him. We talked a little about everything…we talked about football, life off the field, his “I Play Right Organization” to help raise awareness of the dangers of steroids for high schoolers. He presented a lot of interesting stats that were mind boggling. He said that he liked my style on film, and I saw some clips of him on YouTube and we talked about how the game is different now and then.

CFI: Any doubt Butkus could have played today?

CURRY: He definitely could have played but maybe he would have seen more fines than he used to.

CFI: Would you have liked to play in a more no holds barred era?

CURRY: Oh yeah. The game would be a lot easier if it was a no holds barred game like it was back in the past. But I think a lot of us on defense have learned to adjust to when you can and can't hit the quarterback, whether a player is defenseless or not. The best thing is to go out there and fly around and hit people, if you get a flag then so be it.

CFI: You grew up a North Carolina fan, but you’re a Demon Deacon, who do you root for on the hardwood?

CURRY: I think at heart I would be Carolina blue but I would have on some Wake paraphernalia. I don't know who I would cheer for though, I would probably try not to cheer for any team just look at the game from the outside-in and be a spectator.

CFI: So you go with the heart?

CURRY: Right, that's the one thing you can't control. Just being around Carolina all my life it has really taken over my heart. I go to Wake and I have always liked the basketball players and they know I'm a Carolina basketball fan and they give me mess about it all the time, they're all always giving me junk about converting me into a Wake Forest basketball fan. Every time they see me they've always got something to say to me about being a Carolina fan.

CFI: What can you tell us about the Navy option…

CURRY: I can tell you that the option is very hard to stop. No matter what you do, if the offense is executing and the defense isn't executing then it's going to be a long game for the defense. We feel we have to execute as well as they execute, and make this game go down to the wire. We want to be just as disciplined as they are. Going over the offense, we're trying to get used to how they’re doing things and where they’re going with the ball and watching the game film from past games and the game from last year, and we're just picking up from all of our mistakes. We're just making sure everyone takes care of their responsibility.

Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy: Brian Westerholt of Sports on Film (Wake Fores University)

Q & A: Gary Pinkel, Missouri

CFI: The fact that the Washington job was out there and you decided to sign a long-term deal…are you a Tiger for life now?

PINKEL: Yeah, as long as they want me – you know in our business they determine how long they want you – so I'm excited about being here and continuing to build. You're always trying to get better and I'm excited about doing that.

CFI: Last season was the first time Missouri advanced to the Big 12 Championship game. What does it mean to do it two years in a row?

PINKEL: I think there is a degree of consistency that was our goal from the beginning. We had a five-point loss and a three-point loss during the season. When you’re playing at the highest level like a year ago we found ways to win those games and we were 11-1, and now we're 9-3. There were some disappointments, but there always are when you look back at games. Our goal was to get the division and to have a chance to compete for the Championship.

CFI: What is the status of Chase Coffman?

PINKEL: Well hopefully he is going to play…he played last week. He was probably about 80 percent. But I'll tell you, we put him in at critical situations and he made some great plays for our football team. He's just a great player. It's very unfortunate he's got this injury to deal with. When he's at 100 percent he's one of the best players in the nation. He is working through it, he is at practice, he's been practicing this week and doing good. He'll certainly play…we'll see how much, I don't know how much he'll play. But he will definitely play in the game.

CFI: Coming off a loss to your rival…does it make any harder to prepare for this game?

PINKEL: I talked to my team the other day, the season is over. We talked about it on Sunday – there are always things you learn. We just made a lot of mistakes in that game, really overcame most of them at the end and almost had a chance to win. I'm the head football coach here and was very disappointed with the way we played. That’s not taking anything away from Kansas, they deserved to win. The game is over, the season is over and we accomplished our goal. Now, let's focus on playing one of, if not the, best teams in the country.

CFI: What can you tell us about this Oklahoma team you’re about to face?

PINKEL: They're real good. They are a very good defensive football team. They're second in the nation in turnover margin and you add that to being good athletes, and that means they're not beating themselves, which is a huge advantage. Offensively they are probably as potent a team as I have ever seen. They're playing at a very high level. Playing a game like this, it's about the kicking game, it's about turnovers, protecting the ball and getting turnovers on a team who has not done that that much. It's about our defense, but it's also about our offense. If you look at the one game that they lost to Texas, a great Texas team that is one of the top teams in the nation, what they did was every time Oklahoma scored Texas matched it the entire game. They eventually took the lead in the fourth quarter so this isn't just about the defense where the defense has to contain these guys. There hasn’t been a defense that’s been able to stop these guys…but it is about trying to limit big plays and getting in long fields. The other side of that is your offense. You're going to have to play well against them, point-wise. You have to do that if you want to stay in the game.

CFI: Have you ever seen a team so explosive and at the same time sound in protecting the football?

PINKEL: I think you model that a little bit. That is how I think of our numbers, interception-wise, turnover wise we are similar to them last year. The last couple times we have played them, last year we played them in the regular season and were leading in the fourth quarter then we made some turnovers. One of them was a coaching error, sending in the wrong play. It was 14-14 last year in the championship game, then we turned the ball over in the third quarter. They say they caused them, which they did…but my standpoint is you got to protect the football. Their offense is very explosive. Like everyone in our league, they run a version of the spread and they do a great job tempo-wise, so it's a challenge.

Photo Credit: Mizzou Media Relations

Q & A: John Parker Wilson, Alabama

CFI: Take us through the overtime - the LSU interception, the pass to Julio Jones, 24 yards to his back shoulder and the game winning score…

WILSON: They had a long third down and Rashad (Johnson) made a tremendous play in the back of the end zone to pick off a ball. It would’ve been tough for anyone to make, but he set his feet and dragged them in the end zone. We get the ball, coach (Nick) Saban said “let's take a shot” so we were going to try to throw it deep to Julio in the end zone, but their defender was playing him great, he had him covered up. We couldn't go over the top so we had to back shoulder him…(I threw a) a good ball but he made a tremendous catch to stay in bounds and get a couple yards after that. The quarterback sneak had worked for us earlier in the game, that’s how we scored our first touchdown, and just we were able to follow Antwan Caldwell right in the end zone, no question about it, to win the game.

CFI: Tell us about Julio Jones…how huge has he been this season?

WILSON: He has been tremendous. He is a great guy. He came in from day one as a highly recruited guy out of high school. He came in the first day and wanted to earn his spot, earn his playing time. He has done that, he has been a great leader on our team. The way he comes out and practices motivates everyone else on the team. He gets everyone else going. He is a great leader for the wide outs and really, for our whole team.

CFI: What was tougher to bounce back from - the missed field goal at the end of regulation or when your 35-yard touchdown run was negated?

WILSON: Earlier in the game we didn't play well at all. I think we played our worst half of the season in the first half and the defense kept us in it. We were lucky to be tied going into halftime as poorly as we played on offense. The harder play to come back from was the touchdown run that got called back because it put us out of field goal range, which meant we had to get back into it. The field goal kick that was blocked, you’re ready for the game to be over, but kind of expect something like that to happen so we were able to recover pretty well and win it in overtime.

CFI: You guys are playing for an SEC Title and a potential national title…but were you guys playing for Coach Saban on Saturday?

WILSON: It was big for us, it was big for him. He didn't make a big deal out of it all week, but we knew how much of a big deal it was just because he was going back to his old place where he won a national championship, had a lot of good memories there. Now we wanted to make some good memories for him here.

CFI: Tell us about the unsportsmanlike penalty. How many phone calls did you receive from LSU fans?

WILSON: You know I got quite a few. They get a hold of it and most people around the Southeast know it now, so I had to take care of that but it's a part of it. I guess it's something they like doing.

CFI: Tell us about being one of the Davey O'Brien Award Semifinalists.

WILSON: It's a huge honor to be recognized with some of the guys that are in that group and for an award that is so prestigious and well-known, everybody knows what it’s about. It's just an honor for me to have my name in that group and to be mentioned with those guys.

Photo Credit: SEC Sports Media

A CFI EXCLUSIVE: Q/A WITH BRIAN KELLY

Brian Kelly is in his first year as head coach at the University of Cincinnati. He enters this week with a record of 140-51-2, including a MAC Championship last season at Central Michigan, as well as back-to-back National Titles at Division II Grand Valley State in 2002 and 2003.

CFI: Hey Coach. So two games in you’re 2-0 with a pair of impressive victories. Would it be safe to assume you couldn’t be happier?
COACH KELLY: (Laughs) You’re talking to a football coach. We’re happy for about 20 minutes after the game and then we’re back to reality.
CFI: With new schemes being implemented would you say you are ahead of schedule in terms of progress?
COACH KELLY: I’d say that we’re doing some things that I didn’t think we could do this early in the year offensively. Defensively, I expected us to play very well. I think what’s surprised me defensively is how well we’ve taken the ball away.
CFI: How about the negative plays? Five plays and 16 tackles for a loss with 15 different players involved on those negative plays.

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