Tuesday Press Conference Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Mel Tucker

Opening Statement
"We are already two practices into our UCLA game plan. It has been a few days since we played. What we are doing right now is really building on some of the positive things from Friday night and working to eliminate the negatives. We had a really physical practice today with the pads on. Guys really got after it and attitudes have been really good. The attention to detail, focus, and preparation is very similar to what is was last week. We have asked our guys to step it up and have reminded them what it takes to be a good football team. We reviewed that this morning and showed them some videos that pointed to that. I am very pleased so far in our preparation and our guys moving forward with this game plan."

On The Running Game And Stopping The Run Defensively
"The past several weeks we have been able to run the ball. Our run game has improved every week. Offensive line does a great job and our backs work really hard. They're very well coached and show a level of toughness. Our run defense has improved in certain areas. We still have to do a better job tackling. When we don't tackle well, we see explosive runs. We are in the right spot and are in a position to make those plays. I believe the name of the game is hitting and being physical. We are moving in the right direction."

On The Status of QB Tyler Lytle
"I started to smile a bit because I am always teasing Tyler saying, 'How long are you going to milk this deal?' He is working to get back. We have confidence in Blake (Stenstrom). We will just have to see as the week goes on with the treatment and rest and recovery. I like our quarterbacks. They are pretty sharp guys and it means a lot to them."

On UCLA's Run Game
"Their backs are very talented and they run hard. Their O-line is getting better. They are maturing and growing. They have had some continuity. They have really found their stride and have figured out what they can do well."

On Execution
"It is a game of inches. You can always point to, in any game, plays here and there that you think would have made a difference. How do you make those plays? How do you make one more play? It really goes back to the little things; the preparation, attention to detail, sense of urgency, how hard you play, and just the overall execution. The better the execution you get on a consistent basis the better the plays you are going to make. That is how you get those inches."

On If There Is Any Level Of Frustration After The Recent Penalty Troubles
"I try to avoid frustration. It is not productive or helpful. You just have to continue to find ways to get the message across and get those details executed. It can be something as simple as, 'I am rushing the quarterback and am at the level of the quarterback. I just have to mirror the throwing hand so he has to throw around my hand.' That makes a big difference. In tackling it could be taking two more steps before I go off the diving board and dive for a guy. It can be hand placement. Having hands inside and at pad level to get a block and sustain a block to not get a holding call. That is a lot of drill work and film study. You show them how they did it wrong and how to do it right. That is what we have to do, continue to find ways to get our guys better. I have seen improvement in a lot of areas. That is encouraging. There is a difference between being disappointed and being discouraged. When I don't see the execution at the level with which we need to have, I am disappointed but I am not discouraged."

On DT Jalen Sami
"Sami is first off all a great young man. He works really hard. He is low maintenance, meaning he is always where he is supposed to be and doing what he is supposed to do. He is a big guy. He is hard to move and has some really good initial quickness, balance, and body control. He is a young guy. He is active in the middle. He makes our defense better when he is in there and healthy. He can control the middle and command the double team which is important at his spot. He is a really good, young player that is going to get better. We are a better defense and football team when he is in there and is healthy and going good."

On QB Steven Montez Taking Hits
"There is a time and a place for everything. When you need to get down it is time to get down and you slide. You don't take that hit but sometimes you have to take the hit. I have a lot of confidence in Steven. He competes at a high level. He plays really hard. We ask him to run the ball and he runs it. When he needs to extend plays he tries to extend plays. You never want to see any one of the players get hurt. That is a scary moment."

On Trying To Make A Bowl Game
"Extra practices are huge. That is a huge part of the bowl experience. It is like getting another spring ball. That is really positive. There are a lot of positive things in be able to continue to play. Right now, our focus is on UCLA."

On TB Alex Fontenot
"He has been consistent throughout the season with the opportunities he has gotten. He runs very hard. He has good vision and gets yards after contact. He can catch the football and does well in pass protection. Going back to training camp, we were talking about the depth at the different positions. I said that I thought we had three or four running backs that can really play and can really get the job done. When he gets opportunities he gets it done. He is a dangerous player and can pretty much do it all. He is getting better. He has really good ball security and is a young player. I like it."

On CB K.J. Trujillo
"It is important, mentally, to not get overwhelmed by someone's talent. You have to use really good technique and have to compete. Belief precedes success. First you have to believe you can make the plays and get the job done. He has confidence and we have confidence in him that he can get it done. He pays attention and it is important to him. He works really hard. He understands that technique is important. He is able to take technique in practice and carry it over into the game. He continues to get better. I am happy with his development so far."

On Helping Players Get Better
"It is difficult to get guys better regardless of the situation. You look on the flip side of it and say you have a lot of success. Everyone is patting you on the back and telling you how good you are and how you have national championship and playoff implications and all of that. Players are on social media and are reading all that stuff. Then you bring them into practice and talk to them about getting better and how it is not good enough and that can be a challenge. The job of a coach is to teach, motivate, and develop players. You have to capture their minds any way you can to get the message across and get them to understand that they have to get better and improve. You are always learning. Look at Tom Brady. I don't know how long he has been playing but he seems to get better every year. He has had a lot of success. That is really what it is all about. In the game of football, you have to stay on top of it or it can get away from you. If you don't work to get better you can actually regress quickly and get passed up by other people. Everyone in America is trying got get better. Even when you think you are playing at a high level, at some point you are going to line up against someone who has as good or better talent than you. You better be ready for that. I understand that and our coaches understand that."

"It is important that we continue to work with our guys to get them better. We come out on "Bloody Tuesday" and put the pads on and get after it. We go hard and are efficient. The drill work is tough and we go at a fast pace and coach them hard. Our meetings are organized. There is no let up on our end. It then rolls straight into the out of season program and the four quarters program. It keeps going. We are here to change the culture and win football games. We have to be going all out every day as a coaching staff to get this program where we want it and to keep it there. There is no end to it. There is never going to be, 'we are good enough.' I don't care who the player is. I don't care if it is a first round pick or a freshman walk-on. It doesn't matter. If you aren't out there getting better then there is a problem. That is what it takes."

Colorado Players

Steven Montez, Sr., QB

On UCLA's Defense
"I see a defense that has a lot of talent on it. They do a lot of different things, mostly middle-closed coverages, but they will go middle-open sometimes and play some four-mini. They have talent, I think their corners and safeties are pretty good and I think up front, they're pretty decent as well."

On How He Felt After Undergoing Concussion Protocol
"I mean, we're talking about football. If after a big hit you don't feel a little bit woozy, then you're just Iron Man or something. I definitely felt good, I didn't feel like anything was too wrong. They cleared me and I passed my concussion protocol test, so I was eager to get right back in there as soon as possible. I was trying to get out of the tunnel and go get back out on the field and try to help my team get a win."

On Blake Stenstrom And Tyler Lytle
"Blake and Tyler have taken a ton of steps in the right direction. They're really good quarterbacks and they're going to be really good for us in the future. I'm excited for them and excited to get to watch them in the future, as well. As far as Blake's run, I think it was a 27-yard run by Blake, but I mean he was getting busy. I thought he was going to go to the house, but the backside corner got him. But I mean, he definitely showed some burst and showed some athleticism, so that's good for him. I'm excited for him."

On Running The Ball More
"To be honest, I love it, I love running the football and I loved it when I first showed up here. I kind of got into the mentality that I was trying to turn into a pocket-passing quarterback, and I think I'm just a lot more comfortable when I can go and finish a few runs. It kind of just gets me into the flow of the game. I was telling my roommate Josh [Goldin] the night before the game that I'm going to finish every single run and I'm not doing the slide anymore. When you slide, they take you five yards back from where you originally started your slide, so we don't pick up the yards that we felt like we needed to pick up. I just told my roommate, 'I'm going to finish every run that I get. I'm going to put my head down and I'm going to go get those yards and go get that yardage for us'."

On Finishing Runs And Not Sliding
"There's definitely those kinds of awkward moments when either someone's behind you and someone's in front of you and you kind of don't really know what to do. My way of thinking now, is when in doubt you need to finish the run, because when you let up and somebody hits you from the front or from behind, that's when people get hurt. So, I figure just play it safe and finish the run and get that extra yardage."

On If He Was Surprised It Took So Long To Implement More Designed Runs For Him This Year
"No, not with what we are trying to do. I think they're trying to get me to stay in the pocket and work the pocket, which I think I still did a decent job of it on Friday. But just to really sit in the pocket and when things break down - kind of like how Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, and I'm not comparing myself to Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, don't get me twisted, but I'm just staying in the pocket and trying not to take unnecessary hits. I think that was a big point of emphasis, you have to kind of look at yourself in the mirror and at some point, you have to go get those yards for your team because those yards are precious. You saw in the game on Friday, we lost that game by a couple inches and that stuff stings when you look back at it the next day. You don't want to have those what ifs, you know, so it's just better to play it safe and go pick it up."

On Head Coach Mel Tucker Saying The Team "Needs To Do The Simple Things Better"
"It's a little bit of both, both frustrating and encouraging. When you do the simple things right, it helps everybody on the team. It helps the offense, it helps the defense, and it helps the special teams. But when you're stressing out and trying to do a little bit too much, like trying to make a big play or trying to be the hero, that's when you make mistakes and that's when you make mental errors. It's encouraging because we are so close. Like I said, we're a couple of inches away from really having things part for us, but it's also frustrating because it's a little bit past midway through the season and it's a little late in the season. But, better now to fix it then never. Hopefully we'll do those simple things a lot better this week."

On The Pressure To Make A Bowl Game For His Final Season
"I put that type of pressure on myself every week because every single game that we play is important. The next game is the most important game and that's how we look at it. I've been putting that type of pressure on myself the whole season and I think the whole team does as well because everybody here wants to win. Every single person in this building or that works with this program, they want to win and we want to win, so we just need to do things a little bit better and hopefully we'll get the end result that we want."

On Laviska Shenault Taking Hits After The Catch
"He's the type of guy to take a few hits and then go pick up 15 more yards, as where if I were to take one, I'm probably going to go down. When Laviska gets the ball in his hands I want him to stay on his feet as long as he possibly can because there's a really big chance that he can break one for us and go to the house. So, whatever gives us the best chance of putting points up on the board is what I want us to do and what the coaching staff wants us to do. I think Laviska running tough is definitely better for the team, rather than him running safe."

On The Importance Of Making A Bowl Game
"It's extremely motivating, we haven't seen a bowl game in two years. The last one we went to was in 2016 to the Alamo Bowl where we played Oklahoma State. We want to play in a bowl game, we want to get to the postseason and just send the seniors out the way that we want to be sent out. Getting that last game, being able to do all the fun stuff wherever we go for the bowl game, and bowl games are just fun period. You get to be around your brothers in a hotel for a week and you get all that extra time to practice. The practice time is also very huge because you get an extra month and a half of extra practice. So, that'll set the team up for next year, even better than they were going to be if we don't get the bowl game. So, it's definitely a big motivating factor for us, we want to get that bowl game."

Jalen Sami, Fr., DT

On The Play Of Himself And The Defensive Line
"I feel like I have been doing pretty good, but I feel like I can do better. I can make more plays or can help make more plays for the defense. Ultimately, it is about stopping the run and trying to convert over to pass and put pressure on the quarterback and really just get some reliefs for our DBs (defensive backs) who are pretty young back there. We have to take care of them by stopping the run and getting pressure on the QB. I feel like I have been doing well but feel like we still need to improve as a defensive line. In general, we all need to improve, and we can get better. I feel pretty good."

On If He Prefers Playing Against The Run Or Pass
"I like a little bit of both but being at the nose (tackle) position is kind of hard. The run game is fun. When you're playing the run game there is a competitive side between us. It all starts in the trenches with the big men. If we do our job and our linebackers are flowing and making plays, it get us all happy and fired up to play the game that we love to play. Just having fun which is the one thing we want to do out there. Being a relentless defense, having fun, and flying around."

On If There is Improvement From The Defense
"Of course I believe we have. The coaches, the culture they are trying to bring and the things they are preaching to us is definitely a hard task that we have to accomplish but it is motivating for us to get better. There are really small things that we can fix. Mental errors, effort errors sometimes, but really just the little things that we can fix. If we do the little things better it makes our defense ten times better."

Colorado Head Coach Mel Tucker

Colorado Players

Steven Montez, Sr., QB

Jalen Sami, Fr., DT

Players Mentioned

Alex Fontenot

Tyler Lytle

Steven Montez

Jalen Sami

Blake Stenstrom

K.J. Trujillo

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