Oklahoma State University Athletics
Football Coach/Player Media Luncheon Comments
April 08, 2003 | Cowboy Football
"Tony Lindsay's career here at Oklahoma State is over with for right now. Tony, the doctors and I have found a torn muscle back in his shoulder. It showed up in an x-ray when he had a specialist look at it. Tony has been in quite a bit of pain throughout the season. When he made a tackle in the scrimmage, we did an MRI, and it didn't show it. We talked about it, and it has been very painful for him. We talked yesterday. We talked this morning. He is reluctant, but he is going to get that shoulder operated on. In doing so, his football career here is over."
On how he thinks the team will react "I have not talked to the team yet. I need to explain to him the circumstances, that Tony has really tried to give his best. He took medication to try to ease some of the pain, but he got to the point where his emotion and his mental state were too much for him. I just have to explain that to the football team."
On Tony Lindsay trying to play "When it happened, we sat down and talked about it, but the initial MRI did not show those results. Even today, he said that he wanted to try to play, but after he talked with his folks, they thought that immediate surgery would try to alleviate some of the pain that he was having. That was hard for him because he said that he wanted to try to continue to help the team, but he did not feel like he was helping the team in the state that he was in physically."
On the backup quarterbacks "It's an interesting phenomena, you start out with five (quarterbacks) on scholarship and end up with one. Obviously, Ryan Bivin, who has been in the program for a while, will be the backup. Then Mike Cox and Andre McGill will be the backups. Experience wise, Aso is the only one at this point in time because he has played in some ball games."
On Aso Pogi "He has not played much. I think the thing that Aso has going for him is that he is a student of the game. As long as he relaxes and plays within the scheme itself and lets the players around him do most of the work, he'll be fine."
On whether Tony Lindsay's mental state was affected by pain or not helping the team "It was a combination of both. There were certain throws that he felt like he couldn't make. Obviously, running the ball and getting hit becomes a concern. A combination of all those things brought him to that conclusion. When they found this particular tear, it just solidified that he needs to get it taken care of."
On whether the shoulder injury tells him why Tony Lindsay was struggling "I think so. He had pain in the first place. His practice time was really cut in half. He never threw on Mondays and he never threw on Thursdays. He threw a little bit on Wednesdays. He was not as sharp as he would like to be. Probably his best game was a little bit of that first ball game, but he didn't make many throws in that ball game. It just continued to get a little bit worse and worse. When they got this information over the weekend, he talked with his folks, his folks talked with me, and his folks talked to our doctors. He will have surgery probably this week. That's the plan, to have immediate surgery."
On Aso Pogi's playing time so far this season "The positive side is that he has played in the last three ball games. This should not be situation that he walks into. He played quite a bit last ball game and he played quite a bit against Southern Miss. It's just a matter of him relaxing and knowing that he doesn't have to do it all by himself."
On whether he will change the offense "I don't think that we have to change at all at this point. I think that Aso is very much a good student. I think we need to sit back and say here's what we want you to do. We had given both those guys the book and I think the problem was that both of those guys, even Aso at times, couldn't handle the book. I think for him to be effective, we may have to limit some of the things that we do. We will limit some of the decisions that he has to make."
On Tony Lindsay's career "You always want to look back at the bright spots in a young man's career. Obviously, Tony wants us to focus on trying to right the ship and get this program turned around and try to be productive with both our offense and our defense. That was his posture when we talked. He wants to help and he will continue to be here.
"Here is a guy who really wanted to have a sensational senior year. You could say 'why me?', but he hasn't taken that particular attitude at all. On the sidelines last week, every time there was a positive play when he was out, he was clapping for it. He's a guy that wants to see us be successful, but he can't be a part of that process this year."
On the loss of Lindsay hurting him personally "I'm a Tony Lindsay fan, obviously, from recruiting him and the things that he brought to this program and the things that we thought he could bring. You don't like to see anyone's career end in this kind of fashion, but I think his career will go on. After he gets healed, I think that he will try to participate in other things. This decision has been hard on Tony and hard on his family. Through the course of these five ball games, you could almost see it coming. Now we have to move forward."
On Aso Pogi's performance against Missouri "Not bad. He got into a mold and we had some time delays because of him checking. I thought he made good decisions. I thought he threw the ball well. His overall performance wasn't that bad. We just have to settle him down and tell him the things that we want him to do and what he needs to look for. As much as Aso has been involved in our film study, I think that he will do a good job."
On Pogi looking more relaxed in the fourth quarter of the Missouri game "I agree with you. He's just got to calm down, and I think that he will be fine."
On Iowa State "I honestly think that this is the best team that I have seen. They have a number of seniors up front, both offensively and defensively. They have a number of outstanding players, not just their quarterback (Sage Rosenfels), but also J.J. Moses. Their offense is one of the most productive that we are going to face at this point in the season. Their quarterback is a guy that is very, very good. He makes good decisions. He knows who to go to. In their last ball game with Nebraska, they were in the ball game until Nebraska started forcing them to make turnovers. They are a solid football team."
On the secondary's performance against Missouri "We felt that moving Chris Massey to corner was a good one. Robbie Gillem did a good job at free safety. He did a good job. I think he had nine tackles. Both guys may have played there best ball games. Those are the only two moves that we have made back in the secondary, and we think it's going to help us. Only time will tell, but I think that Chris will continue to get better, especially with man coverage. Right now, that's the direction that we are going to go and we think that those two moves will help us back there in the secondary."
On Iowa State's passing game challenging the secondary "They will be. It's up to us as a defensive coaching staff to help those kids. We're going to have to play a little bit of a combination of man coverage and I still think that we are going to have to mix it up. They had a couple of receivers run right past Nebraska and their quarterback found them. He did a good job."
On recovering from the loss to Missouri "I can sit here and dwell on the negatives and it's not going to get us anyplace at all. I'd rather dwell on the positives and smile and say here is what we have to do. That's going to be my approach with this football team. We have to dwell on the things that are going to bring us victory. You can talk about victory, but if you don't do the things that will get you the victory, you're never going to get there. That's how I have to approach it. Here's the things that we have to do on both sides of the ball to bring us victory and for us to get better."
On Dwayne Levels' performance "It was his best game to date. He was all over the field. I think he had something like 18 tackles. We always said that Dwayne was going to be a heck of a player. Last year, he was the spot player on defense. This year, he's the general of the defense, the guy that makes all the calls. For a junior, he has shown great leadership out there."
On telling Aso Pogi about his new role "He said that he's fine and that he can handle it. I called him after Tony and I talked, and I explained to him exactly what was going on and the role that he is going to be cast in. Aso has got a lot of lot of confidence and that's what you need to be a good quarterback."
On Aso Pogi's strengths "He can throw the ball down the field a lot more. He's big enough where he can run the option. He likes to run people over; we have to get him to run out of bounds. He's pretty sharp. As a staff and as a team, we're going to have a lot of confidence in Aso."
Aso Pogi
On his reaction to replacing Tony Lindsay "I just took it as I have an accepted role and more than anything I accept it. I just got to play my part and we as a football team have to get ready to play Iowa State."
On feelings about Tony Lindsay "I have not talked to Tony yet, but I'm sure I'll talk to him. That is where my attention is, I feel so much sorrow for him because I know it is his senior year and he wanted to come out and do a lot of things, and he is not able to do that. A lot of my sorrow goes out to Tony and his family."
On learning the system with Tony Lindsay "Tony has meant a lot to me. There have been times where, during the spring and the off season, he has talked to me about the mental part of the game and how to attack things and not to attack things. His game experience and his knowledge of the game is big. He has left a lot of that on me and that I appreciate very much."
On being comfortable playing quarterback "Yeah, I feel real comfortable. I feel comfortable because I know I am with a bunch of guys that feel comfortable with me and I feel comfortable with them. That is the main part of it. The surrounding cast I am around is very good, and as long as we can gel together we will be fine."
On the adjustments he has to make becoming the starter "I do not think there is any adjustment that needs to be made. The game plan stays the same, everything stays the same. I need to play my role as a football player and as a quarterback. Linemen need to play there role, receivers need to play their role, and running backs play theirs and together it has to gel. It has nothing to do with Aso Pogi and it has nothing to do with Tony Lindsay, but it has everything to do with Oklahoma State."
On gaining confidence with Missouri as he took more snaps "As you continue to play more you get a feel of things and get into your rhythm. And I think that is important. All of us have to get into that rhythm and stay in that rhythm. Towards the end of the ball game I felt fine, and I am sure the whole offensive side of the ball felt fine. What we have got to understand is that we have to be consistent, and as an offensive unit we have to do that all the time and not just in the fourth or third quarter."
On being able to change the offensive struggles "It is not really what I can bring, but being positive. Just playing my role and not trying to do to much, but just playing my role to where these guys feel comfortable with Aso Pogi back there."
On his role "It is to always encourage. To always be positive. When things get rough for our football team, when things get tough on our offensive unit, they have somebody they can always fall back and be positive on. I want to always be an encourage to every last one of them. These are the guys I have got to play with. They are a great cast and we have just got to feel comfortable with each other."
On being a leader "I have spent a lot of time with Del Miller in film and studying the offense he has brought in. You try to learn enough where you can put your teammates in the best situation possible. I think that is very important because if we are in the best situation, the best play then a lot of things can get accomplished."
On Tony Lindsay's shoulder "It was obviously giving him some pain, but he had been practicing. It is a shock to me that I just found out."
On his emotions about replacing Tony Lindsay "My emotions are all towards this football team. The truth is I could care less who started the football game, I could care less if it is Aso Pogi in there, and I could care less the way I feel. I just want to win football games, and I want Oklahoma State to win football games. That is where the attention needs to be, on us winning and not the individual person playing or starting. I know I have some big shoes to feel. I am just going to have to step up and play my part."
Chris Massey
On playing Iowa State "They played Nebraska tough and they are going to come in here ready to explode against our defense. They see we are kind of down right now. We are going to get it together this week."
On the Oklahoma State defense "If you look at our defense, we played all right. One thing that is hurting us is that we play well and then we give up a deep play. That gives a lot of momentum to the opposing offense. If we could stop the big plays they probably could not score on us. These big plays either result in a touchdown or set up a touchdown for them."
On his performance playing cornerback "Playing cornerback is a big change from free safety. I would say I was just trying to get adjusted covering a receiver early in the game."
On the state of this football team "I think we are hurting right now. You look at our games we could have easily won, we were in the game and then everything just falls apart. Emotionally and mentally we are not good right now so we are going to have to come together as a team. We are going to have to talk about this and see where we are going to go from here on out."
On losing Tony Lindsay "Now we have lost our starting quarterback and that puts even more pressure on us. The whole team is behind Aso. We can see what he can do against us in practice. He is a good leader and he knows what he is doing so we are just going to have to get behind him."
On his feelings about Tony Lindsay "I feel sorry for him because he was a senior and this was his last go around. He is one of the top leaders on the offensive side of the ball. It is going to be tough for our offense knowing the starting quarterback is out for the year. The team is well behind Aso. Just the way in which he takes over the offense when he gets into the game. It is a big challenge for the offense and for Aso."
On missing an interception "It is just typical on the way things are going this year. Thing just are not going our way. It is just frustrating."
Jamaal Fobbs
On his reaction to losing Tony Lindsay "It was understanding to an extent. I know what he was going through and he felt it was something he wanted to do. You cannot say anything about that because you want a guy who is out there not playing games in pain. That says a lot about Tony."
On the attitude "I think the attitude on the team is still good. We still have a lot of games to play and we can still turn this season around. Knowing that Tony is not going to be there kind of adds to it. They also know what kind of player Aso is. He is going to be ready to play and we are going to have to be ready to play with him."
On losing confidence "I do not think we as a team has lost confidence. We understand we still have a lot of games to play.This season can be turned around very quickly. It is not good to lose and I know the morale on this team is not to lose ball games. We dropped some games we should have pulled out. We will try and figure it out and try to pick up some wins."
