Arkansas Razorbacks' defensive back Jaylon Braxton and running back Rashod Dubinion after Tuesday's practice on playing against Texas A&M on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
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00:00 Rashad, I guess you had probably your best.
00:01 I know you had a great Liberty Bowl,
00:03 but considering you were playing Death Valley
00:05 against LSU, I thought that was maybe your best game.
00:09 What was that game like for you,
00:11 and what kind of boost does that give you
00:13 moving forward, maybe?
00:15 - It was a wonderful experience.
00:17 I like the crowd, I like the atmosphere.
00:19 They have great fans, a great support.
00:22 There was 100,000 people there,
00:24 and you could hear all of them.
00:28 - I bet they weren't saying nice things.
00:30 I also wanted to ask you guys,
00:35 KJ's on the verge of setting a record
00:37 for most touchdowns, I guess,
00:39 created, rushing and passing.
00:42 What do you guys think?
00:44 KJ's obviously got a lot of good qualities,
00:46 but what do y'all think really makes him a great player
00:49 and a great touchdown producer?
00:51 Maybe, Rashad, you could take that first, and then Jaylon.
00:54 - Yes, sir.
00:55 I know from experience, you're a great leader,
00:57 like, tremendous guy, like, on and off the field.
01:00 Like, he under his benders,
01:01 and he makes sure everyone around him
01:03 trying to do the same thing on the right track.
01:05 He makes sure everybody's on they P's and Q's,
01:07 and we execute an offense,
01:09 like, no matter what the play call is,
01:11 find a way to execute it.
01:12 - Same thing with Dub, say he got great leadership.
01:16 Like, you could tell by, like,
01:18 in the locker room, in the game,
01:20 before all the games,
01:21 he always comes around to the defensive side.
01:23 He daps up every single one of us before the game,
01:25 and say, "Let's go," so just his leadership.
01:28 - Thanks.
01:30 - Greg.
01:32 - Yeah, Rashad, I was curious,
01:37 what do you think has been the biggest difference in you?
01:39 It looked like you were just really hitting it,
01:41 and even when it was just a wall,
01:42 sometimes you would just run right into it
01:44 and pick up three, four yards and stuff.
01:46 What's been the biggest difference from you
01:48 from the beginning of the year to the last game?
01:51 - Trusting the old line.
01:52 At first, I was, like, going off what I knew last year,
01:56 like, with the older guys that had the left in the game,
01:58 it was, like, kind of fast.
02:01 I just started trusting the old line,
02:02 taking what they give me,
02:04 hitting the right holes,
02:05 slowing down my steps, making the right reads.
02:08 - Jalen, I wanted to ask you about
02:11 the wide receivers for Texas A&M,
02:13 Evan Stewart, one and zero, Aniah Smith.
02:17 What have you seen from those guys?
02:18 They're obviously both pretty explosive,
02:20 productive wide receivers for them.
02:22 - Nothing but respect for those guys.
02:24 They have a talented group of receivers,
02:26 so we really look forward to going to AT&T Stadium
02:30 and getting the face-off against them.
02:32 - What have you been told about Bobby Petrino
02:35 and the offense that he runs,
02:38 and what are you seeing from them on film?
02:40 - Lots of explosive plays.
02:43 They like getting the ball to their playmakers a lot
02:46 in open space, so we just got to keep the top on the coverage.
02:49 - Thanks, guys.
02:51 - Yeah.
02:52 - Yeah, hey, Jalen.
02:57 So you're playing time,
02:58 I mean, you got some playing time,
02:59 game one, 25 snaps last week.
03:02 What's the experience been like for you,
03:04 kind of already kind of factoring in?
03:07 - Oh, I'm starting to get more comfortable in the game.
03:09 I can say my first game I was playing,
03:11 I was just getting my feet wet,
03:14 getting used to the college atmosphere,
03:15 but I can say I'm pretty settled in now, ready to go.
03:19 - And you've had a pretty good view, I guess,
03:21 of this rivalry.
03:23 What's it going to be like going back to Texas
03:25 and kind of participating in this game?
03:27 - Oh, it's going to mean a lot,
03:28 getting to go back to my hometown,
03:30 getting to play in front of all my family and friends.
03:33 And I actually grew up playing at the Cowboy Stadium,
03:35 so that's going to be a fun experience too,
03:37 so I look forward to it.
03:39 - How many games do you reckon you've played there?
03:42 - Too many to count on my hands.
03:43 I started playing there in Little League,
03:45 and actually my first game of my senior year,
03:47 that's where I played.
03:48 - All right, hey, Rashad,
03:50 we saw Rocket today looking probably the best he's looked
03:52 since game one.
03:54 What did you see from him?
03:55 - I seen him, I seen the same thing you guys see,
03:58 and I was so excited that he's back.
04:00 You know, he's a tremendous leader too as well.
04:03 Him and A.J. Green and Dominique Johnson,
04:06 they all keep me motivated every day,
04:08 bringing it to practice, so it made me step my game up.
04:11 - What do you think of this rivalry?
04:12 I mean, last year, I mean,
04:14 there's a couple of freakish plays,
04:15 and you might've had them.
04:17 And so how important maybe is this game to you?
04:20 - This game is important 'cause I like winning.
04:22 Like every game, I take every game the same way.
04:25 I love winning.
04:26 I come from a winning background.
04:28 I like to win.
04:30 So this one, we have to win.
04:31 I don't think we should lose anymore.
04:34 - All right, well, so what did last year's game
04:36 feel like then?
04:37 It was, I mean, the pain of it maybe.
04:40 - Yeah, it hurt for sure,
04:42 'cause I feel like we had it in the bag,
04:44 and we let it slip.
04:45 But shots out of those guys for their coaching staff
04:48 and their athletes making plays too,
04:50 you know, it's just gonna be a dogfight.
04:53 - Thanks.
04:54 - Daniel.
04:56 - What has kind of Rockets been rolled in life
05:03 within the running back room
05:04 since he hasn't been able to play
05:05 in the last three weeks?
05:06 - You know, keeping us motivated,
05:09 telling us what he see on film,
05:10 like what we could've did better,
05:12 staying in touch with us,
05:14 letting us know he's still here,
05:15 like he ain't going nowhere, basically.
05:17 - All right, Bob.
05:18 - I had a bunch of people ask me this week,
05:25 how do I think the team's doing
05:27 after a couple tough losses?
05:28 We know those could've been wins
05:29 just as well as losses.
05:31 I was like, I don't know,
05:32 so I'm gonna ask you guys,
05:33 how's the team doing?
05:34 Kind of what's the mindset
05:35 after a couple real tough losses?
05:39 - You know, we all sticking together,
05:41 making sure we still win.
05:42 We don't pay attention to the outside noise,
05:44 'cause they're not here working with us.
05:46 So we just stick together,
05:48 find a way to win.
05:49 That's our biggest goal.
05:50 - Yeah, Jalen's a young guy,
05:52 you know, I'm sure you used to win a lot in high school.
05:55 Kind of what's the stretch been like,
05:56 and what's the mindset, do you think?
05:59 - We just gotta get back on track, you know?
06:01 Like Doug said, we don't listen to all the outside noise.
06:05 We all we got, we all we need.
06:06 - Thanks.
06:09 - Greg.
06:10 - Yeah, Jalen, is it difficult preparing
06:16 for, I guess, two different quarterbacks,
06:17 since you don't, I guess, 100% know
06:19 if Wegmans gonna play?
06:21 - I would, yeah, a little bit,
06:24 but like, for DB, we just looking like,
06:26 route concepts, so whatever quarterback comes out,
06:29 we're obviously studying both of them,
06:31 but we'll be ready for whichever one plays.
06:34 - You guys got, it looked like you really got up
06:36 and had, you know, had a game plan
06:38 and stuck to it and everything against LSU.
06:40 How do you bottle that and make sure
06:43 you keep that momentum and energy?
06:44 I mean, it's hard to get up every single week for a game,
06:47 and how do you make sure you carry that over,
06:49 just for both of you?
06:50 - First off, I say, like, we come out,
06:54 clicking on all cylinders, like, don't beat ourselves,
06:57 'cause that's what happens.
06:58 Some of these, most of the time,
07:01 we're beating ourselves, like, with penalties
07:03 and things of that nature, which we can't blame the refs.
07:05 We just gotta execute and win the right way.
07:08 That's what we've been preaching all year,
07:10 winning the right way.
07:11 - Jalen.
07:13 - Just going out there, knowing your assignment,
07:15 knowing what to do, and just sticking to our three keys,
07:18 the big three we get every week,
07:20 and just maintaining those to reach those goals.
07:23 - And Jalen, you talked about being,
07:26 you know, obviously from that area,
07:27 you were like, what, 45 minutes away.
07:29 A lot of family and friends going to be there?
07:32 - Yes, sir, they are.
07:33 - Yeah, how many are you expecting?
07:35 You had, have you been having to gather tickets and stuff?
07:37 - Yeah, I'm trying to get tickets.
07:38 It's hard right now, but I know for sure
07:40 that my mom and all of them, they going to be there, so.
07:43 - Yeah, anybody--
07:45 - They're out there watching TV.
07:46 - If you had to estimate, what do you think?
07:48 How many people did you know?
07:49 - At least 20.
07:50 At least 20.
07:51 - Rashad, I guess it's a little farther for your family.
07:56 - Yeah.
07:57 - All right, thanks, guys.
07:59 - Thank you.
08:00 - Tom, did you have one more?
08:02 - I did, Rashad, I wanted to ask you
08:03 about the Texas A&M defensive front.
08:06 I think statistically, they have the best run defense
08:09 of anybody played yet.
08:11 Just what do you make of their personnel
08:12 and their teams on defense?
08:13 - You know, back to what I said at first,
08:18 trusting the whole line.
08:19 They have a tremendous group up front,
08:21 and I believe we have a good whole line as well that can,
08:24 we have concepts and things of that nature
08:27 to stop what they're doing or execute
08:31 based on what they're running.
08:33 - All right, Jalen, have you watched
08:34 any of these Southwest Classic games on TV,
08:37 or have you attended any of them?
08:39 - Actually, when I committed, I was committed here
08:41 when they played them last year.
08:43 It was actually on my homecoming,
08:44 so I was tuned in last year, the whole game, yes, sir.
08:47 - What did you think of just kind of maybe
08:50 the atmosphere of the game and how it played out last year?
08:54 - Oh, it's, you can't get the best atmosphere,
08:57 no, but like, I'm here now,
08:58 so I'm ready to get a part of that atmosphere
09:00 and help us get a win.