Arkansas Razorbacks linebacker Jaheim Thomas and defensive back Jayden Johnson on bouncing back from another disappointing loss after 27-20 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday night.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 >> [INAUDIBLE]
00:10 >> Just buying into the game plan
00:15 that our coaches set for us every week, just knowing that we just gotta make
00:19 a play, being able to make that play when the opportunity come and just stuff the run.
00:23 >> Same thing.
00:25 >> How tough is this, the third straight or
00:30 third, the fourth straight loss, third straight by one score.
00:34 What's the key to sort of sticking together now, letting go of the rope?
00:39 >> We all bought into the same thing.
00:41 We ain't gonna give up.
00:43 We're gonna continue to go to practice, get better, and
00:45 continue to have that fight in us.
00:47 >> Continue to keep going to work, looking at every week as an opportunity to win,
00:51 a new opportunity to just show what we can display.
00:55 Show our talents.
00:55 >> KJ, that's from down here in Mississippi.
01:00 I know you all are probably all disappointed, but
01:03 how tough do you think it is for KJ to come back and
01:07 lose a game like this in his home state and once again continue?
01:12 >> I just know it's real tough for him.
01:14 I know he wanted to win, the team wanted to win, so yeah.
01:19 >> Like he said, just being from his hometown, just being able to come out here
01:23 and not get the job done.
01:24 I know it's probably hurting, but we all hurt, that's a big thing.
01:28 >> You guys have been doing a good job of bending and not breaking,
01:31 forcing punts while the offense can kind of have some drives that don't really work
01:35 out, how tough is that to keep going out and making stops and
01:39 maybe not seeing the results on the other side?
01:42 >> It gets tough, but at the end of the day, we gotta keep encouraging our offense,
01:45 keep encouraging them, telling them just keeping high hopes for the team,
01:49 keeping high hopes for the defense, for the offense.
01:51 So just going out there and just still making the plays.
01:54 >> I know everybody got a flat airplane, we can't do everybody's job,
01:58 we can only do our job.
01:59 So what the offense has going on, we can't let that affect us on the field.
02:04 >> [INAUDIBLE]
02:14 >> He was very consistent in practice, so
02:17 it just translated over into the game.
02:20 >> Yeah, proud of him, whenever his name get called,
02:23 he's just going out there and work.
02:26 So when opportunity came, he flourished, proud of him.
02:30 >> Sam talked about some injuries, some key guys in softball, his injury.
02:33 But for other players to step up, only Chavez got a sack.
02:38 What did you think of guys being able to step up when it actually got hurt?
02:41 >> No, whenever the number get called, there's no setback.
02:43 So just being able to just go out there and just play, and
02:47 having no letdowns, just play, it was big for us.
02:50 >> [INAUDIBLE]
02:54 >> I would just say it's just a next man up mentality.
02:57 We all know that it can go either way.
02:59 When they come in, we just talk to them.
03:03 You've been playing football, just next man up,
03:06 take advantage of what you got in front of you.
03:09 >> It's been a tough stretch, man, you gotta go to Alabama where,
03:12 I'd say, I didn't get to Alabama since 2006.
03:16 You already had this tough stretch, now you gotta go to Alabama.
03:19 How tough is that, do you think?
03:22 >> I don't think it's tough.
03:23 We just gotta keep doing what we're doing, keep fighting, and
03:26 find the little details that's holding us back, and attack those the right way.
03:31 And I feel like we'll be in good hands.
03:34 >> Like he said, there's another opportunity to showcase our talent,
03:37 another opportunity just to showcase the world,
03:40 shock the world, be able to go out there and beat those guys.
03:43 >> Coach said that you guys brought in Coach Washington to play
03:47 defensively, how easy was it to buy into that?
03:51 Knowing whether Ole Miss is all in this together.
03:55 >> We just trust our coach, we put trust in him.
03:58 We feel like he know what we gotta do.
04:01 We got the people in the room, we just gotta go out there and execute.
04:04 >> It's like he said, just having that trust in that extra film,
04:07 just being able to make the opportunities, I mean, make the plays when
04:10 opportunities come, and just going out there and just balling and
04:13 having fun with our guys.
04:15 >> Coach was in here and he said that you guys could just cut down the penalties,
04:20 the mental mistakes, stuff like that, and
04:21 maybe you could win one of these close one possession games.
04:25 I guess from a player perspective,
04:27 what can you do to help towards cutting down on those things?
04:31 >> I would say just being more disciplined in practice.
04:34 When opportunities come for a penalty, just coaching our guys up,
04:38 coaching ourselves up, so just basically just being a whole lot more disciplined.
04:44 >> I would say the same thing, and then just keeping our composure.
04:47 I feel like in times when we get down to it, it's a panic that happened, and
04:52 that's what's causing the flags, so we just gotta keep our composure.
04:54 >> Then we saw Nico Dabney make a few plays,
04:58 seems like he was probably the best he's ever played when you all think of his
05:01 performance.
05:02 >> I think he did a great job.
05:04 He had a little tackle for loss.
05:06 I didn't even know he was in on the field actually, and I was like,
05:10 woof, he coming.
05:12 So yeah, I think he did a great job.
05:14 >> Just like he said, he was making the plays when opportunities come,
05:19 next guy up.
05:20 So when he came in, he made the play, and he was proud of it.
05:24 >> A lot of teams would love to own this 27 points, at least for 73 and 55 and
05:30 all that, but you guys had the lead, and they were able to put together a drive.
05:34 What's happened with that, and what did they do in that drive to get the lead?
05:39 >> They kind of sped up the tempo.
05:41 Then a lot of things just came down to us.
05:45 We was beating ourselves.
05:46 I had a couple of missed tackles at drive, they led them to score.
05:51 Just gotta work on that and get better.
05:52 >> Just like you say, tempo, when a team tempos, you just gotta hurry up,
05:58 get the call, and get ready, and get in line.
06:01 So just like you said, missed tackles, those are things we gotta buy in on this
06:06 week, so we can go out there and play our best football.