Preston Stone and RJ Maryland Press Conference

coach Lashley said that this kind of a win is going to help you guys down the road can a team need this kind of a win where things don't necessarily click early and you have to fight the way back oh yeah I think you need wins like this cuz it shows grit of your team just trusting trusting everybody when we go go into the locker room at halftime you know just having those talks with everybody tell them we're going to win the game so yeah it's just it's just a hard fot win Preston sorry were you gon to answer that one um how did it feel to be out there and how did you feel like you kind of congressed as the game went on do you feel like you built some confidence as the game went on yeah first I just got to thank God you know that was a emotional roller coaster of a football game um uh myself and I think us as a unit definitely didn't come out how we wanted to come out um and uh you know I think adversity is going to breed Excellence through throughout the whole season and um you know I feel like first quarter second quarter third quarter definitely fourth quarter we just kept progressing and progressing and stepping up um and everybody was making plays defense was getting off the field and we just believed you know we kept believing in each other we kept believ that that we were going to come out with a win and just couldn't be more proud of our badge how does it feel for you to know that you you maybe struggle on your first couple drives but your coaching staff continues to trust you want to in the game when it's down the stretch like that and knows that you're the guy for that how does it feel that they continue to trust you in those moments um yeah it means a lot to me for sure um and you know I think they definitely had a lot of trust in myself but it was a whole Collective trust in that in our whole unit that we were going to go out and finish and win the game was there a talk between the both of you guys at halftime to maybe Preston for you to look at RJ Moore because on that first drive I think you hit him three times then of course by the end of the game you know he had a lot of targets or was it just naturally it happened you know I think I think myself and the whole you know I think we got into a great Rhythm throughout the second half you know um coach lash dialed up some absolute home runs some great plays for us to get into a rhythm um the o line was doing a great job establishing the Run game for us be money was going off rooster LJ all played really well and then um you know unfortunately for Nevada they played man against RJ which you just can't do and so um 82 showed why you can't do that when you see the defense in man coverage do you tell your quarterback this is a situation yeah I don't even got to tell him well yeah you see it I don't even got to tell him but do you Lobby for it no I just I just know what's already going to happen yeah it looks like a pretty physical game out there a lot of chippiness and some you know UNS sports like conduct penalties what was it like to play in that game and was it hard to kind of stay zoned in just given all St that was happening uh you know you just got to stay mentally strong uh those type of games those close games they always get chippy and so you know just be you uh just play the game the right way and everything works out you've tied kylin Branson for I think it's the record with 14 touchdowns for a tight end where does that rank or how significant is that to you you know it's it's great to be up there with all the great tight ends that have gone through this program so just uh just shows shows the greatness of the players that came before me so uh yeah great you talked about not starting necessarily the way you guys wanted to is there anything you can attribute that to um you know not coming out of the locker room as quick or is uh with things clicking as much as you normally do I mean you know I think um as a collective we struggled in the first half the defense did an absolutely great job in the first half of getting stops I'm not even sure if they scored in the first quarter um we were stalling a little bit um you know we we were off in the passing game we didn't establish much of a run game um but I'll say I mean even through those struggles and pains I think our old line did a great job the whole night they were giving me plenty of time I'm pretty sure I didn't get sacked once um and so those guys played great one and at the beginning of the game in the first quarter and end of the second quarter the conditions weren't the great it was raining it was windy do you guys think that had any impact on the game or you were just playing through it I don't I don't think we can let just other elements have an impact on the game cuz it's it's going to happen for both teams it's rainning for both of us so there's no point in thinking about that you've got at least three good running backs but Rashard Smith made his debut tonight what do you think of his performance great player just physical runs quick runs to the edge just getting through breaking tackles doing everything for us yeah I mean I I think he's one of if not the best athlete on our team you know he he reminds me of Reggie Bush um you know he's got lightning speed lightning Cuts but you you saw him tonight like he's Fearless he's not afraid to lower his shoulder and run through somebody as well so uh B Money went off tonight good thank you guys thank you