WATCH: Trevor Etienne interviewed for first time at Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. — Tuesday night’s interviews gave Georgia fans their first opportunity to hear from star running back Trevor Etienne. The Florida transfer had an eventful offseason and has gotten off to a strong start to his time in red and black. He spoke on those topics and more.
Etienne wasn’t the only Bulldog to meet with the press. Georgia linebackers Jalon Walker and Chaz Chambliss also spent time speaking at the podium. DawgsHQ was on hand for it all and has partial transcripts, plus full video, of each interview below.
On his leadership on the team…
“I kind of look at myself as an older guy on the team, being a junior now. This team, the guys embraced me here. I feel like with them being welcoming, opening up, allowing me in their locker room, and being able to be a part of their brotherhood is the reason why I feel comfortable being around those guys.”
On what his brother has taught him about the running back position…
“I definitely learned a lot. I learned how to study the game and how to become a student of the game. Something I said in other interviews is that he always told me ‘Don’t worry about leaving a legacy, live a legacy.’ That’s something I take with me and carry with me through life.”
On what stands out about the offense after watching film…
“Like I said earlier, just execution. We just want to execute the plays better. There is no perfect play but there is perfect execution of the play. If we can go out there and execute every play to the best we can, that will put our team in a better situation.”
On the roughing the passer penalty against Kentucky…
“Mid game I was full of frustration, but I realized it’s football. It’s just a game that we’re protecting our quarterback a little more. They said the way I was driving him into the ground I landed on top of him, which caused a personal foul. So, I know now, but I mean it was a bang-bang play. I feel like it was a judgment play, but we move on and fight to the next day.”
On dealing with frustration during the game…
“I don’t sit too long on it. I just really go to the next play, try to make up for it. I’m not a guy who sits and thinks about the plays before. There’s so much going on to just worry about one play that’s in the past and that you can’t change. I preach to my teammates ‘next play, next play’, so we just got to get past it. It is what it is.”
On how he has evolved as a pass rusher…
“I feel like I’m just playing football out there. When the opportunity is gifted to me, I go get it. That’s just what I do. Being a high motor player, I like to go get the quarterback. Once I get the opportunity, the shot to do it, I’ll just do it.”
On his performance against Kentucky…
“I always love a team that sticks to what they do, and they just try and pound it all game. Huge respect to that team. It’s a great, tough team. They play hard-nosed football. They’re a lot like us, the way we run our program. I love those type of games where it’s just downhill run, just old-school football, just man-on-man.”
On Jalon Walker’s start to the season…
“He’s starting off fast. You’ve seen it ever since his freshman year. He has that get-off, he has speed, and he has that ability to dip and get under blockers. It’s just really hard to block him. He’s got all the traits and everything to be a world-class rusher.”
On Brock Vandagriff…
“He played his butt off. He had a bunch of rushing yards on us. He did a great job of scrambling when we covered up receivers downfield. He did a great job on pulling and reading our defense when they were in read options a lot. I talked to him after the game. Obviously, it was a tough loss for them. It was a close loss. I didn’t talk too much, let him have his space, and talked to him after that.”
