Will Rogers and Cole Smith Q&A - Western Michigan Week

Earlier this week, Mississippi State University quarterback Will Rogers and his Bulldog offensive lineman Cole Smith met with the media ahead of this weekend’s non-conference game against Western Michigan.

Will Rogers

Q: Obviously a bounce back week for you this week with Western Michigan coming in, what do you guys need to do to kind of clean it up and get a win this weekend?
A: Just execute. It sounds so simplistic when you say it, but you know, just little things. Small details like making sure we’re in the right formation before the play, motions, shifts, all that stuff. I think our coaches have been saying it right all week, it’s about what we’re doing wrong and not necessarily what the defenses are doing to us. Everything that we have not going for us right now is kind of self inflicted, so we just need to clean some stuff up.

Q: Coach Arnett today was saying that he wanted the team to come out Saturday and play kind of like a team thats angry, how do you kind of take that but also balance not doing too much and trying to execute?

A: I think that’s kind of playing the quarterback position, you want your team to be jacked up, playing hard, playing hungry, playing with a chip on their shoulder, but as a quarterback you’re not really hitting anybody, so you kind of just stay calm, stay composed and do you job every single play.

Q: Have you gotten a chance to look at Western Michigan at all, and if so what are your thoughts about them?

A: Yeah, we kind of dove into them (Monday) morning, and (I) kind of watched some stuff on my own and then got with coach Barbay and kind of got the base install in. You know, they’re kind of similar to our defense. You know, three down front, 3-3-5, a dog player in the box, so they give some really crazy looks honestly. They do a lot internally, so we’ll have our hands full come Saturday. Like I said, they’re very similar to our defense. They try and throw a lot of different looks at you and try and get you to make a lot of mistakes. So we need to have a great week of practice. We need the right looks from the scout team, and we need to be ready to go Saturday.

Q: In a matchup like this, how much does it help to play somebody that you’ve never seen before, you’ve got to learn their strategy and just kind of approach it like ‘We know nothing, we’ve got to be really serious about this team’?

A: I think it has pros and cons, you know? You know nothing about them which can help or hurt you. It can help you because it’s kind of like I said, it’s kind of like about you and what we do on offense and how we execute, but at the same time, you know nothing about them, so we’re going to get their best shot for sure. We know that they’re going to come in here ready to roll, so we need to be ready to play Saturday.

Q: Obviously we’ve seen Mike (Wright) come in and have some success with some of the packages that he’s had, I guess with him being so engaged in the game and getting some playing time as well how much are you guys able to bounce ideas off each other on the sidelines?

A: All the time, I mean that’s quarterbacks in general, you know. I mean, if it was Mike or if it was Sawyer (Robertson) last year or Chance Lovertich, whoever it was, you’re always bouncing ideas off of each other. I think Mike’s really kind of grown my ideas on some things the way he can play the game and the way we can use him on offense. We’ve done a lot of good things with Mike, we’ve helped each other a lot off the field, so he’s done a really good job for us.

Q: How do you feel like the player’s meeting went today?

A: Oh, we didn’t have one today.

Q: How did practice go? Everybody’s attitude good?

A: It went good. We had a good practice, and yeah. Yeah.

Q: We didn’t get to see him play, so how’s Chris (Parsons) doing in practice with you and Mike getting to work with him?

A: He’s doing the scout team stuff, and I think he’s done a really good job. He tells me some things, and then he asks me questions about our install for the week, so he kind of misses a little bit of our install offensively, but I know he’s staying late, meeting with coach Barbay, meeting with coach Stone and getting our stuff in as well, so he’s doing a really good job for us and doing a great job for the team as well.

Cole Smith

Q: Coach Arnett said (Western Michigan) are kind of similar to what you guys have seen from the Bulldog defense. How does that help you a little bit, I mean kind of practicing against the same alignment much of the time?

A: I think that’s really big for us, especially getting to see their tendencies and their keys as a defense. As you said, they do a lot of similar things to our defense, so that’s going to be really big for us getting prepared, knowing where they’re going to be and what they’re going to do before they do it, so that can be really big for us.

Q: How much more accustomed do you think the offensive line is getting with the running schemes? Obviously last year you only had a few running plays, and the schemes were pretty similar, but this is pretty expanded under Barbay. How do you feel like that line is coming along with that?

A: I think that we’re doing a good job, you know. I think that we’re getting better week to week with what we get, and I think we’re only going to continue to get better and become more disciplined with that.

Q: Going off of that, you guys only rush for I think 30 yards against South Carolina and I mean, obviously, took a step forward against Alabama, what was the talk amongst the group between those games and making that jump on Saturday?

A: I would say just the game plan, the schemes we were going up against. Obviously that’s a big deal (when it comes to) what we do on offense, so that can always play a role, but also, you know, we could have done a lot better up front blocking, so most of the time it’s on us, up front.

Q: Who on that line is really standing out to you? Especially some of the newer guys there who haven’t had as much playing time who’s really come along well?

A: I think collectively, as a unit, I’m really proud of all the guys and how far they’ve come, you know, adjusting to a completely new system. I think it’s been really big, you know, being with the guys every day learning a new system, so I’m proud of everybody.

Mississippi State will face off against Western Michigan this Saturday, with kickoff being at 11 a.m.