On what’s left to accomplish for Cedric Tillman after his recent success
“He’s still growing as a player. Extremely confident, great understanding of what we’re doing, but he’s going to continue to get better just fundamentally. You’ve seen him make a bunch of competitive plays here down the stretch, that’s just scratching the surface of his ability to make plays. He’s going to continue to get better. He’s going to be an extremely dynamic player.”
On what he hopes to accomplish against Vanderbilt
“It’s for us, that we’re going to finish as a program. We talked about that a little bit last week, but this is the end of the regular season. If we’re going to finish it, then our preparation’s going to be consistent but continue to get better. You’re constantly proving things to yourself. To me, that’s what we’re trying to do this Saturday.”
On if he would play aggressively and dial up blitzes if he coached the defensive side
“Yes sir, absolutely. That’s what my dad was. That’s what I would be too.”
On balancing his contributions to the defense as an offensive-minded head coach
“I think it’s my experience of being around the game with my dad, him being on the defensive side of the ball. I think it’s really important that you hire great people, and then set the parameters of what you foresee of the style of play that you want to have. Then, you have to let guys do that. We have a tremendous staff, on the offensive side of the ball, too, starting with Coach Golesh (Alex Golesh) and the assistant coaches, but defensively, Coach Banks (Tim Banks) and his ability to lead, his ability to teach and mentor. That’s shared by his assistant coaches on that side of the football. Coach Ekeler (Mike Ekeler) is true to who he is, just personality-wise, having known him a long time. You hire people that fit your vision in the building, outside of the building, and then you’ve got to let them grow.”
NEXT: Josh Heupel kicks off Vanderbilt game week continued