Alfred Davis 10-1

DT-Alfred Davis (on the defense) - "We just have to hit the practice field as hard as possible. We are making a lot of mistakes and a lot of mental errors, while in practice things are going pretty well. We're not carrying it over to the game, and we just have to get out of that mode. It's not acceptable. We're seeing what's going on in practice and it's good. Thursday was perfect, Friday we watched film, and then Saturday it's not happening on the field."
DT-Alfred Davis (on the team's mentality) - "Some people would expect us to have our head down and be upset and mad that we're losing. Yesterday we came out and ran as a team, and everybody was in great spirits. Nobody had their head down or was complaining. We watched the film, saw the mistakes, and saw that we can get better at some of those things, and just accepted the fact that it's a new day, it's a new week. We just have to put that behind us and hit the practice field harder."

DT-Alfred Davis (on lack of takeaways) - "It's disappointing because that's part of our job as a defense, to take the ball away and put it back into the offense's hands. To say that we haven't had a takeaway in a while, that's something we need to work on in practice. The scouts are running with the ball, grab it, snatch it out, somebody pick it up, scoop it and score. Simulate it in practice, so that it's easy to incorporate it into the defense on game day."

DT-Alfred Davis (on the scout team quarterback simulating the dual-threats Arkansas has faced this season) - "It will probably be the same guy, Taylor (Reed) this week. He did a good job of simulating Texas A&M's quarterback last week. We chased him around and tried to keep him in the pocket as best as we can. Some situations in the game he got out, and we just have to do a better job at it."

DT-Alfred Davis (on if the youth on the defense is contributing to a lack of turnovers) - "It's not harder to get turnovers because they are young. Whoever we put out on the field should be able to strip the ball or jump at an interception or tomahawk the ball out from the quarterback and someone scoops it up. Having young guys is affecting our defense. I think back to when I was a redshirt freshman getting to play my first SEC game. I was googly-eyed when we played Georgia here, and we were at home. Some of those guys had to go to Texas A&M, new to the conference, and play their first road SEC football game. It's overwhelming for some of them after a while, but you get into the game and you get into the groove of football. You focus on your keys and being in your alignment. Then you make a mistake, or someone catches a pass on you, you miss a sack or a tackle, and it's hard on you because you've never been in that position. Whereas, if it was an older guy that has been there before they know they have to get up and do it again. Some younger guys, that stuff overwhelms them. They think too much, and their head is everywhere. It's just a little tough on them. And we're young in a lot of spots on defense. That's something we have to overcome."

DT-Alfred Davis (on confidence) - "It's hard when you feel like you are letting the rest of the defense down. We talk about doing your 1/11. If I'm a defensive tackle, and they run lead in my gap, and they score a touchdown, I feel like I let down the other 10 guys on the field. That can be very hard, because those guys work beside you all week long, and they work very hard. For you to not do your job, it hurts and it's frustrating, and I can see those guys getting distracted when they make mistakes like that."

DT-Alfred Davis (on helping younger players as a leader) - "Just help them understand that there's no way to be perfect playing the game of football. You can do your best every snap, but it wouldn't be perfect. When you make those kinds of mistakes you have to put it behind you and focus on the next snap. We need to emphasize that more, and help those guys understand that you're going to make mistakes, but it's about the next play. Let it go. We'll pick it up. Whether it's in the back end or the front seven, we'll pick that slack up and we'll get things done. As long as those guys are getting comfortable with making small, minor mistakes, not accepting the fact that you are messing up, but understanding that you are going to mess up, we'll be fine."

DT-Alfred Davis (on a positive he has seen from this season so far) - "That nobody has hung up their shoes. Even on one of my middle school basketball teams, after we lost four games, I remember playing at Ronald E. McNair Junior High, I had three teammates that literally didn't come to practice. We needed them because we only had seven players on the team. They didn't come, they quit. It would be easy for some guys on this team to say 'I'm a freshman. I'll just wait until next year'. But they're not doing that. They accept their role. They understand that we have a lot of football left to play. They're not quitting, they're not giving in, and they're still showing up on time. They're doing the things that they are supposed to be doing to be good football players. That's a lot of credit that should be given to us for that, because it's so easy in some situations just to give up."

DT-Alfred Davis (on seeing mental errors on film) - "It's hard because not only are you watching yourself mess up on film, but everyone else in the room is too. You got that right in practice, but in the game you messed it up. It's tough on you as you evaluate yourself as an individual. It puts more pressure on you because other people are seeing you make those mistakes, and so are the coaches. It's tough, and I think we just have to find ways to not make those errors so we don't have to feel that feeling. No one wants to go in there and see that they gave up a touchdown."

DT-Alfred Davis (on if this season has given him any lessons he can use later in life) - "It's tough to look at it in those terms because I'm just looking at myself and the team and the coaching staff. It's a good learning experience. I think all of us will learn something about life from this. Coach Peoples talked to us about that in our room yesterday. He said that it's a life experience. All of us: coaches, players, trainers, staff, are going to take something away from this. And we've faced adversity in the past. And yes, it's tough. But we can't just run away from it. We're a football team, we're going to continue to be a football team, and I'm not happy that it's like this, but in the future it will help us."