Quick Hits: Fans Impacting Recruiting, Curtis Jones' Workload, LB Play + More

Why the team has played so much better the last three weeks

"We have played better, but of course, we were playing poorly at times early in the season. There was no panic. I don't think we played really well all the time this past weekend, but there was no panic. Probably played with a sense of maturity, if that's the right word. When we made a mistake, guys didn't get down or look at the scoreboard. We'll continue to grow. We're still going to have moments. I mean, we got two really good opponents left in the regular season, and now we're going to have to play better to win those games. But anytime you win or you play well, you get some confidence."

Curtis Jones playing two ways and other guys playing both sides of the ball

"With Curtis, we're going to have to give him more reps. Diore (Hubbard) is banged up. He battled through it the last weekend, and we got two tough games left, so we got to continue to get Curtis more and more reps. Going forward, we talked about it in recruiting, a lot of these guys we recruit play both ways in high school, and if they're good enough to play both ways in high school and transition a little bit of that in college, we're going to play them both ways. It won't be a lot, but I think you're going to see more and more teams do that. We are."

Christian Hamilton getting some playing time last week

"Christian was banged up for a long time, and now he's got a chance to play a little bit and showed some stuff there, so that's good. We've got to play more wideouts. We've got to get Preston Fox healthy, and he'll play more. Christian will play more. Justin Smith-Brown's got to get healthy so he can play more."

Thoughts on the linebacker play recently

"They've been battling. All of them have taken turns getting hurt. Whether it was Chase (Wilson), Reid (Carrico), or Ben (Cutter and Bogle), or whoever it is. They keep battling and going in there, and Zac was blitzing them a lot; they got home a few times. They're all tough guys. They're very conscientious. They're older guys that are maybe in their last year of football, but they've done a really good job in just this short one-year period of providing good leadership on defense. Those are the guys our players look to."

The crowd helping out last Saturday

"It makes a huge impact for us in recruiting because there are prospects here at every game. There will be a bunch of prospects here at our last game. When they come to a game and it's a huge crowd and they're into the game and they're cheering for us and it's loud, it makes an impact in their decision. I really believe that. Our fans are much appreciated when they do that."

Why the team has played so much better the last three weeks

Curtis Jones playing two ways and other guys playing both sides of the ball

Christian Hamilton getting some playing time last week

Thoughts on the linebacker play recently

The crowd helping out last Saturday

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