Alabama / Southern Miss postgame interviews with Mike Shula, Joe Kines, Dave Ungerer, Brandon Avalos, Justin Smiley,DeMeco Ryans, Shaud Williams and more

Brandon Avalos (#7 Fr. QB, 6-0 188 lbs. Tuscaloosa, AL - Hillcrest High)

These comments came following the Southern Mississippi game as Brandon Avalos answered questions from the press pool ...

Press Pool – There were a couple of pass plays where it was almost there and guys seemed just a step behind. Did you feel close on those?

Brandon Avalos – Yes. The one that sticks out in my mind the most is of course when I missed Tri(andos) Luke open in the endzone. I threw a little bit behind him. He ran a great route and I threw it just a tad late. I thought I made a good throw, but then saw it was a little bit behind him. That’s just something that I’m going to get better at as I get older.

Yeah, it was good. But we were prepared to do anything. If we had gotten behind, we probably would have opened it up a lot more. We were prepared for that. We were prepared for the passing game as much as the running game. It just so happened that the running game went for 250 yards today. It helps whenever you can run the ball like that.

In your first start, how comforting is it to have a guy like Shaud Williams behind you.

Very comforting. Shaud’s a great leader on the field. He’s always keeping people up. But it’s not only Shaud, it’s the offensive line. They helped me out so much too. They opened up holes for the running backs which allowed them to get a lot of yards. That just took a lot of pressure off me.

Ahhh … it was probably the third play of the game when we called a little rollout pass. No one was open, so I cut across back to the middle and got about three yards. A couple of guys fell on top of me. But besides that, no not really, I didn’t get hit.

Coach Shula being a former quarterback, did he have any personal advice to give you as opposed to football advice as far as making your first start.

Yeah, him and Coach Rader both said the same thing. They said “When you go into the game, don’t be too nervous. Don’t let anxiety get a hold of you.” They told he to just realize what I had to do, settle down and execute the plays.

The offensive line said they felt confident in you and that you had a lot of energy.

Right. I believe that’s a big part of having presence in the huddle. I believe that if that quarterback is confident in how he is saying the play and how he’s telling people to get up and go, that’s really important in getting the offense fired up and ready to go and blow the D-line off the ball.

I really didn’t go through too much emotion. When I went in against Georgia last week, I started preparing then to come into this game because I knew Brodie and Spencer weren’t going to be ready. I was really more focused on learning the game plan and studying Southern Miss’ defenses. My emotion didn’t really kick in at all. I wasn’t nervous or anxious. I was really relaxed. I had a good night sleep last night. You know, it’s kind of hard to sleep the night before a game if you’re real nervous. But I wasn’t really nervous. I got a good night’s sleep and that’s just part of it.

I think it was Wednesday afternoon. For our first break, we gathered around and practice a little slow, so Coach Shula brought out a couple of points as far as picking practice up. Then he stated that I was going to start the game. That’s when it happened.

I was kind of expecting to hear them. I didn’t know if I was going to, but I kind of expected to start. So it really wasn’t that much of a surprise to me.

Was there a lot more of the offense that you could have done today that just wasn’t called?

Yes. We had a lot more in the game plan as far as throwing-wise. But when the run works that good and your offensive line is blowing guys off the ball and Shaud and Ray are running for 4 and 5 yards a pop, why would you want to change. Whatever it takes to win. If it’s throwing the ball that’s fine. If it’s running the ball, like we did today for 250 yards, that’s great.

Remember Jay Barker in the Sugar Bowl in 1993. He didn’t throw for very many yards.

He just told me not to be too anxious. Because when you’re anxious the game speeds up more than what you want it to. So the key is just to relax. And when you relax, the game slows down so much more. It’s like you’ve been there before and it’s a great feeling.

Well, we had a double move on. I was trying to hit him right out of his break and I guess Tri was a little faster than I thought. He broke and I threw it. Intially, I thought it was 6 because I knew it was a man-on-man route. But unfortunately the throw was a little bit behind him and that’s just something that’s got to be corrected.

No. We had that play during practice all week and we executed it great. I was totally confident throwing that ball. It may have been a little off target, but that happens. I just have to move forward and hit that pass next time we get the chance for it.

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Coach Mike Shula (Head Coach)

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