Outgoing Muts Players Discuss Program

MeanGreen61 · December 26, 2007

MTSU football senior captains Tavares Jones, DeMarco McNair, Bradley Robinson and Erik Walden recently sat down with the DNJ's Adam Sparks for a candid conversation about the past, present and future of the Blue Raider program. Among several topics, the four seniors spoke openly of the coaching change midway through their college careers, the peculiar pregame ritual that spawned last season's four-game winning streak and what MTSU needs to become the next mid-major program to enter top-25 talk. Here's their conversation.

ARTICLE

http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../712260314/1006

greenminer · December 26, 2007

SPARKS: Since this program changed coaching staffs two years ago, the team has shown drastic improvements in limiting penalties, turnover margin and overall play on the road — all accepted signs of a disciplined football team. Did the coaching change really cause all of that?
WALDEN:It's not all the coaches, and it's not that they had everything figured out. It's that they knew what a first-class program is supposed to look like and act like. It's first-class. That's all it is. In the past, we didn't act like winners, so we didn't win that much. Once we started carrying ourselves like a top-notch, first-class program, the wins started coming and guys started caring about discipline. You act first-class from the beginning regardless of the circumstances, and you start winning after that. Once you win, you act like winners even more and your whole demeanor and attitude changes.

noted.

FirefightnRick · December 27, 2007

SPARKS:You guys are naming off things like meeting rooms, cafeteria, locker rooms, more space reserved only for football. So what you're saying is that you guys would like an MTSU football complex. Is that what you're saying?
MCNAIR:That's it. And that's first-class. That's where the football team could have our own space. You can focus on your responsibilities and the coaches can focus too without as many distractions, and the people out there in the community can see the focus on the football program. That's the first-class part of things we're talking about. That's the swagger, and you can walk up and see it right there in front of you.
WALDEN: You put something like that here, the top players will come, too.

SPARKS:What is your favorite game of your MTSU career, and why?
JONES: North Texas (a 35-0 win in 2006). It just meant a lot because that's when everything came together and we knew what we had. We tried and tried to beat them every year, and we thought we had a better team a lot of those years. But that was when we showed it on the field, and we really showed it.

Rick