KENTUCKY VS. Vanderbilt
KROGER FIELD – LEXINGTON, KY.
October 12th, 2024
UK Student-Athletes
#0, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, RB
On continuing the mindset of doing your job and being more explosive…
“I can do well and we still lose which is not the ultimate goal, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword. I can’t get too happy about what I’m doing and be selfish about the things that I’m doing when we’re losing games. It’s just hard.”
On if keeping a positive mindset after losing is getting easier or harder…
“It definitely doesn’t get easier taking another loss, but that just shows true character. Our true colors are about to show after this week, so whatever happens behind the scenes when adversity hits, that’s when your true character and your true colors come out.”
On coach not getting through to the team about playing with emotion…
“I just feel like that was the case tonight. It showed tonight and we can’t point the finger at anybody but ourselves, so I agree with coach. We need to go back to the drawing board with what we did at Ole Miss and doubling it, whatever we did with film, practicing hard, just going two times harder than what we were doing, because clearly, it’s not enough.”
#12, Brock Vandagriff, QB
On beating Ole Miss on the road but losing at home…
“I didn’t really play well to start off with. I did some things I shouldn’t have done, obviously. I thought our guys up front played well, but I just have to be better back there at quarterback, be a better leader, be a better player and be better on the sidelines, things of that sort. I have to look myself in the mirror and get better obviously. We have a week to prepare, and we will be back out there next Saturday.”
On if he felt like the offense lost any faith due to the penalties…
“No, sir, I think our squad is a bunch of dudes that are going to go out there and fight. Especially on offense, we had to settle some guys down. I mean, we were down 20-7, and the dudeswere juiced up on the sidelines and ready to go out there and play, and its kind of finding the happy medium between being juiced up and being reckless and making sure that we were not hurting the team and not hurting the offense with our actions. Like I said, I have to be a better leader on the sidelines and things of that sort, making sure that everything is running smoothly, and I just have to step up.”
On how he feels physically…
“Physically, pretty good. I just played a football game, so I have some dings and bruises of that sort, but we have a great training staff here, and I’ll be ready to go next Saturday.”
#54, D’Eryk Jackson, LB
On the UK pick six and sack and how that affected momentum...
“It just didn’t go our way. But we just have to go out there and just work. Then go out there next week so we can play Florida next week.”
On conversions how UK plans to correct their losses….
“People just weren’t doing their jobs, we weren’t doing our jobs. We just have to come in next week and practice hard and just try and put this loss behind us, and come in and practice hard next week.”
On the energy in the locker and player morale…
“I know we are going to bounce back. I know we are going to come in next week to practice, and have a good week, and try to put this out of our minds.”
On what he does as a leader when the game is not going their way…
“I mean I lead by example and how I play on the field. You can talk to people, but you really just have to come in and everybody has to do their job, and we will be straight.”
#10, Jamarion Wilcox, RB
On overall thoughts on the game…
“Communication problems. We have to talk better, play better, play smarter on both sides of the ball, play as a unit. Kudos to Vanderbilt for sticking with their gameplan, doing what they did.”
On their home record and keeping their composure…
“I don’t think… I mean, it’s not about the message, I think, you know, no matter what message you give to the team, you got togo out there and execute the call, play as a team but you know, I don’t think we played our ball today, but the reason why? I don’t know but we got to play the ball, you’ve already seen what type of ball we can play as a team, that just didn’t happen today, like I said, why? I don’t know but we got to go back in the lab and fix a couple things, it’s already over now.”
On when things are going wrong, how to vocalize it to the defense…
“I calm them down, you know, I’ve been in situations like this and came out on top multiple times so you know, get a good stop, get a quick stop, clearing out, give the offense a chance and I think that’s what we did, last two minutes, but, you know, themessage is calm down, we’re good, get it through, get it quick, get the ball back, get some time, give them plenty of time to do what they do. But, you know, flags are a part of the game, we got to limit the flags, when we limit the flags, we have a chance, but you know when we get flags we kind of take the game out of the picture, that’s it, you know, calm down, just get through and out quick, give the offense a chance to score.
On responding to the last loss well and repeating that…
“No, I don’t want to keep repeating losing. Play another team and win again. I’m not used to that, I am not from that, and I am not trying to get used to it, you know. We have to make some changes, not try, we’ve got to make some changes, I’m not used to this feeling, and I don’t like this feeling.”