ANDRE ANTHONY SPEAKS

Transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

ON LEADERSHIP & CONFIDENCE:

"Man, just really it goes back to last year...coming into last year's season. Just seizing the opportunity, it was my time so...like I said, just seizing the opportunity when it came.

I worked hard all off-season, I'm like 'this is my time, this is my opportunity, I gotta take full advantage of it'. (Coach Orgeron) O definitely stayed on top of me, as well as my teammates as well as past guys, 'you the next man up, so whatchu gonna do about it?'...so I definitely...I started...once I started getting a feel for the game as the season went on, like you said filling in that role as a leader, uh my teammates, my coaches thought I was that guy so...I stepped into it and embraced it. The guys, you know, they listen to me...they love me...so ya know, it's been great. Yeah...I'm definitely embracing it going into this season, ya know after last year's season, I'm just glad we have an off-season and...really, a spring ...so we can... see where we're at as a defense."

DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS AFTER LAST YEAR:

"Uhmm off of last year, one of the main things was communication, communication was a big thing we lacked last year...everybody was on different pages. But now...now like I said that we've had this spring, me personally I want to take full advantage of it.

We didn't have this uhh this time last year, so I wanna see where we're at as a defense and bring what we lacked last year which was communication as a team...I want everybody to obviously be on the same page and communicate way better so we know everybody's on the same page...."

ON DEFENSIVE LINE FLEXIBILITY (question from Glen West):

"Basically like you said, as far as players-wise he always tells us "you can go as far as you want to go" so if guys get in they playbooks, learn what they need to learn, we can change anything & everything under the sun: we can change all type of looks, depending on personnel the offense gives us, we can do anything, disguise anything...and that's what we're looking forward to as a defense...just being multiple & doing different things...having..,you can't really game plan for what we're gonna do cause you never know what you're gonna get."

HIS 6TH SEASON, BEING AGE 25 & HIS HISTORY AS A TIGER:

"Like I said...opportunity...that's my biggest thing... like going back to when I was first here, I wasn't able to play I was ineligible...before Miles had left.

Coming back into the season after being ineligible for my first year came back and got hurt the first week of BYU week....had to...was out for a whole year....came back, it was kinda hard getting back cause I was out for so long...and then just trying to get back into the gist of everything...and then you have the National Championship, guys like K'Lavon, Mike Divinity, ya know guys like them, watching them and learning from them.

And then you go back to last year, and then it was like I said...they left and I made the most of my opportunity.

It's definitely been a journey for me, I'm very humble about it, ya know I'm proud of it 'cause I've been through some stuff....uhm but look at where I am today, so...I'm proud of myself. Ya know, Coach O tells me all the time, cause he's been on this journey with me, too.

It's been a long one, but ya know everybody...everybody ya know takes that path differently....ya know, some take longer than others, some its quicker than others, but ya know I embrace it."

ABOUT YOUNGER STAFF:

"Definitely definitely younger on both sides...everybody's so much younger.

We love it cause they can definitely relate to us more on and off the field. You can tell...like I know Coach Andre...you can tell he still has some game in him, like guys like that, coaches like that...we love that cause they give us energy and they know how we are, they know how we feel so...I love it, I know the team love it cause everybody's so young so they bring energy just as well as we bring energy...and sometimes we feed off of them. So I really enjoy it and I know as players we enjoy it, too."

PERSONAL IMPROVEMENTS:

"Just like different...as far as pass rush different....being more versatile as far as pass rush moves and stuff like that, getting a little more flexibility off the field....getting in stuff like...like I started yoga and stuff like that. Just being...taking care of my body. Ya know, this is my last year so I just wanna take care of my body more. Make sure I'm more durable, ya know ready for the upcoming season. Last year was so short it wasn't really a full season, so...uhm...that really....that was really, that was really the main thing."

by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc LLC

SHOUTOUTS: What a journey from Andre: we support and back you at all times my man, and if anyone else does too, CHECK OUT OUR TOP 10 TIGERS OF 2020 PIECE RIGHT HERE.

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