Q. Todd, you guys spent a lot of last year looking for someone to replace Carl Bradford, and I remember you telling me earlier in the year that you thought Antonio might be that guy. Just his development at that position. Where has he gone from early in the season to where he is now?
COACH GRAHAM: Phenomenal. I don't know that we've had a guy, Doug, in the four years that has adapted and improved as much as he has in one season. He's playing his best football -- he's played his two best games of the year in the last two weeks. So he's gotten better and better and better. Just a very versatile player.
Tony's a linebacker. He's obviously -- we had to get creative with that position to really adapt it to him. He's done remarkable. He really -- I mean, I think Salamo and Jordan are leaders, but Tony has really emerged as the intensity of our defense. Really he ignites them. He really does.
I think he's been -- he's an All Pac-12 performer defensively and has been phenomenal. You look at the numbers that he's put up is pretty impressive. Not only that, I mean, I think he's been a big part of why we've led the league in sacks by almost ten. I think we have almost ten more than everybody else, TFLs. Finally, in the last two weeks we started rolling out those take-aways.
Tony's had a remarkable year and a guy that, I think, has really positioned himself to play a bunch more football. He's a heck of a player. He's a guy that can play inside or outside linebacker, and now he's shown this year he can land on the end of the line of scrimmage and really play well. So I don't think we've had anybody that's developed and improved any more than what he has.
Q. What's his upside?
COACH GRAHAM: I think he's just getting started. We were really laboring over would we move Christian there or Antonio? We were trying to figure out what we were going to do there.
I'll tell you something else he's done a good job of. He's done a good job of helping develop Ismael. Tony's been a really solid -- he's a great human being, great person. His upside is he's only getting started, when you improve that dramatically the way he has, and then just his development, just his awareness of the game, and just some of the plays he makes, he's really been impressive. Each week, it's getting better and better and better, and that's happened throughout the whole season, but it's been a dramatic jump in the last three or four weeks.
Q. Todd, this was a big win, obviously, your rival game, Senior Day. Usually, this is it. This is the end of the regular season. Now you have to go on the road. Just as a coach, what are you concerned about as far as emotionally getting over that and move on to the next one?
COACH GRAHAM: You've got to -- if I had my preference, I wouldn't do that. I would love for our game with Arizona to be the last game of the year every year, but it is what it is. My job is to coach and get our team prepared.
Obviously, we've got to get some guys healed up. It was very physical. Our guys played very physical. We dominated the game physically in all three phases. We were really, really physical. So we've got to get our guys healed up there and be smart this week in how we work.
Then we had a great meeting this morning. And that was my whole deal, I told our staff, we need to be the most organized we've been. We need to be focused because we've got to put this behind us, which is a big deal. That game was a big deal to our program, to our seniors.
I always tell them forever that 2015 seniors, they got it done in the game that counts the most, and that's something they can always be proud of. Now, great, let's move on. Let's go to the next game because we need to get this seventh win and then get the eighth win. So we've got two games left for these guys. I want to enjoy every moment that we have.
But the most important thing right now, we're playing the best quarterback we've played all year long. I think we're playing the best receiving corps maybe we've played all year long, with maybe the exception of USC. I think these guys are very much in the same regard as far as their talent at receiver. So they're very, very capable of scoring points and got a lot of respect for Coach Dykes. They're a very well coached team. They've lost a lot of close games.
Two very, very good football teams going at it. It's going to be their Senior Day. It's going to be their last home game. So they're going to have a lot of those emotions. And they're coming off their big rivalry game with Stanford. This is all about who wants it. We've got to want it and get back up, and I know these guys will rise to the occasion.
Q. Coach, it was obviously unfortunate Jordan wasn't able to play in the Territorial Cup. But I'm curious, what was his demeanor like on the sidelines and how he helped the younger guys in the secondary during the game?
COACH GRAHAM: He was phenomenal. He was talking to them in between every series, and he had a head set on, so he knew the calls. Just coaching them up and was very much involved and was a great asset to those guys during the game.
That's one of the things -- I pointed out in our press conference that I was just really taken back by was the play of Solomon Means, and he was talking to -- Solomon's never played safety here, and he just didn't play, he played really, really well. After watching that film, I sure wish I had thought about that a lot earlier because he is a heck of a safety. He'll continue to play there this week and in the Bowl game.
Jordan was just phenomenal in talking to him and talking to Kareem and coaching those guys up and keeping them calm. Jordan does a great -- he even works on me a little bit. He tries to keep me calm too. He's the only one that will say anything to me when I'm mad.
COACH GRAHAM: Phenomenal. I don't know that we've had a guy, Doug, in the four years that has adapted and improved as much as he has in one season. He's playing his best football -- he's played his two best games of the year in the last two weeks. So he's gotten better and better and better. Just a very versatile player.
Tony's a linebacker. He's obviously -- we had to get creative with that position to really adapt it to him. He's done remarkable. He really -- I mean, I think Salamo and Jordan are leaders, but Tony has really emerged as the intensity of our defense. Really he ignites them. He really does.
I think he's been -- he's an All Pac-12 performer defensively and has been phenomenal. You look at the numbers that he's put up is pretty impressive. Not only that, I mean, I think he's been a big part of why we've led the league in sacks by almost ten. I think we have almost ten more than everybody else, TFLs. Finally, in the last two weeks we started rolling out those take-aways.
Tony's had a remarkable year and a guy that, I think, has really positioned himself to play a bunch more football. He's a heck of a player. He's a guy that can play inside or outside linebacker, and now he's shown this year he can land on the end of the line of scrimmage and really play well. So I don't think we've had anybody that's developed and improved any more than what he has.
Q. What's his upside?
COACH GRAHAM: I think he's just getting started. We were really laboring over would we move Christian there or Antonio? We were trying to figure out what we were going to do there.
I'll tell you something else he's done a good job of. He's done a good job of helping develop Ismael. Tony's been a really solid -- he's a great human being, great person. His upside is he's only getting started, when you improve that dramatically the way he has, and then just his development, just his awareness of the game, and just some of the plays he makes, he's really been impressive. Each week, it's getting better and better and better, and that's happened throughout the whole season, but it's been a dramatic jump in the last three or four weeks.
Q. Todd, this was a big win, obviously, your rival game, Senior Day. Usually, this is it. This is the end of the regular season. Now you have to go on the road. Just as a coach, what are you concerned about as far as emotionally getting over that and move on to the next one?
COACH GRAHAM: You've got to -- if I had my preference, I wouldn't do that. I would love for our game with Arizona to be the last game of the year every year, but it is what it is. My job is to coach and get our team prepared.
Obviously, we've got to get some guys healed up. It was very physical. Our guys played very physical. We dominated the game physically in all three phases. We were really, really physical. So we've got to get our guys healed up there and be smart this week in how we work.
Then we had a great meeting this morning. And that was my whole deal, I told our staff, we need to be the most organized we've been. We need to be focused because we've got to put this behind us, which is a big deal. That game was a big deal to our program, to our seniors.
I always tell them forever that 2015 seniors, they got it done in the game that counts the most, and that's something they can always be proud of. Now, great, let's move on. Let's go to the next game because we need to get this seventh win and then get the eighth win. So we've got two games left for these guys. I want to enjoy every moment that we have.
But the most important thing right now, we're playing the best quarterback we've played all year long. I think we're playing the best receiving corps maybe we've played all year long, with maybe the exception of USC. I think these guys are very much in the same regard as far as their talent at receiver. So they're very, very capable of scoring points and got a lot of respect for Coach Dykes. They're a very well coached team. They've lost a lot of close games.
Two very, very good football teams going at it. It's going to be their Senior Day. It's going to be their last home game. So they're going to have a lot of those emotions. And they're coming off their big rivalry game with Stanford. This is all about who wants it. We've got to want it and get back up, and I know these guys will rise to the occasion.
Q. Coach, it was obviously unfortunate Jordan wasn't able to play in the Territorial Cup. But I'm curious, what was his demeanor like on the sidelines and how he helped the younger guys in the secondary during the game?
COACH GRAHAM: He was phenomenal. He was talking to them in between every series, and he had a head set on, so he knew the calls. Just coaching them up and was very much involved and was a great asset to those guys during the game.
That's one of the things -- I pointed out in our press conference that I was just really taken back by was the play of Solomon Means, and he was talking to -- Solomon's never played safety here, and he just didn't play, he played really, really well. After watching that film, I sure wish I had thought about that a lot earlier because he is a heck of a safety. He'll continue to play there this week and in the Bowl game.
Jordan was just phenomenal in talking to him and talking to Kareem and coaching those guys up and keeping them calm. Jordan does a great -- he even works on me a little bit. He tries to keep me calm too. He's the only one that will say anything to me when I'm mad.
