It's rivalry week here in Coral Gables.
The Miami Hurricanes will take on the Florida State Seminoles at Hard Rock Stadium this Saturday at approximately 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Before we get to the action, let's see what Miami players Elija Lofton, Ryan Rodriguez, Chase Smith, and Zechariah Poyser had to say ahead of the matchup:
TE Elija Lofton
On Florida State: Every week is a blessing to be able to play a game and go out there and play a team. Florida State's a good team. They got good players both sides of the ball, and defense they got a lot of good players. So it's just happy to go 1-0 and go out there and play a game this weekend.
On the importance of Miami’s 1-0 mentality after seeing Texas lose to Oklahoma: Yeah, it just totally made us focus more. It's about going 1-0 every day. It's about us, the team. It's about what we can do to get better every day, every play, every practice, every meeting we do. We try to go 1-0. It's about the team. It's about the youth. So we just trying to stay with our goals and stay with what we got to do to go 1-0.
On improving his blocking after slimming down this offseason: It starts about playing on your championship weight into a good playing weight, and I just believe that getting down was the best way for me to get my playing championship weight to go 1-0 and do what I got to do as a team. Whatever the team needs me to do, coach Dawson needs me to do.
On Miami’s approach to the FSU rivalry: Yeah, every game is a game we play, and this game is just another game that we have. We're just happy to go 1-0, go out there and go play. We love the game of football. We know it's a rivalry. We just want to be happy. We're just happy to just get to go out there and play a game that we love.
On Miami’s long touchdown drives to close out Clemson: It's really fun. It's just about settling down and being where our feet is and going one play at a time and, you know, making plays, like believing in our brothers, believing in the O-line, believing in the quarterback and our receivers, making plays and doing their job.
On building trust with Darian Mensah: Darian is a good guy. He's a great leader, great person to be around. It's just getting repetition and being in the right spot, doing my job and just being in the right place at the right time and having people that believe in me and trust in me to go make those plays.
DB Zechariah Poyser
On the impact of getting injured people back: We got a lot of stuff going, working on a lot of things that we need to work on, such as tackling, communication, and a lot of those things. But having those guys back, is obviously a blessing. Here at University of Miami, we got a lot of versatile, talented guys, and but having those guys back is definitely a blessing.
On Clemson catching Miami off guard with its fourth-and-1 fake snap: They did a thing where, like, they'll fake like they're trying to get a call from the sideline, and, usually I got a habit of trying to check to get a new call, but, that was a good idea by them. But they definitely caught me off guard, and I definitely got to be locked in, because that's something we practice, and that's something I have to be locked in for.
On Miami’s versatility in the secondary: I think it's definitely a blessing. But I've been seeing it, we've been cross-training throughout the summer, throughout the spring. That's something I've been seeing, but, it’s like game reps. So seeing everybody get those game reps and keep getting experience, it's definitely amazing for the long run. I think it's definitely a blessing, but that's something I've been seeing, where the coaches do a great job of having us move all around. So, yeah, I think it's definitely a blessing.
On Dylan Day and Ryan Mack's growth: I've seen a lot of growth since I first met those guys. I've seen from Dylan Day, I seen him come up constantly in the film room, getting in with the plays and flying around and doing a lot of great things. So, seeing him, it has been great. And with Ryan Mack, he came off injury, and came in. He was another guy up there in the film room with us, watching constantly and getting better. So, those guys, I've been seeing, those guys great players. I've been seeing that from day one.
On playing in the Miami-FSU rivalry: Obviously, it's an exciting game. I grew up a Miami fan, so I know all about it. But it was honestly an exciting game, just being there and playing in that environment, I can remember it was just a lot of fun and just being in that rivalry. The energy was great, and I'm blessed for the opportunity to do it again.
On what Miami can take away from Oklahoma upsetting Texas: I think since game one, we always said anything can happen. So we approach every game the same. That does kind of show that, anything can happen on any given night. We prepare the same as we would for any team. But that's definitely something that was eye-opening.
On what he has seen from Florida State on film: A lot of impressive playmakers. They have some of the great defenders in the country with the running back and the quarterback who do a lot of stuff with his legs. But I've seen a lot of good stuff from those guys, explosive guys, fast guys on the outside and inside, receivers.
LB Chase Smith
On Florida State’s offense: Yeah, they definitely have a lot of explosive guys, a lot of very talented guys, and they're very focused and very determined. And we're just going to go about our process, trying to be 1-0. We prepare very well.
On the fourth down stop against Clemson: I like to take and build from each and every play, but this week we're really focused on being 1-0 and kind of going forward, moving forward, kind of progressing throughout the week.
On FSU QB Ashton Daniels: He's very well at extending plays. He's able to get out of the pocket, make plays, open it up for his guys on the receiving core, and we have to prepare very well to be 1-0.
On the run stopping defense: Kind of being prepared and communicating, probably the biggest thing. Our staff is just amazing on getting us prepared for each and every game. So it's just about being able to take it from the film room and applying it on the field, and it makes a lot of things easier when you got them boys up front. So that's pretty much the main thing.
On Ezekiel Marcelin: Ezekiel has always been very locked in, and coming from a very prestigious high school as far as the sport, he's been had it in him, and he's been so well helping us. And he had a little ding up, but he is resilient in every aspect. So he's ready to get back on the field, and he's been doing his thing on each and every phase. So very excited for him.
On blocking out the outside noise ahead of the rivalry game: Yeah, this is probably the biggest game to be able to kind of hone in on the details and focus on exactly what we have to do to win. And there's a lot of hype around it, history around it, and you're playing for a lot of voices. And that's the thing. We just got to go out there and represent, and it's just about staying focused for real, tuning out all the extra noise.
OL Ryan Rodriguez
On where his toughness comes from: Just believing myself and my family believing in me as well. I just never gave up on myself, and I knew that I could do it. I just had some adversity I had to overcome, and it wasn't easy. But I just stayed the course. Coach Mirabal stayed the course with me, believed in me, and now we're here.
On his growth and the offensive line: Appreciate that. I feel like I'm still not even nowhere near where I feel like I can be. Coach Mirabal pushes me very hard, and I feel like that's what clicks, just constant trying to get better and hunger for improvement. And I feel like, thank you for your appreciation, but I feel like I still am not, remotely where I can be. There's still a lot of work to do, still a lot of work to be done.
On overcoming past injuries and earning his starting opportunity: The only way I can show my appreciation and how much it means to me is just by giving it my all and working as hard as I possibly can. There's no benefit in just sitting here and basking in anything. As I said I feel like I still have a lot to improve, and we as a group have so much to improve on. We still have not played to our full potential, and we still have a lot to prove.
On what he has saw from the FSU defensive front and what the rivalry means: They're tough up front. They're tough in the linebackers. They got very physical group. They're well-coached. They got good scheme. They're veteran. I know some of those guys from down here, Daniel Lyons, Omar Graham. Those guys are local kids from down here, and I used to play against them in high school. So I know they got some good guys over there. We got to take them serious as any opponent.
On where he wants to improve: Proving the run game still, we still have a lot of improvement personally that I can make there, that can make it better. I want to get better at my leadership. I want to get better at my pass pro, just all-around game, just continuing to be a better player. I was talking to Brockermeyer the other day, and he said, There's no finished product. So just literally continuing to keep working.
The Miami Hurricanes will take on the Florida State Seminoles at Hard Rock Stadium this Saturday at approximately 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Before we get to the action, let's see what Miami players Elija Lofton, Ryan Rodriguez, Chase Smith, and Zechariah Poyser had to say ahead of the matchup:
TE Elija Lofton
On Florida State: Every week is a blessing to be able to play a game and go out there and play a team. Florida State's a good team. They got good players both sides of the ball, and defense they got a lot of good players. So it's just happy to go 1-0 and go out there and play a game this weekend.
On the importance of Miami’s 1-0 mentality after seeing Texas lose to Oklahoma: Yeah, it just totally made us focus more. It's about going 1-0 every day. It's about us, the team. It's about what we can do to get better every day, every play, every practice, every meeting we do. We try to go 1-0. It's about the team. It's about the youth. So we just trying to stay with our goals and stay with what we got to do to go 1-0.
On improving his blocking after slimming down this offseason: It starts about playing on your championship weight into a good playing weight, and I just believe that getting down was the best way for me to get my playing championship weight to go 1-0 and do what I got to do as a team. Whatever the team needs me to do, coach Dawson needs me to do.
On Miami’s approach to the FSU rivalry: Yeah, every game is a game we play, and this game is just another game that we have. We're just happy to go 1-0, go out there and go play. We love the game of football. We know it's a rivalry. We just want to be happy. We're just happy to just get to go out there and play a game that we love.
On Miami’s long touchdown drives to close out Clemson: It's really fun. It's just about settling down and being where our feet is and going one play at a time and, you know, making plays, like believing in our brothers, believing in the O-line, believing in the quarterback and our receivers, making plays and doing their job.
On building trust with Darian Mensah: Darian is a good guy. He's a great leader, great person to be around. It's just getting repetition and being in the right spot, doing my job and just being in the right place at the right time and having people that believe in me and trust in me to go make those plays.
DB Zechariah Poyser
On the impact of getting injured people back: We got a lot of stuff going, working on a lot of things that we need to work on, such as tackling, communication, and a lot of those things. But having those guys back, is obviously a blessing. Here at University of Miami, we got a lot of versatile, talented guys, and but having those guys back is definitely a blessing.
On Clemson catching Miami off guard with its fourth-and-1 fake snap: They did a thing where, like, they'll fake like they're trying to get a call from the sideline, and, usually I got a habit of trying to check to get a new call, but, that was a good idea by them. But they definitely caught me off guard, and I definitely got to be locked in, because that's something we practice, and that's something I have to be locked in for.
On Miami’s versatility in the secondary: I think it's definitely a blessing. But I've been seeing it, we've been cross-training throughout the summer, throughout the spring. That's something I've been seeing, but, it’s like game reps. So seeing everybody get those game reps and keep getting experience, it's definitely amazing for the long run. I think it's definitely a blessing, but that's something I've been seeing, where the coaches do a great job of having us move all around. So, yeah, I think it's definitely a blessing.
On Dylan Day and Ryan Mack's growth: I've seen a lot of growth since I first met those guys. I've seen from Dylan Day, I seen him come up constantly in the film room, getting in with the plays and flying around and doing a lot of great things. So, seeing him, it has been great. And with Ryan Mack, he came off injury, and came in. He was another guy up there in the film room with us, watching constantly and getting better. So, those guys, I've been seeing, those guys great players. I've been seeing that from day one.
On playing in the Miami-FSU rivalry: Obviously, it's an exciting game. I grew up a Miami fan, so I know all about it. But it was honestly an exciting game, just being there and playing in that environment, I can remember it was just a lot of fun and just being in that rivalry. The energy was great, and I'm blessed for the opportunity to do it again.
On what Miami can take away from Oklahoma upsetting Texas: I think since game one, we always said anything can happen. So we approach every game the same. That does kind of show that, anything can happen on any given night. We prepare the same as we would for any team. But that's definitely something that was eye-opening.
On what he has seen from Florida State on film: A lot of impressive playmakers. They have some of the great defenders in the country with the running back and the quarterback who do a lot of stuff with his legs. But I've seen a lot of good stuff from those guys, explosive guys, fast guys on the outside and inside, receivers.
LB Chase Smith
On Florida State’s offense: Yeah, they definitely have a lot of explosive guys, a lot of very talented guys, and they're very focused and very determined. And we're just going to go about our process, trying to be 1-0. We prepare very well.
On the fourth down stop against Clemson: I like to take and build from each and every play, but this week we're really focused on being 1-0 and kind of going forward, moving forward, kind of progressing throughout the week.
On FSU QB Ashton Daniels: He's very well at extending plays. He's able to get out of the pocket, make plays, open it up for his guys on the receiving core, and we have to prepare very well to be 1-0.
On the run stopping defense: Kind of being prepared and communicating, probably the biggest thing. Our staff is just amazing on getting us prepared for each and every game. So it's just about being able to take it from the film room and applying it on the field, and it makes a lot of things easier when you got them boys up front. So that's pretty much the main thing.
On Ezekiel Marcelin: Ezekiel has always been very locked in, and coming from a very prestigious high school as far as the sport, he's been had it in him, and he's been so well helping us. And he had a little ding up, but he is resilient in every aspect. So he's ready to get back on the field, and he's been doing his thing on each and every phase. So very excited for him.
On blocking out the outside noise ahead of the rivalry game: Yeah, this is probably the biggest game to be able to kind of hone in on the details and focus on exactly what we have to do to win. And there's a lot of hype around it, history around it, and you're playing for a lot of voices. And that's the thing. We just got to go out there and represent, and it's just about staying focused for real, tuning out all the extra noise.
OL Ryan Rodriguez
On where his toughness comes from: Just believing myself and my family believing in me as well. I just never gave up on myself, and I knew that I could do it. I just had some adversity I had to overcome, and it wasn't easy. But I just stayed the course. Coach Mirabal stayed the course with me, believed in me, and now we're here.
On his growth and the offensive line: Appreciate that. I feel like I'm still not even nowhere near where I feel like I can be. Coach Mirabal pushes me very hard, and I feel like that's what clicks, just constant trying to get better and hunger for improvement. And I feel like, thank you for your appreciation, but I feel like I still am not, remotely where I can be. There's still a lot of work to do, still a lot of work to be done.
On overcoming past injuries and earning his starting opportunity: The only way I can show my appreciation and how much it means to me is just by giving it my all and working as hard as I possibly can. There's no benefit in just sitting here and basking in anything. As I said I feel like I still have a lot to improve, and we as a group have so much to improve on. We still have not played to our full potential, and we still have a lot to prove.
On what he has saw from the FSU defensive front and what the rivalry means: They're tough up front. They're tough in the linebackers. They got very physical group. They're well-coached. They got good scheme. They're veteran. I know some of those guys from down here, Daniel Lyons, Omar Graham. Those guys are local kids from down here, and I used to play against them in high school. So I know they got some good guys over there. We got to take them serious as any opponent.
On where he wants to improve: Proving the run game still, we still have a lot of improvement personally that I can make there, that can make it better. I want to get better at my leadership. I want to get better at my pass pro, just all-around game, just continuing to be a better player. I was talking to Brockermeyer the other day, and he said, There's no finished product. So just literally continuing to keep working.
