Ron Brace quotes

As you saw from the pictures, the media sessions are a bit of a free for all. I asked plenty of questions but many of the quotes have already surfaced in other articles. So, for this post, I thought I would provide the bits you might not have read and in more of an open format.

Brace on playing a year without BJ Raji

“I think it benefited me a lot and it’s also going to benefit him too when he comes back. Teams aren’t just going to be able to focus on one. They are going to worry about both of us.”

Brace on improving BC's pass defense

“That was something we noticed we needed to work on during the season as time went on. We had good games against the pass and some bad ones. We also want to put more emphasis on the pass and put more pressure on the quarterback."

Brace on how Raji’s return will impact the defensive alignments

“I think it will be mostly four-man fronts, but we’ll go back and forth [with three man fronts]. Because usually they want to have me and BJ on the field, or me or BJ and one of our four linebackers out there. It’s just the skys the limit with what we might do. We’re just going to throw a bunch of curve balls."

Brace on the summer training

“Every year our workouts get more intense…especially this year. It’s going to help us out even more. As a defensive line unit, we’re trying to work on our explosion, getting off the line. We’re doing a lot of work on our pass defense.”

Brace on interviews and dealing with the media

"I like to talk. People say I am a quite guy but I don’t mind talking at all. "

Brace on replacing vocal leaders

"I feel as though being a leader is not just a person who’s rah rah. You can also lead by example. That’s what I feel our class is more of...we’re more leaders by example. The last class was full of a lot of talkers and the locker room was just crazy. You had Matt and JoLonn, Pruitt, Gos…any given guy out there was a vocal leader. Where I feel our class lead by example. We don’t want to get on you but we still want you to do your job."

Brace on the young defensive ends

“Newman: he’s going to be a little beast at D end. He shows urgency. Urgency to get to the ball. Holloway, coming fresh out of high school. He decided to leave a half a year of high school early to come and train with us. That just shows you how dedicated he is at trying to get better.

"They’re going to bring that pop, that rush that we need."

Brace on video games

“I can remember the first time I was in the game as a starter I called my family about because it cracked me up. They had me in the game at 335, I think it was, but the body type -- you couldn’t tell. They made me look like a defensive end, tall, six pack. I said, I am going to have to buy this game just so I could look at it."

Brace on Brian Toal coming back

"I think it is going to be a big difference. He’s a competitor. He works hard. You can tell by the look on his face that he’s been working hard. He’s a real smart player too. I remember back while watching film, he used to tell us about reads. He brings a lot of experience that will help us, especially the freshmen.