What needs to happen to finish up these games?

“Just need to be more consistent. We need to make big time plays and big time moments. We've done them in games, just not in the moments that we need to, but like that game, there's two sudden changes where we just have to keep them out of the end zone. We've done that plenty of times this year, but when the game's on the line, we have to be able to get that done.”

Is there anything you learned from that Maryland tape? Anything surprised you? Anything that you can change going forward?

“Yeah, I think you learned from every game. You learn a lot about your personnel. When you learn a lot about your scheme, you learn lot about just you as a defense, so just like every other game, there's stuff that we're going to correct, there's stuff that we're going to improve on and there's things that we're doing better that we need to make sure that we keep on improving on.”

What was your assessment of Kameryn Fountain and the snaps that he got?

“I thought he played well. He didn't get quite as many snaps as I hoped just because of the way that the game went, but he's a guy that over the course of year, sorry, over the course of the year, he's going to continue to get more and more reps.”

What did Elijah Hughes do to kind of earn those snaps in the game?

“He had a very good spring, very good camp. The reason he wasn't on the field earlier wasn't anything with what he was or wasn't doing. He just with some injuries that we've had, his number was called and when he's out there, I have full trust in him because I see him do it every day in practice and he offered us a little bit of juice, I thought.”

Then how'd he look on film?

“He looked good. Yeah, he looked good. Again, there's areas to improve, but he's a guy that, again, each week I think you're going to see his snaps go up.”

​If Kamari Ramsey can't play for whatever reason, how do you fill the void?

“Ask me next man up. So whether that's B Shaw, whether that's Zion, whether that's a corner, whether that's an inside backer, just kind of depending on what personnel packages that we have, we just want to make sure that we have the best 11 for who we are playing that week.”

What are you seeing out on Marcellus Williams at this point? The guy was here in the spring and ready for a bigger role down the line.

“He's been doing great. He had a very good spring, good camp. He's gotten bigger. That's the thing that impressed me the most was just how he played from a physicality standpoint, he's a tougher kid than you think. I think he's going to continue to grow and develop in this scheme.”

Another young guy, Desman Stephens, seems like he has a nose for the ball. He's had limited opportunities. He seems like he's around the ball. Is he showing that in Practice as well?

“He has been, yeah. He's been doing a great job in practice and he has a lot of versatility. He's been playing some Mike and he's also been playing some Will. He's a guy that is, again, he's going to keep on playing more and more and each week his role might be a little bit different, but he has a lot of upside. You can just see from his small snaps he's had in games that he has a ton of ability.”

How have these three defeats affected the morale of the defense?

“Afterwards, It's tough and then we come back in the next day, we watch the tape and then we put our heads right back down and then we try to stay the course and that's just keep on trying to find ways to improve every single week individually and as a group.”

What stands out about the running back you're facing this week? Does it remind you of anyone?

“He breaks a lot of tackles. Out of all the backs we played this year, he breaks the most tackles. He reminds me of Kareem Hunt.”

Just how important is the tackling when it comes to that or runner who can break tackle, be able to break those?

“It's huge. I think I saw some stat, I forget, but he has like 50 something broken tackles this year. It's going to be big as far as wrapping up, as far as gang tackling, as far as angles and pursuit. It's going to take all 11 guys every single, but because he's a tough guy to get down.”

Is there one area when you watch the film with the three straight losses, we need to be doing this better or is it all kind of cumulative?

“It's every game unfortunately has been something a little bit indifferent and we just have to continue to grow, learn and get those fixed ahead of time.”

Who can step up and help you in pass rushing department?

​“Last week I thought Kamari, Akili, and Greedy did a good job. We're going to keep on trying to mix it up and give different people opportunities and then some of those young guys I thought did good. I thought Elijah was in the backfield zone. I thought Kam, again, he didn't have a ton of snaps, but the snaps that he had, I thought he showed some flashes.”

In the first half. It seemed like you guys would be able to shut down the Maryland run. What is it going to take for you guys to have a complete game on defense rather than just one half?

“You just have to be consistent. You have to do your job over the course of the game and then as a staff, it started with me, had to make sure I'm doing what I can to make sure they're in the best position throughout the course of the entire game.”

Do you feel like that has been something you struggled with sometimes putting players in the best position?

​“I mean, anytime you lose, you obviously go back and there's a lot of stuff that you would do differently. I just try to learn from the games and just try to be as good as I can the next week.”

Coach Riley talked about the fact that he ease of guys just to do their job in the games, not trying to make that big hero hit play. What conversations have you had with players about that and how they need to achieve that late in games

“Same thing. I think sometimes when you get in those moments, especially when we've had kind of the endings that we've had, and then you're in that situation again, you feel like, man, I don't want this to happen again. I need to do something to make a play. Where in reality, you just need to do what you're supposed to do. That play and trust that the guy's going to do what he's supposed to do because again, we've made those plays plenty of times, but in crunch times when we have to do it again, it's just guys having to trust that, hey, the guy next to me is going to take care of his job. I just need take care of mine.”