Q. Jaydon, Coach Sark spoke in the middle of the year about how outside zone was something y'all went back to the drawing board and tried to make a lot better. Obviously the offensive line has their responsibilities. What did the running back room need to do in order to make that play work, and how have y'all put that into practice.
JAYDON BLUE: It starts with practice. We emphasize being better outside zone starting with us having better eyes. So I think last week, we showed when we had better eyes we were able to run outside zone effectively.
Q. There's been a lot of talk about the Arizona State running back who had a great year. Does that serve as any motivation to you and Tre, knowing there's a great back on the other side that you want to show what y'all can do?
JAYDON BLUE: First off he's a very good back. He has everything you need in a running back. He he has great balance and he's able to make guys miss and he's very strong. Me and Tre knows what's at stake. We know what we're capable of doing, and our focus is just being the best version of ourselves.
Q. How important has it been for you and Quintrevion get comfortable with having a more increased role this season as the season has gone along and just more comfortable with your roles?
JAYDON BLUE: As the season went on, I would say towards the middle end, me and him started getting a lot more comfortable whether that's in the run game or in the passing game. I think you could really start to see us take off in a big way towards the end of the year. I'll give Coach Choice and Coach Sark a lot of credit. They stayed on us to make sure we could run the ball because we know in order for this offense to go, we have to be able to run the ball.
Q. When you guys lost Cedric Baxter and Christian in the preseason, Gunnar and Jake Majors came into the running back room and said, all right, who is going to step up. What do you remember about that conversation? Did you take it as a personal challenge?
JAYDON BLUE: I did, of course. But with them going down, we know that we have a lot of talent in that room. We knew guys was going to step up in a big way and to start with me, me being the older guy in the room, I was trying my best to pick up the young guys and bring them along with me because I knew in order for us to be successful that we was going to need the younger guys. I think the younger guys have done a good job of picking up that role and doing their best at that role in order for us to be successful.
Q. Did you ever find out how fast you were running on that 77-yarder, and second to that is, the times that you were carrying the ball around, how much more confidence do you have? Because I'm looking at the tape and you have a reflex running through the line where your arm comes up and covers the ball. Curious your confidence level?
JAYDON BLUE: Well, to answer the first question, I only get 21 miles per hour which is not really fast for me.
To answer the second question, carrying the ball around definitely put more confidence in me. Because when you walk around with the ball, you notice the instinct of putting the other hand over the ball and I've done doing that a lot more, whether that's in practice or in drills that we do or in the position room.
I think that has helped me a lot and gave me more confidence when I'm running the ball. It's helping me play faster. I think carrying the ball was something big for me.
Q. What has Coach Sark said this week to keep the focus after the big win over Clemson and going on the road and facing a team that you're favored to beat by two touchdowns?
JAYDON BLUE: The first thing, he always tells us we have three targets and three bullets. That means we have to take it one week at a time. We have three games to go be national champs which is our end goal. That's all he really has to say for this team for what our end goal is.
We have a lot of guys that knows what this team is capable of, and what this team wants to go do. So you know, that's just something he emphasized to us to not look too far ahead and focus on the task at hand.
Q. Going back to Georgia, can you talk about the impact Coach Choice has had on your life?
JAYDON BLUE: Yeah, he's had a huge impact on me, not only in football but off the field. That's a guy that I can go to whenever I'm going through something and we can talk about life and he's just somebody I can lean on and with football he's helped me develop in a huge way, whether that's teaching me how to carry the ball or teaching me how to run or teaching me how to run more precise routes. He's probably one of the best coaches that I've had in my football career, and you know, I could admit that he's probably made a huge impact on me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports