Q. You're coming off one of your better games. How do you feel like you made progress last week?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Like how do I feel I made --
Q. Yeah, like what did you do to make that kind of progress, and how do you feel like your game's coming around?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I feel like just making my practice habits better because practice habits equals game time performance. So like I would just take practice throughout the week more seriously and make sure, try to attack every rep and make it work out.
Q. What did you think of Ventrell last week?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Ventrell, he was playing all over the field, but that's how I've always known Ventrell. To me, I feel like he's one of the better linebackers in college football. I've always felt like that since I've gotten here.
Q. That was next level for him, though, wasn't it?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Uh-huh.
Q. What was he like -- I mean, could you just look at him and see in his eyes his level of focus and energy?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Throughout the week, he was very -- like he's always been a leader, but throughout the week he was like -- he's always been vocal, but he was way more vocal this week. He was just very energetic throughout the whole week.
Like right now if you try to talk to him, he doesn't have a voice, like he can't talk right now for real. He's a great leader when it comes to like just leading the team.
So when he leads, it just shows why he's a leader on the field.
Q. You guys got the quarterback a lot in the second half, particularly fourth quarter. What changed for you guys, and what does that mean going forward to have that kind of pass rush?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I don't know if anything changed. I just feel like we started to make plays in the second half. What was the second part?
Q. Just that pass rush going forward. How important is it going to be for you guys to generate that?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I feel like it's going to be very important because sacks really help during games. I feel like our pass rush is going to be very important. We have to work on that throughout the week and take every rep and make every rep of pass rush count, but yeah.
Q. What's the challenge of preparing for a team with a first year head coach? Everyone's done that against you guys this year, but this will be the first time you guys are doing it.
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Other than like the film that I watched yesterday, it was just film from this season. Other than that, we haven't really -- we look at it tomorrow.
I just feel like, when we watch film of teams, they dig really deep. One team had a new offensive coordinator, and they were going back to like when he was at three schools ago and things like that. Yeah, I know PT going to do some digging, figure out a game plan.
Q. At LSU for the defense last year against the run. Where have you guys improved there?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I think our defense now is really like stop the run and then pass because we really emphasize -- like versus LSU we were struggling against the counter play, and we really emphasized like being tight against the tackle and matching the tackles down and spilling the pullers and boxing pullers.
Q. What's been different about you guys in the red zone, do you think, as opposed to the whole field?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I feel like the scheme I feel like just the way PT draws it up and the personnel we put in there, everybody we put in there has a different skill set.
Like I'm not even in goal line plays, but everybody in there that is in there has certain skill set to help us out in that area.
Q. You guys are 4-2, and when you look back, there's a handful of plays that could have been made, you could be 6-0. Do you guys talk about that, and what do you say to each other when you think about it?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: We talk about it amongst like teammates and things. It's like a hard pill to swallow, but we realize how small mistakes can be big differences, and we just realize that, whenever we -- like upcoming games, we just have to be better and stop making so many mistakes because the two games that we did lose, it wasn't just like -- I feel like we beat ourselves more than the other team beat us.
Q. Does it all go back to practice habits? You talked about that earlier. Does beating these, overcoming these little mistakes go back to practice habits?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: It does. It does. I feel like these past few weeks as a team, I feel like we've been practicing harder as a team. So, yeah, practice habits do a hundred percent go into the game.
Q. What's the level of frustration when teams convert on third and long?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: It's very high. That's an area that I feel like we've got to emphasize getting better on this week because last week we had too many instances where we had them in third and ten or longer and they converted.
That's a big thing that help helps you win a lot of games. You've got to get off the field on third down. This week we've got to really focus on getting better on that.
Q. What coach is saying about that, and how do they react to that? I'm sure they're not happy.
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Of course they're not happy about that. They just tell us we have to get off the field on third down. It's not like people aren't there. It's just we also have to work on tackling. We also have to work on tackling.
Q. Is tackling the common issue on the third and longs that allowed those conversions? What was it you saw that was common on those plays?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I think on two of the ones I seen, I can remember, it was two open field tackles that could be made. The other ones, I can't recall.
Q. They talk about leverage. Is that happening too where guys aren't like getting it flowing to the right side of the defense. You know what I'm talking about?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Whenever the ball gets past the front seven, I don't know too much about that.
Q. Played you two years ago here, but you had a pretty good view. What do you remember of that game?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I remember us -- I just remember we weren't doing good. We weren't playing good enough defensively. They scored like 45 points. Even though we still could have won, we played a very bad defensive game.
Q. What's the origin of your name, Princely?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Nigerian.
Q. Princely is royalty?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: My dad just did that. I have four brothers. My big brother is Prince. I'm Princely. My little brother's name is Prince Will. And the last one is Princeton.
Q. What was your response -- whenever there's a depth chart change, the players pout or they said, man, I'm getting my spot back. What was that week like before you earned that starting job back?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I like that question. I was just focused. My coach, he talked to me. He pulled me aside and obviously talked to me. It's not like he just did it. It was for a reason.
After that week and beyond, I changed my practice habits and came to practice ready to work and on my A game, and that has shown throughout the past two weeks in the game.
Q. Peterson?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: No, Coach Spencer.
Q. Is that cool that they addressed it? Versus just you see it and you have to make your own assumptions. You get that direct face to face?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, I like how he just pulled me to tell me. It left a small, little better taste in my mouth, but it is what it is. Like I have to make the decision to go hard and change that within myself.
Q. What did he say after three TFLs this week?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: He was telling me, he said, I told you what happens when you practice better. Like sometimes I would just go to practice and just be -- not -- like now I practice like I'm playing the game. Like it's not practice, you've got to -- you're practicing for the game, so I practice like I'm playing the game.
He was just telling me, I told you that's what happens. He feels like, if I keep doing that, I can keep progressing.
Q. Have you seen the video of you wiping out the coach?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, I did see that.
Q. What did that make you think? You have to calm it down or him calm it down next time?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: He keeps talking to me about it. He almost knocked me down too. I don't know if you all saw it, but I fell backwards too. I've probably got to jump to the side next time because I gave him my chest like that.
Q. What's your age?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I'm 20.
Q. Is Princeton really that little?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Princeton is in eighth grade. He's just the youngest.
Q. You guys are facing a mobile quarterback this week. What do you have to do off the edge to be successful against a guy like that?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I feel like get off is a big -- it's like the biggest thing in a quarterback like that because you have to get there fast. Also, I feel like his first intention is not to throw like he wants to be a quarterback, but he gets out there once he sees something.
So I feel like just get off is a main factor in that.
Q. Have you felt like you guys have done a good enough job, or how would you evaluate your containability so far against mobile quarterbacks?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: So when we played Utah, I know -- what other mobile quarterbacks? When we played Utah and Tennessee, I know versus Utah there was a play where I rushed off the edge and he seeped through the V-gap. I just know, if I'd have got off the ball faster, I probably would have won that rep and got there.
There's another play where I bull rushed, but instead of keeping my outside arm free, I bull rushed between hands and he ran outside of me. It's just small things like that that have to be corrected.
Like versus Tennessee, there was a play where I did an inside move and he ran outside. It's just small issues like that that need to be corrected when rushing a mobile quarterback.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports