Q. What is your role as a leader this final month of the regular season?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I would say just to keep our heads up. We've been through adversity this season, but I don't feel like we should go about the season just moping around, just coming here just to be here. I feel like we should still play like we have something to play for. We shouldn't put our heads down just because we took the loss that we took. We should still keep fighting for the rest of the season to try to win out.
Q. Bowl eligibility, building for the future, NFL prospects. What are some of the things...
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Really, yeah, bowl eligibility for sure. I would just say win. We have three losses, you're not playing football just to play football. Like, we're coming here so we can win games. I would just say winning for the rest of the season week after week.
Q. (Question about the defense.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I feel like we've improved from last year. I feel like we've played at a really high level some games, and other games very average.
I feel like once we can all piece it together, Tennessee was a really good game, I feel like we can be one of the best defenses in the country.
Q. What is the root of some of that inconsistency?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: To be honest, I don't know.
Q. You guys are playing a lot of young guys.
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: That could be. It could be that. Experience matters. We have a really young defense. Those players are really young. Yeah, even when I was a young player, I didn't realize it until I got older, but experience is a factor. So, yeah, it could be that we have a lot of young guys.
Q. You play a lot better at the Swamp. What energizes you guys at home?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, the crowd for sure energizes us. I don't know. I will just say that no matter where we play, we do come with the same mindset, but it's just about execution. We just got to execute.
Q. People don't like the final scores from this year and last year, almost identical, maybe wonder what's changed. What makes this team different, show progress?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I think the characters of the players on the team. Everybody stays positive. When we went down big at halftime, we was in the locker room, everybody was still staying positive. I think it's the brotherhood of the team. Everybody is close together. We stick together.
Q. (Question about T.J.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: T.J., he's a young guy, but he shows up big-time in the games. They've been finding ways to put him on the field. He does good in whatever they try to put him at. He has a bright future here.
Q. Is that play like that a reminder to pursue?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, for sure. Coach Napier brought it up in the meeting. If he wasn't there, that guy could have scored a touchdown. You always got to run to the ball.
Q. Do you pay attention to the statistics nationally where the defense ranks? Outcome aside, are you improved by the improvements you've made?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, for sure. Coach Armstrong, he'll bring it up sometimes like where we are as a defense. He doesn't bring it up just to talk about statistics, but he brings it up to show us how good we've played, how bad we played, how good we can be. So yeah.
Q. (No microphone.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: He comes with the same energy every day. After a loss, especially, he still comes fired up. He comes ready to reset. He's always already to reset and start from square one.
Even in a win, we still not trying to be comfortable. He comes in and points out the imperfections because he wants us to be great.
Q. How difficult is it not to take a team lightly like Arkansas?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: It's really important. Coach Napier had brought up that their record isn't the best, but they're still a team that can win. They've had a lot of tight games and things like that.
We always got to approach every team... Like after the Utah game, I told the team that we got to play every week like we playing the championship game no matter who we're playing. We can't come in, We playing Georgia this week, we got to play extra hard. We have to play with that same mentality every week.
Q. How important is the upcoming month, young guys, early stages of a rebuild?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I think it's very important. If the beginning half of the season, it's been up and down, hasn't been great, but we can still finish the season off with just three losses. I wouldn't say it would be a successful season, but it will definitely be a much better season than the last two seasons that we have.
I think it will be, feel me, a big, big step.
Q. Your season personally? What has it been like for you?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, it's been a little frustrating. I've seen posts saying I have the highest win percentage or one of the highest win percentages in college football. I get to the quarterback. As soon as I get there, he just throws the ball away. So many quarterback hits. It's a little frustrating.
Feel me, I'm trusting in God. As the season goes, we have a lot more games left.
Q. Do you feel like you're playing well at the Jack spot, still being effective?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, for sure. Like, this is the first season I'm playing this position, so I'm new at it. I'm still learning just a little bit, but I do feel like I'm playing well. I feel like Georgia was one of my better games. I feel like I'm going to elevate throughout the season.
Yeah, I still feel like, even though I'm not getting sacks, I've been affecting the quarterback throughout the games. I remember I missed one versus Vanderbilt. I was a little frustrated. Armstrong told me, he was like, You stood out on the field more than somebody who would have had two sacks because of how much effect I was having on the quarterback.
Q. As a team, how do you put a finger on the pass-rush numbers? Guys playing a quick game against you or...
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Can you repeat the first part?
Q. As a team, how do you put your finger on the sack totals? Is it a lot of teams playing quick on you, getting rid of the ball quickly?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: It's a couple of those. Tennessee, they have a lot of passes like that where the quarterback wouldn't even drop back. He'd throw the ball really quickly.
We just got to get to the quarterback. Some games I get chipped and things like that. But it's not an excuse.
Q. (No microphone.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: It's been very helpful. It's helpful especially with T.J. that Coach Mike P trust him. Maybe it will be two drives into the game, Mike P, he'll throw T.J. out there just so I can be fresh for third down. It was very, very helpful.
Q. (No microphone.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: About time, man. We've been waiting on those for a while.
Also Coach Napier was telling us the message behind it, the veterans and things like that. We don't have our last names on the back of our jerseys, we have some of the core values of the different sections of the Army.
Q. What are some of the things you've had to learn? What has been some of the nuances that most people didn't realize you had to learn at this new position?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: First off, I had to get comfortable with standing up. At first, I didn't think I would be able to get a good get-off while standing up off the line. After spring, I'm really comfortable in it. Sometimes, because Armstrong tells me get in the three-point stance on third down, I'm good in the two-point.
The dropping, like the coverages, I've had to learn about that. Before, when I played in what we call the F here, mainly when we dropped, it would be one drop. Now I have buzz, bang the buzz, four to first. I really had to learn to maneuver around the field when I have to drop into coverage, especially eye discipline.
Q. Players seem to get psyched over black uniforms. What is it about that?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: I don't know. It's a nice look. It's a really nice look. Tennessee had the black ones. Just looks really cool. I wish it was a night game, but...
Q. How much are you blocking out invalid criticism?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Not much. I try. Coach Hocke, I love him. He really tries to talk to me about it. He tells me lions don't something with the opinion of sheep. I really been trying to work at it. Even though it does look like I'm not a little bit, like, there's more stuff that I see that I don't respond to, more than stuff that I do respond to.
Yeah, I'm learning. It's really hard because it's not like I just want to, you feel me, go at people. I feel like I have to be defending myself sometimes because people looking with a blind eye. But, yeah, I'm learning.
Q. In the old days, players turn off the radio or TV, but now so much is on social media. There's no escaping it. Do y'all talk about that?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, we talk about it, for sure. Like, I walk into the locker room, Jay Hill will be, Stop talking to fans on Twitter (laughter). It's something I got to work on. I know I have to work on it because especially at the next level that's all you're going to get, especially criticism on social media. I just got to tune that out. They're not in our position rooms, in our defensive meetings. They don't know what I have to do. It's something I'm getting better and better at.
Q. Was Arkansas in the mix for you?
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: They had offered me when Morris was over there. They was in it early. I had went there for a camp my sophomore year, but I had never went back.
Q. (No microphone.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, sometimes. Predominantly it's Twitter coaches. They see something that they is wrong. Whole time it's somebody was supposed to do that, and they think it's wrong. It is what it is.
Q. (No microphone.)
PRINCELY UMANMIELEN: Yeah, that's mainly when I do do it, somebody will say something when they don't understand the assignment. I'll go inside. What is Princely doing, he's supposed to be outside. I'll be like, I was supposed to do that.
I'm not going to respond to somebody saying he sucks, things like that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports