D.J. Turner met with the media last night and discussed a wide range of topics, from the friends he has back home in Georgia who he'll line up against in a couple of weeks to the difficulties of last year to his memories from the Ohio State victory. For everything D.J. Turner had to say, read on.
On what this game means to him being from Georgia
It's big. From Georgia, it's just really big. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to playing.
On whether he knows lots of guys on Georgia's roster
Yeah, I know a whole bunch of them. I played with a whole bunch and yeah, I know a whole bunch of them.
On his most lasting memory from the Ohio State game
Just knowing that we won. Taking the last knee and then just knowing that we did it and we're going on to the Big Ten championship.
On the postgame celebration
Oh yeah, I was looking around and I was finding my family and then I found my mom and then I couldn't find anybody else. I mean, it was all good though.
On what he's seen from Georgia's offense on film
They're a good, balanced team. They can run the ball and pass the ball and they've got playmakers, so we've got to be ready.
On adjusting to the heat in Miami
We've been practicing indoors so that's what we've been doing, and also practicing hard and conditioning. We'll get ready when we go down there, too.
On whether practicing against Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy in practice helps prepare them for Georgia possibly using Stetson Bennett and/or J.T. Daniels
Oh yeah, for sure I would say that. I think going against Cade and J.J. I would say not going to get much better so that's how we'll go into the game confident.
On his confidence at this point compared to the beginning of the season and his mindset
Yeah, it's changed a lot. I've always been confident but just maybe higher--I mean, I feel more confident now and so I'd say I'm looking forward to the game and excited.
On the mood in practice after the week off
Good. We're back energized, fresh, and ready to go.
On where he's made the most improvement this season
Just the knowledge of the game, recognizing stuff from certain formations or just certain splits. Just recognizing certain stuff like that before, presnap, so I would say presnap stuff.
On whether he's spoken to his friends at Georgia since he learned they'd be playing them
Nah, I haven't talked to them since then. Maybe earlier in the season I have but since we're playing each other no, I haven't talked to them.
On whether being in the playoff and being Big Ten champs is what he envisioned before the season
Yes, this is not a surprise to us. We felt like this was gonna happen, we were confident it could happen, and we made it happen.
On how they maintain their underdog mentality now that they're one of the final four teams
This is another opponent. Just look at it as another week. We try to go 1-0 each week and so we're not really looking at who's ranked whatever. We want to try to beat the next opponent and go 1-0.
On whether the team was hungry to bond after a year where they were limited from being around each other due to COVID
Oh, for sure. It's really a brotherhood. Even tonight, I'm going to go to the movies to see Spider-Man with Aidan, Mikey, and a whole bunch of us to see the new Spider-Man. But yeah, just it's a brotherhood and just excited. I'm happy to be with the team.
How hard was it to not be able to do almost anything with teammates last year?
Oh yeah, I mean, it was hard because you want to do something but then you know you can't because of the exposure and stuff, so it was definitely different.
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