UCFSports.com - Williams pumped by defensive success

October 22, 2009

Brandon Helwig
UCFSports.com Publisher

UCF's defensive front showed up in a big way against Miami. The Knights limited the Hurricanes to 70 yards on the ground (on 46 carries) and pressured quarterback Jacory Harris all game long, taking him down for six sacks.

Junior defensive end David Williams, who had one of those sacks, talked about that effort and also the importance of finishing the latter half of the season strong beginning this weekend at Rice.

Click here to listen to this interview with David Williams

I know you want to put the Miami game behind you, but from a defensive line standpoint there were a lot of positives in that game. You pressured the quarterback quite a bit. You got a sack, one of many defensive linemen that got sacks. As a defensive line, did you get the pressure that you wanted?

"Definitely. We all thought as a whole, as a unit, that we got more pressure than we even wanted to get on them. We felt like we dominated the line up front and we did what it took to win the line of scrimmage. That's what you've got to do game in and game out."

You didn't win the game, but like you said that is a positive you can take out of it. Going forward, maybe with the exception of Texas, you may not play an offensive line quite as talented as Miami, so does that give you guys some confidence that the defensive line is coming together and is going to be able to consistently get pressure?

"It does. It gives us a lot of confidence. Also the fact we're blessed to see that Oklahoma played Miami and Oklahoma played Texas, and so we can kind of see and gauge how they did against both offensive lines. And see kind of who we think is better ourselves. From our standpoint, we feel like we played better against Miami's line than Oklahoma did. So taking that to the Texas game a couple weeks down the road I feel pretty confident, as well as everybody else, that we're going to be fine."

Going through the course of a game, obviously emotions running high, how does that boost you guys knowing one of the linemen is breaking free and getting a sack? Early in the game, might have been first or second series and Darius Nall had the first sack, how much does that guys pump you guys up?

"It pumps us up to the extreme especially because once one guy gets a sack the coaches on the other side are looking at that and they're like, 'All right, we need to start taking care of this guy,' and that starts freeing up other guys to get pass rush in and then you start seeing more and more sacks on the line. That's when it starts to take its toll on the other team. It just pumps everybody up."

Obviously still a lot of football left to be played. 3-3, six games left, still got Texas in the middle there, but conference games from here on out. Every conference is a big game and you've got Rice coming up. What's the objective going forward? Taking it game by game and hoping to become a factor in conference?

"That's right. We still want to be a factor in conference obviously. That's still a goal we have and that's still something feasible to complete. Back in the 2007 year, we went 10-4, we started off the season with a very similar record. We want to put each game behind us, but always looking ahead and seeing that we can win all the games out. So, if we do that, do what needs to be done and some other teams possibly losing to other teams in conference, we could be right there in the conference race again very quickly."

Again, about Miami, the experience and the atmosphere, what did you think of playing in an atmosphere like that? Obviously when a top 10 team comes in there's more interest, but would you like to see that kind of atmosphere for every home game?

"We would love that. We really would. The biggest thing-- you're sitting in the locker room right before you go out and something that we never experienced since the '07 year and I mentioned it before was the stands rocking before we even went out. Sitting in the locker room, you can feel the vibration from above. We hadn't heard that all season or last season. Right before the game we heard that and it brought back some memories from that season."

So it is like a little tremor? I don't know what an earthquake feels like, but you can actually physically feel it?

"Yeah. You can feel it. That pumps you up also. You take the field with the storm and you're so energized and ready to play."

Talk to me about Rice. They've been a pretty good team the last few years and are struggling a little bit this season. Any impressions of watching them on tape?

"Watching them on tape, they're a great team. Honestly. I really feel like that. Their record doesn't show what they've done on the field. You hear that a lot from coaches, but at the same time they've made big plays against all the teams they've played. We've watched film on a lot of different people. Oklahoma State for instance, they drove the ball right down on them. I think they're struggling a little bit defensively, but offensively, from a defensive standpoint, we've got our hands full. We've got to make sure we do our assignment and execute the plays that way they need to be done."

I know you redshirted in 2006 and that was the last time UCF played Rice. They came down here to the Citrus Bowl and pretty much had their way with the UCF defense, rolled up a lot of yards. I know there's a few guys that played in that game. You guys don't need that for motivation, but do you guys remember that game? I know there's a different coach, different players, I don't even know if they've got players left that played in that game, but do you guys think about it and what they did?

"We do. I want to say I believe Travis and probably Torrell and Cory that played in that game, but they remember the game. They remember how good they were on offense then. And even from last year Rice had a great offense, winning 10 games or so. They're bringing a lot of those guys back to the table ready to play. We've got to prepare just like we did for Miami for this game."

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