Quavaris Crouch, So., LB
On what has been the most difficult part in terms of getting ready for the season with everything going on…
“I don’t feel like it’s been that difficult. I feel like that we all have been doing a good job of just adapting to whatever comes. Dealing with the COVID situation and stuff like that, I feel like we all as a team and as the coaches, we all adapted together and we got to just be able to change on a flip just like Coach Pruitt says.”
On where he thinks he is in his development as an inside linebacker and his role this season…
“Well with development, I feel like I still got a long way to go. I feel like that I get better each and every day. I just go out every day and try to get better at one thing every day. My role is just to help the team any way that I can, rather it be any position. So, I’m just ready to play football this year.”
On what he’s been able to learn from fellow sophomore linebacker Henry To’o To’o…
“For me, I just came from a spot where I have a lot of athletic ability and I just wanted to play and when it came to Henry helping me and developing me as a linebacker, it came more as me not just memorizing what’s going on and stuff like that but me learning the concepts and stuff like that. Learning the front and what my alignment is supposed to be and just little stuff to help me develop to be a better linebacker. Knowing how to make all the calls, set all the fronts and stuff like that just in case. You never know, like I was saying, this season with the COVID deal going on, if Henry might be out than I’m going to have to run the show, or we both might be out and somebody else has got to run the show. So, we try and teach every linebacker in our room the whole defense so that they can be able to run the show if they have to. That’s where I feel like Henry has helped me out a lot with developing me to know the whole defense. Knowing how to really play in the scheme.”
On how eager he is to get on the field and play South Carolina on Sept. 26…
“I’m eager. We’re super excited and ready for the great opportunity to be out there. We’ve been working so hard. Even when we didn’t know if we were going to play, we were still working hard and now we just get a chance to come out there and show how hard we’ve been working. We just want to go out there and hopefully get a win.”
On how much positively and momentum he can carry over from last season’s strong finish…
“I bring a lot because I just know how good we can be and I just know myself from last year, how much I have grown as a player and as a person to be able to make the team run smoothly. I feel like that everybody on our team has grown in certain aspects to allow us to have a better football team, whether it be technique, chemistry, their work ethic, them getting bigger, gaining a couple more pounds, all the little things I feel like we all grew and we learned from all the mistakes that we made last year so that we can play smoother and cleaner this year.”
On his physical transformation from last year…
“I actually lost weight. Last year I weighed a little bit more, so this year I kind of cut down a little bit because I wanted to be more lean so I can move sideline to sideline to be a great athlete to make tackles. That was something that I changed about myself, just not being so heavy and being able to run and move around better.”
On how far along he thinks he is in his progression of being an inside linebacker…
“I really don’t know. I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job, but I just try to be a sponge and just suck up as much information as I can from all the coaches and players that played in front of me. I still talk to Daniel (Bituli), still talk to Darrell Taylor, people that have already done it. Just trying to soak up everything I can to be the best version of me that I can.”
On how all the other linebackers such as Jeremy Banks are pushing him every day…
“Jeremy Banks is a great guy man. I love Jeremy Banks man. That’s my dog. He pushes me because he brings a certain energy every day. Jeremy is always going to bring a certain energy. Every day he plays with so much toughness and stuff like that, so then it just makes me match him. We match each other, so we’re always competing, and iron always sharpens iron, so that’s how Jeremy helps me out a lot. There’s a lot of other people that help me out a lot also in the inside linebacker room, just with little stuff. Even the new guys that came in, (Martavius) French, Bryson (Eason), whoever it is they ask questions to the coach, and I might not even know the answer to the question all the way, but because they are asking it, it makes us all learn. It’s just all a whole learning curve and you can never be done developing and learning a certain position.”
-UT Athletics
