Quarles welcomes his alma mater to Greene Stadium on Saturday

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.  (Sept. 12, 2022) – Members of the ETSU football program addressed local media representatives during Monday’s weekly press conference ahead of Saturday’s home matchup against Furman set for Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium.

Head coach George Quarles was joined by sophomore wide receiver Will Huzzie (Jasper, Tenn.) on offense and redshirt sophomore defensive back Chandler Martin (Franklin, Ga.) representing the defense. 

Below are comments from Coach Quarles, Martin and Huzzie.

Head Coach George Quarles

Are the emotions building this week as you play your former school?

“I’m sure it will build as the week goes on, but I’m still trying to get over Saturday and figure out how to correct some mistakes from last week. Coming from Furman, it’s definitely a big game for lots of reasons, but certainly for no other reason, it’s the next game. It’s a conference game. It’s a team that’s playing really well. Even though they got beat by Clemson, if you watch the film, they outplayed them in a lot of ways. Like I tell our guys all the time – we’re really not concerned a whole lot about who we play. I’m more concerned about how we play and we’ve got some things to correct and fix to develop our own identity.”

What did you see from your defense against The Citadel’s scheme?

“Really, the defense played well. (The Citadel) got a short field touchdown where we allowed the punt return to the 20 yard line or so. We obviously did not play well on that last drive – we let them out of a backed up situation – but like Coach (Billy) Taylor said we got them in three or four third down situations, which doesn’t happen much to those triple option teams. They are always going to win time of possession because they snap it at two seconds (on the play clock) – and they did that. But it was the type of game we expected – a one possession game. We just didn’t make the plays at the end of the game or when we needed to. 

Were you aware that Chandler Martin was breaking a record during the game?

“I really wasn’t, but Kevin (Brown – Sports Information) told me after the game that Chandler Martin broke a school record for tackles, and if you go back and watch the film you’ll see a lot of tackles. He played well and we did some really good things defensively. If there’s a game you want to break a school record in, it’s a game against The Citadel where you’ll get plenty of opportunities to make tackles. I think Chandler did a good job of that.”

Does your familiarity at Furman provide an advantage in game-planning?

“I hope so. Coach (Dru) Duke and I obviously have a pretty good understanding of their personnel. They are doing a little different offensively and they’ve hired a new offensive coordinator, new line coach, new receiver coach, so they are doing some really good stuff. At the end of the day, it’ll come down to who blocks well, who tackles well and who executes. But I hope the familiarity helps – we’ll take any advantage we can get this week.”

Linebacker – Chandler Martin

Did you know you had broken the record during the game?

“I had no idea. I was just trying to get around the ball. I just tried to push the pile the opposite direction and was just trying to be in the vicinity so I could help my teammates do what we need to do to get the win. 

Do you agree with Coach Quarles that the defense played well overall?

“I feel like we played a pretty good game, but I feel like we had a lot of personal fouls that hurt us. We had a lot of drive killers and stuff that we cannot have happen that extended their drives. So I feel like we played a decent game, but we have a lot of stuff to work on as well.”

What are some positives you can take from last week despite the loss?

“I feel like we can always control how we respond and how we come together as a team after a loss. It can make us tighter and make us depend on each other. It’s really going to be the guys in this locker room that get it done. If we all just depend on each other and play for each other, we’ll be good down the road.”

Wide Receiver – Will Huzzie

What was your reaction to Chandler breaking the record?

“When he first came in as a freshman, he was doing stuff like that all the time, so when I’m watching the game, I just see Chand in on every tackle. I’m just so proud of Chand and the improvement he’s shown from last year to this year. He’s one of the best in the conference. It’s no surprise to me – Chand is known for making these plays in practice and we saw it carry over to the game.

What does the offense need to do this week to improve?

“Obviously, we struggled to get points in the red zone. There’s no reason we go down there three times inside the five and we can’t get points. Especially in SoCon play, we need to get as many points as we can. Obviously, the defense did their job, and if we score on those three drives in the red zone, it’s our win.” 

Do you feel like you have the guys that ‘want it more’ on your team?

“I’ll take our guys over anybody. We’ve won it before, so I don’t see what the issue is. This is a bump in the road. We have pretty much the same guys from last year, so I know what we can do, and I’m cool with taking the blame on (losses) like that. We’ve just got to bounce back this weekend.”

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