Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Auburn LB Xavier Atkins - Alabama Loss
Transcript
- 0:00Z, another tough one for you guys. Just
- 0:02talk about how it felt out there.
- 0:04>> Oh, it felt great, you know, just being
- 0:05in the environment, seeing the fans show
- 0:07up like every time like throughout the
- 0:08entire season. Just this game alone just
- 0:10it was just an amazing environment. Adam
- 0:12Smith for sure.
- 0:15>> What what happened on that roughening?
- 0:17It looked like somebody might have
- 0:18pushed you into the back. Would you tell
- 0:19us what happened?
- 0:19>> Yeah. Um, as I was blissing, you know,
- 0:21he pushed me late in the back and like
- 0:23I'm running full speed. I cannot like
- 0:25really get my balance. So, you know, end
- 0:27up falling into his legs, but shouldn't
- 0:30have been a rough in the passing.
- 0:31>> Xavier, Cam's maybe the best player on
- 0:33this team. He makes a mistake at the
- 0:35end. What did you guys do to pick him up
- 0:37in the locker room post game?
- 0:38>> Just tell him that, you know, we make
- 0:39mistakes, but, you know, in these type
- 0:41of games, you know, that's what kill us.
- 0:42You know, you can't make those type of
- 0:43mistakes during these type of games. You
- 0:45know, it come down to the little things.
- 0:46Who going to execute the most? Who going
- 0:48to who going to least, you know, make
- 0:50the bad decisions.
- 0:52You had a really big jump in production
- 0:54from LSU last year to Auburn this year.
- 0:56Can you talk about what it was like
- 0:57playing for DJ Durkin? Uh
- 0:59>> just playing for DJ Durkin, you know,
- 1:00he's just one thing you going for sure
- 1:01you going to get coached hard. You going
- 1:02to get developed just just the little
- 1:04things, you know, that coach Durkin
- 1:06always, you know, just do like you just
- 1:09going to make sure he coach you hard and
- 1:10like if you can accept that and and take
- 1:13it the right way, then I feel like
- 1:14you'll be a great pro here, great player
- 1:16here. So it was pretty it was great for
- 1:18me, a great fit for me. What did Durkin
- 1:20tell you in the locker room post game to
- 1:21the team?
- 1:22>> Just tell him that, you know, we're a
- 1:23champion championship team. Everybody
- 1:25going to try to, you know, come after us
- 1:26like, you know, it's out of our hands
- 1:28like what goes from here, but he was
- 1:30just telling us like whoever stick here,
- 1:31whoever stays together, we're going to
- 1:32be a championship team next year and
- 1:34that's something that you have to
- 1:35believe in. So, that's really what it
- 1:37was that we should stick together.
- 1:39>> You've been very vocal about how much
- 1:40you want to play for coach Durk and what
- 1:42would it mean to you if he was made the
- 1:43head coach here? Uh it you know it'll
- 1:45mean a lot to me because you know like
- 1:48as y'all see the like locker room the
- 1:49team we love Dirt you know a great man
- 1:51great leader you know it's just
- 1:53something like he bring that energy like
- 1:54for the team like he gave us we already
- 1:57had confidence but he he instilled that
- 2:00in us like every day since he took over
- 2:01the team like we going to be the
- 2:02aggressor like we going to come out
- 2:04swinging like we we not just going to
- 2:06respect anybody like they going to like
- 2:08they're going to have to earn it in a
- 2:09way. Hey, I feel like you got to ask
- 2:11these questions this time, but um do you
- 2:13plan to come back to Auburn next year?
- 2:15>> Oh, yeah, totally. 100%. You know, like
- 2:16I love here like you know this this I
- 2:18feel like this is home, so I don't
- 2:20really see myself going nowhere at all.
- 2:22>> D how frustrating was this one tonight
- 2:24where you guys play so well on defense,
- 2:26but some penalties and some third downs
- 2:28cost you tonight on defense?
- 2:29>> You know, it was frustrating for sure
- 2:31cuz like, you know, it's always so it
- 2:34was always just like we got to get over
- 2:36the hump of just doing things that like
- 2:37shoot us shoot us in the leg. like we
- 2:39got to like get over that hump. That's
- 2:41what makes a great team great instead of
- 2:44a good team. You feel me? So like that's
- 2:46that's basically what it was. Like just
- 2:48got to get over that hump.
- 2:50>> Talk about um Covet Faul leadership he's
- 2:52provided all season and what type of of
- 2:54person player a teammate he's been.
- 2:55>> Uh unselfish player, you know, always
- 2:57giving his energy to the team. Always
- 3:00just like like just trying to keep us
- 3:02all on the same like same path. just
- 3:04keep us sticking together because like
- 3:05throughout the season, you know, stuff
- 3:06not going the way we we planned. He just
- 3:09every day he just telling us like like
- 3:11we got to stick together like we all we
- 3:12got. So that's just basically like an
- 3:14amazing leader at that like somebody
- 3:16that I own probably like lean on when I
- 3:19first got here like how to move, how to
- 3:20be a pro, how to do certain things like
- 3:22just handle business like and he did
- 3:24that for the entire team as well. So he
- 3:25he a great person, great leader. Right.