Bishop Fitzgerald: "I'm Getting Everyone on the Same Page"
NC State safety Bishop Fitzgerald met with the media ahead of the Wolfpack's upcoming matchup versus Stanford.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Fitzgerald’s interview.
“Isaiah Crowell has been one of my guys since I got here. Just watching him over last year, learning from the other nickels and a few position changes, he got thrown into a fire. He played a good game Saturday, so I'm proud of him.”
“[Going into the bye week with a win] is a huge sigh of relief, honestly. These past two losses felt like games we shouldn't have lost, and we didn't want that to be our feeling going to the bye week. Being able to pull through in that fourth quarter is huge for us.”
"I'm just trying to correct the things that we’ve shown on film that's been getting us beat. Then, it's coming together more. The season hasn’t gone the way we expected, so we've just got to grow tighter and finish.”
“I went to the fair for the first time. It was pretty cool. I liked it. And I just caught up on some sleep.”
"I had one of the turkey legs, and it was pretty good.”
“[Stanford’s] a good team. They played Wake Forest close last week. They do a lot of things. They have a good running back and a really good receiver in [Elic Ayomanor]. We just have to be able to know our matchups and do what we’ve got to do to stop them.”
“It's honestly run fits, gap alignments, staying sound to our keys, and stuff like that. Earlier this season, we showed us DBs getting beat on third down, in man coverage, in bunches, and stuff. We just worked on that, just communicating with each other.”
“I’ve made a really big jump. I’m kind of a vocal leader back there now. Last year, I was having guys tell me where to line up and stuff like that. I’m getting everyone on the same page now. I feel confident in the defense, and I feel like I’m playing well in these past few games.”
“Just one game at a time. Before this season started, we were so focused on just looking ahead because the team was loaded, just looking at the ACC championship. We didn't really take it week by week. Right now, I just appreciate what's in front of us right now and just trying to take it one opponent at a time.”
“It was huge. A lot of guys went home and spent with their families just to get away from football. We’d been going at it for a few months now. It’s mentally and physically draining. Being able to reset and come back fresh has been huge for us, and we feel fresh after last week."