BearcatLair.com - Gilyard says what everyone else is thinking

October 15, 2009

Scott Springer
BearcatLair.com Staff Writer

"The coaches, they're all licking their lips, they're licking their chops, they can't wait to play Coach Tresey down there!"

"The coaches, they're all licking their lips, they're licking their chops, they can't wait to play Coach Tresey down there!"

When you're looking to ignite some hype, UC senior Mardy Gilyard is usually there to deliver the "quote of the week". He usually says what everyone is else is thinking, but what no one wants to say for fear of the dreaded "bulletin board" effect.

Joe Tresey is UC's former defensive coordinator who is now at USF. All week long, Brian Kelly and Joe Tresey have been "cordial" through the press and have tried to avoid saying the wrong things.

Truth is, natural human behavior tells you otherwise and Gilyard confirmed as much this week. (Which is why Gilyard on occasion is banned from talking to the media. Not that he's bad. Quite the contrary, he's the quote everyone wants. He's just not the quote BK wants out sometimes.)

"Coach Molnar (WR) I've never seen that look in his eyes like he has this week," Gilyard added. "Coach Kelly as well. Those guys are really, really ready to get us going for this game. Coach Molnar, he's a mad scientist. When he and Coach Quinn (OL) and Coach Kelly put their brains together, that's a dangerous combination."

Well, Bearcat fans can only hope. This is a game where a little "out of the box" thinking might be in order as Joe Tresey knows Brian Kelly's tendencies and vice versa. In my opinion, Brian Kelly started playing this game "off the field" mentally last week. Thursday night, we get to see if it physically works out in Raymond James Stadium.

Kelly has hinted that Gilyard needs more touches, that he might even get the ball in the backfield. Tresey knows Gilyard's GOING to get the ball and they probably even know the play. At some point, you can bet the ranch that #1 will receive the notorious "jailbreak" screen. It's kind of like a good pitcher with a good curveball; you'll see it, you just don't know when. And, even though you know you're going to get it, it's still tough to hit.

"The funny thing is, the defenses-some of them know it's coming," admitted Gilyard. "But it either happens so fast that they can't react to it or happens so slow that they overplay it. Kudos to Coach because we have different screens, it's all not the same screen; we do different things with it. They're just good at calling it to be honest."

Gilyard's also good at breaking it. He makes five-yard passes become big gainers and deserves a lot of credit in helping Tony Pike accrue a lot of passing yards.

"When I scan the defense, I'm kind of licking my chops (lot of chop-lickin' this week) when I know it's coming," said Gilyard. "We run it so much, I kind of know where my blocks are going to be now. With the defense and my film study it's like, 'This is crazy, it's going to work out perfect,' Coach has called it every time perfect."

The issue now though is USF DC Joe Tresey has seen this. Word is, Tresey's given anyone and everyone the lowdown on all of UC's players and you have to figure a whole video session went to stopping Mardy Gilyard. Of course, the Bulls have seen the tape before to no avail.

"Last year, I remember the guy yelling out, 'Screen, screen, screen, watch the screen, so on and so forth,'" said Gilyard. "But, the screen's not a major part of our offense. We've got down the field plays and our running game has picked up. We're clicking right now."

Gilyard agreed that Tresey should be familiar with UC's strategy, but like Coaches Kelly and Leavitt he thinks a lot of it will "cancel out".

"We know a lot of what he's going to do too," said Gilyard. "It kind of evens out. He was with us for two years and we had a chance to deal with his defense for two years. He had a chance to deal with our offense for two years. The difference between those two years is, we've got a different offense now."

Different offense?

"They came out with concepts that look so perfect in practice, you kind of feel like you can' be stopped," said Gilyard.

While Brian Kelly maintains his energy level is all about being back in the Big East, again, competitive nature would tell you there's something to this chess game with Joe Tresey. Compliments aside, do you really think the sole motivation for either guy is to further their position in the Big East?

"I think it's a little bit of both," said Gilyard. "Whoever wins this game is definitely going to be in the driver's seat in the Big East. They (coaches) are more focused on the little things. We know that South Florida's a good team, they're dangerous. The defense is flying around like always. Selvie's causing havoc like always. Pierre-Paul, #90, the other defensive end is just excellent-he has a motor out of this world. We just have to play every down like it's our last."

Accompanying Mardy into the "RayJay" will be the Gilyard #1 posse from Bunnell-about three hours north of Tampa. He's got a brother in Tampa and a caravan of followers apparently ready to move into place on I-75 Thursday.

"Everybody's there from my Mom, my sister, cousins, nieces and nephews, friends, everybody," said Gilyard of his awaiting support unit.

He even has a friend on the opposition as South Florida weak-side linebacker Chris Robinson played in high school with Gilyard at Flagler Palm Coast where they made the state playoffs.

"Me and him have been best friends since middle school," said Gilyard. "We started off playing AAU basketball together. I've been calling him for like two weeks, man. He's not been picking his phone up. I guess he doesn't want to talk to me because he knows I'll be talking junk to him. I call him every year around the same time and talk smack to him for about a good 10 minutes. I'll give him a good ear full and then he'll hang up on me. I just can't wait to get down there and see my man and play, it's going to be fun."

Usually is, when Mardy's "in the house" and when ESPN is there to shoot it. Gilyard's seemingly been on ESPN more than some of their newer anchors.

"We don't even worry about ESPN anymore," said the braided #1. "It is what it is. We just kind of go out and play the game regardless of what the stage is. We know the stage is going to be big. We just take care of business."

Business, so far for UC's Gilyard, has been good.

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