Hoke On 'Tweet-Gate:' 'I Thought Tweeting Is What Birds Do'
ANN ARBOR (97.1 The Ticket) The storied University of Michigan football team took an old-fashioned beat down Saturday from Alabama.
Head coach Brady Hoke knows his work is cut out for him.
"We just gotta do a much better job on how we execute and the offensive part of it, and defense, we need to tackle better and defend the run better," Hoke said during an interview with 97.1 The Ticket.
And he's not making any excuses, saying he's not siding with pundits who claim his team's size hurt them against Alabama.
"When you start looking at it that way you start laying trap doors for excuses," he said.
He added the goal now is "to play with physical-ness at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball ... play where our execution is all 11 guys playing together and playing as a team."
Hoke also defended his use of veterans late in the game, saying "We did that at a lot of positions and a lot of different guys, like I said, 12 true freshmen got in the football game. At the same time you got guys who want to compete and want to keep playing."
On the hot Twitter topic, the coach isn't putting too much stock into mocking Tweets sent out by Michigan State players after the game, ridiculing quarterback Denard Robinson and trash talking the maize and blue's overall performance.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio dealt with the scandal head on, calling it "disrespectful" and saying players who participated would face consequences.
"I didn't see much different when we played the University of Alabama a couple years ago, it's tough," Dantonio said during a press conference. "Our guys need to keep their mouths shut … especially those that aren't even playing."
Hoke handled the scandal lightly. "Somebody told me about it, you guys, I hope, know I'm not a technology person," the coach said. "I thought Tweeting is what birds do in the morning."
