Huskies LB Keishawn Bierria on facing Alabama: ‘We want to play against the best’

Fourth-year junior linebacker Keishawn Bierria was one of two Huskies players to speak with the media on Sunday afternoon (several others were requested and either declined or were not able). Here is some of what he said about UW’s national semifinal matchup with No. 1 Alabama in the Peach Bowl.

(Were you watching the selection show when they announced you’d play Alabama?) “Nah, I don’t think any of my teammates were watching. Just woke up and looked at my phone and somebody tagged me in a post. ‘OK, we got ‘Bama.’”

(Did you figure that’s what would happen? Did you watch the rankings?) “I mean, it’s hard not to when everyone’s talking about it and I get asked that pretty much every day. You pay attention to it a little bit because you want to compete against the best and get a chance to compete for the national championship. As far as that, we pay attention to it, but as far as every day checking our status, that’s not really our thing.”

(How much film have you watched so far?) “Pretty much every game.”

(Do they have weaknesses?) “Yeah, they do. Every team does. They’re pretty good. Just what they do, what they do well is really simple, but they do it well. And other than that, they’ve got a lot of great athletes and a great coaching staff.”

(Is it weird that Steve Sarkisian and Tosh Lupoi are both on their staff?) “No, not at all.”

(What was your reaction to Sarkisian being named their new offensive coordinator?) “Congratulations. Pretty cool for him.”

(Have you had much contact with him since he left?) “No.”

(Does this feel different than preparing for the Heart of Dallas Bowl last year?) “It definitely does. It’s like we accomplished our goals so far. Definitely we’ve got a little bit left to do, and we’re just focusing on that. Our goal was to just go out here and show who we was, and if we’re doing that, we’re going to win a lot of games. So we won a lot of games, we’re still in the journey, so we’re just focused on the next week and keep getting better.”

(What is Azeem Victor’s role right now as he recovers from injury?) “For him, pretty much just get himself healthy. Just get himself back into shape, and as far as that, just doing treatments, being in guys’ ears, making sure everybody’s doing their job. As far as now, he’s just another guy coaching other guys up.”

(Do you see yourselves as underdogs in this game?) “Nah, not really. As far as what other people are saying? I think somebody tweeted me saying ‘I’m a UW fan, I’m going to root for you guys, but when it comes down to game time, we know what’s going to happen.’ So I’m like, you’re not really a fan. … We’re competitors. The only thing we’re focused on is competing.”

(Fans have held up signs all year saying ‘We Want Bama.’ Do you feel the same?) “Would you want to play against the best?”

(Others have said the national title goes through Alabama and everyone knows that...) “Hey, we want to play against the best.”

(Why are you better equipped now to face a team with elite personnel than you were in the loss to USC?) “One thing when you experience success … when you experience a fallback like that, or a loss, that’s one thing you never want to feel again. That pretty much made everyone work harder, focus more on the details, and pretty much just hone in to what you’ve really got to do. I know going into that week, they gameplanned really well against us, and as far as now, everybody has this period in time where they’re gameplanning and doing the best thing they can. So we’re focused on what we messed up throughout the season, fixing that, and just going forward into our gameplan.”

(On team’s response to USC loss) “After the game, I think Kevin (King) walked in and said something. I said something. And there was nothing else to say. Nobody was really holding their head down. We just had to refocus and get back to work.”

(Losing Joe Mathis and Azeem Victor to season-ending injuries, are you surprised at how well guys rallied without them?) “It’s definitely not a surprise. Throughout all offseason training, this is what we’ve preached to our guys. When guys are getting their reps in … when we’re running (summer) practices without coaches out there, half the time the starters aren’t even taking reps. We’re trying to coach up the guys behind us. So it’s definitely not surprising when guys like DJ (Beavers) or Tevis (Bartlett) or Benning (Potoa’e) are stepping up and taking that role because we’ve been telling those guys all year long, ‘You’re going to be on the field sooner or later.’ Because that’s just how football is.”

(How hard have the last few weeks been on Azeem, not playing?) “It’s pretty tough for him, as far as the injury. He definitely had to face some adversity. But the team rallied around him. He’s never by himself. We’re always talking to him, just making sure he’s all good. But I feel like he’s going to be all right.”

(A lot of people don’t give UW much chance against Alabama. What do you make of that?) “It’s been like that all year for us. A lot of people don’t believe in us, and they still don’t believe in us now. They feel like our wins were flukes, but it’s whatever. We just try to go out there and prove everybody wrong.”

(To win this game, what does this team have to do?) “We’ve got to play as a team.”

(Coach Pete has had a sense of humor about the perception of how good Alabama is — saying you guys would need to scrimmage the Seahawks to prepare for ‘Bama. Has he been any different with you guys in the way he’s addressed this game?) “No. Not at all. Everything’s been pretty much the same. Nothing’s really changed as far as our scheduling or how he’s talking to us or the way we prepare. We always have that sense of a SWAT team mentality and that’s what we do: Go in and get the job done and get up out of there.”

(There’s no sense now of, hey, this is the No. 1 team in the country …) “No. It’s football.”

(Would you want to scrimmage the Seahawks?) “Yeah, that’s be fun. I would like that. I like our front seven against their front seven. That would be cool, I’m not going to lie. … I don’t think the NCAA would let us do that. They don’t let us do nothing.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2016 at 1:12 PM with the headline "Huskies LB Keishawn Bierria on facing Alabama: ‘We want to play against the best’."