Tray Woodall Q&A with reporters

Thursday, 19 January 2012 18:26

Written by Ray Fittipaldo

An update in the injury: "I'm feeling real good. I went through a full practice, not too much pain. I feel real good."

On how does he feel now compared to Notre Dame game: "I'm a lot more improved. The Notre Dame game was my decision. I fought Tony [Salesi] on it. I came back way too fast. I wasn't ready. It was frustrating for me to see a lot of things on the court I coulfd probably help with offensively. I know I wasn't ready defensively. I take full responsibility for that. I shouldn't have ocme back that early."

"When I do come back I'm going to be 100 percent or at least 90 percent. I want to be able to help my team defensively and offensively. I don't want to be able to only work one side of the floor."

On the freshmen who have been taking his place: "I think they've played well. They kind of played tentatively. They're eyounger guys. They don't want to make mistakes. Coach Dixon emphasized that mistakes do happen. You have to try to play solid. It hasn't been working out for us as a team. But they've tried to play solid."

Does he want to come back because the team is struggling: "I've seen a lot of things the younger guys haven't seen because I've been here for a number of years now. I've seen some things defenses were giving us. That definitely made me want to come back sooner."

Will he play Saturday? "Yeah. I definitely feel like I'm ready to play. I'm not going to beat around the bush."

Asked the same question again: "I'm going to go through two more days of practice, see how I'm feeling. Whenever I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go."

When will he make the decision? "Tomorrow. I'm going to talk to coach Dixon and let him know how I feel. I just want to be able to know for sure I can help the team."

On the injury: "I worked with some of the Steelers doctors. They said it's an unusual injury. They don't know how I got it. They think I might have torn my ab before I tore my abductor. We're still trying to figure it out."

On Dixon saying it has been his call to play for two weeks: "That's the thing. Everyone has been saying I've been cleared to play. I heard it on an ESPN game when I watched it again. I never had the word that I was cleared to play. If I had the word I probably would have tried to play. When I'm ready, I'm going to get on the court because I want to help my team. I know it's my career. I spoke to someone yesterday because he said someone ruined their career because an injury kept lingering."

Did he aggravate the injury in the Notre Dame game: "It felt weird. They said it could have been scar tissue."

"College Gameday it doesn't get better than that. It's a special moment right there. Maybe I'll come back this weekend."

On his conditioning: "If I'm going to play I'm going to play. I was fatigued today. I'm not going to lie. I feel like I got in better shape. If I play I'm definitely playing more than 10 or 15 minutes."

Will it help if the Panthers play zone: "I heard some of the coaches talking about that, too. When I'm in the game we'll probably play a lot more zone. If I'm back I'm going to be 100 percent. I'm going to play man. If I'm back I'm going to be 90-100 percent."

"Since I've been here we always had injuries. A lot of guys went down. Guys stepped up. I hate the fact that people blame some of the losses on me being out. It's unfortunate we've been losing games."

"I've been getting calls from everybody. I'm just ready to get back on the court."

"I'll get a five-page text message from Aaron gray letting me have it. I'm like I'm not even playing.' He's one of those guys even though he's not here they always keep in touch, and they want to pick us up. They're still a part of our team."

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