Players Robert Cooper, Ja’Khi Douglas talk practice, returning depth during bye week

Florida State defensive tackle Robert Cooper and ATH Ja’Khi Douglas spoke with the media after Tuesday’s practice to preview this week’s bye and talk about the 38-24 loss to the Clemson Tigers last Saturday after reviewing the film. They spoke about injuries and getting some much-needed depth back this week.

Robert Cooper

After the loss last weekend, Cooper said the team came into the week ready to work.

“That is what I expected, was just everybody coming back out to work, you know, harping on the little mistakes we made during the game and just fixing it the best we can. Just bringing the energy and everything.”

Starting defensive tackle Fabian Lovett has been out due to an injury and is slowly returning to form in practice. Cooper laughed when asked if they had to hide his pads from him to keep him from pushing too soon.

“You know I talk to Fabo too, you know, we’re always going, you know, everybody’s gonna look out for Fabo, you know, so if you try to do something crazy, we’ll stop them, so but yeah, you know it’s been some time, but he definitely waited it out, played it smart and here he is now.”

He also added that he seems to be his old self and that him being back, along with a few other of his teammates, brings their position group to almost full strength.

“Just like old Fabo. He’s ready to get to work.” It brings, it brings back some numbers, I can tell you that, so it just feels like we’re getting close to our, you know, full lineup of D tackles, and that brings a lot of comfortability in our room.”

Cooper’s full interview can be seen below:

Ja’Khi Douglas

Douglas has also been battling his own injuries and came back last weekend to record a touchdown thrown by a scrambling Jordan Travis. He spoke about what he saw during that play and how it happened.

“He was playing outside leverage, and we had a route that was going to the outside. I seen them playing outside and uh I had, you know, it had a lot of space in the inside, so I worked it into the inside, and the Jordan seen me, and he threw a touchdown.”

After coming back from an injury, Douglas said he felt great but that his legs were still sore from Saturday.

“I felt great physically, uh, my body was great. You know I haven’t been running in a little minute, so my legs is still dead right now, so yeah, I felt great though, upper body, I feel great.”

When asked about how confident his position group feels about potentially having wide receiver Winston Wright back, he said:

“Oh yeah, very confident, you know we still — we were confident without, uh, when I wasn't there, whenever Winston wasn't there. So bringing Winston back, bringing everybody healthy back, you know, we’re gonna be dangerous.”

Douglas’ full interview can be seen below:

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