Shamarko Thomas rebounded nicely following his vicious collision against Pittsburgh two weeks ago to put forth a solid effort in Syracuse’s loss to Rutgers over the weekend. Thomas currently ranks tied for third on the team in tackles with 24, but it’s his hard-hitting mentality and constant hustle that arguably contribute just as much to the defense.

The media caught up with Thomas during the weekly interview session to discuss Friday’s game against Connecticut, the overall mental state of the team following a disheartening loss and any outside distractions for a team that has lost two of its last three games.

Q: On the defensive side of the ball, does that give you guys kind of an added pressure to try to take the ball away, whether it’s through the air or by taking it away from the ball carrier?

Thomas: I don’t say pressure, because that’s our job. That’s our job to try to get turnovers and create more plays for the offense to get on the field or score for the offense. So it’s really not pressure, it’s just us going out there and getting our job done and doing more.

Q: After a couple games this year head coach Doug Marrone has said in the press conference that he has to get the players to play better, he needs to do a better job, it’s his fault that the mistakes are happening. What do you think when he kind of puts all that blame on himself?

ST: He’s a great man, so he’s going to take all the blame, man. He don’t want it to be all on the athletes, and then we’re getting all the people saying we’re not good, or the offense is not good, defense is not good, special teams. But it’s really not about him, man. He don’t step on the field. All he could do is coach us, and we have to go out there and do the work.

Q: Is there an extra sense of urgency on Friday with this game being a chance to get above .500 in Big East play again and kind of kick off the second half of the season?

ST: It’s not a sense of urgency, it’s just we’ve got to win. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to come out there and win, man. Just come out there and perform better than we did last week.

Q: Connecticut’s quarterback has more interceptions than touchdown passes — what have you guys seen on film about him that maybe makes him someone who could be an easy target?

ST: He stares down his receivers. He’s got two good receivers — one’s not a receiver, it’s a tight end, but he uses him as a receiver — No. 94 and No. 8. And he stares them down, and that’s creating great opportunities for defensive backs to lock in to it.

Q: The last two games the defense has done a great job limiting the opposing offense, but you don’t seem to create as many turnovers as your opponents have. What can you do to change that?

ST: That’s what we’ve got practice for. Just going to practice and work on those turnovers. Get (interceptions in practice), rip the ball out when we can do that against the running backs and just focus on the little things, and it will help us out with the bigger things.

Q: Talk about the frustration level of the team as a whole after dropping the last game and losing two out of your last three. Where is the mindset of the team going forward?

ST: It’s definitely frustrating because we’ve got a lot of talent, man. And we see what we can do on the field when we don’t make no mistakes. So it’s definitely frustrating, but we wash all that away. All the losses, we throw it away. You can’t dwell in the past.

Q: Do you hear the stuff fans and the media say about coach Marrone being on the hot seat and stuff like that?

ST: Yeah, definitely. That’s what pushes us. You’ve definitely got to — I don’t say nothing about it because people don’t know what’s going on on the inside. You all just see what’s on the outside. I look at it just for motivation.

Published on October 19, 2012 at 1:47 am

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13