Arizona senior defensive end Brooks Reed was selected first-team All-Pac-10 this season.
Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

KGUN-TV sports reporter Jake Knapp and I double-teamed Arizona senior defensive end Brooks Reed after a recent practice.

Reed was the last player off the field, having done some up-downs as punishment for being late to a team meeting that day. He blamed a faulty alarm clock.

Anyway, after catching his breath, Reed — who has teamed with senior Ricky Elmore to form the best pair of pass-rushing ends in the Pac-10 — answered our questions about the Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl matchup against Oklahoma State and other things.

Here is some of what he said:

Which Pac-10 team does Oklahoma State resemble most?
“Their offense kind of resembles ours. They have a great wide receiver, a great running back. They spread the ball around and like to hit perimeters with their speed. Their quarterback is a great passer; he gets rid of the ball quick, which is why they have allowed only nine sacks on the year.”

Would you want it any other way than to have the No. 1 team in total offense in your bowl game?
“This is the matchup I was hoping for and the bowl game I was hoping for. To have the last game going up against a great offense like that, a great opponent like that, is going to mean a lot to our defense and re-establishing ourselves as a great run defense that can get after the quarterback as well.”

The similarities to your offense, does that work in your favor?
“Yeah. We’re seeing the same plays during practice, so it’s going to be like second nature come the bowl game.”

What’s one thing that you want to do in a bowl game that you haven’t done yet on the field?
“I’d like to get an interception. I have missed a couple of those this year. I haven’t had one in my career yet. Maybe bring one back to the house for the win … you know, that would be nice.”

You’ve had a few in your hands this year. Do you look back at that?
“I try not to, but my teammates like to bring it up every now and then to piss me off.”

What’s one thing about Ricky’s game that you admire?
“I admire his play-making ability. He finds a way to get to the quarterback on big downs. I really respect that. It’s something I wish I could do more of and something that I haven’t done consistently this season, and I feel like I haven’t been there on big third downs as well as I would have liked to. But that is something he does great. He puts pressure on the quarterback when it really counts.”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 20th, 2010 at 10:11 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Alamo Bowl, Brooks Reed, Ricky Elmore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.