Tyler Ebell talked about his season to date.
Going into the season, could you have anticipated how it has worked out?
“I knew that as soon as I got my shot that I could make something big happen on offense. I’ve just always had confidence in myself. I knew that I could do this. It’s the confidence you have to have as a player.”
Are you the type that tries to envision certain things happening to try to make them happen? And did you envision this?
“Yeah, I thought about it a lot. Even before I got my shot, but especially after. I knew that I could make a lot of things happens, and change the minds of a lot of people about me. Hopefully I don’t have to hear anything else about my size. I might not be big in stature, but I’m big in production.”
Do you think you’ve benefitted from people always saying you couldn’t accomplish something because of your size?
“Yeah, it’s always been a challenge. But I still have always had the fire inside me no matter what anyone else said. I haven’t really done it because someone called me short or small. I would have played hard even if no one ever did that.”
Do you think you’ve even come close to using your whole repertoire as a running back? Are you completely comfortable running on the college level yet?
“I’m still not fully comfortable yet in my running style in college. There was one run I knew that I should taken it all the way, in the Washington game. I cut back on one guy and I should have just taken it up field and I went out. It comes with the territory. I have to just keep playing and learn from my mistakes. In high school, when I was a sophomore playing on varsity, I wasn’t comfortable the whole year. Then my junior season I was ready and felt right, but unfortunately I got injured. My senior season I just wanted to prove a lot of things, and it all felt right.”
Are you comfortable with the speed of the game and the condition it demands at tailback yet?
“The first couple of games I wasn’t really used to the speed of being an every-down tailback. But now I’m used to it. I’m not tired anymore during the games. When I carried 30 times a game I didn’t really feel that tired from it.”
You’re closing in on the Pac-10 freshman rushing record. Does that mean anything to you?
“It’s something that you have in the back of your mind but you really don’t think about it. It’s something that will take care of itself. If you go in there and do you job, and the offensive line does their job like they have been -- they’ve done a great job – good things will happen.”
Are records motivating?
“Sure. All records and personal stuff is. But the biggest motivating factor is winning. That’s just about all the motivating factor you need and then everything else works out. If I don’t rush for 100 yards and we win I don’t care. As long as we keep getting ‘Ws” it doesn’t matter.”
How do you think Manuel White and you could complement each other?
“We can be like thunder and lightning. He’s definitely going to bring things and complement our offense. He can do things because of his size, and I can do some things.”