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**Q: How's it going with you William?

WG:** It's been going pretty good. Trying to get through another season up here. I've worked through a minor injury, but for the most part everything is going pretty well.

**Q: What are your feelings on coming here, this is your territory that you made a reputation? You are playing in Gillette Stadium. How is it going to be to come home?

WG:** It's a good feeling for me. A nice homecoming. I've still got some friends up there that I am sure would like to see me come up there and play good. For the most part, I am trying to stay focused on the game week. This is a game that we definitely need to win, and I really just try to look at it like that.

**Q: Let me ask you about the adjustment of being a college junior, you come into pro football, and we've had a million players come out of college early, and all of them say there is a period of adjustment that they never counted on. Do you feel the same way?

WG:** Definitely there is a period of adjustment. That is the mental part. I knew coming out that that would be a big adjustment for me. Coming out of school, the coaches did a good job. Coach [Dana] Bible, he sat me down and told me, 'Physically you may be able to go William, but mentally is a whole other aspect,' and he was absolutely right. I got here early last year and had to catch on mentally. Knowing the game and knowing what the people around you are going to do and just getting a feel for the game overall. I would say that would be probably the biggest adjustment, which I was aware of. It's what you got to do.

**Q: One of the things that goes into the territory of being a top draft choice is so much is expected of you. Everybody's got the focus on you. That's a burden you have to carry, probably for your whole career, don't you?

WG:** Definitely. You definitely have to carry it at least for the early part of your career. Hopefully you are successful and you do good. You always have to carry it. It's just a part of it. Those of us that work hard for it to put ourselves in those situations, and I was fortunate to be a first round pick and that was something that was a part of it. Fortunately I have been able to pick it up a little bit around here and gain the faith and the confidence of the town and my teammates and hopefully we can keep things going pretty good.

**Q: When you carry the ball 25 times or more, your team is 5-0.

WG:** Most of the time that happens because we get in those situations in the game where we are up and we can keep running the ball to try to run the clock out, just focusing our game plan and not being forced to throw the ball. For the most part, that is something we focus on is running the ball. When we are running the ball, it seems to work out better like that.

**Q: We have the two top running backs in BC history in this game.

WG:** Yeah, that's right. Mike Cloud. Mike Cloud's up there. I saw him a couple of weeks ago, he had a pretty good game. So, it will be good. My focus right now is just to get healthy. I've got a little bit of a shoulder problem over here, but hopefully I can get out there and play on Sunday.

**Q: Looking back at your time at BC, the offense that they ran there was that able to prepare you for the NFL?

WG:** Definitely, Coach Bible runs a great offense. He coached our offense and it definitely prepared me. My biggest thing was all of the blitz pick ups for that offense because Bible leaves a lot of responsibility for the running back and that offense at BC picking up different blitzes. So that was one of the biggest parts for me. I definitely had an advantage coming out of Coach Bible's offense, just being able to pick up the blitz and really knowing what to expect.

**Q: Can you tell me about the adjustment to Cleveland and to the NFL? How tough was it? And how were you able to handle it?

WG:** We just take it day by day. A lot of big adjustments, a lot of ups and downs, new people, a whole new lifestyle. You've got a whole lot more money, so everything pretty much changes around you. But for the most part, I try to stay grounded and do what I always do and that is just go out there and play football and take care of my kids.

**Q: You brought up a point about a lot more money. The thing is that a lot of the young players, they get all this money and a lot of times it overwhelms them. They don't live on a budget. How about that part, that off field part, and managing your money and the adulation you get as a top running back?

WG:** Everything was new to me, because I never had money before. When I got here it was like, okay you take care of what you've got to take care of. I was fortunate in the situation because I really stayed grounded. I'm not really into too many material things and my situation was that football took up so much of my time that half the time I still feel like I'm that kid in college. The money really doesn't set in until you start buying other people things. I was still doing the same type of things: going to practice every day, coming home tired, going to sleep waking up, and doing it again. But for the most part with me, I guess it was a bigger adjustment for my family, my kids and my brothers and sisters. Being able to different things for them, but for myself it really was just the same thing every day. You go to work. Football takes up so much of your time that it is not really something you think about.

**Q: Paul Zukauskas is a kid from around here. What can you tell me about, he has been one of the few offensive linemen that have been able to get out there every week it seems like.

WG:** Paul is a tough kid. He's been playing with a couple bangs and bruises, as has our whole offensive line. Those guys, they do a great job. They play hurt. They play injured. They all get out there and work extremely hard. Paul is one of a bunch of those other guys out here that are working extremely hard. They play through all the bumps and bruises. It feels good to get out there and play with somebody that I played with in college. We knew each other. We were already good friends. We say sometimes, as was in the case last week, 'That was real BC-style.' What we use to do when we played in college. It's definitely good. It gives you a certain comfort level. You know you've got somebody out there that is willing to die for you. It's good to be out there to play for Paul.

**Q: Speaking of BC, Dan Koppen is doing a good job out here at center. Have you all had a lot of contact back this week?

WG:** I haven't talked to him yet this week. I probably will be in touch with him. Boston College always produces good offensive linemen. It's good to know that we did have a pretty good team, and you look around and we got guys in the pros that are making a difference. But for the most part we just want to get out there and get this win against New England and then start practicing next week for Kansas City.

**Q: You guys have played so many close games this year and last year, and some excruciating losses too—how does a team get better at winning close games? The Patriots have been pretty good at that the last couple of years.

WG:** The bottom line is, especially in the NFL, is that the game is not over until that horn blows, until that final whistle blows and everybody knows that in this league. I would say the biggest thing is that everybody is so good that you've got to play for the entire sixty minutes. You can't let up at any time or let there be a time when you don't have superior athletes out there playing football. I would say we definitely, especially after last year we had a lot of games that came right down to the wire, so what we know around is that game is not over until it is completely over, no matter how much time is left or what the place of it is.

**Q: Were you excited when you guys drafted Antonio Garay?

WG:** I was actually at BC when he came up on the board. I was visiting down there at the time. It's a really good feeling, going up there. He's the same old crazy kid, running around, playing good football out there on the practice field. Hopefully we'll see him out on Sunday. It was good to be around those guys. It was as if I had never even left the locker room from BC. I'm fortunate to be around those guys like that. I'm fortunate to be able to come to New England this weekend and play against Mike Cloud, Dan Koppen and [Damien] Woody and those guys. It's just a good feeling