Nebraska Defensive Coordinator Tony White Pre-Iowa Press Conference

On the seniors’ leadership
“It’s meant a ton, right? Everybody can be happy and do things the right way when everything is positive and you’re winning. When adversity strikes, that's when you see what people are about. Having that leadership, having those guys go through the ups and downs and all that kind of stuff for this program and for each other. It paid off with the way they played. There are plays out there where guys are double-teamed and they’re throwing guys off and fighting like heck to make a play. It was really good to see those guys and the joy they had after the game.” 

On Ceyair Wright’s health
“He’s tough as nails. He was sick – a lot of guys were like that. A lot of guys had missed some practice. Like Ques (Marques Buford), you could see that they were fighting like heck. On the sideline, you could see that they were just drained and all of a sudden, they were running back on the field and making plays. That’s something that was Nebraska, that’s their culture. A testament to those guys' willpower they were truly feeling under the weather and they went out there and played for their teammates, so it was good to see.” 

 On what to watch for against Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson
“He breaks tackles. He does not go down just by lowering the shoulder and all that kind of stuff. His center of gravity is low and it doesn’t look like he’s running very hard, but you cannot tackle him. Minnesota, the year before, gave up, I don’t know, 11 yards rushing to these guys. This year they get 200 yards rushing and you watch a play and they are running the defense and he hits an outside zone. They have three or four guys in the hole and the guy still breaks for 30 or 40 yards. He is truly an elite back and it’s going to be a great challenge for these guys to make sure they wrap up, grab cloth, to run their feet and get their bodies in pursuit.”