On the D-line room:

“We have a really close room right now. I think coach T-Knight (Terrence Knighton) has done a good job. He himself is a chill guy. He’s calm but when it’s time to get to film, we’re all locked in. We’re all hanging out. We’re all busting each other's chops. Even outside of it we hang out at lunch and everyone’s here during the day now that school’s starting. We’ll be able to see each other on campus. Those young guys have had a really good camp. I’m really proud of the progress they’ve made but as we go on, we’re only going to get stronger and tighter as a unit.”

On how well he feels like he knows Minnesota:

“Minnesota is going to run the ball. That’s not a shocker to anybody. They’ve got big guys up front, and our big guys up front are going to take them on. It’s going to be a battle all day. We know that they’re going to try and run the clock out because like I said they’re a running team. It’ll be who can finish with the most points at the end and who gets the most stops. Our plan is to stop the run and get them to pass and see what we can do.”

On his thoughts on the O-line:

“I think our o-line is going to be one of the hardest o-lines that I, personally, will be going against this year. Every day, I’m getting knocked up and they’re giving me great looks. Ethan Piper has been great. He’s been awesome. It seems like he just gets stronger and stronger and harder to move every year. Turner (Corcoran) has done amazing. I’m really proud of Ben (Scott). Me and Ben worked out with each other this summer. With me coming off of surgery it was awesome to see us grow together as our numbers grew with all of our lifting. Noure (Nouili) is just a solid right guard. And Bryce (Benhart). I think Byrce has probably grown the most out of anybody. Now that I finally get to play out there against him a little bit more than in previous years he’s pretty solid.”

On the team’s urgency to win now:

“He’s (Luke Reimer) totally right. We’ve had a really good team. It just came to those key moments where we’d kind of unravel or we’d be unfocused or miss a little detail. That’s what would cause us to lose those close games. We were part of the best 3-9 team ever. That’s no flex to me or anything, but it just goes to show how close we were and how close we can be. Now, if we just fix those little details, we can hold ourselves together, especially when we get to that fourth quarter and those stressful situations to be able to finish it out.”