Nebraska Punter Brian Buschini Pre-Michigan State Press Conference

On importance of punts to field position
“It’s important but I think it’s always been important but it’s really fun to play with a team that has a really good defense because when they get stops and the other team punts the football down, we’re in that spot of the field usually with our offense where I get a lot of pooch opportunities to try to pin the other team down. I think part of that’s why I’ve been able to have more inside the 20 this year than I did all of last year on about half as many punts so if I can just continue to work hard and try to put the team in the best spot utilizing those punts, Phalen (Sanford)’s one of the top gunners in the country, downing those punts so that helps the defense really well and that’s all I really care about right now is helping the team get some wins.”

On staying healthy throughout the season
“I feel a lot better than I did last year. I’ve been hitting the ball a lot better this year. I feel really good, that’s a credit to Coach (Corey) Campbell and Coach Kristin (Coggin) and everyone who’s invested in us in the off-season. I’m really excited to go up to Michigan State this weekend and try to do our best again.”

On what he’s learned this season
“This season I’ve learned a ton of lessons. Early on, the first two games a big lesson I needed to learn was to trust the protection and understand that there’s nothing I can do if I don’t have the right technique and block the guys or something. After that second game, we really worked punt protection a lot harder and they’ve been doing such a great job since then. Part of that was on me too, you see guys in the pros that get hit all the time when they punt the ball, whether guys get blocked into them or not, you have to be able to hit the ball well regardless of who’s in your face or not. The bad punts versus Colorado were more a result of me getting distracted by the rush coming than it was of me getting hit because I’ve been able to hit punts with guys around me really well before. That was one learning lesson. The bigger learning lesson that’s come from this year is controlling what I can control. I’ve had 24 open-field punts this year which is kind of like where you get your averages up but the way it’s worked out we have 21 of the 24 have been into the wind so my average is a little lower right now and coming into the year I was kind of being selfish. I was having the mentality that ‘I’m going to have a high average this year. I want to break the school record.’ I’ve been able to meet with Coach Rhule for a long time and we met for hours and talked about what the mentality that great punters have, controlling what you can control because if the cookie would have crumbled maybe a different way, I’d have a 50-something-yard average and I’d be sitting the same punter I am right now with this lower average maybe with a high average so my focus has flipped completely to just helping out the team as best I can in every situation we’re put in and this is by far the best I’ve punted in my career and maybe my stats don’t show that but I know deep down that I’ve been hitting the ball really well and just continuing to trust the process and continuing to put the team in the best spot we can each week. Those guys have done such a great job for me and there’s nothing I’ve done differently outside of those first two weeks but that was just one of the two learning lessons I have taken from this year.”