Husker Press Conference Quotes

Head Coach Frank Solich
Opening Statement:
"Well it's obvious we have a couple of interesting characters as offensive and defensive coordinators. We are really pleased with what both guys (Offensive Coordinator Barney Cotton and Defensive Coordinator Bo Pelini) have been all about, as you can see they are all business, very demanding, guys that expect an awful lot. So it will be interesting to see how we develop as we go throughout the season both offensively and defensively. We are excited about the opportunity to play Oklahoma State in the opening game of the year. They are a great football team. They've got a very explosive offense. Everyone coming back has handled the ball the previous year. They played a lot of young players in their system. They were good last year and with a lot of those young players getting very valuable experience, they will be an excellent football team."

"Defensively, they lost a true All-American, first-round draft pick, and that never helps, but they're able to fill in with guys who are excellent football players. They will be a very physical, very strong defensive football team. They were an outstanding special teams team last year, and they got many of those people returning so they will be able to put it all together. They will have all three units playing very, very well."

"On our end of it, we expect to play very, very well also. I know we will be an aggressive football team that will get after things."

On releasing information on which defensive players have earned Blackshirts:
"It's obvious we have a lot of new guys on our staff, of course, we hired six new coaches, and so their feel for some of the issues that are pretty common to us are not so common to them. So they aren't jumping right out there, in terms of throwing out answers that they aren't going to be able to back up. So they will take some things very, very slowly, and I think that is very smart, and I think that is the way it should be. They are great football coaches, but very personal guys and somewhat guarded about releasing information, which is understandable. I've gotten to be that way also.

On the I-backs:
"Tim (Albin) has done a great job with the I-backs. Of course, we have discussed heavily who would be the starter. I think there's a combination of things with Josh (Davis). He's got about as good a work ethic as you're going to find. When you talk about guys who run plays out, he is really set. He's been the model for the backs we have in our system right now. You look back at the great running backs that we've had. There have been guys through practice that have extended themselves, and guys that have run plays out extremely well. Josh has been all about that, and I think it has helped develop him. He's a very tough player. He's physical, he's got good vision; he's got excellent speed; and he's probably the fastest of the group of players right now at the I-back spot. Tierre Green could probably be thrown into that group also on that end of it as far as speed with Josh. But he's got a great combination of things. He was a third-down back last year, so he is able to pass-block extremely well and catch passes very well. He is a complete back for us. And that gives him the edge. And you look for those other backs, and I think they have developed extremely well. I do like the fact that David (Horne) has put on about 12 to 15 pounds since last year. He seems to be even a little faster and a little quicker. He's got great vision, and he's definitely going to be in the mix, and be a part of what we get done this weekend. Cory (Ross) is a great, quick back. One thing that has hampered Cory a little bit is his durability. He has gotten banged up from time to time. If he can stay healthy he will give us an awful lot. So it's an excellent group, and we plan on being able to use them all. And ideally play to their strengths."

On Josh Davis' multiple roles on the team (I-back, kickoff returns, punt returns):
"If you turned into Kansas State's game last week, you saw the same thing happening with their I-back (Darren Sproles). He's a great, great player. They are utilizing him every way that they can. You just utilize your personnel, and you expect them to be in great condition and handle the load. If it gets to a point where they need a break, you give them a break. It may be surprising in an area that you wouldn't figure. In other words, if he needs a break, it could be he gets a break at I-back versus a break on punt return. We will see. We have great faith in him and Cory in terms of handling the football."

On the decision to make Josh Davis No. 1 on the depth chart:
"I think David (Horne) has definitely improved, and there was a point in time when he really showed his effectiveness last year. He was in learning mode last year, as we went through that season. He started off extremely well, and I think he's had an excellent fall camp. But the bottom line is one guy has to start, and that is who is starting in this game, and we think he's earned it."

On the challenge of opening the season against Oklahoma State:
"It's an extremely tough opener. I think everyone would agree with that. They bring in an experienced football team. They are a talented football team, when you look at the combination that they have on offense, with arguably the best receiver in the country and a quarterback who I think is an outstanding quarterback. You look at their tailbacks and they're physical runners with speed. They've got a good share of their offensive line coming back. Their tight end is coming back. They won six of their last seven games. They won their bowl game. They're putting a lot of points on the board. Will it be a challenge to slow them down? I don't think there's any question. But would we love to have more time? We would love to have more time, but that is not the cards that are dealt. We are ready to play this football game from both the offensive and defensive standpoint as well as the kicking standpoint. We will have to put it all together in order to make it work."

On Josh Davis:
"I think Josh is extremely competitive and certainly that competitiveness that he has, has put him where he's at right now along with his talent. As you look at it, we have had a number of backs that we have used over the last couple of years. The last two or three years at the I-back spot, we have been interchanging guys, and so it has not been a situation where one guy has just dominated the position. I think that to a degree is true right now. Don't build too much into this. Josh has certainly earned the right to be the starting I-back and I have a great deal of faith in this talent and what he is all about. But we have other very good I-backs as well."

On the pressure of playing in front of returning players at the Husker Nation Reunion:
"No I don't feel any extra pressure because of anything from the outside. It's great to have our former players coming back. I think that's great for the program and it's great for our players. Right now we are so rich in tradition. Those guys have won so many football games, and been on so many championship football teams. I think it's going to be good for us to be surrounded by them. So the distractions of anything that would occur will not happen. That is up to us as coaches to keep distractions from occurring with our players. We will get that job done, and they will be ready to play and there is an awful lot to play for."

On plans to get former and current players together this weekend:
"There will be some opportunities. But we are still trying to figure that out. When you have as many former players coming back as we do, it's pretty difficult to pick a few to get up in front of you. What we would like to do is whenever a former player steps on our campus he knows how much he is appreciated and how welcome he is. We always like some type of interaction between our players and former players because there is an awful lot to learn from what guys have done in the past and what guys expect to do now. So we will look for ways to do it. But there is nothing just built into the agenda. We may want to see if anyone wants to come to practice, but if you have 800 or 900 guys surrounding the practice field, who knows who will be practicing."

Is there too much emphasis on this game?
"Absolutely not. It's a big game for Oklahoma State and it's a big for us. Is it the only game of the season for us or Oklahoma State? The answer to that is definitely is no. It's obvious you have to line up every week, and you have to play great football if you want to have a good season. So we will get ready to do that week after week after week. It's what this program has been built on - getting ready to play one game at a time. Our football team will be ready to do that."

On proving something to former Nebraska players:
"We are not trying to prove anything to anybody other than we want to play great football. We feel we've got the kind of football team to do that. The energy level is there. The attitude is there. The work ethic is there. We just want to produce where we are capable of producing and let's see where the chips fall."

On his role in the game plan:
"It's a little different of course, with an offensive coordinator in place. I've found I have more time to do a number of things that I think head coaches do around the country. I feel grateful for that time. I am still meddling in what we are doing offensively and to a degree defensively, but not to the point where any coordinator would worry about interference. They got hired to do a job. They are great coaches, they'll do the job, but I'll be a small part of it."

On kickoff duties:
"We are still looking at that. Sandro (DeAngelis) has kicked extremely well through fall camp, so he will do the extra-point field goals for us. We will find out whose got the strongest leg between Sandro and Dale (Endorf) and David (Dyches). And whoever can kick it the farthest, the highest, and prevent teams from returning the football could very likely get that starting role, regardless of who that might be."

On Jammal Lord's improvement:
"His leadership has stepped up. That was obvious with him wanting to go down to Kansas City to be part of the festivities down there when we get interviewed. It's not generally like Jammal to just throw himself into the limelight like that. But he wanted to take responsibility. I think his teammates have understood that, recognized that in him and that's why he was elected captain. So from that leadership role he has now, he has buttoned down, zeroed in on things to a point where I think he understands the game better. He's operating with more confidence. He got a year of experience under his belt, so we will try to utilize his talents. Now, where that leads us, we will find out. If we are going to be a 46 or 47 percent throwing football team, don't expect more throws than what you have seen. It's obviously ridicous, no matter how much you stomp up and down about throwing the ball, it will not happen to a large extent if we're not able to throw at least 50 percent. I want to approach somewhere around 55 percent, I think we have the experienced quarterback that it takes to be able to do that. I think we have the receivers to be able to do that. And I think Barney (Cotton) has done a great job with the offensive line and that all comes together in terms of a passing percentage."

On freshman wide receiver Andy Birkel:
"We thought Andy had great potential when we recruited him. That's obvious. We had a chance to work with him at our football camp, and so we saw that talent not only on film but first hand. He has the speed. He's a very fluid, natural receiver. He's got excellent hands. It will come together for Andy very quickly. He'll be in the mix, and he'll get playing time in this ballgame."

On the new defensive system:
"I think Barrett (Ruud) feels more comfortable with that approach, as do most of our backers. When you talk about a bubble linebacker, he's about two yards off the line of scrimmage. You get them in an area when he's not a true linebacker and he's not a true down lineman. It might be confusing to the opponent. You hope so. The angles are different. But it's not good if it's confusing to you. It's obvious that Barrett likes to be backed off as a backer, and he's such a natural backer that we will utilize him largely to that extent."

On freshmen who could see playing time:
"Very likely, Joe Dailey will play this year. He will be suited up and ready for action. I think Mike Stuntz with experience has earned that number two spot right now. I think Joe will continue to progress. We think Mike will continue to progress. Where that leads us, only time will tell. Lane Kelly could be used as a backup snapper on extra points will be available to us as a true freshman. We will have some guys suiting up. If you look at Tierre Green, J.B. Phillips, Greg Austin, those guys will definitely be suiting up, along with Bo Ruud. There's a chance those guys will redshirt, but they will be suited up. We'll see what kind of development they have as the season goes along. David Dyches of course, as we mentioned to you, we'll see where that stands, as far as kickoffs are concerned."

On Joe Dailey:
"I like his attitude and approach to the game. He's all business, and that is what you want to have at the quarterback. He is bright, but it's an awful lot to pick up in a very short period of time, when you talk about a freshman coming in and playing at the quarterback position. We'll see how it all works. We are not ruling out anything, and we will continue to work with all three quarterbacks."

On deciding on redshirt seasons for newcomers:
"It's obvious that you'd like a decision to be made as quickly as possible, but in a number of cases, that is generally not how it works. We will go through the early games, and we'll see how we hold up injury-wise. We'll see how far some of those guys are able to come in comparison to the guys we have starting and playing. You get a third of the way into the season, and you want your best football team on the field, regardless of what position it is. Guys will have an opportunity to continue to learn the system a little bit as we go through the early part of the season. I feel very, very good, with our starting unit, but we will always work to put the best football players on the field."

On the health of the Huskers:
"We are about as healthy as you can get. We had some setbacks with Ryan Schuler early on. Jason Lour has not been able to make the comeback yet. DeAntae Grixby had the ankle injury that has taken him out of this first ballgame. But other than that there is no one that is ruled out of the game. There is that possibility that Wali Muhammad might be ruled out. But when you really look at it, we had relatively few injuries coming through fall camp, and it was a very physical fall camp."

On Nebraska's conditioning:
"Conditioning is always a factor, and a lot of times a major factor. We had far less hamstring pulls for instance than we have had for some time, and that was really encouraging. When you talk about collision injuries, you've just got to be fortunate that you don't have a share of them to set you back as far as starters ready to go and having the kind of depth that you want."

On his anticipation for the game:
"I will probably have a restless night, but that is me, and my approach to football. It's obvious that we were opening up to a very good football team last year in Arizona State. It played out that way, but we were able to play well, special teams played a big role in that ballgame. But you're always going into that first game with a little bit of an unknown. You feel you have all the bases covered, but yet you need to go out there and operate. There is always a little bit of a nervousness in a coach before any game that his team is about to undertake."

On the new offensive and defensive system:
"He (Bo Pelini) is installing his system. It's a system that he knows and he is comfortable with. It would be foolish for me to start to bring into play last year's system. That system is his system. The offensive system is Barney's system. Have I been around offensive football longer than defensive football? Obviously I have been. You would like to think that if you're in this game long enough, you do have a general idea of what things are all about offensively, defensively and on special teams."

On the respect of Nebraska football:
"I don't know that I've ever used the word respect. I've always respected what our players have been all about. Did things work out last year the way we wanted to? No. There's a combination of reasons for that. Is the respect issue out there around the country? It's there. We need to generate that kind of respect. What we're all about is lining up and playing Nebraska football - nothing more, nothing less. We'll be satisfied with doing that. We're anxious to get that rolling. We'll see where that leads us. It will be a very interesting year."

On the importance of the game:
"It's a big game, but the thing that you have to understand is that if it is so big that you can't come back off of this game, whether you win it or lose it, then you've done your team a disservice. You've got to line up next week, and you've got to line up the week after that. Then you've got to go down and line up and play Southern Miss in an ESPN game. Then you've got to line up and play Troy State, and then you've got to line up and play Missouri. If you fail to do any one of those things, then you are not going to have the kind of year that you want to have. We'll be all about playing who is in front of us. Do we have great respect for Oklahoma State? That is obvious and they have earned that respect."

On strength coach Bryan Bailey:
"Bailey has been outstanding. Our players were very appreciative when we decided that there would be a new strength coach, with Boyd (Epley) moving into the facilities area. Our players were in unison in Bailey being the guy. They appreciate what he is all about. He is like a position coach. He didn't want excuses. All he wants is results. He generally doesn't ask any of those guys to do anything he can't do, except maybe bench press an awful lot of weight. In terms of running, stretching and doing the things that are very demanding to these players, he's right there with them. All the running that we did will pay dividends for us. It already has in terms of the limited number of injuries that we have had going into the season."

On the number of players seeing playing time:
"I'm not after seeing faces. I'm after guys performing. If guys are performing well, we'll play them and we'll continue to play them. What we want is great execution. If there is a time that the weather is ridiculous and we need to spell guys, then we'll do it, of course. We're interested in our starters playing great football and having the ability to stay on the field and play great football throughout. The I-back situation, as we mentioned, is very interchangeable. We will use a lot of different receivers throughout the course of a game because we use a lot of different formations. We will use a lot of different defensive backs because we use a number of different packages. When they get hot, you keep them on the field. If they are not playing up to their potential, then you are willing to substitute a little bit earlier."