Nebraska Weekly Press Conference

Lincoln - Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan welcomed the media to the Don Bryant Media Facility at Memorial Stadium for the Huskers' first weekly press conference of the 2005 season on Tuesday.  A complete transcript of Callahan's session with the media is available only on Huskers.com, along with selected quotes from several Nebraska players.  The Huskers open the season against Maine on Saturday at Memorial Stadium (6:10 p.m., FSN Pay-Per-View).

Head Coach Bill Callahan

Opening Statement

"We’re extremely excited to get our season going, and we couldn’t be more anxious to play a game. I feel our team is very ready and looking forward to this week’s game against Maine.

 

Yesterday we had a developmental day which is a little bit new. The players at the bottom of the roster or not in the two-deep will get significant work for an hour to an hour-and-a-half on Monday with their position coaches. So what is normally the team’s off day will now become the off day for those particular players on Friday. This will give us an opportunity to really enhance their skills and get them more opportunity to work one-on-one and really get their skills closer to those of a two-deep player.

 

I think that’s significant because of the fact you’re always trying to develop your rosters so at the end of the year if there is an injury situation or an injury gap in your roster, they can certainly add depth to that."

 

On Nebraska's running backs

"Cory Ross is a starter, and all four backs will play. Brandon Jackson has played throughout the duration of training camp and has been in that role. He’s never relinquished that role at that position because he has practiced every day. The only thing we’ve limited with Brandon Jackson is his contact. He was in a green jersey, but sometimes I wonder if we should even hand them out at all because he did get hit with the green jersey on. I don’t know what good that did.

 

He’s worked extremely hard and he is certainly deserving of that position and that role. He’s going to be a real added plus for us; he has the full package. He looks more explosive than he did a year ago ? his speed appears much faster. He has better vision, sees cuts a lot better. He understands the offense of what we’re trying to get accomplished. He knows and has a better feel for the offense overall, so we’re excited about Brandon.

 

Thirdly, as you look at Marlon Lucky, he will play in this week’s game. He has really improved himself from the first day of training camp. I compare him to Brandon Jackson’s role last year coming into the offense. He has shown the ability to handle the protection game and the passing game, of course, with the running game. He’s carried the physical load of a No. 2 back during practice because Brandon Jackson was held back in that regard. (Lucky) will see significant time as well.

 

Cody Glenn is a big back that we’re looking forward to. We’ll give him some opportunities should that situation show up on Saturday. He’s a guy we want to see him hammer the ball inside between the tackles. He has a big physical presence, and we’re going to utilize him to that end.

 

We haven’t set a plan yet in terms of rotation. We’re working hard to that end. We’re still finalizing thoughts in terms of when we’re going to get particular players in during the game, so we haven’t accounted for that yet at this time."

 

On injuries to the receiving corps

"Hopefully we can get one of them back today, and that would be Chris Brooks. He’s cleared for practice, so it’ll be exciting to see him come back. We feel good about his emergence as a young player in the offense. We’re looking forward to seeing him on the practice field today. He will give us new life and energy, and I don’t think he’ll be 100 percent, but he has really pushed through his rehabilitation. I’m proud of what he’s accomplished in a very short period of time to get back on the field.

 

He has worked very hard and has been very diligent about rehabilitation. It’s funny ? every day you go out to practice and you see Chris Brooks right in the middle of the field with a towel or bar in his hand. He’s been enthusiastic about the practice and about the opportunities that he sees in the future, which is really positive overall for the team to see a guy hurt like that come out with an upbeat attitude and such a positiveness. That’s great.

 

Isaiah Fluellen and Mark LeFlore are injured. We’re hoping to get maybe one of the two back. If Mark does come back this week, that would be a real plus. With Isaiah, it doesn’t appear like he’ll be ready to go as we look at it today. Now things could change, and that would be a day-to-day thing. We’re hopeful that we can get him and Mark back on the field as soon as possible."  

 

On Tyrell Spain

"Spain hasn’t been cleared. We’re just awaiting official word whether he’s in or out, so that’s still up in the air right now."

 

On wide receiver Frantz Hardy

"For a guy who wasn’t here this spring, it makes it awfully tough for a player to come in and really learn the system. But to his credit, when he came in this summer, he took six hours of summer school and did very well in school. He worked out with the team for the duration of the summer training period. He came into camp and was not seated in the first spot, but learned his role and got better as we progressed.

 

Coach (Ted) Gilmore has done a terrific job of bringing him along and developing his skills as a receiver. He’s not there yet, and I think he’d be the first one to tell you that. He is certainly an individual and a player who gives us a lot of speed at that particular position, split end. He’s a guy who has very consistent hands. He’s going to make more plays as he gets more comfortable and confident with each game and with each play he makes on the field."

 

On cornerback Cortney Grixby

"Exceptional. Here’s a guy who continues to contest every ball in flight. The thing that really sticks out in our minds is his ability to recover. He has tremendous recover ability. Once you’re down the field as a receiver and you’re pushing a particular stem or a particular route on him, if that receiver would get separation, bang, he closes the gap pretty quickly, You see a tremendous burst, and you see the tremendous athleticism he has to close and recover and make the plays.

 

He’s a small guy stature-wise for a corner. You like to see bigger guys out there, but he’s an individual who plays big. He plays big because he has an excellent vertical jump. He can elevate especially in the red zone area. That was an area that he wanted to improve based off of last year’s performance, and that’s an area he’s focused in on and that he’s dialed into. He has a comfort level of making plays down in the corner, down in the back pylons, the back end of the goal line. He has really done a terrific job contesting throws and elevating to make plays. Those things stand out.

 

He’s a fierce competitor, and not only will he be the starting corner, he’ll be the starting punt returner. That’s a tough job. He’s really demonstrated the ability to be a quality punt returner. I don’t know if he’s Johnny Rodgers yet, but he’s certainly one of those guys who can excite a crowd and lift your team up. He does have that explosiveness and that athleticism. We’re certainly going to be encouraged with him being back there to return punts."

 

On cornerback Zackary Bowman 

"We’re blessed, first off, by having three quality corners. Zack will see a lot of playing time this fall.  Coach (Phil) Elmassian has just done a terrific job of getting him prepared to play.  At any time he’s ready to get right in there.  Of course, when you’re playing passing teams in this conference you can mention the fact that he is a starter by virtue of the nickel package. We want to put our best people on the field and Zack is certainly one of those corners that you want to have on the field in a starting role when you start getting into conference play."

 

On cornerback Tierre Green

"We haven’t been surprised. He’s a tremendous worker and competitor. He’s got endless energy in so many ways. When you watch him on the practice field he’s very physical and he’s capable of playing in different positions, and he has that type of capacity as an athlete. He continues to improve on a daily basis. If there’s a player that I’ve seen make a comfortable transition, he has done it. It’s tough to make that transition from running back to corner when you are getting isolated with the best athletes on the field.

 

We’re excited about Tierre. To his credit, he’s really done a great job and we’re fortunate to have three corners we can put out there.  How we play them, that will be key.  We can put him as the boundary corner, we can utilize him as a field corner, a strong corner or weak corner.  Coach (Kevin) Cosgrove’s scheme is very flexible to utilize our strengths and there are a lot of directions that we can go."

 

On the three corners being interchangeable 

"We’ve got the flexibility (of making Bowman a nickel guy) too.  We could put Cortney (Grixby) in the slot or we could put Bowman in the slot or Tierre (Green) in the slot.  Yes, we are very flexible in that position. I don’t want to say he’s definitely the nickel guy, but there are a lot of different combinations we can play based on the opponent and the match-up that we are going to face."

 

On linebacker Steve Octavien 

"Steve (Octavien) is the starter right now. We’re blessed with two outstanding athletes. The thing that we just love about Steve Octavien is his ability to make plays.  He’s very instinctive.  I was talking to LeKevin (Smith) about his play.  He is very explosive and he’s got a very natural instinct. He makes plays sideline to sideline. We’re looking at a couple of different coverages where he’s featured. He really shows the ability to adapt and adjust to do all the things that we’re doing from a coverage standpoint.  He can play man to man, drop deep down the hole.  He has very solid zone coverage and he has a tremendous ability to blitz.

 

On linebacker Bo Ruud

"Now, Bo has been extremely competitive. This has been a tough decision. As of late Bo has been injured, he’s been nicked, he’s got behind because of injury.  I certainly wouldn’t rule out Bo Ruud in our package. The reason is he’s a great competitor and he’s really improved.  He’s going to be the starting nickel linebacker along with Steve (Octavien), so he’s another guy, like Bowman, who we’re fortunate to have this type of talent that we can utilize in different roles to maximize their abilities."

 

On freshman quarterback Harrison Beck playing this weekend

"He might.  We’re always ready. You’re always a snap away. In our line of thinking, it’s important that he prepares himself as a starter. You never know what could happen.  Coach (Jay) Norvell has taken that approach with him.  There’s no relaxation in terms of his preparation whatsoever. If the opportunity exists, we want to insert him in the game.  And if it doesn’t, we won’t."

 

On possibly redshirting Harrison Beck 

"It’s too early to even think or consider anything of that nature. We haven’t even started a game yet. I just think that it’s over time where you like to save them and save that year, but I don’t know if we can afford that luxury. I don’t think we can until everything is played out.  Maybe later in the year that’s a possibility, but right now we’re going to utilize everybody on the roster and everybody that has a chance to improve and put themselves in a position to play."

 

On Nebraska's placekickers

"We think we have two excellent kickers in Jordan Congdan and David Dyches.  They both have special skills and abilities.  As a starting field goal kicker, we will kick Jordan Congdan. We feel confident. We feel that way because of his consistency throughout training camp and his ability to play consistently at that spot. David is an excellent kicker.  He has tremendous abilities.  That’s a spot where we had tremendous competition during the course of camp. It was a seesaw battle. It finalized just this past week with Jordan winning that position, but that’s not in any way, shape or form a poor reflection of David Dyches. 

 

I’ll say that David is right there. It was a very close competition.  We feel as a staff very confident that Jordan will do a good job, and we made that decision based on the best interests of the team."

 

Keeping focused on a I-AA opponent 

"I think I made that point on Sunday night. We talked about that game in particular. It grabs your attention immediately.  You think of a team that is aggressive and can play all out, especially early in the year.  When a team comes into your home state and you don’t have a lot of background on them. We don’t have a lot of information on Maine.  We just don’t have that resource.   We don’t have that ability to have all the film out there that you’d like to study.  

 

But things change and I think what’s important in this game for our players is that they have the ability to adapt and adjust to certain things that could come up.  Certain possibilities ? the unknown.  We’re confident in that because of the training we just went through in the last three weeks.   So we feel that if something does occur, we can match it, we can adjust and we can make the right coaching point to match it.  I don’t treat I-AA any different than anybody else.  They’re an opponent, they are on the schedule, and we’re going to play to the best of our ability."

 

On redshirt freshman tight end Clayton Sievers

"I love this guy. He’s all about toughness. He’s a guy that just loves to fight and battle and compete. When you’re out there in practice and watching him in the Oklahoma drills, you watch him at the goal line and you watch him in his daily fundamental period, he’s a guy who just loves football.

 

He just oozes with emotion.  He just oozes with the ability to play physical and that’s what you want out of that position. He’s captured our attention. It’s contagious. As one position becomes more physical, other positions become more physical.  It’s challenging in that respect. He’s a guy who wants to be up front. He wants to take on that role.  He’s worked extremely hard.  I’ll tell you what, in the spring, he didn’t have the kind of spring he wanted.

 

He has really improved himself and he certainly deserves the opportunity to be the second tight end.  We certainly feel comfortable about inserting him in the game.  He has very good running ability, good athleticism, and guts on the field and does the things that you want out of the tight end position. He could be a real plus for us. He was certainly a surprise, but his attitude wasn’t. He came in here with a great attitude and worked extremely hard.  He’s got great lineage. 

 

The Sievers family is a great family.  You look at Chad last year and what he did in his career. I would tell you that Clayton is duplicating the same things that Chad did.  So it’s a definite credit to him."

 

On quarterback Zac Taylor’s progress

"Zac Taylor is an individual who has all the qualities you look for in a leader. He’s an individual that has great poise, great command.  When things get heated up out there on third down and the world’s falling apart in the huddle, you’ve got people draped over your neck, coaches yelling at you and everyone trying to motivate you, he’s just calm in the storm. He’s got tremendous focus and he’s performed at that level. He gets better everyday with his foot work and his timing and his understanding and confidence.  You can see it grow. We have to give him those plays that allow him to grow.  But he’s shown that ability."

 

On the quarterback competition

"I think we had great competition all along. To Coach (Jay) Norvell’s credit and to the quarterbacks’ credit, they all competed fiercely. We have great confidence in every quarterback that’s on our roster.  It’s a great group.  They get along well.  They go to meetings and have fun.  They are good guys to be around.  They joke amongst themselves, but they’re also serious. Their heads are in the books because they come back the next day and Coach Norvell has a 15-page test that they’ve got to turn back in.  So they show all the dedication. Whether it’s Zach, Beau (Davis), Harrison (Beck), Joe (Ganz) or Jordan (Adams), we have great confidence in all of those five men."

 

On the number of freshmen who will play

"One of the things that was important to us as a staff was not so much how many of them are going to play because certainly that would be real disrespectful to the other players on our roster ? a real disrespect to our veteran players and our experienced players who have been here four or five years.  The big thing for us is that we worked hard at training camp to close the gap between the experienced player and the inexperienced player.  We worked to close the gap developmentally and bring up our younger players so that they can compete and challenge and add quality depth to our team. I think our team has done a great job responding and bringing those guys into the fold ? welcoming them, putting them under their arms, guiding them, mentoring them and helping them and showing them the ropes.

 

They’ve done that and that’s what a team is all about. It could have gone the other way very easily. I think we’ve all seen situations like that where the competitor comes in and competes for a spot and the relationship isn’t as warm and cozy.  But our guys have done a tremendous job.  I’ve got to give them credit.  Our leadership, our captains, our senior leadership and the overall team has done an excellent job embracing our younger players. I think our younger players have shown our older players a lot of respect and that makes for a good marriage. I think that’s important as you’re developing team morale and team chemistry. You can see that day-in and day-out in the conversation and dialogue between them in the training room, the locker room, the field and the dining room at the Hewit."  

 

On the newcomers

"We feel that the players who are on the field and in a position to play, we have confidence in them.  I’m not concerned.  They’re good football players.  That’s why we recruited them out here. They’re going to have their ups and downs and they’re going to make good plays and bad plays.  They are going to have plays that they are going to have to improve on as we all will, but I feel really good about younger players and our team.  I think our team has improved.  That’s glaringly what I’m pleased about.  Our team is improving. Young guys, old guys, that’s our concern and that’s our focus."

 

On potentially breaking into the top 25 rankings in the future

"We just want to be the best we can. We don’t measure ourselves by numbers and polls. We’re just going to do the best we can.  I heard LeKevin (Smith) speak of that as well. It is a one game at a time approach. I think if you treat it any differently, you could hinder your season and your ability to improve. That’s where we’re at.  We’re not focused on anything other than this game this Saturday.  More importantly we’re concerned about how we’re going to practice and improve today because we have some things in the package that we’re preparing for and we have to have a great practice today."

 

On defensive lineman Barry Turner

"He’s an exceptional pass rusher. He’s one of those natural gifted pass rushers that you see at the end spot that has the speed and the range and just has the natural knack for getting to the quarterback. He’s silky smooth in terms of how he comes off the ball. He’s very explosive, he’s very quick with this hands.  So he has a lot of ability.  And he’s still young.  He just gets better every day. He is getting more of a repertoire of moves. He’s really improved. You speak to his pass-rush abilities, but he’s getting more physical in his ability to defend the run as well, which is equally important."

 

On offensive lineman Seppo Evwaraye

"Cornelius (Fuamatu-Thomas) played left tackle in junior college. That’s a very natural position for him. When we went into the spring, we started Cornelius at the right tackle to begin his confidence level.  The other point I’d like to mention is that we like the versatility of our linemen.  We wanted to see Seppo at left (tackle) just in case we ever needed to move him to left. It’s all about projection and giving guys more experience and stretching them a little bit in terms of their roles. I wouldn’t read too much into that.  We just wanted to give more guys more confidence and get them acclimated so when the time is right we can stretch them to see if we can get them into another role or another position."

 

On individuals fitting in within the team concept 

"I’m only concerned about the guys who are here and want to be here. I want guys who want to be good football players and want to play for Nebraska and not anything else.  We’ll do the best we can to encourage them. It has been all about team. Our focus for fall training camp has been dramatically emphasized about the team concept and how much better we can be as a team in all three phases ? in how we tie those in and how we play will be critical.  So that’s something we’ve focused in on all through training camp.  

 

You build morale and you build chemistry and relationships. You’ve got to bring in new guys and integrate them in with the old guys and you’ve got guys changing roles.  There’s a lot of dynamics taking place that you have to control and keep an eye on and manage through the course of the day as a coach and as a staff. Our staff has done a great job with the players, trying to get them to understand that."

 

On the development day for younger players

"This is new. I just go back to my days in the past where we had a day where we would spend to get another player better. If we have that possibility, we see it as a real plus, a real advantage to get those guys playing time so when they’re called upon at any point in time, they’re ready to go. If you look at the normal schedule now, players being off on a Monday, they would only actually work three days out of the week. This gives them a fourth day where they can hone their skills.

 

More importantly, it gives them an opportunity to practice and develop with their coach in a teaching environment where they are one-on-one. There are players but there’s not the large group of numbers you have to deal with at that position.  For instance, Coach (John) Blake would only be working with three or four guys and that’s the extent of it. It shows those younger guys down the line that you care about them and their development so the year doesn’t get wasted. You can focus in and try to improve that aspect of their play.  That’s one of the things that we looked at hard in the off-season."