Nebraska Player Quotes

Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007
Memorial Stadium
Pre-Nevada

 

J.B. Phillips
Senior, H-Back (Tight End)

 

On his anxiousness to start the season

“I’m pretty anxious.  I think we all are.  You can only hit the same people for so long before you get anxious to take it to someone else.”

 

On expectations heading into the year

“It’s the same every year, and with the talent we have every year, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be that way.  We expect to win every game we play.  We have the talent to match up with any team we’re going to face.  It’s up to us to win the game, for us to execute to what we’re capable of.  In our minds, we’re capable of beating every team.  There’s no one that we look at where we don’t like what we see.  We have the talent and leadership.  We have a good football team coming.”

 

On the improvement of H-Back Dreu Young

“He’s done a lot of great things. For how young he is, he knows the offense really well.  That’s where he first started.  The more you know, the more comfortable you get with it.  You can see that.  He’s been able to make plays.  The coaches have been able to plug him into different areas.  He’s really been doing everything the coaches have been asking for.”

 

On Nevada’s defense

“It’s an attacking defense.  They like to blitz off the edge a lot.  That’s going to stretch our communication.  We rely on the tight end to communicate those blitzes.  I have to relay what they’re going to do back to everyone else.  Without good communication, they can really hurt you.  They’re a good football team.  They have a lot of good players that play hard.  We expect a fight on Saturday.  We expect them to be attacking on every play, and they have nothing to lose.  We’re expecting a good game and that they’ll give everything they have.”

 

On Nevada’s defense compared to others

“It’s hard the first game of the year, because you’re watching film from the year before, so you’re watching players that aren’t there now and some players improve over the year’s span.  Right now, you see the different things they’re doing.  You’re looking more at what their defensive structure and schemes are as opposed to individual players.  You look at the guys that are returning, but you don’t have that luxury with everybody.”

 

On Nebraska’s size advantage on the line

“We all know (Coach Bill) Callahan by now.  He likes to line us up and see what we’re made of.  I’m sure we’ll line up and run at them, but I’m sure we’ll razzle-dazzle and put the ball in the air, too.  It’s going to be a balance between run, play-action passing and passing.  It’s going to be the whole gamut of everything.”

 

On changes in the offense for this year from last year

“We’ve added plays and things like that.  It’s a constant tinkering.  The offense is set up around concepts.  Within those concepts, you can tinker by tagging different receivers or lining up in different formations.  Conceptually, it’s the same.  But when you perform it, the differences look like a new play, so you have to learn those differences and nuances and the timing.  By doing so, that’s how you get the breadth of our offense.  We’re always trying out stuff.  It’s not uncommon for Callahan to come up to the huddle in practice and ?sandlot’ for a play. In his mind, he has a vision for how he wants it to work, so he wants to try it out and see how it looks.  If it looks good, we’re running it on Saturday.”

 

On playing a tough first opponent

“It’s an opener.  They’re a good team.  It’s exciting to play a good team right off the bat because it’s a great measuring stick for you.  You have to play your best game.  They say your best progression is from week one to week two, and if you play a great team, you can see exactly where were looking and exactly what this team is made of.  By playing a great team off the bat, you’re able to get a good measure for it.”