Nebraska Player Quotes

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

 

Brett Byford
Senior, Center

 

On getting the 2007 season started

“It will be good to play against somebody other than our guys for a while. It will be good to play against a new team."

 

On being named a Husker captain

“It hasn't really sunk in. It's an honor like they said and I'm pretty excited about it."

 

On calling heads or tails before the game

“Tails never fails."

 

On whether he will actually be calling the coin flip

“Hopefully not me. I don't even know yet, but hopefully not me. I'd just as soon worry about one less thing. I messed it up in church softball this summer. They let me be the captain one game and I screwed that up, so hopefully they don't try and let me do it in front of 80,000 people."

 

On a new identity for the offense with Sam Keller at quarterback

“Honestly I don't know. I guess we'll find out when the game starts. From my perspective, I'm just blocking and I can't really tell the big picture as much as some people. I think the fact that guys have been in the system for several years now is going to be huge as far as confidence goes. When you are playing confident you play better so I think that will help a lot and I think that will help him that there are confident guys around him, especially on the O-line."

 

On any changes in quarterback Sam Keller since being named Nebraska's starter 

“I don't think anything has really changed. He has been working hard since he got here. He's a really solid guy. He treats people right. He's got a good attitude. I don't think anything's really changed since he's been named a starter. He's still just working hard."

 

On possible trouble sleeping on Friday night

“I don't usually struggle too much sleeping on Friday night. The hotel bed is usually better than the one at home."

 

On Nevada

“They're a solid team. You can definitely see that last year with the teams they played. They hung with Miami until the last drive. They have a lot of solid guys and they work hard. They are a real physical team and they have some athletes on their team, so it is definitely a challenge. We just have to go out and execute."

 

On playing physical on offense

“That's kind of the goal every game. We are going to go into it with that mindset and try and run the ball first and see what happens."

 

On the success of fall camp

“Camp was good. We worked hard. It was a grind. We just want to go out and win games. The schedule is set up that if we win the games we'll be a top-10 team eventually. If we do our business and take care of our jobs we'll be fine as far as that goes, I think." 

 

On his growth as a player from last year to this year

“A lot. This time last year I definitely wouldn't have seen all this coming. A lot has changed. I'd say I have gotten better as a player and I've gotten more aggressive. I think that goes with being more comfortable out there. The first couple games I was just trying not to make a mistake and trying not to do anything wrong. As I got more comfortable I started playing a lot more aggressive, and I think that helped. I'm just a year older, a year bigger and a year stronger."