Nebraska Player Quotes - Matt Holt

<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008
Memorial Stadium

Matt Holt
Freshman, Linebacker
On expecting to play this season
“I didn’t expect any of this.”

On his feeling after playing a lot
“I liked it. I felt pretty good. I wasn’t that nervous. I liked it a lot.”

On being prepared to play defensively for Texas Tech
“Practice and playing special teams got me pretty prepared. It’s still a game.”

On forcing turnovers
“We have to make sure that we wrap up every play. Make sure everybody swarms the ball and goes for the strip. We didn’t have any last game. That’s the big thing we need to do to start forcing turnovers.”

On when he first thought he could play regularly
“I was going to redshirt, but after the first game, they wanted to play special teams.  They told me I was going to start on special teams and work in with the defense.  It would be that second week.”

On expecting to see playing time against Texas Tech
“We had injuries, but I didn’t expect to start.”

On playing against Missouri two weeks ago
“I was a little nervous because I wasn’t quite as prepared as I was for this one, because I didn’t know that I was going to be playing like I did.  After a couple of plays, I felt normal.”

On the reaction back home to him playing
“Everyone was really excited for me. There aren’t many Nebraska fans back where I come from, mostly Missouri and Kansas fans, but it was a pretty big deal. My high school coaches were excited.”

On playing more base defense against Iowa State
“We’re starting to be able to go back to base stuff and normal stuff, playing what we’ve been doing since fall camp, so it’s been a lot easier.”

On playing either linebacker or safety at times against Texas Tech
“I was still a linebacker, but I was involved with the pass. I was on one side normally, and we had a defensive back check down on the other side. They were in a run fit. I was still a linebacker, but I had more of a passing responsibility as a run.”

On being surprised by Texas Tech running the football
“We didn’t see anything that we hadn’t seen in practice. We were pretty prepared in that sense. There were some in-game checks we had to do because our corners couldn’t get down to the run-fit as fast just because of how spread out they were. We knew what they were doing.”

On playing running back and linebacker during high school
“(I prefer) defense.  I started at running back my senior year, but I played defense my freshman through junior years. I enjoyed it (being a running back), but I always liked defense better.”

On walking on at Nebraska
“I was committed to South Dakota State on a full-ride scholarship in January. I hadn’t heard much from Nebraska, a little early, but nothing really significant. The night before signing day, Carl Pelini called and talked to me for 10-15 minutes and told me he wanted me to come walk on. I told him I’d talk to him in the morning. That morning, I talked with both Pelinis and (Mike) Ekeler for a couple hours total. I talked to a friend of mine who goes to K-State and he told me to make sure I was on the 105 (-man roster), if I was going to decommit to come here. I made sure I was on the 105, and after I did that, I made a decision to walk on here instead of going to South Dakota State.”

On decommitting from South Dakota State
“They were pretty surprised, because I hadn’t heard from Nebraska until the night before. They were mad at first, but the guy who recruited me was cool, and I talked to him a month later.  He wasn’t harsh then.”

On his parents’ reaction to his decommittment
“They were okay with it, because they’re both alumni from Nebraska. I have a lot of family here. I grew up a Husker fan.”