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Sophomore I-Back Roy Helu Jr.
Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Memorial Stadium
On being involved in the passing game
“In our offense, we have to get out into routes if we’re not protecting, so it’s something that every back at Nebraska has to do. Marlon (Lucky) has done that really well, especially last year when he had (75) catches.
On the areas in which he needs to improve
“Pass protection. Wiring my hands and stepping up and making sure there’s no pressure on Joe (Ganz).”
On the signs from this team that it will finish strong
“We’re resilient. We’re progressing. We don’t let other things affect us outside our team. We have a good chemistry in that locker room.”
On this team having a lot of room to improve
“We have a lot to improve on. On offense, we’re not executing as well, but we’re still able to get the ball in the end zone. That’s something that we can look forward to.”
On the source of the team’s chemistry
“It comes from all of us. The coaching staff keeps us in line and lets us know what we have to do each week, but mostly, it’s us and what we do outside the field, keeping a nice cohesive group.”
On his confidence after the last couple weeks
“(I’m) pretty confident. I’m confident that the Lord will carry me through each game healthy and knowing that the game is not on my shoulders, and I just need to do one-eleventh.”
On the success of some teams running the football against Kansas State
“From the games I’ve seen, Kansas and Oklahoma, it was the backs hitting the holes hard and their offensive lines blocking well and (the running backs) making people miss. They’re pretty sound in their gaps. They’re fast though, so you have to get them going one way and split them the other.”
On the mindsets of Kansas State and Nebraska coming into this game
“I don’t know what type of mindset they have. I can’t speak for them. I know that it’s not the easiest thing, going through a coaching change, especially because they had theirs near the end of the season. I know our mindset is to go down there and take care of our job. That’s all I can speak for.”
On being surprised by the importance of his role
“I’m pretty confident in my abilities. I knew our offensive line is really good, so it’s just us hitting the holes right and making people miss. I’m not surprised.”
On his running style being based on instinct
“Pretty much all of it (is based on instinct), and being talked to in practice about where my reads are and where I need to go. You can’t think out there. It’s through practice week. It’s our coaches telling us where we read on certain plays and what they like to do, whether they like to fast-flow to pitches or not.”
On making people miss in the open field
“It’s just God-given ability. Every running back can make someone miss. It’s just if they’re going to, I guess.”
On hurdling a defender against Kansas
“He was on the ground. The ref moved out right before I was in the open field. I thought no one was there. Next thing, when he (the ref) moved out of the way, he was there. I wasn’t going to go around him and lose yards.”
On potentially playing professional rugby
“There’s not too much of a future in America for it (a professional rugby career), at least not now. Financially, it would be harder. If I moved out of the states, I would.”
On liking football and rugby
“I like both sports, but there are some plusses in rugby that I like more than football.”
On his running style being influenced by rugby
“I only played one year there. It was more of me just following and looking at film of my dad playing. It didn’t influence me too much, because I ran like this in high-school football before I played rugby.”
On the running backs getting along
“We just have to be selfless. Quentin (Castille), Marlon (Lucky) and Marcus (Mendoza) have all know our roles and know that we’re going to share the ball. It’s not that we want to start. It’s about, when our number is called, we need to go and perform.”
On splitting carries
“Whoever is running the ball well on that day will get more carries.”