Ndamukong Suh Quotes (Sept. 1)

Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Florida Atlantic

Ndamukong Suh
Senior, Defensive Tackle

On if he’s ready to actually get out on the field and play a game
“Yeah, definitely. I’m glad the season is finally here and real close. I am ready. I’ve always been eager to get back into game situations and get into game week preparations, I enjoy it. I love focusing up to school, getting it all done and getting all my homework done before Friday gets here. When Friday classes are over with it’s all about football. That is my main focus and to go ahead and take care of business.”

On what it means being his senior year
“It means a lot. Obviously it’s my last year of playing collegiate football. I am very lucky to have had the opportunity, but it’s coming to a quick end. I need to make the most of it and I think this team will make the most of it. We’ve put in a lot of work in the offseason and this fall camp. I think it’s time to go out there, and with all the hard work we’ve put in, to reap some of those benefits.”

On if he likes the idea of the focus being on him in games
“I do and I don’t. In a sense, it means I was doing something right. I don’t really look at it any different than I did last year. I’m still taking the same approach that I have to go out there and maintain that same focus and get after the ball. They say I’m a marked man now. I have to continue to be a marked man.”

On how you prepare to be double-teamed
“I don’t really worry too much about the double team, unless that is their scheme of double team in there, where we chip off the linebackers. (It is) kind of the way our scheme is set up, it’s really tough to double team, especially on the insides.  If you are double-teaming me or (Jared) Crick, you have two linebackers that will flow to the ball and hit the hole hard and make plays. It’s kind of tough. If you’re giving up one thing then you have to accept another thing. It’s tough, in my eyes, to see a team do a true double team and not chip off the linebackers and stuff like that.”

On what they want to accomplish on the defensive side
“On the defensive side of the ball I want us to have very little mistakes. I want us to be a sound defensive unit and really get away from what happened last year early and a lot of the mistakes. That is really how we got beat. I think that will give us a good measuring stick to where we are. As long as we’re not making mistakes and playing the way we’re supposed to be playing and being in the right situations at the right time, we can go back and look on the film and see where we can improve and where we can get better. If you continue to have mistakes you will never know.”

On if the players know what is expected of them
“Like I said before, the foundation is set and the expectations are known. Most of the people who were in starting roles and roles that were playing a lot, they understand what they need to get done. There are only a few guys who may have a little leeway, but I really can’t say that because they’ve been in that role throughout spring ball. They know what their expectations are or else they would not be in that situation.“

On if winning the Gator Bowl weighed into his decision to come back
“Honestly, we won it. I can’t say it weighed too much into it. I think what weighed more into it are the guys who came back. Obviously, I know what the coaching staff is like. Just seeing where we were standing, losing all our seniors and seeing who came back. It did and it didn’t. There were some guys who stepped up in that game, which was nice, and you saw those guys who are coming back. That weighed in a little bit, but not too much.”

On if a theme on the defense is no excuses
“Yeah, I would definitely say there are no excuses. Last year I would say there were no excuses. I think it was more or less that we needed to sharpen up and get down to understanding what was expected.”

On where Jared Crick is now versus where he was in the spring
“Me and Jared have talked and been in one-on-one situations on how he feels. I’ve asked him point blank how do you see yourself in the defense, how do you see yourself fitting in with the D-Line? I’m not going to say how he responded, but I definitely liked his responses. I just asked him the other day how he felt, if he was ready to be in the starting role. It was pretty much set in stone that he was going to be that guy. His answers, I’ve loved to listen to what he’s had to say. With that being said, I think he’s going to be the next guy who will surprise people with how much he’s grown, coming from a back-up role and being on the bench last year to begin in a starting role and being in a game right off the bat.”

On FAU’s demeanor coming into the game
"I see them team not being scared and coming out of the gates fired up and ready to play us. That is our duty, to match it and exceed it and get down to playing football and keeping the game between the lines. You can talk about it, but you have to produce in between those lines.”

On what kind of game he expects Saturday
“I don’t know what kind of game it is, but I would hope it’s not a fourth-quarter game. I don’t want to play the whole game, I want to see some of the younger guys get in there and play. But that is up to us, as a team that we make that decision the way we come out and approach that game. The way I see this team preparing, I don’t see us coming out lackadaisical and not being focused. I feel like we’re going to jump on this team. For me, I’m eager to hit somebody besides Ricky Henry every day.”

On what will surprise people most about this defense
“I don’t know. I really can’t say that we have an identity, but I can’t pinpoint exactly what kind of defense we’re going to be. We haven’t played anybody except ourselves. We haven’t gone against anybody but our own offense, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

On if he will be nervous on Saturday
“For me personally, I don’t get too nervous. That kind of went out the window when I got a couple snaps and my first start a couple of years ago. If it is nervous, it’s just getting a feel for that team and getting a feel for that guy I will be going against.”