Defensive Coordinator Carl Pelini

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010
Pre-Western Kentucky

Carl Pelini
Nebraska Defensive Coordinator
On when he saw Prince Amukamara make the jump to being one of the best cornerbacks in the country
"He's always been a good performer for us. I think there was a point in time early last season where I really saw his confidence jump up and he began to really challenge guys rather than play it safe. When that happens to a kid with that kind of talent, good things are going to start happening for him. That is when he started becoming the playmaker that we hope he is going to continue to be this year."

On how Amukamara has progressed
"It just takes time for that transition to the defensive side of the ball, just to learn what you can and can't do in terms of playing against certain receivers and certain guys and understanding the film and what different receivers, what keys they're giving. Quite honestly, he had to learn to play with his big body and play with his strength. He is a big strong corner and he can use his strength, and he does in ways that can help him."

On if Amukamara was a natural defender when Pelini first saw him
"We thought he was. I don't know if he saw himself as that. We thought he was. He had all the skills necessary."

On if it was a challenge getting him to buy in
"I don't know if we had to make him buy in. I think he jumped in right away, I think it was more a matter of him developing confidence."

On if Jared Crick has anything to prove this year
"I don't think Jared Crick has anything to prove. He has a job to do within the system. He understands football. You hear that all the time, his numbers were inflated because (Ndamukong) Suh was getting double-teamed, show me that on film. It's very difficult for any offensive coordinator to say we're going to double-team No. 93 on every play and figure out how to block everyone else. That wasn't happening. Jared is going to operate within the same parameters this year as he did a year ago. It's up to him to see what type of year he has. He certainly has worked awfully hard at it. I don't think he feels like he has anything to prove. I just feel like he continues to perfect his game and perfect his trade. He'll be fine as long as he's had the same work ethic as he's shown through camp."

On if the defense has a swagger or high confidence level
"Not yet. I think that takes game experience. You lose one guy and the chemistry changes. It is no different at any level or any team. I think there is a quiet confidence about them, but I think the swagger comes after you face opponent after opponent. I think it will come, but it's our first game together with this specific group of guys. I think right now the guys are really focused. The mental preparation is important at this part of the week. I think that is what you're seeing out there, a lot of guys really concentrating."

On preparing for Western Kentucky
"I think in a typical week when you are very familiar with an opponent and you know exactly what you're going to get, I think the pressure, after the initial game planning, the pressure moves to the players to really understand the game plan. I think in a week like this where it is very divergent and you're not sure exactly specifically what you're going to see, I think the pressure is on the coaches to prepare the guys for any contingency. I feel that pressure. I'm sure every coach on our staff does. There are going to be a lot of adjustments required early. We're working on things, but you can't be surprised if nothing you've worked on is what you see. You have to have your kids educated enough conceptually to just make the adjustments on the fly and go."

On how he feels different from last year at this time
"It's always the same, it's a nerve-wracking time heading into the first game. It wouldn't matter if we brought all 11 guys back, the emotions right now would be the same. You feel untested, you're not sure how you're going to react to different situations and obviously practices aren't perfect. There are mistakes being made and corrections being made. Guys are working hard at fixing those corrections. Until you step onto the field and call that first play, it plays out, the jitters will always be there."

On Lavonte David and playing time
"What did Bo say? What am I allowed to say? I'm kidding. Lavonte has had a great camp. He is talented young man. I said earlier in the week, he is as instinctive of a football player as I've been around. He gets it. Even when he is not sure, he seems to find himself in the correct position even at times when I'm not certain that he knows he is in the correct position, but he is. He has progressed very quickly because of those instincts. He's going to be on the field. He's going to be a major cog for us, and he's going to get a lot of playing time. He's absorbed it very well, I'm very confident. I'm not always as confident with a first-year player in the first game as I am with him. Intellectually he gets it and he's only going to get better. We're going to have to force him into games. He's going to get better with each snap he takes in a game situation."

On how they're preparing for the game with Western Kentucky
"You're looking at all the different schools from where the coaches came and you're trying to develop a picture of the parameters in which that offense is going to operate and the schemes of all the different guys. That is difficult to do. At the same time you are looking at the Western Kentucky tape to get an idea of personnel. Western Kentucky's personnel are as difference as night and day from what was at Stanford. There is going to be some adjustment to that scheme based on who is playing for them. You try to just gather as much information as you can. What you don't want to ever do is guess and try to say this is what they're going to be. You have to coach. Like I said, it puts pressure on coaches to coach within a wide range of things and focus on a lot of different things where typically game plans are very convergent. This is very divergent. You're putting a lot of trust in your players to understand all these different things they might see and have the ability on Saturday to move in to that area and hopefully you've covered it or at least introduced it at some point."

On what they expect Western Kentucky's style to be
"I anticipate a strong running game, I do. I anticipate the ability to throw the ball, obviously all teams will, and to use formations in an imaginative way to give them an advantage there because of the West Coast background. I also know because of the personnel they've been talking about and who's playing for them, you might see a little more spread and some other one-back stuff that you didn't see at Stanford. Again, I don't want to guess and I don't want to make it too specific. I don't want to talk to our players in terms of specifics, more in terms of concepts and rules."

On how he expects Pierre Allen to work this year
"I think it's a tribute to Pierre. He had some knee tendonitis that has bothered him the last couple of years, then he had a couple other nicks and things, but he still played at a very high level. By fixing that problem, it's not just that he feels better, it's that he was able to, for the first time in a few years, spend the entire offseason doing a lot of the things that our guys do in the weight room to get stronger in terms of speed and power. He's squatting again; he was doing the Olympics of lifts. He was doing the power cleans. It's no surprise he put on that weight, it's good weight. I see that strength translating into explosive power on the field. That to me is the biggest stride. He made huge gains in those areas in the offseason in a relatively short amount of time. His body was just hungry for that. When he was able to do those lifts he put the weight on, it's good weight and he's much stronger and powerful. He's faster and he has always been smart and played with great intensity. I think he has all the tools. The way he prepares, I think he's going to have a good season."

On who he sees as working well with Jared Crick this year
"I think all of them could. I think we're way deeper than we were. I think Terrence Moore has played really well this camp. Baker Steinkuhler has had a great camp and Thaddeus Randle has had a great camp. They're all going to play and are going to make big plays for us and play at a high level. I feel great about where we are up front. Probably, I sleep a little better this year than I did a year ago. Everyone wants to talk about (Ndamukong) Suh, but we weren't very deep and we would have had a couple injuries we would have been in trouble. Now I don't feel that way. I feel like we have a lot of guys who can rotate through and we're going to be fresher and healthier. They're all going to contribute. You may not see one guy with those kinds of stats, but I expect our defensive line as a whole to not have any drop off in terms of those statistics."

On if he has seen the motivation of the team change
"Truthfully, Bo talks a lot about the culture. Once that culture took over and again I attribute a lot of that to not only Bo and his commitment to it, but the people he hired and surrounded himself with and our strength coaches specifically. The culture is of a very workmanlike attitude. I think the guys come every day with their lunch pale, not a lot of talking, not a lot of yakking, not a lot of predictions, they're just here to go to work. That is what I see and it's not very different from a year ago. I think that has been our key to improvement, there has been a focus by the whole program, players and staff alike, to focus on today. I don't see that changing a lot, and I hope it never changes quite honestly."

On if he senses that Bo is more stressed and has less patience for mistakes this year
"It's the same thing that we say. We operate in that culture where it is always high stress and we always feel a lot of pressure. He is always putting more pressure on us, probably no more than we put on ourselves, as long as you focus on today. I don't give two thoughts to what our predictions are and what people think we're going to be. All I'm worried about today is how people think we're going to practice this afternoon. As long as you keep that attitude, it keeps the stress and all the pressure in check. You just worry about what you duty is today."

On how much stronger the depth is today compared to other years
"A lot stronger. (Offensive Coordinator Shawn) Watson would have to answer that offensively in terms of how he felt about his depth back then. He had a lot of guys back that first year. I think defensively we've been able to put together three pretty good recruiting classes. Classes that we're very pleased with in terms of fitting our scheme and the type of kid we want to play defense for us. Shame on us if we didn't have better depth now. I would say we're a lot deeper and it gives you a lot more freedom. It just creates great competition. I know all coaches talk about it, but it does and every day guys are fighting for playing time now. It wasn't the case the first year. We didn't have a lot of depth. There is always the potential that they would become complacent when there are no quality people pushing them from behind."