Defensive Tackle Jared Crick

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010
Pre-Idaho

Jared Crick
Junior, Defensive Tackle
On Head Coach Bo Pelini's criticism of the defense after the game on Saturday
"After the game he was pretty upset, as we all were. We knew we didn't play to our potential. That's disappointing just in that fact that we could have done better than we did. After watching the film, we didn't play great, but we found the things that went wrong, our mistakes, and they are fixable, and either they've been fixed or we're going to fix them this week. That's a positive note knowing that everything that happened that went wrong was definitely our fault."

On if facing a less mobile quarterback this week will allow them to be more aggressive
"Yeah, we still have to be careful about it because any quarterback can bounce out of the pocket and make a play that way, so we still have to take a careful pass rush approach. But being the fact that he is more of a pro-style quarterback, he is going to sit in the pocket, that definitely gives us an advantage of working our moves and hoping that he is going to stay stationary in the pocket. That will just give us a target."

On if he knew Idaho quarterback Nate Enderle
"I knew him just for that fact that he was a big deal back home. I think I met him once at a track meet, but that was before any of this. I think I met him once and maybe talked to him for two minutes, but other than that I've never really talked to the guy."

On the expectations of the defense
"You think 10 points would be good, but our expectations are blanking people every game. We expect perfection and we go out there and try to execute perfection every snap.  Knowing that those 10 points came off our mistakes, we realize that if we wouldn't have made those mistakes maybe we could have gotten a shutout.  If we continue to play for perfection snap to snap than we can blank any team. We have to go out there and execute, and we didn't do that Saturday, and that was the biggest thing for us."

On if Saturday's game impacted the team's confidence at all
"We saw some good things which were a positive, but just more so in the fact that we didn't communicate. We weren't on the same page at times and we gave up big plays. That's more demoralizing then the positives. We know we have a lot more to fix then what we did right. We're looking at this game as more of a teaching tool and a game that showed where we were at and how much we have to improve coming into this week."

On how he thought he played individually
"I didn't play to my potential. I'll admit it. We weren't on the same page, and we were kind of worried about other things more than ourselves and doing our own job. It was different not being on the same page. I didn't play to my potential. Coach will tell you that. I'll tell you that. But definitely I'm going out this week to improve so I can play to my potential this Saturday."

On if he can compare this year's game against Western Kentucky to last year's season opener against Florida Atlantic
"They are similar. As far as the defensive front, we played high. We weren't as aggressive as we should be. It was the first game so we were just getting our feet wet, getting our feel, but going into this week this has to be the biggest jump that we make to improve, and I think we will. Yesterday at practice you saw guys really getting after it. Having that first game experience under your belt you can only improve and so far I've seen great things for the team."

On if the mistakes that were made are typical of a first game
"Yeah, it's typical. First game jitters maybe. Guys going out there and weren't very confident in themselves. It was definitely first game jitters, just getting our feet wet."

On why it takes a defense a couple games to settle in
"It takes a little while to get used to playing with each other. You think you do that in practice, but really when you get in a game time situation with adversity staring you in the face it takes a little bit to get on the same page as guys. We have a lot of young guys, a lot of first-year starters, so once they get the swing of things, get on the same page with the communication, it's only easier from there. "

On how the defense changed after their starting linebacker went down on Thursday
"We knew it would be different without (Will) Compton because he came so far over camp making his calls and his assignments. Trusting a guy back there that you know is going to do his job and then having him go down, that's hurtful for a defense, but we have a lot of great players. Alonzo Whaley, he came in and I thought he played good. He showed good effort. He made a couple of mistakes, but we all did. The biggest thing from that is we can correct our mistakes. Once we get our mistakes corrected it's not like we're going to skip a beat. It hurts to have (Sean Fisher) Fish and Will go down, but that's football. You have to adapt and keep going."

On his take of Lavonte David and how he played
"He can be a great player if he wants to be. I saw great effort and he had a bunch of tackles. He's all over the field and that's what you like to see. The same thing Alonzo, his mistakes can be corrected and once they're corrected he can be just as good of a player as he wants to be as long as he keeps improving week to week."

On how he feels about the team
"I feel that we are still a great team.  Just back to the mistakes we made, once we get them corrected we're back to where we wanted to be and need to be. If we keep improving week to week that's all we can really ask. I'm still very confident in this defense, still confident in the offense, and this whole team in general. I'm not worried about what happened last week. I know we're going to correct everything that we made mistakes on and we're going to get better. I'm very excited about this group going into the rest of the season."

On if he still feels like this year's defense can be better than last year's
"Yeah, definitely. That was the first game, so we can only improve from there and we will. Like I said, we have to take it day to day. Focus that we need to get better during practice every single day and we have that mindset. I haven't seen one guy on the defense, or on the team in general, who hasn't come out to practice not wanting to get better. If we can just keep improving, whether it is a lot or a little, a steady improvement we can be better than last year."

On what his thoughts are on Boise State defeating Virginia Tech last night
"I don't know how it will affect us in the polls, but that was a pretty cool game to watch. That's just outstanding. The biggest thing I think for Boise State is they play as a team. Those guys would do anything for each other. I have a friend who plays for Boise State and they are such a close-knit group that nothing can break them apart, and that's how we need to be and that's how I see us right now, just one unit. That's how they play and that's how we want to play. They played a great game last night. Virginia Tech played pretty good, but it's definitely pretty cool to see one of those WAC teams doing so well for themselves."

On if he thinks Nebraska has a lot harder of a road being in a BCS conference
"I think so. The teams that we play, every team can beat any team at any given time. It may be different for them than us. The teams that we play, it gives us a little harder road, but if we take the same approach as they are then we can win every game if we want to."

On how the quarterbacks handled their competition this fall helped the team
"You think they are cut-throat up there, but they are not. They are best friends and would do anything to help each other. That's really exciting knowing that they want to make each other better, even though they want to start. In Zac (Lee) and Cody's (Green) case, even though Taylor (Martinez) got the start they are still there helping him out every play doing whatever they can to help Taylor out, and Taylor is doing the same thing when Cody and Zac are in. It's a competitive atmosphere, but it's not a cut-throat atmosphere. Those guys will do anything to help each other and that's great for a team."

On if the quarterback's competition sets an example for the rest of the team
"That's just how we are as a team. It's not just the quarterback showing everybody else how to do it. You see friendly competition all over the board, whatever position it may be. Guys want their spot, but they are also willing each other on and helping each other get better."