Defensive Back Ciante Evans

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Iowa State

On if he sat back and realized he was finally a college football player after the Missouri game
"I just play football. That's all I can really say about that."

On what was going through his head when Alfonzo Dennard went down
"I was feeling bad because he's like a brother to me, so I was feeling bad he was down. I had to go out there and play football, and I was nervous, but I had to go out there and play and do what I was coached to do."

On how long the nerves stay with him
"Mostly the whole game."

On what moment he was most proud of from his performance
"I'm just proud overall, not just because I had big plays but just because I did little things. The little things helped lead up to the big plays, and I'm glad I did the little things first."

On how playing high school football in Texas prepared him for college football
"I don't know if Texas had anything to do with it. I just believe in how high you were coached."

On where he felt he was able to make a fit in the defense
"Being in the film room and just watching. It's a lot to learn. I still don't know the defense, but you just have to dedicate time and motivate yourself to get up and watch film and learn it."

On what he wanted to accomplish this year when he first came to camp
"I just wanted to be on the field. The only thing I wanted to do was play."

On how much playing time he thought he would get this year
"I thought it was going to be very little, because I know the caliber of them. I was just going to fall back and watch and learn."

On how Dennard has taken him under his wing
"He's like a mentor and brother, because we hang out on the weekends and stuff but when we get in the film room, he sits right next to me, so he's helping me. He asks 'how would you go about this situation' and I just try to learn off of him."

On his mindset of being able to stop anybody
"All the corners go out and say 'we are going to dominate these receivers today'. That's just the mentality we have and that's the mentality the coaches want us to have. He wants us to go out and dominate receivers."

On what it was like stopping the Missouri offense on third down and hear the crowd
"It was a wonderful experience. I was overwhelmed actually when I stopped him. I knew my defense had my back and it was just crazy."

On what it's like to try and take down a guy that's bigger than him
"He is a big guy but I had to do everything in my power for him not to get in the end zone."

On if he thinks he will start this weekend
"I don't know what's going to happen this week. We are just going day-by-day and I hope Alfonzo is doing good, and I pray for him every night, so we don't actually know, and we'll see when the time comes."

On if playing in front of 85,000 people was everything he thought it would be
"Yeah, it is. It's a nice crowd."

On what players he looked up to as a kid
"When I was growing up, I always looked at cornerbacks. Charles Woodson has always been my favorite corner, since I've been growing up, so I used to just try and picture what he would do."

On what he tries to copy from Charles Woodson
"Just the way he carries himself. I look at his enthusiasm on and off the field is how I look at it."

On if he saw last year's Iowa State game
"No, I actually didn't but I heard about it."

On what he heard about it
"I heard about the turnovers on offense. I heard about seven turnovers and four inside the red zone."

On if the players are using that game as motivation
"No. They aren't really talking about that. We are just trying to get ready and prepare for the game, so they're not really talking about it."

On if anything surprised him about the competition this year
"I've gone through the game speed. When you first come up here, you aren't used to the speed but you get used to it during the fall camp. I've been used to the game speed, I just need to pick up and continue."

On how much goes into learning the cornerback position as a new player on the team
"It's a lot because you need to know blitz angles. You have to be able to talk each play. You can be aggressive, there's a lot of things you need to do. That's why the coaches preach to us in the film room so we know what we are doing."

On how much he knows about the defense and how much he needs to learn
"I still have to learn what I need to do. I don't know everything and what my other responsibilities for my team are."

On his thoughts on the opponent for this week
"Our thoughts are the same. We are going to go out there and try and get another victory. We need to execute the game plan. It's not about our coaches, it's the only thing we can do."

On if being a physical guy comes natural to him
"I don't know if it's really physical, but Coach (Marvin) Sanders does a great job of having us tackle each day, whether it's in full pads or not. It's not really natural because once you go over and over you get used to tackling. When you tackle everyday it becomes like second nature."

On who he talked to for advice on Saturday
"I talked to Prince (Amukamara) when I was on the sideline because we couldn't communicate on the field. Mostly I was talking to DeJon Gomes and Eric (Hagg). I had direct communication with them because Missouri was having a lot of switch routes. I had to communicate with them so we could be on the same page, and they really helped me out."

On if he has ever heard a crowd as loud when the defense held Blaine Gabbert on the goal line
"No, I've never heard a crowd that loud. I didn't actually think it would ever get that loud, but it surprised me."

On what Alfonzo Dennard was like when he came off the field
"He wasn't really woozy when he came off the field. He just came over and tried to give me some motivation and tell me to keep my head up no matter what I went through. I know I'm going to have some good plays and some bad plays, but I have to get over it."