Junior I-Back Rex Burkhead

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Oct. 17, 2011
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Minnesota

Junior I-Back Rex Burkhead
On how important the bye week is for a player
"It's just that midseason timeout. Your body takes a pounding so much throughout the year.  It's the perfect time to really get recovered and clear up any bumps or aches that you've had so far. And really to just get recovered fully for the second half of the season."

On what he did to recharge
"Nothing. Just laid around and watch football. It was weird on Saturday watching other teams. I just got off my feet and did nothing. I did some recovery things up here, but that wasn't much."

On his thoughts on Saturday's football and the Michigan-Michigan State game
"I watched that game. I watched the Alabama game. I like watching other running backs in the country to see how they're doing. Trent Richardson is a guy I kind of look up to, and look to learn to what he does on the field. That run he had was pretty awesome. Just the other games as well and NFL games on Sunday. It was neat to actually be able to watch other people."

On if he can make the same move Richardson made
"Can I make it? I don't know. That was pretty dirty. I'd try to. That was a dirty move he put on him. It didn't look like he had to. It was something else."

On if he wishes they would have kept playing because of how they ended the Ohio State game
"I don't know. You don't know how to really answer that question because you don't know what would happen, but at the same time it's always good to have a few days off and really get recovered. You know it's good to have that win, but at the same time you need that recovery phase to bounce back and be fully energized."

On what he knows about Minnesota
"They're a very good team. We've watched a little bit of them on film. They have a good defense. I played against some of them in high school, actually. Some of them played for Dallas Skyline. They're a very good team. They get to the ball quickly and we're going to have to be prepared."

On how big it'll be for the team to have Jared Crick's leadership as he gets to travel with the team
"It's huge. He's a guy on the team everyone really looks up to. Just to have his presence around is going to help us out on and off the field. Just to have that voice around. Just having his presence in general, it's huge. He was such a big factor for our team on and off the field. It stinks that he's out. He was such a valuable player to our team, but just to have him around, I think it'll still help us out."

On if they've talked to Crick
"We have. I know it hurts him being out your senior year. We're just trying to help him stay positive throughout it. He's going to have a great career on into the NFL. We just want to have him around as much as we can to, hopefully, learn some things from him."

On the second half against Ohio State and if that's the team they've been hoping the could be all season
"Yeah, we executed really well. I still think we have a lot of mistakes we can clean up, but it was a little different from the first half I'd say, as far as execution-wise went. Hopefully we can build on."

On the offensive line's improvement
"There are some younger guys on the line that are just going to get better with experience. Each week you can tell they're learning from their mistakes from the previous week. That's probably the biggest thing, you see them finishing blocks or shedding off their first reads a lot quicker. That's just the biggest thing. Especially those younger guys are going to get from experience as they continue to play, they're just going to get better.

On if he feels as the game goes on, he gets stronger as a running back
"Yeah, I think so. I think our tempo helps that out. Just wearing down the defenses and when you practice it constantly throughout the week it probably keeps the defense off balance and gets them a little gassed. I think it helps out our offense a lot, especially towards the end of the game. I think we finish well. I think it's a very valuable asset we have as an offensive unit."

On if the Wildcat is still being used by the offense
"Yeah, it is a little bit. It just depends on the situation in the games and if coach [Tim] Beck wants to run it or not."