Junior Linebacker Will Compton

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Nov. 14, 2011
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Michigan

Junior Linebacker Will Compton
On if this more of a normal football week after everything that happened last week
"I think so. I mean last week there was a bunch of drama going on. Obviously, we all saw it in the media. It was pretty much on every sports channel. Our coaches did a good job of having us control ourselves and focusing on us and not really worrying about that. But yeah, it's good to get back to a normal week."

On Lavonte David's fourth-down stop and his role on the play
"We kind of did that blitz; I think three plays in a row. I picked the center for him on the first two. On the third one, I was thinking more fourth-and-short we got to get in there. So really, it was all him. I give the credit to him. I didn't really get much of the center on that play. I was just thinking get in there and get penetration. That was all on Lavonte on that last one."

On what he thought about the play after seeing the replay
"It was awesome. We watched it together and we were just laughing because he gave me credit on the sideline and the media said I was helping him pick the center, and I really didn't do anything for him. I actually thought I was going to make the play for a second until I got rolled up on. He got off the center's block and made the play himself. It was pretty awesome."

On the first two plays before the fourth-down stop and if he likes that blitz when getting hit that hard
"It could easily be him running that way, but the call just happened to be I had to go first by the way they lined up. But that's probably our favorite blitz because we get to go up the middle. He actually does the same thing I do, I just picked the center and he's free, but since it was a stretch play, he read out of it. But yeah, that's probably our favorite play."

On how much stress a mobile quarterback puts on the defense
"You just have to be accountable for them. It's pretty much an extra running back back there. You have to be aware of it each and every play. I'm sure we'll have a game plan that will help us out with that."

On whether it's fair or not that Nebraska has been knocked about their containment of mobile quarterbacks and how they've handled it
"There's been times when we shoot ourselves in the foot, and there has been times when we've done well. That's for everyone else to worry about. The way we prepare and watch the film afterwards, that's how our coaches feel and that's the opinion we really worry about."

On how excited he is to play at Michigan and in the Big House
"It's awesome. Being at Penn State was awesome. Being in front of 100,000 for the first time, it was pretty incredible. They had a huge stadium. Michigan and the Big House... that will be awesome as well. I think we're all pretty excited about it."

On the feedback he's gotten in the last 48 hours about the pregame at Penn State
"Nothing but good things to say. Everybody talked about the prayer in the beginning being first class, which it was. I have a lot of respect for Penn State. I hope all goes well with their football program. The people who went up there under my tickets said the fans were first class and they were actually very nice to them. They had a lot of respect for their fans."

On if back-to-back road trips is a grind
"Really, it's not too bad. Defensively the fans are quiet, so really, we like it better. But it's not anything we have ever worried about or think 'oh gosh, we have two road games.'"

On if he knew he wasn't going to play a lot during the Northwestern game
"Yeah, I did by what they did personnel-wise. They spread it out a lot. I just played my role and did whatever they wanted me to do I was going to do it."

On what he does when he goes into a game where he might not play a lot
"You just think is all it takes is one play for Lavonte to get hurt and then I'm in there, so you just try to stay as much into it as you can in the week mental-wise because you're not getting as many reps as the ones, but you just have to be ready to go if your number is called upon. You still have to put in that extra time. But yeah, you just have to be ready to play, even in the two spot."

On whether the situation, defensively, will be more similar to Northwestern than Penn State
"Yeah, I think so."