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Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium
Pre-UCLA
Monday, Sept. 9, 2013
Junior Running Back Ameer Abdullah
On what he remembers from the UCLA game last year
“We came out well, but we didn’t finish how we are expected to finish. We need to continue to get better with each week.”
On assessing his play the first two games this season
“I feel I played okay. Obviously, I feel I can do much better than I have the first games here. Blocking, I want to be more stout in my blocking, make quicker decisions. Just little things that running backs need to do to be successful. You can never reach your peak, you can always get better at something.”
On why the offense has started slow in the first two games
“Just coming out focused is pretty much the big thing. Coming out focused on what we have to do. Sometimes we see our field position and think we can’t get out of this area of the field. We should take the field with a better attitude than we have in the past two games. We just have to be mindful of that.”
On the importance of controlling the ball against UCLA
“Obviously, we always want to control the ball. We want to control the game. Defensively and offensively. Defensively you don’t want to be on the field long. I’m sure coach Bo (Pelini) and coach J.P. (defensive coordinator John Papuchis) are putting in a game plan to get them off the field three-and-out. Offensively, we want to score quick but also want to make sure we are not going three-and-out. So if that accounts for longer possessions then that’s what we need to do.”
On this being a statement game
“I feel like every game is a statement game. Obviously, they beat us last year so we have a little more incentive to win this game and prove something by beating them this year. I feel like every week is a statement game and I don’t really look at it like this one holds more value than others, but preparation is key.”
On what he has to do to combat the strong UCLA defense
“Up front they are pretty athletic, an active bunch. They send a lot of angles, storm blitzes, stuff like that. Nothing we haven’t seen before, nothing we haven’t prepared for. We just need to rely on our training. Trust our eyes in certain situations and we’ll be fine.”
On taking advantage of the UCLA blitz
“If they do that, they better have a lot of confidence in their corners because I know we have really good receivers out there. I’m sure what they are going to do. They could sit back there and not blitz the whole game or they could play zero coverage the entire game. It doesn’t matter. We are going to see everything in practice, prepare for any kind of situation and whatever comes on Saturday we will be prepared for.”
On how much the defense practices stunts and blitzes in practice
“It helps a lot. They always try to put us in the toughest situations because most of the times in practice we get looks that are tougher than we get in the games. We do a pretty good job with that.”
On how important ‘ball security vulnerability’ is and how much do the coaches harp on it
“We focus on it everyday. As a group, we focus on it everyday. Even if you don’t fumble, but you are in a position that is vulnerable to fumble, we count that as a fumble. We discipline accordingly to that. Even if you didn’t fumble in the game but you are in a position where you can fumble, then you need to tighten that up. Later on down the road, you don’t want to develop sloppy habits carrying the ball, we want to be sharp and up-tight with the ball. That’s what we continue to do.”
On watching film of great running backs that do not fumble
“Individually I do. Trent Richardson was a great back at Alabama. Mark Ingram. Montee Ball. Names like that who are very secure with the ball and very effective runners. A lot of guys when they are too secure with the ball they don’t get the best out of their running ability, they are too worried about holding on to the ball to make plays. Those three guys do a good job of being effective while holding onto the ball securely.”
On the new uniforms
“Nice unis. A little better than last year. Adidas is getting better. A little more swag. Definitely it is huge for recruiting. For me, I don’t care what we wear, I just want to win the game. I don’t care what we wear; we could be out there in underwear. It’s always nice to spice things up once a year.”