Drew Brown Quotes

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Sept. 28, 2015
Pre-Illinois

Drew Brown
Sophomore, Place-Kicker
On if he focuses on the five field goals he made or the ones he missed
“The ones I missed for sure because I left six points on the field that would have made a huge difference at the end of the game. They were driving at the end of the game looking to score a touchdown and they were on our half of the field, [so] definitely those misses stayed on my mind a little bit. But you do have to reflect on the things you did well. Five kicks in the first half were really crucial towards the end of the game as well, so you have to go back and look at what you did good and what you did bad.”

On the final kick
“The ball was just tipped at the line of scrimmage. They had pretty good penetration on the line. I probably should have been a little bit quicker on my approach, but they just tipped the ball. Nothing much I can do about it, but it’s something that we can look at in film and say, ‘We can do better with this or we can do better with that,’ and I can put that on myself too to be a little bit quicker to the ball.”

On analyzing a kick on film
“I’ll watch it at few different angles, one from the side, one from behind and one from in front. I mainly just look at the flight of the ball, my operation time from snap to kick. That’s about it. I watch my kickoffs a lot too, the flight of the ball on those, and I usually watch it for one or two days and then move onto the next week and focus on the next game.”

On his range
“It kind of does depend on the weather. It was a really nice day on Saturday to kick. I’d say my range is probably 55 and in, just depending on the weather. If the wind is blowing in my face, it’s probably a little shorter. If the wind is behind my back, it’s probably a little farther, but I try not to worry about my distance at all, because you’re not really going to try that many long kicks. So I just worry about making good ball contact and just being consistent.”

On being motivated when another kicker gets brought in
“Without a doubt. Competition always brings out the best in athletes. I’ve always had competition at the kicking spot in high school and college. When he [Jamie Sutcliffe] came in, it was definitely kind of a wakeup call. Not that I didn’t trust myself, but I needed to do a little bit more off the field – in the weight room, on the practice field -- it definitely motivated me. We’ve become really good friends. We’re competitors, but we’re really good with each other and it’s definitely a good friendship.”

On starting Big Ten Play
“The games are magnified that much more in conference play. We’ve played well the past few weeks, we lost against Miami but we played a good game, Southern Miss was the same way. The games are obviously a little more important because they go towards the conference, but we just have to stay within ourselves and play our game and we know that we can be really good.”

On characterizing his season
“I started off bad, and I’ve played pretty well the past few games, but I need to be able to be more consistent, whatever situation it might be. I’ve had a pretty good season so far, but it’s not even halfway through. So I have to continue to be consistent and clutch in situations that I need to be, continue to make kicks and put as many points on the board as I can.”

On fixing his stride since the BYU game
“I’d say it’s gotten a lot better. I was a little bit uptight in that first game, it’s just jitters, being out there again for the first time since last season. I’ve really put a lot of time into getting the fundamentals right, the little things and it’s paid off for me, and I just have to continue to keep doing that.”

On if he watches games differently because of his position
“I actually do. I like going through all of the games and watching all the kicks and looking at the stats, it’s kind of weird, but I just like doing that. So I did notice that [Illinois won last week off of a 51-yard field goal] and then a few weeks ago, when Iowa made that game-winner, that 57-yarder, that’s awesome. I watched it over and over again. I don’t know, I guess I have nothing to do. I watch what other guys do and how other guys kick and just kind of compare it to myself. I don’t know, I think it’s fun.”

On if he puts himself in those situations
“Oh yeah, all of the time. You have to be able to picture yourself in big situations like that, whether you’re making a kick to win the game or tie a game or whatever the case may be. Every night before the game, I mentally go through the game, first quarter to fourth quarter. I always picture many situations that I could be in and I try to play it out in my mind.”

On kickoffs and what he’s been working on the most and what he’s most pleased with
“I would probably say making good contact with the ball. That’s really the most important thing. It’s making good contact with the ball and staying within yourself, not trying to hit the ball to hard or place where the ball is going. It’s kind of like pitcher in baseball – you don’t want to place where the ball is going, you just want to throw it. But I would definitely say the ball contact is the most important thing that I’ve improved on and been working on, and I have to continue to work on it.”