Jack Gangwish Quotes

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

Jack Gangwish
Senior, Defensive End
On the possibility of playing Saturday
“They’re hopeful. They’re saying it’s a possibility. I feel ready.”

On redshirt freshman defensive end Freedon Akinmoladun’s performance
“Freedom has done an excellent job. He’s an explosive player as you have seen. He’s been able to help us a lot in the pass-rush situation. On top of that, some of the finer things in the game. Run fits, and that sort of thing, he’s been learning really fast for how young he is at this position. I think he’s been doing really well. I’m excited to see what this kid can do in the future. He’s going to be a good player.”

On confidence in defense
“We’ve taken our nicks. We’ve given up some plays that we didn’t want to give up. Me and the rest of the guys, I’d like to think we’re focused on the things that we’ve been doing well and we’re trying to fix our problems and get better. I think the confidence is where it needs to be. We’re not walking around like we’re the best defense in the country. The mentality is that if we work hard, we will be.”

On how to make sure you don’t let the bad plays have a snowball effect
“You have to have a short memory. A big part of this game is confidence and using your emotions to your advantage. If you let either of those things get out of whack, you won’t be in a good position for the next play to help your team. The best thing to do when you go out there and screw up, you have to forget about it because you have to perform the next play. If you’re on the field, that means there is an incredible amount of trust given to you by your teammates. You have to withhold that whether you’re doing good or bad. If you give up a big play, we’re still trusting you to make the next one.”

On defense in fourth quarter against Southern Miss
“One thing I will say about this group of men that I’ve had the pleasure to play with here for the last few years is that these guys never take their foot off the pedal. I’ve seen us down two or three scores and just like the Miami game, we never missed a beat. We stayed right on track and did everything we needed to do to give ourselves opportunities. That’s something that is unique to this team that I think is really special. No matter what the situation of the game is, our guys are ready to go to work. They have the business mentality. They’re trying to go out there and perform.”

On start of Big Ten play
“I’m extremely excited. The preseason games are fun and you get to get your feet wet and that kind of thing but these are the money games. This is what matters. This is what we’ve been working for. I’m extremely excited. The stakes are higher and that’s the way we like it.”

On keeping upper body strength while injured
“At first, it was a lot of one-arm movements. That transitioned into light two-arm movements like pushups, body weight type things. Just kind of my personality, I’m always pushing it. I’m always trying to take it as far as I can. Sometimes I get on my trainer's nerves a little bit. I’ve been pretty successful getting in the weight room and maintaining strength and keeping my muscles working and staying in playing shape, so I’m excited about getting back into it.”

On being a mentor to Akinmoladun
“A guy like that, he just jumped in and started making plays. I just hope he keeps his head on straight and stays the course. He’s been working really hard. I don’t see that changing, so I think his future is bright. All I would stress to him is to keep the mentality the same and keep the axe to the grindstone.”

On pain level of injury
“When the injury actually happened, it was the middle of the play so I had adrenaline. I definitely knew there was something wrong but I wasn’t really thinking about it too much. Still I wouldn’t recommend trying it because it was not a very pleasant experience. Trying to get it back into place was probably worse than the initial injury as far as pain goes. It was a zinger. I definitely felt it. Probably the worst pain was mentally and physically the next day realizing the severity of what happened. During the game before everything tightened up and the swelling, I was thinking ‘whatever, I’m going to kick this thing's butt and be back next week.’ When I got up next day and my elbow was the size of a grapefruit, I realized that might be something that I may not be able to physically do.”

On senior fullback Andy Janovich’s performance
“I’ll tell you what, Andy Janovich is one of the most humble, hard-working, diligent individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. That guy works hard on the field, off the field, academics. Every spare hour he has, he’s working construction or doing something. We’ve all known for some time that he’s a great athlete and great football player. In practice he’s knocking skulls every day like he’s in the Super Bowl. When he’s running routes, he’s running like he’s in the Olympics, it’s amazing. To see him finally get the opportunity to go out there and see what he can do, that was pretty special for me. He’s been a good friend of mine. I’m happy for him. We’ve seen it over the last few years. He’s never dropping footballs. If they throw him the ball, he was catching it and he was doing his job. It just seemed like the reps were never there. On Saturday to see him get the ball and have success, it was awesome. I’m ecstatic for him.”