Jack Gangwish Quotes

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Oct. 26, 2015
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Purdue

Senior Defensive End Jack Gangwish
On what needs to change to close out games in the fourth quarter
“At this point, the focus isn’t really on closing out games or the performance in the fourth quarter. We want to solve our problems throughout the game. We want to execute for four quarters altogether. You can’t really say in any game this year that we lost in the fourth quarter. You have to look at the whole picture.”

On how the team will be up for the challenge of playing on the road
“Throughout the week, the focus is on perfecting our execution. Most guys on this team don’t really have an issue getting up for football games. We’re kind of lucky in that sense that we don’t have to focus on that too hard.”

On how much he wants to get to a bowl game in his senior season
“Nebraska’s got a great tradition of going to bowl games, going to pretty good bowls for the most part. The other thing is that postseason time, that bowl prep, that period of time that you get to practice and work, that’s something that can really contribute to the success of a football program, having that much more time to perfect your craft and get better. As a senior, I want to go, I want to prolong my season. I want to keep playing ball and take us to a good bowl and hopefully do well there, but on top of that, that’s something for our younger guys that’s just more repetitions going into next season. Any edge you can get is pretty big. I'm not sure how many practices you get in an average bowl prep, but you think about spring ball, that’s huge in the development of a football program. Spring football is only 15 practices. Every day that you can get out there and get your guys progressing is important.”

On scout team members that have impressed him this season
“There’s one gentleman, Dwayne Johnson Jr., on the (offensive) line. That guy, he shows up to work every day. Scout team’s kind of a thankless job. It would be easy for a lot of guys just to show up and just go out there and play. You could just put your hand in the dirt and say ‘OK I block this guy or I do this,’ but one thing I will note about Dwayne is that he is constantly perfecting his technique even though the attention may not be there on his technique. There may not be as much attention given, ‘oh, Dwayne, your footwork sucked on this play,’ that type of thing. A lot of times in the scout world it can fall to ‘hey, this is what the card says, follow this line, block this guy’ type of thing. There’s some other guys, too, that do a really good job of that. I think Dwayne has done an excellent job this year.”

On his if he connects with the scout team members
“Yeah, definitely. I know how the scout team goes. I know how difficult it can be. Really, those guys are such a huge part of what we do, such a huge part of preparing us for game day, and play such a big role in how we perform on Saturdays. At the same time, a lot of those guys, people don’t know. (Fans) don’t know their names, they’re not guys that are getting articles written about them or getting their picture in ‘Hail Varsity’ or anything like that. It’s a tough job, but those guys do well. They show up.”

On his health
“The elbow’s doing well. My recovery’s coming along. I feel really good about where I’m at, at this point. Luckily, with the adrenaline and everything on game day, I’m able to perform and it doesn’t hinder me too much. That’s a benefit for me.”

On if he sustained any injuries in Saturday’s game
“Yeah, I had an ankle episode. It’s minor, it didn’t turn out to be anything, so that’s good”

On his takeaways from Saturday’s game
“We need to execute our techniques, play within the scheme and help to eliminate those quarterback scrambles as best we can. For the most part, we did a pretty good job, but when it hurt us, it hurt us big.”

On not having a bye week yet
“It’s a grind. It’s hard on guys’ bodies. It can get to be hard on your mind, but we’ve got a good culture, a good mentality. Guys show up and the focus is always on progress and getting the work done. I think this team’s handled that really well. One thing I was just talking to (defensive line) Coach (Hank) Hughes about today is we’ve had five guys on the (defensive) line who have started games who have been out for other games, who have been injured. I can’t think of a game where our d-line has missed a beat. They show up, play well, play hard, it doesn’t matter who’s banged up or how many weeks in a row we’ve gone. The nose is to the grindstone, the pedal’s to the floor. That is a major positive about this team.”

On persevering through losses
“Losses can be discouraging, obviously, but right now, as a leader and as a member of this culture, this team, the focus right now, my message to the guys is ‘yeah, we lost on Saturday and nobody’s happy, but we know what we have to fix, and regardless of how you feel, there’s a game on Saturday.’ The focus right now is getting ready for that one.”

On if he ever questions effort with his teammates
“My focus when watching film is predominately on the d-line, and we’ve got some guys on our d-line, they are motor guys, they do a great job of that. Luckily, my unit, no, that’s not something that needs to be addressed very often. We’ve got guys like Ross Dzuris, don’t tell Ross I said this, but he’s no Olympic-level athlete. He’s a lot like me in that respect, but the guy puts his hand in the dirt and he’s giving it 100 percent all the time, and we need that from guys. I think that’s contagious, and I think that’s why we have a good culture of that in the d-line room, guys like Ross. No, it’s not that big of an issue for us.”