Caleb Lightbourn Press Conference Quotes

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Sept. 19, 2016
Pre-Northwestern

On if Saturday was his breakthrough game
“I think it definitely made me more confident. I got a lot more confidence through that game, through that experience, and I definitely understand now that the process of the game week itself is critical. I was much more focused throughout the week, and I feel like that prepared me better than any other time that I did. The first two weeks I was still trying to get into the groove of things, and now I find something that really works and I am just going to continue to do that and make sure everything every week is the exact same and prepare as well as I can for each and every game.”

On what he did different specifically leading into the Oregon game
“The big emphasis this week was focus. So I just wanted to focus on all the little things. Make sure my body feels right, stretching, making sure my warmup is consistent and it actually warms me up properly. Just getting all those things that could possibly give me a chance of messing up on Saturday and just making those not become a factor.”

On what it was like to play Oregon, being from that area
“It felt good to play that team and get the W against them. One of my high school coaches used to play there, and he wasn’t really pleased when we beat them, but he definitely was proud of me. It was one of those experiences where you don’t really get a lot of opportunities like that, especially when you play a team that is right around where you went to high school. I think it was a really solid experience and it was a lot of fun.”

On how tough it has been to take Sam Foltz’s place as the punter this season
“I don’t really think of it as pressure. What Sam told me is that he wanted me to be the best that I possibly can. He told me that pretty much right before he went to Wisconsin. Like two days before that he told me that he doesn’t want me to do anything that anyone else tells me to do as regards as how to kick the ball, just go and do you. Kick the ball how you know how to kick the ball and don’t let anything influence you too tremendously. That it makes you think too much about the game or do any of that type of stuff. So I think just going out there and doing the best that I possibly can is what would have made him happy. It makes me happy. It makes all the people around me happy. So I think just doing the best that I possibly can is what I am going to do and that is what he would have wanted me to do.”

On what it was like taking the starting punter job after not thinking he would start this year
“I was just shocked. Words can’t really explain how that feels. It is one of those things that is like a life-changing moment. It is heart-breaking, and at the same time you realize you have to step up and focus and be a good teammate and try to play the best that you can for you and obviously for Sam.”

On if the reason why it took a couple weeks to feel comfortable in his role was due to him learning late that he would be the starting punter
“I would say that it did, but I think it was mostly me really getting comfortable. So the adjustment would just be comfortability, not actually getting the technique or whatever you would say to actually become that caliber. I know that deep down I am here for a reason. I think it was mostly mental. All the weeks leading up to Oregon were mental. I think that is where I made my biggest strides, were in the mental aspect of the game leading up to Oregon.”

On how difficult the Fresno State game was due to emotion and if he would throw it out
“I wouldn’t say throw it out, but that is something I am never going to forget for the rest of my life. That is the one thing that I sincerely cannot describe how I felt walking out on the field knowing that Sam was pretty much with me the entire time. You can’t really describe something like that. It was one in itself.”

On what it means to pin the other team inside their own 20 yard-line like he did three times on Saturday
“It just flips the field position, so obviously my job is to put our defense in the best situations they can be, so that the offense has the worst possible time they can at scoring. I think that is the sole purpose of the punter is to get the best field position for our defense as possible and the worst for the offense. When you say inside the 20, obviously the other team is worried because they don’t want to be inside the 20.”

On his thoughts of the wind during the Oregon game
“Against Wyoming it definitely was a little weird. It was a little strange because I knew it wasn’t as bad as I have punted in before, but I think it did get in my head that game. But after that I knew that I just needed to focus up and I knew that if I were to prepare properly regardless of the weather conditions I was going to perform to a good mark on the next Saturday, so that was how it went on Oregon. Fortunately, it was really good weather on Saturday so the wind didn’t play much of a factor at all going either way.”

On his thoughts going into his first road game
“I don’t think it is going to be a big deal. I think it is just going to be another game, just going out and preparing this week as if it was against Oregon again or against Ohio State or something like that. So I just need to go out there and focus just as keenly as I would any other game.”