Mike Riley Press Conference Quotes

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Oct. 10, 2016
Pre-Indiana

Head Coach Mike Riley
Opening Statement

“I think we were productive on the bye week. We had some good practices and hit some situational stuff, which I thought was good for the team. Maybe for sure we have some guys who are healthier. I don’t know if that means that the guys who were hurt in the last game will play, but we certainly got closer so that’s a good thing.

As of yesterday, heading into game week, we are going to get into our routine. We are going to play a good football team. I think they’re a team that’s playing with confidence. They are productive offensively. They present a lot of problems, play hard defensively. They really feel their team and their program rising. You can see that in their play. They play hard, and offensively they have a good well-rounded attack. They have good runners. They have two guys that run the football. (Devine) Redding is a good player. The big guy (Tyler Natee), he’s a force. I think their offensive line is athletic. Their quarterback (Richard Lagow) is productive and makes a ton of good throws. They have two wide receivers averaging big numbers per catch. They have a slot-back who I think is their leading receiver. He’s quick, and makes a lot of plays. Their tight end is a good player. He blocks a lot, but has also been a weapon in their pass attack. Defensively, their linebackers are the key. Number 42 (Marcelino Ball) is their nickel. Outside linebacker 44 (Marcus Oliver) and 8 (Tegray Scales) are their other two guys that are good guys. (Rashard Fant) 16 is a good player. I think he’s been ranked as a guy that pass breakups. Number 9 (Jonathan Crawford), the safety, stands out as we look at this team. But they look like a good football team that’s playing with a lot of confidence. It’s going to be a tough game. So we’re going to have to play our best for us.

I heard a quote about growth; ‘Growth is not an option or a luxury, it’s a necessity.’ And that really hit home with me about our team. We’ve got to keep on the rise. We certainly haven’t always been pretty, but I like our team a lot in what we’ve done and how we continue to play throughout the game. Sometimes it doesn’t look very good, or the other team is threatening, but our team keeps its poise and plays its best ball in the fourth quarter. But like I said before, we have to remind them that it’s not against the rules to score in the first and get something going. But I do like how we have played and played throughout the game. We got plenty of growth there still yet to do.

As far as injuries are concerned, Tommy’s [Armstrong Jr.] out of the boot. We had a different kind of Sunday since we didn’t play, and we had a week to look at Indiana. We went through in shorts the game plan on the field. So we had a pretty good run-through that was for the receivers. Running backs and defensive backs had some full speed stuff running, but no contact. Tommy practiced yesterday. Alonzo Moore practiced yesterday. I’m still going to be careful because of his shoulder. I don’t want any setback there. Devine [Ozigbo] is still not ready at this time, and doubtful at this time. Tanner Farmer did some stuff. I think tomorrow will tell a big tale about Tanner, about him being ready or not. I think David Knevel is going to be OK. I think at this time, Cethan [Carter] and Jordan [Westerkamp] are both doubtful for this coming game. So the other tight ends will have to pick up from there. So that’s what our week has looked like on the bye. We practiced three times during the bye week, then we had a little more than we normally do on Sunday. Our coaches were out recruiting, everyone was gone on Friday and some on Saturday. So we’re back into it now and getting ready for the next game.”

On the rest of the season
 “We can just look at this week, I don’t want to go too far. We are playing a team that has confidence, and I think the key to that is probably what I said about growth. If you really want to be a good team, you have to get better as the season goes. You have to not only feel it, but see it on the field in some of those areas that we have been inconsistent in. So those are areas that we still have to get better on. Then as that happens, the competition will be better. So it’s almost a necessity that that will happen. And if you want to get to where you want to be at the end, then that really has to happen. So what sets the table is the fact that we have to not pay too much attention to the noise out there about rankings, and just focus on our team and getting better each week to play our best game.”

On running back Devine Ozigbo being out
“If Devine [Ozigbo] is not yet ready, we feel good about our depth there. Mikale [Wilbon] has shown some good stuff and improvement all the time. I think Tre Bryant is a good player. I even made note of the fact that not knowing about Devine [Ozigbo], but we probably need to get Tre [Bryant] back and involved. It’s hard to play four running backs. We play three, sometimes pretty effectively. So if that’s the case, then we have three guys who will come into the game and be ready to play.”

On Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s foot injury
“I think that Tommy is simply a big part of what we do overall, running and passing. I think that we have been very selective on what to do, and we have been making good choices about how to use him and where he can be most effective with our team. So we will certainly keep all of that in mind as we go forward. But so far, that part of it for us has been what’s best for the game plan, and what’s best to do to beat this team. We don’t look too much past that.”

On being ranked in the national top 10
“I think it’s great being in the top 10. That’s where we want to head. That’s where we want to continue to grow and get better in. From starting outside of it, to getting to where we are right now is very good. We certainly don’t have to back down or try to skirt around that, because that’s exactly what we want to do: continue to grow in the polls and win games. So we’re pleased with where we are at, knowing that at this stage, all it is just about a mid-season ranking. So we have to continue to get better and to win the next game.”

On handling teams who aren’t ranked
“I think this team is pretty mature. I like how we practiced during the bye week. They worked well, and I was interested to see how we came back and did what we did yesterday. I think we have pretty good maturity, but that needs to be a part of it still. Because everyone is patting everyone on the back right now, and I get that. We wouldn’t trade that. We like where we are, but we have to stay hungry. We have to do our best job of coaching at this time. I think kids thrive off of good information that will help them get better personally and individually, and stuff that will help them win collectively. So coaches have to be passionate about the plan, the presentation of the plan, and be very detailed in practice. They need to stay on top of everything. My feeling is that our coaches will do that, and our players will practice hard to get ready to play. What they will learn is that this will be a tough game.”

On offensive linemen David Knevel and Cole Conrad
“David [Knevel] was the start, but I’m pleased with Cole [Conrad]. Given his relative youth, I’m excited about him. He’s one of those guys that backs up everywhere. He’s smart and he’s got good athletic ability. I think he’s continued to grow as a player. That does nothing but help us. His ability to go into the game and play in the fourth quarter when we’ve played our better football, I think he did a nice job.”

On who, in addition to senior Brandon Reilly will fill senior wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp’s spot this Saturday
“Keith [Williams] does a nice job of kind of teaching these guys the big picture of the receiver position, and Brandon is a very attentive guy, so he has paid attention and also practiced in the slot, so I hate not having Jordan in there, but I think that Brandon - our goal is for him to kind of go in there seamlessly and play. And then there’s guys that are kind of versatile people like [junior wide receiver] Gabe Rahn, that can go in there and play, but also [sophomore wide receiver] Stanley Morgan has played in the slot during practice. So we’ve got a little bit of movement there that we can use as we - when we go three wide receivers, that I think will give us a chance to kind of continue being productive with that group, because the most disruptive thing to us would be a guy that disrupted assignments, that all of a sudden moved to a different spot than he has been starting, but then was disrupted because he wasn’t in the right place or wasn’t running the right depth. But I think that we’ll get good play out of Brandon in there, and then we’ll, I think we have four right now that can rotate, really more than that with [sophomore wide receiver] Bryan Reimers and Gabe Rahn. I think those guys can go in and kind of seamlessly keep us going because they know what to do. And all of those guys, all six of them will make plays, I think.”

On whether Indiana’s offensive attack in the passing game is different from other teams Nebraska has played
“I think that the one thing that they do, they do a lot of stuff off of their play-action fake, of course with the threat of their backs, it’s a very smart thing, and then with that, sometimes they’ll leave the tight end in, and the faking back, he’ll become part of the protection. So they protect that quarterback pretty well. So all of a sudden, you’re talking about a seven-man protection off of a play-action pass, and with that play-action, you can freeze linebackers and throw one-on-one against the secondary. They do a nice job of individual routes to those wide receivers off that play-actions, drawing people in, throwing isolated routes out there, or the same thing with the slot. You know, they’ll fake that ball, draw in the linebackers, isolate the slot, he’ll run the out route, or the crossing, the deep crosser, they also do some stuff when they release everybody, not on the play-action of, you know really, I kind of, I think creatively attacking coverages, you know, there’s some good concept stuff that Indiana does that has hurt people. You know, because they are, they’re just well thought-out, they know exactly what they’re doing, they’ll play-action and isolate, and then they’ll run everybody out patterns that are pretty tough.”

On how much respect Coach Riley has for Indiana Head Coach Kevin Wilson as an offensive line coach over his career at Oklahoma, Indiana, Northwestern, etc.
“It’s, like I said, it is one of those that I kind of watch as I look at their film with a lot of admiration because you can see a flow to it, what they’re doing in the running game, how the pressure with the running game and the play-action - what that puts on the defense. And then, you know, I pay a lot of attention to protections, and so what they do with an action and then a protection with it, to give that quarterback a chance to let those receivers work on those individual routes, I think they’re good at it. And so it’s a team that appears to me that executes well. There’s a lot of thought and creativity behind what they’re doing, and that’s why they’ve had production for a while. So that’s one of those things that probably, that part of it’s been there, and now their defense has risen up where it’s giving people problems, and they play a little bit with that creativity with what they do with the nickel and the safeties and how they pressure off of it. It’s all, it’s a well-coached football team.”

On whether he senses the recruits feeling momentum with the team’s current 5-0 record
“I think everybody that we’re involved with at this time is excited about that, because you know what we’ve obviously tried to do is paint that picture of the future a little bit, and the best way to do that is being successful presently. So, you know, the fact that we’ve done well, they’re excited because I went to places where there’s, where we have guys obviously that we’ve been recruiting, and so the people around them, the coaching staffs and all that, are pretty excited about what’s in store for their players. So that’s a very positive thing.”

On what Coach Riley has done to stress ball security and address fumble issues for the younger running backs who may be playing Saturday
“Oh, we talk about it a lot, and we try to pay attention to it, focus on it, and it has really hurt us. I think we’ve had in the last two ball games, we’ve had three red-zone fumbles. That absolutely just take points off the board. Pretty sure points. So that is definitely a reason that we put ourselves into tighter games longer, I think, than we’ve had to be. We’ve been our own worst enemy because of that. So I think that that part of it, we’ve got to remedy. We’ve got to take better care of the football with our runners.”

Whether there’s a larger week-to-week physical pull on players, which causes injuries, in the Big Ten than what Coach Riley has experienced in the Pac-12
“I think that it’s a pretty nice mixed bag here in the Big Ten. Of course we haven’t played everybody so I don’t know everybody’s exact style, but it is definitely physical. I don’t know yet if I can say ‘more physical,’ because it’s all football, but I thought in general for a while that it’s more difficult today to put conferences in a box. You know, there’s more variety within leagues than probably ever before, when I think there used to be that kind of identity that was real, I’m not so sure it is anymore. You see, I mean, we’ll see all the stuff, whether it’s power stuff from two backs and two tight ends from Wisconsin, and then the spread type of offense that we’ll see this week, and then a lot of people are blending things pretty well, so I think that the whole country in some fashion has gone that way and it’s made it more difficult to identify by conference what a team will necessarily look like. But I will say this is a, what I’ve thought in general, it’s a physical well-coached league.”

On what Nebraska has done to address rushing defense, and how it’s been about six yards per carry for the opponent
“Well, that is a little bit unusual for us, right? I think that we started out in the Illinois game not tackling well, so we spent more time in individual periods last week than we would during a game week. We just about tripled the time of individual work. A good part of that time defensively was spent on tackling, and tackling drills and open field tackling and all those parts that go into that. And so that is probably, besides schematically looking at what we can tighten down a little bit, there have been a couple schemes that have hurt us, that we’ve had to kind of adapt to, and teach our guys how to attack. But a lot of it has been missed tackles. So that was a big emphasis, and we even spent some time with our offensive players that play on special teams, on tackling drills last week. That was a good thing for us last week. We took some situations, just isolated small periods, and worked them into the game-type stuff or end of the half-type stuff. Kicking game stuff that I thought that we were, we’re just not yet as good at punting the ball and pinning somebody inside the 10 as we were a year ago, so that was a big emphasis for a day last week, with the whole group of what we’re trying to get done. How we can accomplish that, so that was good, but then there were individual skills like tackling that we spent a lot of time on.”

On what senior linebacker Brad Simpson and special teams players specifically do so well, and whether former player Andy Janovich set a tone for them
“There’s no doubt about it that Andy was a great example for a lot of our team, probably football players in general. That there’s a guy that early on in his career, special teams kind of kept him on the team and kept him playing, and then as his role expanded in the fullback area, the combination of those two things got him drafted and a spot on a football team. So I think that he definitely made an impact that way, because you have to be basically not paying attention to not notice that’s how he did it. But I think the individuals, Brad Simpson, [junior fullback] Luke McNitt, [junior linebacker] Chris Weber, those guys, I think what drives them is they have a lot of pride in being good. I mean, they take a lot of pride in it. Those are our leading point-getters on special teams. I think their experiences also helped, that they have played, they’ve seen it, Brad has really emerged as a really good all-around special teams player. We saw his growth, Chris’ growth, Luke’s growth, throughout the spring, and I think that how they approach their thing is basically the reason they are where they are.”

On whether Coach Riley has chosen the Carolina Panthers (with his former Oregon State player Derek Anderson) or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (with his former Oregon State player Jacquizz Rodgers) to win tonight
“Mike Remmers [of the Carolina Panthers] is playing too. Yeah, he’s another guy that we know. I was just talking to [Nebraska graduate manager] James Rodgers about that. And so, I bet, is it all right if I pass on that? I’m going to try to watch a little bit of that. It’ll be fun.”

On who among Riley’s former players he stays most in touch with
“Well, I don’t talk to Quizz but I feel like I stay in touch with him because James [Rodgers] is here. But I’ve talked to [former Oregon State players] Matt Moore and Sean Mannion about as much as anybody, and Derek once in a while. Once in a while, Brandin Cooks, and I haven’t talked to Markus Wheaton in a while but I saw him on TV a bit yesterday, too. So it’s fun to have those guys playing, and we’re proud of them. That’s a neat thing about sports, is those connections never go away, that’ll always be good. And the fun thing is, I think all those guys, if they haven’t been here already, will find their way through Lincoln, and it’ll be fun to have them. Some of them will even stay here and work out with us in the summertime.”

On Nebraska graduate manager James Rodgers’ role within the team
“Well, James, it’s really been fun to have him, and I told him a long time ago, when he was ready and done playing I’d have a spot for him. And I think James will eventually coach. Right now he’s working basically as an assistant to [director of high school relations] Kenny Wilhite, so he’s in personnel, and (he) and Kenny are in charge of, one part of their duties is our freshmen. And so James is really that liaison kind of with our staff and our freshmen outside of the football field, and he is a, he’s like the perfect mentor for young guys in the program, because he was the guy at Oregon State that I would tell the young guys, you know, ‘if you want to learn how to do this thing correctly, follow James Rodgers around for a week.' And, you know, he was a very diligent, conscientious guy all the time, maybe the most diligent that I’ve ever had. He was a, he had talent but he made himself into an All-American player, and so I just knew he would be a great example for our team but also specifically for freshmen that are just kind of learning the way. He’s been a big help in that regard.”