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Nebraska Football
Fall Camp Press Conference
Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Defensive Lineman Freedom Akinmoladun
On improving in the summer
"I feel good. As a team, we feel really good about what we did, a lot of time and dedication and a lot of growing that happened this summer.”
On accountability
“For me, it’s about having my teammates give me a high expectation, give them high expectations every single day, going out, performing at a high ability and making sure they know everything for when the first practice comes around, it’s not installing. I want everything to be polished. That’s how we want us to be.”
On the effects of the new coaching staff
“Definitely a different culture, change in culture. Everybody is wanting to win and that’s something that has been different from the years I’ve been playing. And it’s not just one position group. It’s not just offense. It’s collectively the coaches, the players, everybody around Husker Nation. We all want us to win and we all have that same mindset. So, it’s really nice that we have that culture now and coming into the first practice, having a really high expectation for everything.”
On fan excitement for upcoming season
“When Coach Frost came in, everyone was like, ‘wow, big things are going to happen.’ Even when I walk around, I hear more Go Big Reds than I have ever heard in the last few years.”
On the defensive line group
“The really nice thing about being in that room (defensive line), is that we’re all brothers. At the end of the day, no matter what, we all love each other, we all want the best for each other. Going through a lot of coaches, we realized that there’s a lot of different styles of plays, different styles of coaching and we all come together to understand exactly what we need to make sure we are doing the right thing at a certain time and place and also really funny. Really funny group.”
On building confidence during the summer
“I feel really confident. Through this whole summer, most people just think about conditioning and lifting weights, but we actually took the football part to heart even more. We did drills. We studied the plays. We want to make sure everything is more polished than we did in the spring. So, I feel really confident about everybody and just can’t wait.”
On the incoming freshmen
“I’ve seen progress definitely. I remember when I came in as freshman, and I thought I was really good, then I saw the college level, and it’s just a whole other level. Seeing them come in and going through the drills and understanding what they have to do for this system and basically everyday getting better, it’s been a real joy seeing them get better every single day. They’re going to come along, definitely.”
On confidence in defensive line depth
“There’s a lot of depth, especially having just three linemen on the field. There’s a lot of depth, and everybody can play. That’s what’s really nice. Everybody has the ability to play. Everybody knows what they need to do, and that’s just really comforting because if I have to come out, I know that the man behind me or somebody else is going to make the play that I would’ve made or something like that.”
On junior defensive lineman transfer Vaha Vainuku
“His (Vaha Vainuku) experience from Utah, has helped us. He’s shown us the way that he’s done it. He’s showed us how this 3-4 is similar to his 3-4 and some ways it’s different. He’s been a huge hand, helping us and helping us get better. He’s really strong. I’m proud for him to be here and really happy.”
On Big Ten Championship expectations
“For us, we have a high expectation. If we don’t reach the Big Ten Championship, we’ve all been saying every time we go and break down in practice is to aim toward the Big Ten Championship, anything below that is failure, and that the mindset you have to have because if you do not have that then you are not setting yourself for the next level. You can’t accept six wins and hope to go to the NFL. So, just having that high expectations for everybody every single day is just what we did in the summer and we’re going to incorporate that in the season.”
On getting stronger in the weight room
“I squat a lot. I actually have one of my best competitions, (senior offensive lineman) Tanner Farmer. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to squat over six plates in my life, never even thought about it. We’ve probably squatted eight plates, something like that. In the weight room, just throwing up weight that I would think that bigger guys would do than me. Running harder, longer, just those things that (strength and conditioning) Coach Duval had us do and helping us translate the weight room to the field.”
On strength and conditioning Coach Zach Duval
“With Coach Duval, I don’t think he believes in lifting light at all because we can always be stronger, and if you try to maintain, you’re just going to go down. For us, it’s about getting stronger every single day. Maybe Coach Duval changes exercises (during the season), but it’s going to help us on the field.”