%20--%3e%3csvg%20version='1.1'%20id='Nebraska_N'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20x='0px'%20y='0px'%20viewBox='0%200%20163%20152'%20style='enable-background:new%200%200%20163%20152;'%20xml:space='preserve'%3e%3cstyle%20type='text/css'%3e%20.st0{fill:%23FFFFFF;}%20%3c/style%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M159.1,144c-2.3,0-4.1,1.8-4.1,4s1.8,4,4,4s4-1.8,4-4S161.2,144,159.1,144z%20M159,151.2c-1.8,0-3.2-1.4-3.2-3.2%20s1.4-3.2,3.2-3.2c1.7,0,3.2,1.5,3.2,3.2C162.2,149.8,160.8,151.2,159,151.2z'/%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M157.4,145.6h1.4c0.6,0,0.8,0,1.1,0.2c0.4,0.2,0.6,0.6,0.6,1.1c0,0.4-0.1,0.7-0.3,1c-0.1,0.2-0.3,0.2-0.6,0.4%20h-0.1l1.1,2.1h-0.8l-1-2h-0.6v2h-0.8L157.4,145.6L157.4,145.6z%20M158.6,147.7c0,0,0.3,0,0.4,0c0.4-0.1,0.6-0.3,0.6-0.8%20c0-0.3-0.1-0.5-0.4-0.6c-0.1,0-0.1,0-0.6,0h-0.4v1.4L158.6,147.7L158.6,147.7z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M147,0H93h-5v5v35v5h5h5v24.8L55.2,2.3L53.7,0H51H5H0v5v35v5h5h5v62H5H0v5v35v5h5h54h5v-5v-35v-5h-5h-5V82.2%20l42.8,67.5l1.5,2.3h2.7h46h5v-5v-35v-5h-5h-5V45h5h5v-5V5V0H147z%20M150,5v35v3h-3h-7v66h7h3v3v35v3h-3h-46h-1.6l-0.9-1.4L52,75.3%20V109h7h3v3v35v3h-3H5H2v-3v-35v-3h3h7V43H5H2v-3V5V2h3h46h1.7l0.9,1.4L100,76.7V43h-7h-3v-3V5V2h3h54h3V5z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M103,87L103,87L51,5H5v35c0,0,7.8,0,10,0c0,3.3,0,68.7,0,72l0,0c-2.2,0-10,0-10,0v35h54v-35c0,0-7.8,0-10,0l0,0%20c0-2.6,0-47,0-47l52,82h46v-35c0,0-7.8,0-10,0l0,0c0-3.3,0-68.7,0-72c2.2,0,10,0,10,0V5H93v35c0,0,7.8,0,10,0%20C103,42.6,103,87,103,87z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Nebraska Football
Spring Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Dicaprio Bootle
Junior, Defensive Back
On having the same defensive coaches two years in a row
“Coming into this year, having the same people leading us up there in the off-season and stuff is really good for us. It’s something that we’re familiar with. We’re familiar with the coaching styles, familiar with the defensive scheme, so all we can do is really just get better and just keep tweaking what we need to tweak, fixing what we need to fix and just be technically perfect.”
On what about the defensive backs has changed over the past year
“I think, as of recently, this winter conditioning we’ve just been attacking it. Every day we challenge each other. Some guys will call other guys out when they see that they’re not working hard enough. We take that to heart, but we don’t get on each other about it. We just let each other know that. We’ve got to come to work every day because it’s somebody out there working harder than us. At least that’s how we see it. So any time we feel like we’re not working to our standard, we try to kick it up another notch. A guy might be out there killing a workout and we’ll feed off of that. We’ll see him and we’ll see how he’s doing and then we’ll try to go in and eat like that. So it’s really like no guy left behind. We’re just all trying to get it and all trying to do it the same way. The slowest DB, the fastest DB, it doesn’t matter. We all try to win every rep.”
On the energy sophomore defensive back Cam Taylor brings
“Cam Taylor’s a great guy, high-energy guy. Every day he comes in with a smile on his face, and if he doesn’t you know that’s our job to get him right and help him out. Day to day he’ll see a guy down and get him up and get his energy going. Having a guy like Cam Taylor, [he’s a] great football player. The added energy, you can’t do anything but help your team.”
On how the team responded to Taylor when he first joined the team
“We appreciated the energy right away. We saw it for what it was and we brought him in. It was never like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He was one of our brothers and we were going to have to accept him for who he was. He’s a high-energy guy and we love it. We love it.”
On the young talent at safety
“They’ve shown me that they’re ready to play. They want it. They’re hungry. They want to do right. Everything is not going to be peaches and cream and everything is not going to be perfect, but they’ve shown the intent to want to get better and want to learn more and just want to be a guy for us. Be one of the guys that really helps contribute. It’s not just one or two of those guys, it’s really all of those guys.”
On something he wants to get better at this year
“Personally, I just want to be the best I can be for the team, really. Just help more and get more takeaways for the team and just help be a positive role model for the team. Help anybody in need, really.”
On what he’s seen from senior defensive back Lamar Jackson
“I saw a guy who wasn’t going to lay down. Regardless of the past couple of years we’ve been here, people saying certain things about him and saying he’s not this guy, he’s not that guy. He’s not the guy people want him to be, and at the end of the day all he can be is [himself]. When he was benched, he didn’t let that deter him. He came back and he worked hard every day. I appreciate him for that, and really showing us that he wanted to be here and he was going to get it right regardless of what people were saying and regardless of whatever was going on. So that’s a guy I spent a lot of time with over my years here. That’s my brother, and that’s going to be my brother for life.”
On the reaction to the no-phone rule in the meeting room
“I think it will help us. Coach Fish told us to put the phones in the front of the room at the beginning of the meeting. Everybody just kind of laughed, but we understand it. We know that sometimes even the littlest of a vibration can be a distraction to something that Coach might want to say to us. While we’re in those meetings, we want to be completely locked in, dialed in, focused so that way we can get as much out of the meeting as we can. So it’s a good thing for us.”
On how defensive backs coach Travis Fisher has helped improve the team
“Just really putting the attitude in us to always want to be the best. To always be better than you were the day before. To just push ourselves even that much more. Coach Fisher always told me when he first got here when I go to workouts, just give it all I got. He was like ‘Nobody’s going to say anything if you give it all you got and you drop everybody and be like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s working.’’ If I’m out there being lazy, walking around and stuff like that and I blame it on being tired, half the people are going to look at you kind of crazy. So just giving it everything I got and I might pass out, get a full-hour nap out of it, wake up and be ready to go again. So really just putting that attitude in us that everything we do, we’ve got to do it with a certain intent.”
On the improvement of junior defensive back Deontai Williams
“He had a big winter. He was really pushing around a lot of weight. He really grew his mind at the safety spot. He was really being a student to the game and every morning that we would come in here, I could see the fire in his eyes and him wanting to get better. He’s made some big jumps this off-season and big gains both physically and mentally, so it should be exciting to watch him grow this spring and watch him flourish.”