Senior Defensive Lineman Darrion Daniels Quotes - 8/26

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Aug. 26, 2019
Pre-South Alabama

Darrion Daniels
Senior, Defensive Lineman

On the possibility of being a captain as a grad transfer
“Not at all my intent coming to the school was more so, to help my brother and to enjoy my last year. Where it’s taken me right now, it was beyond my imagination. It was nothing I expected, and it was nothing I felt I was prepared for. Well I was prepared for, but it was nothing I was...it was a shocker to me how fast everything has came and how respected I’ve been, you know? It’s kind of cool.”

On finding out about being named a captain
“Coach Ross told us the day we voted, he said that we’ll find out at the Boneyard Bash, same time that everybody else will find out. I was for sure it would be some other guys on the team, and partially because I did just get here. I didn’t think that you know, people would see it fit that some new guy would come in and get to be captain, but to be voted, you know it was overwhelming. It was a shocker. I was surprised, and I don’t know, I got warm inside. It’s just a great feeling knowing that my teammates you know, think that highly of me to vote as the captain and I just got here.”

On what he believes led him to be captain
“I have no idea to be completely honest. Coach Frost doesn’t have many rules, but one of them is do the right thing and that’s something I strive to do every minute of every day. I try to do the right thing, work hard. I try to lead by example and just do what I’m supposed to do and bring as many people along as possible and just for that to be enough for everybody to vote for me, that was huge.”

On feedback from his younger brother and the other defensive linemen
“We were going through it Casey (Rogers), well the night before Casey, our roommate, on the ride home, he’s like “you know you’re going to be a captain, right?” and I’m like, 'nah man there’s a lot of other people on the defense who is highly respected and are great leaders. Like I’d doubt that a new guy is just going to come in. He’s like, 'Nah Darrion, I turned around I was looking at the ballots and I saw your name a lot.' I just nudge it off, and you know my brother he was like, 'I don’t see it. I don’t think anybody else can be as good a captain as you.' And I was like, 'nah bro it’s a lot of, I guess a lot of great leaders on the defense.' When I got, when they announced it, you know I stood up, and I just saw all the faces of the D-linemen, you know just yelling “oh”, just lit up and everybody was just as excited as I was."

On what he thinks got the team to believe in him
“I’m not for sure, to be completely honest, but I just come out there and work hard every day. One thing I really wanted to do for my last year here was just enjoy every single minute of, you know, the process, every minute of working out, every practice and to maximize, you know, everything that we do. Like I said, just bring other people along, so I guess that was just enough for them to see that."

On the age gap and relationship between him and Casey Rogers
“I’m like a year and a half (older). I turned 22 in December and he turns 21 later that month. We’re kind of on different sides of the thermometer, he’s very hot and he’s always on go, you know he’s very eager, and me, I’m a fifth-year senior so it was like I’ve been there, done that, like I’m very chill. I like to relax, so like seeing just how much he wants to learn and all the questions that he has, he has even been able to help me a lot asking me questions about the defense. “Why are the linebackers doing this?” And I’m like, 'what are you worrying about the linebackers, we’re the D-line.' But you know it makes me look deeper in it and we also like, he’ll ask questions and we’ll go look for it together, or he’ll have a question go find it and share it with me.”

On the depth chart coming out and players knowing their roles
“People can maximize their opportunities more, during fall camp when it’s a lot of gray around, will I play, will I travel, or am I going to redshirt, all that, all that uncertainty. So for the depth chart to come out, for the young guys, like this is my role now I know I need to do X, Y and Z. And for those who are playing to be like now this is my turn to do X, Y and Z. And for the guys who are next up it puts a lot of pressure on them because it’s like, I’m not in that position I want to be in right now, but I have to stay ready at all times because it’s division one football, anything can happen.”

On the depth and rotation of the three spots up front
“It’s actually a very unique situation that we are in. Coach Tuioti does a great job of not just putting us out there in different combinations but throwing us in different positions. We do a lot of job swaps you’ll see Khalil (Davis) at nose, Carlos (Davis) at nose, Casey Rogers at nose, might even see DaiShon (Neal) at nose you know. He throws guys at nose, he throws a few guys at nose at end just to see different looks, and having the depth is actually very comforting. If anybody was to go down, anybody you know on the depth chart could fill in at nose or end.”

On having the Blackshirts come talk to them
“Oh yeah we had the original Blackshirts come in and talk to us and present us with the Blackshirts. It was, I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just seeing them come back, it matters that much to them. Just seeing them come back, to want to spend time out of their day to come talk to us and to in a way pass the torch and hold us to the standard of the Blackshirts, it was great. It was real great just seeing that the tradition is that rich here."

On how fast the offense is, and how it compares to Oklahoma State’s and other Big 12 teams
“It’s just as fast. I’d say faster because of the running quarterback. Adrian is fast, Adrian is really fast, like really fast so it’s like you get some teams with a standard quarterback who doesn’t really run, that’s great for us because the D-line, that means we can do a pass rush and don’t have to worry about keeping the pocket too tight. But with Adrian it’s more like you either get there or you open a seam for him to hit, and then you also have to respect the pass because he can throw it. So, it puts the defensive line in a bad position but there’s not many guys like him in the NCAA right now. So, I feel like our offense with Adrian gives us the best possible look that we can get.”
 
On what he hopes the defense’s identity will be
“What do I hope the defenses’ identify will be? The Blackshirts. Like that’s our identity, you know hold that standard and to just fight to the end, take possessions, you know, fight young and old."
 
 

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