Junior Offensive Lineman Matt Farniok Quotes - 9/2

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Sept. 2, 2019
Pre-Colorado

On what he tells the younger guys on the offensive line like Will Farniok
“Just relax. You guys have been doing this all spring, all fall. Will [Farniok] has been doing it since high school. It’s a little bit of those first-game jitters where you really want to get firing off the ball, but you have to remember the most important thing, which is getting the ball to the quarterback. It really just comes down to just breathe a little bit and calm down because they know what they need to do. And I have complete faith in them, I know they’re going to be fine.”

On the offensive performance vs. South Alabama
“We did some good things. We did some bad things. We made some early first-game mistakes, mistakes we shouldn’t have made. We weren’t quite ourselves on offense, and it seemed like we were a little off and for whatever reason, we weren’t clicking. A guy made a mistake here or there, but there were also times we showed that this offense can be really dangerous, we have to be sure we are honed in and focused for 11 guys to execute at full speed and don’t have fear of making mistakes. We just have to go.”

On early down runs
“Success on every play is important. If we are struggling right away and set up for a second or third and long, it narrows down our playbook. We have to start faster. We have to get our engines started really quick and for whatever reason, we weren’t quite there. This week we are really honing in and are ready for our execution to be a lot better than what it was.”

On today’s practice
“I’d say it was good. We paid closer attention to detail, we were flying around and I think we got the first-game jitters out of our system early. I think those mistakes we made we’ve learned from, and we are starting to see that it’s not a half-speed game, everything we do has to be full speed.”

On the performance of Quarterback Adrian Martinez in practice today
“Great. He’s a heck of a player and he didn’t have his best game ever, but I know who he is and I know what he is. He came ready to work and he executed. He’s one player I know I never have to worry about because he is a true grinder. He’s a man of grit, and he’ll be just fine no matter what happens.”

On Coach Greg Austin’s message after the game
“Details. We weren’t making mistakes going to the wrong people, we were making mistakes of the smaller things like where our hands were carried and where our steps were taken. All it was is honing it in, focus on what we’re going to do. Let’s execute to be the best we can be and execute to show who we are.”

On what makes the difference for this offense to be really good and not so good
“A six-inch step can make a play be extremely good or extremely bad. If you take a step six inches too far to the right or to the left all of a sudden, the running back's read on how you’re blocking gets hazy and he misses the cut or misses the hole. The fine line of a really good play and a really bad play is extremely thin. At the end of the day, we are here to make those really good plays because we have the talent in our O-line and our backs to make these good plays consistently.”

On the expectations going to Boulder
“We are always ready to play football. From what I’ve heard it’s a rowdy environment and I think we’re all excited simply because it’s going to be a good game. They’re a good team, they have a new coaching staff and from what we’ve seen they’re a team of fighters, and we are really ready to go in and play football, that’s why we’re here.”

On if South Alabama came with any surprises 
“A little bit, but that comes with the first game. You don’t know quite what they’re going to be. They came out with a few curveballs, but we adjusted and came through."

On if the offensive line takes hits on the quarterback personally
 “Of course. Our job is to protect him so any time for whatever reason if he’s scrambling 15 yards and gets hit down the field and gets hit out of bounds, we get a little on edge. We don’t want anyone ever to touch the quarterback or anyone to have the chance to hit the quarterback. He’s the guy that we are always here to protect regardless of what happens, he’s our guy and we have to sell out to protect him.”

On first drive success
“A lot of that comes from our coaching staff. They are really smart, and they know what to do and they know how to game plan. It’s a combination of us trying to execute the best we can and fly around while using the desire to excel and no fear of failure. We have to come out of the gates hard and fast and we’ve gotten really good at that, which is a testament to why we’ve seen some early success in our first drives."

On younger brother Will Farniok entering the game
“He was really excited, and it was really cool. Whenever you get a chance to play your first collegiate game or get your first couple of snaps in it’s always exciting. You’re always a little bit nervous because it’s like, 'Wow this is a lot different than high school because these guys are pretty big dudes,' but it comes with that preparation. We are practicing against some of the best D-linemen - the Davis twins, the Daniels brothers - and all across the board our defense has gotten a lot better and that’s a testament to them working their tails off. I love it. Back to Will, he was ecstatic. He made a couple of mistakes, but those first-game mistakes and he learns from them and he’s incredibly smart and resilient so I know we don’t have to worry about him getting flustered.”

NU Athletic Communications