Mohamed Barry Quotes - 10/21

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Oct. 21, 2019
Indiana

Mohamed Barry
Senior, Linebacker

On the mindset of the bye week 
“To focus on ourselves. To focus on our techniques and get back to the fundamentals was the biggest thing during this bye week. That last game, that’s what got us beat. We just focused on our technique and our fundamentals.”
 
On if running back Dedrick Mills looks ready for more carries 
“Yes. I would say. He has to be. That’s what he came here to do, to be a running back and get a lot of carries, so I think he is.”
 
On if he likes the intensity of going one on ones 
“Yes. I really apppreciated the intensity. I liked it. All I want is to face physical downhill backs. Whether it’s the scout team running that way, or it’s a new one running in practice that way. It’s good for the team. It’s going to be good for our running backs. It’s going to be good for our linemen knowing that the running back is going to make one cut and go upfield. Its going to be good for our linebackers and DB’s tackling that kind of run style in practice.” 
 
On what he saw from the Minnesota game 
"I think that sometimes people were just thinking too much. Be too smart. Sometimes you've just got to play your gap and the other person plays his gap and y’all collide. It’s that simple sometimes. I guess sometimes people were thinking run-pass or stuff like that. That’s good that we try to take that next step and be an extremely smart team, but at the end of the day, defense is just a read and react, and that is what we should have done that game."
 
On what the bye week did for him mentally 
“I think that was the best thing. It rejuvenated me even mentally. I spent some time with my families, talked to a lot of people that I love. We got to talk to even my coach some, my mom back home and did stuff with my girlfriend. Just being a normal person. Sometimes this game creates a cloud and sometimes you get lost in it and how intense everything around you is, so just going and being a simple man this week.” 
 
On what he told the younger guys entering the bye week 
“I just think the biggest thing what I told them is that I know we had one loss (Colorado) and there was some excuse to what happened then. Then we had Ohio State. Now it’s a third one. I know our young guys are ready to the point where we can win three games in a row, or two games in a row. I know when I was younger guy, when we had a bad season, I was waiting for that moment like “Okay we won one game. Are we going to win the next game? Are we going to win the third game? Can I trust everybody that we will play that we can win?” You've just got to tell them that the slate we have ahead of us of all the teams we play that they can beat us and we can beat them. It’s what we do now, and that is all that matters. They say that life is 10 percent what happened to you and 90 percent of how you react to it. That’s how we've got to look at things. Our reaction from that loss to the bye week and the bye week to the preparation of this week, that’s what matters. If we can teach our young guys that they will succeed and this program will succeed."
 
On what he sees from Indiana’s  running back Stevie Scott III 
“He’s a good running back. That’s what I expect every time I play a Big Ten team. It’s hard to look at a Big Ten team and say that they didn’t have a very good running back. I think there’s a lot of running backs that you could see playing on Sundays. I say a lot of those teams that we play have those type of running backs.”
 
On what he has seen from Indiana’s offense
 “You know RPO presents itself with its own scheme. A lot of four-strong shotgun scheme with an 11-player personnel with a tight end and a running back. Inside zone is their most popular play, and that run-pass option off of it is going to be big. The top play that they are probably going to run against us is that stretch play. That’s it.”
 
On if he has seen a good following from his leadership 
“I think when coach says that, it’s not just when everything is calm. It’s when everything is intense, when everything around is not working. Can those leaders lead and do you have players to follow those leaders? Do they want to do it? That’s what he’s talking about. Anyone can say they are a great follower and they follow everything when things are right and things are calm. When it’s a situation like Minnesota when you’re down by 14, are you going to rise to the occasion? Are you gonna do it when Mo is saying this, this is what we are going to do. That’s what it takes to having that whole entire team not only lead but to follow in the leaders footsteps. I’m not going to say nothing about that because I think people on the team know that if they didn’t rise to the occasion in that game, they need to rise next time. I think a thing my teammates do a good job of doing is looking into the mirror and pointing the finger at themselves first. Then look at what the team is doing.”
NU Athletic Communications