Darrion Daniels Quotes - 10/7

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Oct. 7, 2019
Minnesota

Darrion Daniels
Senior, Defensive Lineman
On playing against Northwestern without senior defensive lineman Khalil Davis
“I think Coach T  [defensive line coach Tony Tuioti] did a great job of keeping everything under control and orchestrating everything. In practice, we do a lot of different combinations of people in there. That was my first time really playing with [redshirt freshman defensive lineman] Casey [Rogers] but it was a good experience. I was kind of used to it, playing with Ben Stille and playing with DT [Deontre Thomas] next to me. I’ve played with different people all the time. It really wasn’t different because we practiced that.”
 
On how Khalil Davis handled the one-game suspension
“He handled it well. On the sideline, he was a great motivational person. He stayed with the energy and stayed motivating us. If he saw something, he’d pull us to the side and mention it to us if he noticed something we were doing wrong, or if there was a certain thing they were doing to us. He called me out and said, ‘Hey Darrion, make sure you keep tight hands because you’re getting a little too wide.’ So he was just another set of eyes helping us out.”
 
On redshirt freshman defensive lineman Casey Rogers
“Coach T does a good job of throwing the young guys out there once in a while. Casey is one of those guys. He’s one of the next men up. He’s always had reps in practice, so for him to actually get up there in the game, I think he did pretty well. I think it was good for him to get his feet wet in a Big Ten game like that. I feel like now that he knows what it’s like, it’s like smelling blood in the water. You just want to motivate him to keep getting better and keep getting out there.”
 
On offensive injuries
“We always preach, ‘Next man up.’ Things always happen like this past week with Khalil [Davis]. Next man up. The offense does a pretty good job of what they do. Even in practice, I see a lot of the different guys. I’m 100 percent confident in anybody that they put in the position because I see them doing it in practice. We always want to put the offense in the best position possible. We want to do our job by giving great field position, by taking momentum from the opposing team. We always feel pressure in regard to performing. We put that on ourselves. We have a standard that we want to uphold. Every time we go out there and touch the field, we want to continue with the Blackshirt mentality and get after teams.”
 
On Minnesota
“They’ve got some big tight ends, something different for us. It’s going to be a real challenge on our edge because their tight ends are big bodies. It’s like actually having two offensive linemen on the field at the same time. I think that’s something that I’ve noticed, and that we’re keying in on in practice, just making sure that we take care of those two and stop the run.”
 
On looking forward to the bye week
“We don’t even see the bye to be honest, we’re looking at the next game. That’s one thing that’s comforting in regards to playing with this team. The bye week isn’t on anybody’s mind right now, we just want to play. We just want to opportunity to go out there and attack anybody.”
 
On the weather during Saturday’s game against Minnesota
“I have no control over the weather, so it’s one of those things where God blessed us with the day, so just be thankful for it. I’m not used to playing in cold weather, but I get used to it. After warm-ups, I’ll be straight.”
 
On keeping the momentum up after halftime
“We have to come out with the same fire that we did in the beginning of the game. I don’t think it’s anything physically. I think it’s a mental thing, having the same desire and having the same fire to attack the third quarter like we do the first and second.”

NU Athletic Communications