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Nebraska Football
Pre-Illinois
Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
Press Conference Video
On being named captain
“It is a blessing. In the spring and summer it was a goal of mine to be captain. And I am a believer that you can speak things into existence. You got goals. You look at them every day. You have to write them down. You have to tell yourself that it is a real opportunity. It was a blessing to be able to be picked captain on this team. Not to stay it caught me by surprise because I knew. Last year I have been more of a leader on this team. One of the better leaders on this team. But I told all of the other guys on this team all of the other leaders that just because I have the title of captain doesn’t mean you are any less of a leader than me. And just because I have the title of captain doesn’t mean I am more of a leader. We are all going to lead the same way. Just because I have a captains title does not mean Cam Jurgens does not have a voice anymore. Cam Jurgens could have should have would have been a captain. He is still one of the better leaders on the team. Travis Vokolek he is going to have a voice still. That is the thing I preach to them. It is still our team. Just because I run out of the tunnel first does not mean those guys are going to be quiet now. We still have the same mission in mind and that begins this week at Illinois.”
On the depth of tight end position
“That is kind of the way practice is set up. It is next man up. Whether I rolled my ankle one day. Whether somebody has so and so injury. It is next man up. Whether Adrian god forbid something happen to him week one it is next man up. That is the way Coach (Frost)’s practices go. But fall camp is fall camp. You are going to have little nicks here and there. It was not necessarily a thing. I am not going to get into injuries. But it was fall camp. It was a grind I will just say that. It is just the way it goes. (Chris) Hickman we put that kid through a lot. Coming in as a tight end. Telling him he is a receiver. Having him come back to tight end. It is a lot on a body to try and lose weight and then put on weight. But he has embraced that. I think he has the best understanding of the offense because he has seen it from every different angle now. But he is doing really great things. Same with Nate Boerkircher. He is a name I always bring up in interviews because he is a hard worker. He is smart in this offense. Last name I will bring up is Chance Brewington. We brought him over from receiver and he is just hitting the ground running. He is very smart. I think what helps him and guys that transfer in is they have an understanding of what it takes to learn collegiate offense and a collegiate playbook. I think that is what helped him step into the roll he has had so far. Chance is going to help us this year. I mean he is a baller. But all across the board guys are stepping up and it is good to see.”
On the team’s leadership
“I think the biggest step we have taken as players this year is taking things under our wing. Unless otherwise directed the players are going to lead this way. Unless Frost wants us to go this direction we are going to go this way. I think that is the biggest step we have taken. Damien Jackson is in charge of accountability. If I see something at practice that I do not like I will say you are on accountability here with Damien after practice. And I think that is the biggest step we have taken is like you said putting out fires before they even get to Frost. Frost has everything that he has to deal with. It’s leadership from the top down. There is only so much he can take care from the top and there is some stuff he should not have to take care of that the players are going to take care of. And that is the players mentality. We are going to win football games and I think that is going to stem from how we handle stuff as players that Frost should not have to take care of.”
On balancing team leadership
“it is tough. It is college football. But we are not here to make friends and sing kumbaya. It is big time power football. You can be the worst enemies on the practice field but once you step into the locker room we are still brothers. We are still teammates and I think that is the message we are trying to get across. I am going to beat the crap out of this guy on the defensive line on the scout team and hopefully I can go into the locker room and dap him up and see how his day is going. But that is the biggest thing we have to get across. We are still brothers at the end of the day but on the field it is a battle it is a war.”
On the stage for this coming game
“I really wish I was playing in Ireland right now but circumstances bearing we are going to Illinois. But it is a week zero game all eyes are on us and I think that is an opportunity for all of us to showcase who we are as a football team and how far we have come as leaders on the team showing the world what our team leaders have done. It does not always necessarily have to be Frost telling us what we need to get accomplished it is on us to get it done. But I am really excited to get the season kicked off on the right foot at Illinois. It is week zero like you said and we are the Big Ten we are the big noon kickoff so hopefully we can get things done for all you guys and for all the fans. We owe them one.”
On importance on starting strong on game one:
“I think the biggest thing for me this year too is not setting a goal as we are going to win ten games. We are going to win six games. We are going to a bowl game. We are taking every game like it is the championship game and the championship game for us is Illinois this week. I think that is the biggest change in my vision that I am going to see is I am going to handle that like it is the Big Ten Championship next week and then after that we are going to play Fordham and Fordham is going to be the championship game of the week. That is the mentality that I am going to bring to the table and I am going to disperse across my peers.”
On team leadership with vaccination:
“It is a touchy situation and I do not want to dive too much into it. COVID is here. COVID is going to stay and there is nothing much we can do about it and if they say a vaccination is the best way that we can play football without any interruptions then I mean why not. There is guys that have their reasons to not get it and I am not going to dive into those reasons. I am not going to tell a guy you have to get it. As a leader I am not going to tell you guys you do not have to get it. If a player wants to have a season with minimal interruption then go get the vaccine. It is what it is. I am not going to say one way or another whether a player has to get it or not and I am not going to talk about who has and who has not. That is all I really got to say about that.”
On forfeits playing into vaccine thoughts:
“I mean it is kind of similar to last year in the sense that COVID is here and there is not really much we can really do about it. I mean you can take precautions. You can wear a mask but Big Ten has not necessarily given us a direct way that they want to do things I do not think. But it is football at the end of the day. Whether three guys have to sit out because of COVID tracing or whatever. Like I said it is next man up and we are prepared that way.”
NU Athletic Communications