Nebraska Football
vs. Fordham
Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021
Press Conference Video
On Marquel Dismuke and Deontai Williams
“Big momentum boosters, those guys playing really hard and Fordham had gotten a couple big plays but the defense held up. And I think it goes a long way and just our continued building of what we're trying to do here and trust on both sides of the ba”ll.”
On the end of the first half and the start of the second half
“It was huge. One of our coaches was kind of preaching, probably early last week just about how big the last five minutes of a half are and the first five minutes of the second half, right, and so that was really big for us going in the locker room and then coming out, finding a way to get the ball back and going down and scoring again. And we did what we were supposed to do.”
On the running game
“That's going to be huge for us. We can go back on film and see what we need to get better on but you hit it on the head, you know, big for this team and I think just what we needed.”
On getting backups into the game
“We have confidence in who we are as a team, and what we're capable of, so that means games like this we need to come in and take care of business and we did what we were supposed to do. There's a little element of that but you can't take anyone lightly, you still need to come out and play your tail off because they were excited too, you know, they're playing football, they're guys who want to be there so have to treat them as such.”
On the fans
“That was pretty cool, a special moment for sure for me. I always appreciate that support and I know it's not like that everywhere, it isn’t. And it's something to be thankful for, which I am, and part of what makes Nebraska so great.”
On Samori Toure
“I have a lot of trust in Samori. It is kind of funny he is over there cheesing at me so it is hard to talk. We built a lot of trust over the offseason and I am glad we got to showcase that today. I knew where he was going to be and he knew where I was going to put the ball and that is a big piece of the passing games just having trust and I trust him.”
On knowing what plays to make
“Coach Purdue does a great job of mixing in different drills during the week and one of those things is moving within the pocket and finding space to throw the ball and it is a fine line knowing when to take off and knowing when to maneuver and make it throw downfield.”
On the pitch play for a touchdown
“I do not want to get too into the weeds with that one but I will say coaches are looking for a specific look and it is traditional some options we ran in the past and yeah I will leave it at that but it is really not incredibly complicated it is nothing crazy for our guys for us to execute.”
On the linemen and his success
“100% they are the key. The key to this offense and they brought it today. We got each others grills a little bit and I loved it. It is what we need. We need more of that and we brought the energy out of each other. And those guys stepped to the plate and that is what we need as a team. That is what we needed today so we are gonna need moving forward.”
On accountability
“I will just talk about today, but today we love each other. Right? We call each other out need to step up whatever need to bring more juice and it goes both ways is all I was trying to say.”
On difference between this performance and last
“I would say as a unit we performed a lot better. And for me personally I was a little bit calmer and making sure that I was staying level headed with my footwork with my decision making and having trust in our guys.”
On being calm
“First game out of the way. I would not put too much stock into it. I just felt comfortable with our guys and what we were doing and we got to trust our teammates.”
NU Athletic Communications