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Nebraska Football
Pre-Michigan State
Monday, Sept. 20, 2021
Press Conference Video
On Omar Manning
“It has been hard being patient as a coach but it has been necessary to be patient with him. It is going to be a good story if he keeps on the trajectory that he is on. I like to see guys fight through things and come out the other side. And he is on a good path to do that. When he is in there he can make plays. We need some more big play threats. Him and Zavier (Betts) both showed up in the game. Those would both be big pieces for us. He has a lot of football ahead of him. Both of them do. And both are going to have chances to make plays.”
On Austin Allen and Travis Vokolek
“Those two guys make us better. They block the edge so well. They block the perimeter well. They can get open in pass routes. They know what they are doing. They make us better in the run game and the pass game. We really missed Travis. Missed Austin in the game before. Really happy with the young guys in that position and how they have stepped in and played well but those two guys are two of our best players and we are glad to have them.”
On the run game
“I thought we went toe to toe with them up front on both sides of the ball. Still wanting to see some more crease runs. That really is the piece that is missing. One little block a little bit better hitting a hole a little bit better and generating explosive plays in the run game. We start doing that we will be pretty dangerous.”
On tight ends
“Yeah I think part of it is the league we play in. Part of it is the personnel we have. We have some good players in the position. You want to get your best guys on the field.”
On the offensive line
“I think they are getting closer every week. That is still a work in progress. We are still young there. But they have been getting better. They will have another chance this week. If they take another step forward like they did last week I expect even a better game and we have a big time opponent a good team that we are going up against so we need those guys to come off the ball and create some movement up front.”
On Cam Jurgens
“Yeah I talked to Cam. We just have to be a little bit smarter. If we are going to get penalties I would rather them be aggressive penalties. I would rather tell a guy woah then giddy up. We will calm him down a little bit but that is the attitude we are looking for.”
On left guard
“(Brock) Bando is getting healthier. I think he is getting close. It is going to be competitive just the running back room is right now. At times Trent (Hixson) has done a great job. At times (Ethan) Piper has done a great job. Bando has done well in practice. Nouredin (Nouli) is doing good things. We have a lot of guys that can do it. Would love it if somebody grabbed a hold of that spot and took it. We are waiting to see if that happens but we have a lot of guys that are capable we just need a little bit better play at that spot.”
On Michigan State
“Well they are well coached well disciplined. They have been opportunistic with turnovers particularly in the last game. I think their running back is special. The quarterback has had a really good start to the season. Can do anything they ask him to do. They are just solid everywhere. When you look at Michigan State as long as I can remember it is a black and blue physical team. So we know we are in for a fist fight when we go up Saturday night. It is going to be a fun environment.”
On similarities from Colorado
“Not really. They have a defensive coordinator that has been around and is really good at what he does. I think they have taken on a little bit more of that personality.”
On the running back position
“Ideally we have one lead guy. It has not worked out that way. I think we have several capable guys. I was really impressed with Rahmir (Johnson) and how he played. He ran hard. He gives us a little bit of spark with his speed. (Markese) Stepp had some really good plays when he has been in there. Sevion (Morrison) has done some good things. Marvin (Scott III) had a really good practice today. (Jaquez) Yant is losing weight and looking the part. We are deep there. We are going to continue to let them compete and see who is going to give us the best chance to win on Saturday.”
On Rahmir Johnson
“We are grading everything right now at a couple of positions to make sure that the guys who deserve to play are playing. Rahmir has had not just one good week but he has been practicing well for a long time. We gave him a shot. I thought he took advantage of the opportunity. He ran hard and fast. I am sure he will be in the mix again this week.”
On intolerance of mistakes
“We are not very tolerant. I am just going to continue to harp on the guys. If we play with speed and precision we have enough talent to be in every game that we play. This league is tough. We are going to have eight conference games and I think five of the eight are ranked right now. I do not think there is a team that we cannot play with and are not going to have a chance against. But if you do not play well then any of them can beat you. That is kind of where we are that is kind of where the league is. Mistakes get you beat. They have gotten us beat too often and we need to keep being intolerant.”
On the conference depth
“I think it is deep. Like I said week to week any team could beat any team. Everybody has good players and everybody has good coaches and good schemes. It comes down to a few plays here and there or turnovers. That is where you cannot be a team that makes mistakes. It gets yourself beat.”
On mental health focus
“You have to make sure and we always will that you are doing the right thing for student-athletes on and off the field. And that is the most important thing. Really as a leader we feel like we have two basic duties. That is mission accomplishment and taking care of our team. And neither one is more important than the other. Sometimes you have to walk a fine line between coddling someone too much and knowing when someone has a real issue. But when there is a real issue we want to make sure and get them the help that they need.”
On Teddy Prochazka
“Well hopefully we can get him out of 46. He looked kind of goofy in that number. Teddy has a lot of talent. I have been really impressed with how fast he has come along. He is going to be in the mix and the conversation for playing going forward. If he keeps improving at the rate that he is improving at it is going to be hard to keep him off the field.”
On the game against Oklahoma
“I think our kids thought we could win the game. I think they kind of expected to win the game. We certainly had opportunities to do so. There were four or five plays that I think if we could have made we could have been in a different situation. Probably more than that. Probably 10 or 12. But I think that. I want kids to go into games expecting to win. And I think they did. They were disappointed after. So we have to balance that disappointment with the enthusiasm of how much better of a game they played and how much better of a team we are right now. But we have to prove that and we get another opportunity against another ranked opponent on the road this week.”
On the secondary defense
“I think they are playing smart and with better eyes. I think we have really good speed back there. That was evidence by Braxton (Clark) when he got a chance he came in against one of their fastest guys and ran step for step with him. You have to be in the right place and you have to be disciplined and you have to have the athletes that can run with some of those guys.”
On Oklahoma preparing Nebraska for Big Ten play
“I think we are going to be in a lot more games like that. We have already been in a couple of close ones. We have to win them. We played a really good team on the road. I cannot say enough about that Oklahoma program and coaches. That is a great test for us. We are probably the best team we have been going into conference play since I have been here and I do not think there is any doubt of that. So we are going to get a lot of opportunities to win some good games and close games and I cannot wait to see that happen for these guys.”
On Connor Culp
“I have a lot of faith in Connor. People go through slumps. That being said we are going to let that position be competitive like any other position. I trust him to get it right but we have to do what is best for the team and play the guy at any position that gives us the best chance to win.”
On punting position
“We will see. That is competitive too. I think both guys have done a good job. Daniel (Cerni) was a little nicked up earlier in the week last week and missed some time and we went the other way and I thought (Will Przytup) punted really well when he got his chance on Saturday.”
On what needs to happen going forward
“Oklahoma is good up front. I think that we did a good job containing the quarterback which was part of the plan going into that game. They didn't have any passes that were over twenty to twenty five yards so part of that was containing the quarterback and making sure he didn't run around and create some plays because that's usually what they do. We definitely need to win on some one on one pass reps a little more. That's going to be important this week.”
On Jergens moving around during the game
“Knock on wood that we're not having the snap issues that we've had. He's an elite athlete for any position but he's definitely an elite athlete for any position so we need to take advantage of that any way that we can. He was out on a couple screens that gave him the opportunity to get in the open field. He's going to be really good at that and a lot of other things.”
On how they will fill the break in the day for upcoming night game
“We'll push meetings back and get them up in the morning and do something physical to get them going a little bit. Coaches don't like the night game because it's a lot of sitting around in a hotel but the environment is going to be special. I've been up there before for a night game and it's a pretty special environment. I know that our guys are going to be able to feed off that and have a lot of juice. I'm looking forward to the challenge.”
On playing on grass instead of turf
“I like grass so I didn't think that it was a factor at all on Saturday. We practiced all three days on grass last week and we will again this week. Hopefully it's a good track and we won't have any issues.”
On the sweet spot for number of players on the offensive
“As many as we can have ready to go as possible. You play two or three because I don't think that one guy in this day and age can go through a whole game. But you prefer not to play four or five in a game because you have to give people some continuity and give them a feel for the game too. We're waiting for the guy to step out front and be the guy and until that time we're going to have to do something.”
NU Athletic Communications
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