JoJo Domann Quotes 9-27-21

Nebraska Football
Pre-Northwestern
Monday, Sept. 27, 2021

Press Conference Video

On defensive performance against Michigan State
“We played well. That is what we expect to do. We want to get the ball out more. Critical field goal that we blocked at the end of the half. We just need the ball to bounce our way and we have to put ourselves in the right positions for the ball to do that.”
 
On not putting blame on positions
“That is a great question. That is the name of the game. It is easy to create a scapegoat for the result of that game and say it was that player or that play when ultimately there are hundreds of plays and thousands of moments throughout a game that are either for you or against you. I think as a collective unit if we can just realize that it is all of us. We cumulatively lost that game together and not point out guys we will be in better shape as a team. This game is really testing our will to fight. I am excited to see how this pans out next Saturday but this adversity is tough. It is what you live for.”
 
On correcting mistakes
“You have to be able to adjust to what they are doing. We learn technique we learn the scheme all off season so when in season comes every defense and every offense is a liability. You just have to first understand what you are supposed to do and how it is supposed to work and then you have to understand how you can get beat and what they can do to stop us. It is a holistic understanding of the system. It is hard to correct those things in season.”
 
On Garrett Nelson
“Yeah watching film yesterday Garrett Nelson played an amazing game. Everything he is doing in practice is translating over on Saturdays. Really proud of him and excited for what we are getting out of him. How we dominated the box is how it needs to be. And that has got to be the standard. And those guys are plenty talented enough. They plenty want it enough. It is just doing it. Just like when you face adversity when things are not going your way. Let’s say we are losing in the box we have to have the will to come back and win the next play and the next quarter and so on.”
“The will to be great is burning within his chest. He is a team guy he is not a me guy. Even when it comes to picking up stuff in the locker room after practice. Garrett is that guy. Playing with him his true freshman year to last year to this year he has taken tremendous strides just mentally in his game. Coach Dawson coaches the heck out of him and gets the most out of him. So bright future for that kid.”
 
On fourth down against Michigan State
“I have the quarterback. I am the edge blitzer. I have the quarterback. When it is bang bang like that you want to be able to make both plays. I have to trust that the rest of the guys are doing their job and I have to stay home for the quarterback. I could have stayed even more home. I had his ankle and wrapped and rolled. I could have body-shotted him too. But I needed to stay home and make that play.”
 
On learning to make plays
“I think that I have taken huge strides in that. I used to just think about well I don’t even know what I was thinking about my sophomore year. I was just a fairy out there. I just tried to do my job and also be around the ball. And not trusting that by doing my job I will find the ball and the ball will find me.”
 
On Northwestern
“They are close every time. It is a dog fight. It is who plays more discipline and who plays more physical is usually who wins. It is going to test our mental toughness this week after everything we have been through to put that behind us and learn from it and be better from it and then go against an opponent like this. It is going to demand mental toughness from us. It is going to be a great test.”
 
On challenge moving forward this week
“It is a challenge. Obviously based on our past experiences we have to move forward in same way shape or form. It is crazy because all the light mistakes we made throughout the game if we would have won that game we would have shrugged it off but because you lose it is like every single mistake you look at critically and think how if I would have done this differently could the result have been different. We have to be hard on ourselves but we also have to give ourselves grace. We are human. We play this game. You win or lose. We have to move forward regardless so we might as well move forward with our best foot forward and with a good attitude and a growth mindset.
 
On the offensive possession time
“It definitely helps a lot. Third down conversions help a lot. Those guys have seen them come on. They have done it in practice and somehow it translates to a game. Crazy how that works. Good to see that. Adrian so proud of that kid. We are going to continue to take strides on that side of the ball and I trust those leaders and our coaches and we are going to keep getting better.”

NU Athletic Communications