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Nebraska Football
Pre-Michigan
Monday, Oct. 4, 2021
How he handles wins from when he was first hired until now as an experienced coach
“Probably the same. You want to win every game and you want to take every one personal because one way or another things get a little more personal. There’s nowhere that I would probably despise losing more than here. It’s harder to handle here but I also don’t know if I would enjoy winning as much somewhere else.”
On the overall player improvement
“I thought it was an improvement. But the big thing is that we came off the ball better and our pad level was better. When we can generate and run a lot of other things are going to work. We did a really good job with that particularly with getting some movement on three techniques and one technique and getting runs started. I thought the right side did too but the left side played really well. Other guys also came in and played well so I think that the guys got the message and we need to keep doing that. We have to move people and run are hard to generate if you don’t get any movement up front.”
On blocking on the perimeter
“I’m still not completely satisfied with that. We could add a couple other plays that were bigger if we had gotten a little better with that. You have to be tough everywhere including outside and that's the mark of a good team.”
On Barron Miles Jr.
“He has potential and still has potential. He played pretty well in one game so we have to keep him going and get the rest of the guys to keep improving too and that's just a starting point.”
On improvement since the 2018 game against Michigan
“I guess we’ll find out. I thought they had a phenomenal team and that they were going to win the league after they went out there. They kicked our butt and we were out-manned in probably nearly every position. We didn’t have much of a chance in that. They have another good team that's very similar to that one. We get an opportunity to test ourselves against a really good team.”
On Michigan defensive players
“Those guys cause havoc. They're hard to block. You go to try and block them outside and then they beat you to the inside. They’re tough to protect against. One of their linebackers sis really good too. They’re good across the board but their edge guys are the guys that really create problems and play for them and we will definitely have plenty of them.”
On what it means by having the full group back
“I kind of feel like we had to violate the older guys that we need. But we had good players at every position so it helps you to have everybody up and available. But all of those guys played well and you need weapons in this league. Weapons help us create some big plays and it's good to have everybody helping.”
On how well the team is running so far this season
“We’re still only about six out of ten. We put one on the ground and a couple of blocks here and there. You need to be able to do multiple schemes to run it well. We’ve got them and we need to make sure that we can run them all.”
On defense looking unprepared
“Yeah I said to one of them that I’ve never seen a pitch that's close-called even for a forward pitch so hopefully we don't get that call again. But it's hard. You have to spend a lot of time on it to do it well and we’ve invested some time. I think we’ve done that because it matches our personnel and who we can be. It just adds another element. Hopefully defense has worked on the run game and the option game and helped us a little bit. But they’re smart people in this league and we’ll have to keep improving and tweaking.”
On how Adrian Martinez handles the ball
“He has come a long way. When we first started going in and look at it all he has really gotten comfortable with it. I like it for the fact that he gets an opportunity to get the ball in his hands without just calling one place for him. He can avoid hits that way. One of the best parts about Saturday he only got tackled a couple times. Keeping him on his feet is a big part of our success.”
On coming off a win
“I think they see the formula now. They prepared really well for several weeks in a row. Got going our way Saturday in a big way. No reason to change anything now.”
On Teddy Prochazka
“I do not know if we were positive before Saturday. The week of practice helped us be positive but it was time to give him a chance. You do not decide on Monday you are going to run a marathon and run it on Saturday. There is some training that has to be involved. Sam you know that you are a marathon runner. He is just steadily improving and we saw a lot of talent from him early on like we see with a lot of guys. It has really come pretty fast with him. Again it is just a start but I thought he had a good first attempt at it.”
On things that stood out in Teddy Prochazka before he got to Nebraska
“We knew he had the size. He moves better than I anticipated. He can bend and move and run. He also got to be able to be mean early on and that is tough for 18 19 year-olds particularly in this league. So he is coming along probably faster than we thought but a lot of room to grow and that was just one game.”
On Turner Corcoran
“He did well. A lot of our runs creased behind left side and that was not intentional it was just kind of the hatch we were on and the things that happened but (Matt) Sichterman played well again Cam (Jurgens) played well again. Turner has to get used to that over there but he has a ton of talent too so I thought it was a step in the right direction with our O-line up front. They are going to have a big challenge this week. These guys are tough to block and tough to move.”
On Rahmir Johnson
“One thing I said about Rahmir is he took the competition seriously. He kept improving he is running hard and cleaning tackles he has the speed. He still has room to grow. We will keep letting those guys compete. Sooner or later one will step forward and be the lead guy. Right now it has been Rahmir we will keep putting the guy out there that gives us the best chance.”
On getting the team to the point where they are not moved easily
“I think that is a physical thing and a mental thing. It is a recruiting thing and a weightroom thing. We need to be bigger we need to be stronger we need to be faster. We got out-manned pretty bad a few times that first year. We have some bigger guys. Zach (Duval) got them bigger stronger Zach (Duval) and Andrew (Strop). The mentality had to change. They needed to be tough and nasty. We are getting closer to that.”
On Memorial Stadium
“I thought Saturday other than the Akron game that we did not play was probably the best atmosphere I have seen. I appreciate the fans for that. I think this one could be good or even better. We need noise. We need help. I hope the fans are as excited as we are.”
On former Husker Dominic Railoa
“He talked to me. I have known Dom most of my life. He is one the greats around here. There was a lot of former players walking around so it was good to see everybody. Dom is one of the Husker greats so anytime those guys come back we love to see them.”
On opportunity against Michigan
“We have talked about it. Right now it feels like we are down to three two-game seasons. We have two more games here before the bye week. We have to do the best we can and then we will recover and then we have two and then we have another bye week. Rest and recover and then we have two. We still have the opportunity to do something really special this year against some really good opponents. We have to go compete. The guys do not have to be told about the opportunity that is there for them.”
On playing eight weeks in a row
“I think eight in a row can be a little bit of a grind but it is not too much. We are in a good spot right now. We are really healthy. We just have to make sure the energy is up. And I do not think that energy will be a problem playing a game like this at home at night. Again we have two more weeks and the guys can see the light at the end of the tunnel for a little bit of a break. So we need to pour everything into it.”
On the offensive line
“I do not know if it is a challenge but it just needs to keep improving. We are still young on the offensive line. Some of those things get learned. When we talk about strength and conditioning on the defensive line our guys up front are big and strong. It takes a while to perfect technique as a receiver as a quarterback. It takes a while to get used to playing as an offensive linemen too. We always talk about the desire to excel and no fear of failure. And to get up a little bit higher and make sure you do not completely whiff on somebody. Make sure you know who you are blocking. Be a little bit hesitant. You do that you are not going to lose guys in this league. The more comfortable they get the more familiar they get with what they are doing the more they can just rip off the ball and try and get us some additional yards.”
NU Athletic Communications