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Nebraska Football
Pre-Michigan
Monday, Oct. 4, 2021
On the honor of defensive player of the week
“It’s an award for the Blackshirts. There are no individuals in this game. Honored but this is a team thing. I’m just blessed to be a part of a group that allows us to win games and be in positions to be successful.”
On balancing the good and bad
“It’s the same concept of not letting other people’s opinions validate who you are. When it’s good sometimes you allow that to seep in and you feel good about yourself but really you are who you are and only you know that. This awards are great but that doesn’t change anything in here.”
On the tradition of Michigan and Nebraska matchups
“It’s just another game. I have a lot of respect for Michigan and their awesome fanbase. I get it but this is just another game where we get to face off against a really good team. I’m not really into the hype of we are playing these guys. It’s football. I’m looking forward to the game on Saturday.”
On what he remembers about that game
“It was what it was. You can read in between the lines but we just got our tails kicked in. It was a good football team too. Let’s not sleep on that. I wasn’t there. Not really too concerned with that.”
On how they team has grown since then
“Yeah I mean a whole bunch. Three plus years since then. I hope we would be a lot better. It’s nice to have consistent coordinators on the defensive side of the ball where we know what we are running off-season and spring ball and then we can get into the finer details."
On the advantage of Memorial Stadium
“Big time. It’s all about momentum. 90,000 screaming for you and it is definitely an advantage. I mean everything on the field is going to take care of itself but the energy in the whole stadium feeds off itself. That’s going to be big time for us.”
On Erik Chinander
“I have never been given anything here in any way shape or form. That has pushed me to be the best football player and become a better man. I owe them everything for that. Kind of like what he was talking about how people just serve you things on a silver platter you think you have made it you have arrived and that you do not have anything to improve on but we always have something to improve on. We can always be better. None of us are perfect in life and football. In that aspect it has been amazing for me.”
On improvements moving forward
“It is all in between the ears for us. We are plenty talented enough. We know our assignments well enough. It is about being locked into the moment. It is about being present and knowing your assets and your liabilities to what you are in and where they will try and attack you. We cannot be blowing coverages or missing tackles. Missing gaps. We played a good team and we had a couple of mistakes. We are playing a really good team those couple of things are going to be more. If there was three last week there is going to be six this week and we cannot afford that. Just have to tiddy down mentally. Be on our Ps and Qs.”
On Erik Chinander in the box
“I think it was great. Just talking to him and being able to handle schematics. He is not really engulfed in the emotion of the sideline and Dawson came down and kind of regulated the emotions on the sidelines. It was honestly a nice tradeoff. I am enjoying it and if it is helping us win I am all about it.”
On Michigan’s offense
“Yeah like bring it on. We understand that. They have big guys up front. They have talent. They have skilled positions. They have good coaches. They are a good program. We are up for the challenge. We understand what it is going to take from us to be ready to perform at a high level. That is what this week is about. Back to the fundamentals. Your talent is the floor but your character is the ceiling in any program. We just have to continue to do the right things on and off the field. Let the result take care of itself.”
NU Athletic Communications