Opening Statement:
“Looking forward to getting back out on the practice field today. We had a good practice yesterday evening and a beautiful day to get out there today. That’s the message to our guys – it’s time to get back to work and fix where the issues and problems are. I think our performance overall on Saturday was very inconsistent, there was good in all three phases of the game and there was bad in all three phases of the game. We just didn’t all-in-all play well enough, or make the plays to win the game. Credit to Northwestern. I think our performance, we expect as coaches and I believe it’s players as well, we expect better. We’re going to get back out, get back to work. That’s all we can do. And I believe our guys will do that based on what they did yesterday and going in to today.”
On where to improve on defense:
“It’s not really a matter of scheme. I’m sure there’s always times where you can have a better call for a certain situation, when you go back and look at it. I just think guys have got to win one on ones. When you call pressure, they can keep enough guys in to block, someone’s got to win a one on one. And that’s what we’ve got to focus on. Really getting back to winning those one on ones. It’s really attitude and demeanor. We have played better defense at times this year, especially earlier on, and I think it’s about getting back to that. It’s just having the right attitude of, ‘I’m going to go win, I’m going to beat a block.’ You can bring six and they can keep six in to pick it up too. We definitely do need to get more pressure on the quarterback, we’ve got to affect the quarterback, I think that’s pretty much a staple of football. If you allow a quarterback to be patient and calm in the pocket, they usually find a guy open. We haven’t done a good enough job of disrupting the quarterback.”
On QB Max Bortenschlager:
“I think, for Max, it’s making the right decisions all the time and making the throws that are there. Not trying to do too much – whether it’s in the run game or the throw game. There’s decisions on the quarterback throughout the game, and for him, it’s when he’s played really well, he’s been right on it. He’s made the right decision and takes what’s there. Whether that’s him delivering the ball down the field or handing the ball off or getting us into the right run. When he’s done that he’s done well, which in turn our offense has done well. When he hasn’t, well, we’ve seen how that goes. That’s really what it comes down to with Max.”
On considering different pass rushers on defense:
“For guys to play at the line of scrimmage, young (in terms of age) is probably the most difficult. That’s grown men up there. So we do have a lot of young guys, there’s guys that we have really tried to redshirt. You’ve got young guys in there, we’re kind of using all the bodies we have, basically. There’s guys we feel that need the benefit of redshirting that we’ve put in a developmental program that I’d rather not take out of that. Obviously we’ve lost a couple guys up there we feel can help us get to the quarterback. So it’s just the guys we got. Keep getting better, help them by coaching them, developing them, and improving – we’ve got some different calls that we can help them too.”
On Wisconsin:
“They’re a really good ball club. They’re really physical on both sides of the ball. We talked about the line of scrimmage here a minute ago, they’re a really good line of scrimmage. Both offensive line and defensive line. They’re good football players, they’re well coached, and that’s where – you watch all their games – that’s where they’ve just taken over games at some point. Whether it was right away in some of them, or as the game wore on eventually, that’s what they did – they took over at the line of scrimmage. Great challenge for our guys, on both the offense and defensive line, we’ve got to be great tacklers on defense, they run the ball hard, they’ve got a good set of backs, they carry it. And they’ve got good receivers and tight ends, they take some shots down the field with play action and all that. They’ve created some big plays down the field with those guys. Defensively, they give you some different looks too. They’re multiple in their fronts, they play three down and four down, mix their coverages, mix their pressures. They’re a tough team to prepare for and they’re good at what they do, obviously. Our guys get it, they understand it, it’s a big challenge. I think they’ll step up and respond to it.”
On if his views on redshirting have changed:
“No, it doesn’t change. If we feel a guy can help us win and put us in the best position to do that, we’re going to play him, no matter what his age is or what he does. That has not changed. There’s things positionally, where as you start looking, there’s someone on the borderline, I think it’s position-specific. A little bit of – OK, could he benefit from a couple snaps a game? Sure. But is that worth where we’re going to need him to be a year from now, or what’s going on with the rest of the position. So, just managing the roster that way. There’s a lot of those conversations, it’s really individually based, just not an overall theme. Other than the overall theme is – if we feel a guy right now can help us win, we’re going to play him.”
On Wisconsin RB Jonathan Taylor:
“He runs physical. He’s hard to tackle. He finishes runs, he’s always falling forward, he’s got good speed, good vision, and he understands what they do. The scheme they run, they’ve been doing it for a while, obviously it’s been very successful for a long time. So I think he has a good understanding of where to hit it, when to be patient, how the blocks are going to unfold. It shows on tape. He’s very in sync, with the offensive line, with the blocking scheme.”
On if facing difficult opponents helps in the development of younger players:
“Any experience, obviously, is something that helps for young guys. There’s some guys right now, that are playing, that are experiencing things for the first time. There’s some guys that aren’t playing yet, that are seeing and experiencing things for the first time. So, yeah, it’ll certainly help. It’s always ongoing development. There’s older guys in the program that need to continue to develop. I just talked to the team about it the other day. We’ve got to keep getting better and better each week. Sometimes, that’s a mental mindset during the season. Going out on
a Tuesday practice today, we’ve got to practice hard and get better and improve. It’s not about just making it through, trying to get to Saturday. If you do that, you’ll just be decimated by the end of the season. We have a good core group of guys that I think understand that now, that’s something we’ve been building here for a little while and need to continue to do.”
On DB Antoine Brooks, Jr.:
“We really felt strongly about him last year, but remember he came here with an injury from high school. We knew he wasn’t ready to play, quite yet. When we recruited him we thought that’s what we were going to get, but you don’t know, he’s kind of injured. But as the year went on, he was practicing, he started to show up. And we said OK, we got something here for sure. And then really in the spring is when he kind of made himself – OK, this guy is definitely one of the top 11, needs to be on the field somehow, someway.”
On Damon Evans’ temporary position in the athletic department:
“Damon has been part of the process since day one and he’s been the administrator that oversees football. So it’s not anything drastic. We’ve been working together now really since day one. The news of that, that came out yesterday, that’s for us business as usual. I don’t think there’s any drastic changes coming that way. I think Damon and Kevin [Anderson] were very in sync and in line in a lot of things. I don’t think it changes football in any way.”
On competition among players in practice:
“Every position is a little different. There’s some spots where we know there’s not enough competition. We’ve got to create more, we’ve got to get more and recruit more. And there’s some where that’s going on. Overall, I think our guys have the right… we’ve worked hard at building the right demeanor and approach to practice and I think our guys have taken that on. I think our tempo and competitiveness is good. But yeah, there are some spots where there’s not enough, and it kind of is what it is. That’s all part of the process. Part of it is what it is. We knew that going into it. Sometimes things show themselves at different times, but as a coaching staff and our team, we’re very self-aware, we know where those holes are, and that’s OK. That’s part of it. We just keep working and getting better.”
“Looking forward to getting back out on the practice field today. We had a good practice yesterday evening and a beautiful day to get out there today. That’s the message to our guys – it’s time to get back to work and fix where the issues and problems are. I think our performance overall on Saturday was very inconsistent, there was good in all three phases of the game and there was bad in all three phases of the game. We just didn’t all-in-all play well enough, or make the plays to win the game. Credit to Northwestern. I think our performance, we expect as coaches and I believe it’s players as well, we expect better. We’re going to get back out, get back to work. That’s all we can do. And I believe our guys will do that based on what they did yesterday and going in to today.”
On where to improve on defense:
“It’s not really a matter of scheme. I’m sure there’s always times where you can have a better call for a certain situation, when you go back and look at it. I just think guys have got to win one on ones. When you call pressure, they can keep enough guys in to block, someone’s got to win a one on one. And that’s what we’ve got to focus on. Really getting back to winning those one on ones. It’s really attitude and demeanor. We have played better defense at times this year, especially earlier on, and I think it’s about getting back to that. It’s just having the right attitude of, ‘I’m going to go win, I’m going to beat a block.’ You can bring six and they can keep six in to pick it up too. We definitely do need to get more pressure on the quarterback, we’ve got to affect the quarterback, I think that’s pretty much a staple of football. If you allow a quarterback to be patient and calm in the pocket, they usually find a guy open. We haven’t done a good enough job of disrupting the quarterback.”
On QB Max Bortenschlager:
“I think, for Max, it’s making the right decisions all the time and making the throws that are there. Not trying to do too much – whether it’s in the run game or the throw game. There’s decisions on the quarterback throughout the game, and for him, it’s when he’s played really well, he’s been right on it. He’s made the right decision and takes what’s there. Whether that’s him delivering the ball down the field or handing the ball off or getting us into the right run. When he’s done that he’s done well, which in turn our offense has done well. When he hasn’t, well, we’ve seen how that goes. That’s really what it comes down to with Max.”
On considering different pass rushers on defense:
“For guys to play at the line of scrimmage, young (in terms of age) is probably the most difficult. That’s grown men up there. So we do have a lot of young guys, there’s guys that we have really tried to redshirt. You’ve got young guys in there, we’re kind of using all the bodies we have, basically. There’s guys we feel that need the benefit of redshirting that we’ve put in a developmental program that I’d rather not take out of that. Obviously we’ve lost a couple guys up there we feel can help us get to the quarterback. So it’s just the guys we got. Keep getting better, help them by coaching them, developing them, and improving – we’ve got some different calls that we can help them too.”
On Wisconsin:
“They’re a really good ball club. They’re really physical on both sides of the ball. We talked about the line of scrimmage here a minute ago, they’re a really good line of scrimmage. Both offensive line and defensive line. They’re good football players, they’re well coached, and that’s where – you watch all their games – that’s where they’ve just taken over games at some point. Whether it was right away in some of them, or as the game wore on eventually, that’s what they did – they took over at the line of scrimmage. Great challenge for our guys, on both the offense and defensive line, we’ve got to be great tacklers on defense, they run the ball hard, they’ve got a good set of backs, they carry it. And they’ve got good receivers and tight ends, they take some shots down the field with play action and all that. They’ve created some big plays down the field with those guys. Defensively, they give you some different looks too. They’re multiple in their fronts, they play three down and four down, mix their coverages, mix their pressures. They’re a tough team to prepare for and they’re good at what they do, obviously. Our guys get it, they understand it, it’s a big challenge. I think they’ll step up and respond to it.”
On if his views on redshirting have changed:
“No, it doesn’t change. If we feel a guy can help us win and put us in the best position to do that, we’re going to play him, no matter what his age is or what he does. That has not changed. There’s things positionally, where as you start looking, there’s someone on the borderline, I think it’s position-specific. A little bit of – OK, could he benefit from a couple snaps a game? Sure. But is that worth where we’re going to need him to be a year from now, or what’s going on with the rest of the position. So, just managing the roster that way. There’s a lot of those conversations, it’s really individually based, just not an overall theme. Other than the overall theme is – if we feel a guy right now can help us win, we’re going to play him.”
On Wisconsin RB Jonathan Taylor:
“He runs physical. He’s hard to tackle. He finishes runs, he’s always falling forward, he’s got good speed, good vision, and he understands what they do. The scheme they run, they’ve been doing it for a while, obviously it’s been very successful for a long time. So I think he has a good understanding of where to hit it, when to be patient, how the blocks are going to unfold. It shows on tape. He’s very in sync, with the offensive line, with the blocking scheme.”
On if facing difficult opponents helps in the development of younger players:
“Any experience, obviously, is something that helps for young guys. There’s some guys right now, that are playing, that are experiencing things for the first time. There’s some guys that aren’t playing yet, that are seeing and experiencing things for the first time. So, yeah, it’ll certainly help. It’s always ongoing development. There’s older guys in the program that need to continue to develop. I just talked to the team about it the other day. We’ve got to keep getting better and better each week. Sometimes, that’s a mental mindset during the season. Going out on
a Tuesday practice today, we’ve got to practice hard and get better and improve. It’s not about just making it through, trying to get to Saturday. If you do that, you’ll just be decimated by the end of the season. We have a good core group of guys that I think understand that now, that’s something we’ve been building here for a little while and need to continue to do.”
On DB Antoine Brooks, Jr.:
“We really felt strongly about him last year, but remember he came here with an injury from high school. We knew he wasn’t ready to play, quite yet. When we recruited him we thought that’s what we were going to get, but you don’t know, he’s kind of injured. But as the year went on, he was practicing, he started to show up. And we said OK, we got something here for sure. And then really in the spring is when he kind of made himself – OK, this guy is definitely one of the top 11, needs to be on the field somehow, someway.”
On Damon Evans’ temporary position in the athletic department:
“Damon has been part of the process since day one and he’s been the administrator that oversees football. So it’s not anything drastic. We’ve been working together now really since day one. The news of that, that came out yesterday, that’s for us business as usual. I don’t think there’s any drastic changes coming that way. I think Damon and Kevin [Anderson] were very in sync and in line in a lot of things. I don’t think it changes football in any way.”
On competition among players in practice:
“Every position is a little different. There’s some spots where we know there’s not enough competition. We’ve got to create more, we’ve got to get more and recruit more. And there’s some where that’s going on. Overall, I think our guys have the right… we’ve worked hard at building the right demeanor and approach to practice and I think our guys have taken that on. I think our tempo and competitiveness is good. But yeah, there are some spots where there’s not enough, and it kind of is what it is. That’s all part of the process. Part of it is what it is. We knew that going into it. Sometimes things show themselves at different times, but as a coaching staff and our team, we’re very self-aware, we know where those holes are, and that’s OK. That’s part of it. We just keep working and getting better.”
