Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002

Opening statement

We are really glad to have gotten by our opening game and to have performed well enough to put a win up.  A lot of good things happened, and there are still a lot of areas that we need to improve on.  It was good to look at the film and get that game behind us and now move on to Troy State.  We played them last year, and it was a very good football game broken open by some special team plays.  It was a very physical, hard-fought football game.  Saturday?s game will be very much the same on that end of it.  They are a senior-laden football team.  Eight of the 11 personnel on their defensive side of the ball are seniors, and most of their guys are three-year lettermen at senior positions.  On the offense, it is somewhat similar with a number of senior guys that have played very well and brought excellent experience.  As you know they really did have a good year last year, and they want to build on that year.  They played three BCS teams last year, Miami, Maryland and Nebraska, and as many of you know, they took Miami into the second half in a very competitive ball game.  So, I am sure they are playing with a lot of confidence and ready to continue to move their football program forwards.  They have won in every division they have been in, NAIA, Division II, Division I AA and now are winning Division I.  So they have done an excellent job with their program, and of course will be ready to try to make it go forward.

On Troy State?s Courageousness

I guess you would say they are courageous if they don?t have good athletes.  If they have athletes that are able to compete, then they are smart.  They are certainly, when you look at battling everyone they have played, winning a share of their games.  They are facing very tough opponents in their scheduling and some of those are very close ball games.  The only way to move your program forward is to take on the types of scheduling that they are taking on, and be able to take on some ball games and that is exactly what they are doing.

Nebraska?s Offensive Line Against Arizona State

They played fairly well overall and they were aggressive. We faced a team that did a lot of moving, had a lot of blitzes and probably did well on that area in terms of matching up and getting on people as far as the running game goes. In the passing game, we had some breakdowns, as well as in the running games.  For a first game, and for an inexperienced line, I did not think it was inordinate.  I thought that basically we did a decent job, we know where we need to improve, and we are going about improving in those areas.

What the I-backs Need to Accomplish

They need to get the ball in the end zone.  They need to score points.  I thought the backs ran very hard in the opening football game and sometimes got about what you could get out of a play.  That part of the game was encouraging.  I felt very good about the backs taking good care of the football.  As you know, going into the first ball game, that is always a major concern and the guys did a great job of that.  To start out with that is what you are looking for.  They ran very tough, and I thought they took advantage of any opportunities they had.  They did not have a number of opportunities to make those plays, but yet, they were able to get the yardage that was able to keep drives to a degree alive.

On Cory Ross

He has made excellent progress, and I think that showed in the game.  Not only did he have that impressive run, but he had a couple of other runs where he got everything he could out of it by showing quickness and a burst in those runs.  Cory is a very tough player for us, and he will stand in there, or he will pass block for you.  He will block when he does not have the ball, he has very good hands.  It looks like he is going to have some opportunities here.  So, we will see how it all goes for him, but he has certainly worked his way into the position.

On Jammal Lord

I expected a good performance from him.  He is a very competitive young man, and he has a great deal of confidence in himself.  I felt that he stepped into the role on Saturday and competed hard. He has talent.  The feeling was that his talent was going to show in the game.  It showed in some areas which were obvious.  But, I think his leadership command of the offense was very good for a first football game.  There is no question that he is a better passer than what was displayed in that ball game.  For a first game, and with the pressure that he was under, I thought he did a great job, and the players appreciate what he is all about and how he handles things.

On Special Teams

Demorrio Williams had an impact everywhere on the field, and of course we try to utilize him a lot in special team plays.  He has got one of those motors that constantly runs.  Demorrio does not seem to play out.  You can use him on a defensive standpoint or on special teams. He had a great game.  The blocked punt that Scott Shanle picked up I thought was a very smart play by Demorrio because he was in a position to run over to Scott and try and pick it up himself.  But, instead of doing that he just screened for Scott to pick it up and take it in.  He is a very unselfish player, a very talented player and doing everything he can to make things work for this team.  There are other guys on special teams that had great days of course.

On Jammal Lord Standing in the Pocket Against the Rush

When he took off and made runs out of what were first called passes, I was pleased when those runs turned into big runs, and they did quite often.  He has that kind of ability.  He also has the ability to stand in the pocket and release the ball at the last second and get it to the open receiver.  He showed that really in the touchdown pass.  Jammal had four receivers that he could have chosen from, and he found the open guy.  We have the ability to do those things.  Arizona State came with so much pressure that you are going to find more opportunities to run from the quarterback spot when you do drop back more often than when the guys don?t show pressure and don?t come with pressure and are dropping everybody.  So the opportunities were there, and he took those.  I expect that as we go through the season, you will see him getting to where he takes advantages of those opportunities and hangs in there and throws the ball to the selected receiver when it needs to happen.

On DeJuan Groce and Special Teams

We are going to use everybody we have got to get the ball in the end zone. DeJuan is excellent at returning punts, and he is excellent at being a bullet covering punts.  So, you use him every way you can. Otherwise you have a great talent sit around and only play when the defense is on the field.  You are tempted to not use a guy with that talent in certain situations because of course an injury takes him out of everything.  But, I think it would be a crime not to use DeJuan in the ways in which he can contribute to the football team.  He has been a very durable player throughout his career.  Everyone is open to the possibility of injury.

On Pat Ricketts

He is a very confident young man and very intelligent.  So those things really give you a headstart on developing into an excellent football player.  He did a very good job on the coverages.  Some of those coverages were designed for him to be off a little bit.  Others were designed for him to play tight coverage.  We thought he did things very well on that end of it.  He had pass breakups and supported on the run very well.  He had no breakdowns in terms of being in the wrong spot, going to the wrong place.  He is a very sure tackler in almost all cases. He combined everything in this game.  I think for a first game for him as a starter in that area, I thought he handled it very well.

Pat Ricketts as a Former Walk On

The position that he plays does not require great size.  What you really need is excellent quickness, very good speed, a lot of intelligence, the ability if you can get deep to bring yourself back and play great football on the next snap.  He has all that.  He is extremely team oriented, and the players appreciate what he is all about.  For him to work himself up is a story that has happened to walk ons in this program, and certainly his success has gone from being a walk on to a Blackshirt and having it happen somewhat early in his career is really great to see.  But, it says an awful lot about the young man.

Confidence About the Second Game

It gives you a good handle as to where you are at, what you are doing well and what you need to improve on. In taking a good look at that, I feel very good about the attitude of the football team, and the fact that they are a football team that can run. We definitely have to have fewer breakdowns on both sides of the ball, and we need to get to that very quickly.  We still need to play with the same intensity level that we played, and we really need to continue to work toward having all three units on the field doing a great job and doing it play after play.  That is going to take some doing. But, we are capable of continuing to improve and be a better football team in all areas. That is what this team will strive to do.  They have got a great attitude.

On Troy State?s Strength

It starts with their interior line.  They have three of their four guys back that played a style of defense that will put a lot of people close to the football.  They will play a lot of man coverage.  They feel comfortable with their punters and playing man coverage. They have very good safeties that are aggressive, excellent tacklers, much like we faced with Arizona State in terms of the safeties being able to come up and make plays.  And, the linebackers run.  They have excellent athletic ability and movement.  They have got a defense that has good speed and experience.  So if you add all of that together, it is not surprising that as their season went on they were able to beat Mississippi State and play the top teams on their schedule they way they did.

Comparing Arizona State and Troy State

Their overall team speed and movement, which I thought that ASU had a very good team speed and movement, I think Troy State has that. That was shown to us last year, and they have a majority of those guys back.  They are kind of like us.  They are starting with a new quarterback as we did, they have got a new Iback in there, they have a new punter in there, but the guys that are built around those guys are all experienced players.  You can tell by the comments of the players and their coaches that they expect to have an excellent season this year.

On What Troy State Can Expect From the Nebraska Defense

We do not feel comfortable with any one thing.  We really operate out of the package and our feeling is we really can not stick with one thing and expect to stop them.  So they will get a combination of things that will happen, and in studying our first game I am sure that they see that at times we will sit back, but we will bring a lot of other people at other times and try to pressure a quarterback.  They have a diverse offense.  They utilize their personnel very well so that is always a key factor when you?re trying to operate an offense against a very tough defense.

On Matching up Man-for-Man with Troy State

I don?t think you ever feel comfortable with guys that are excellent receivers and can run.  Regardless of the coverages that you are in. Generally, our schemes are what they are, and we will continue to operate in the manner that we have operated in and we operated in, in the first game, and we will see how we match up.  I am sure there will be adjustments along the way to slow them down.

On Troy State

On our end of it, the feeling is that it was a very competitive football game last year. There is no question about that if you turn on the film and you see both teams playing hard core four quarters of football, and that will I?m sure occur in this ball game.  And it will come down to who plays better.  And who executes better and who makes bigger plays, and we?ll see how that all plays out in this game.  No question that when you have more depth you?re helped out and everyone around the country is trying to build more depth at positions across the board.  It?s not real comforting that they?ve been able to do that.

On Pressuring Troy State?s Punter

It?s more than likely that in  some point at time we?re going to see how it all works  A freshman punter, I?m sure he?s a guy that?s been mature in taking a snap and getting the ball off.  But you?re going to be tested throughout the course of the year.  There is probably no one team that you play that?s not going to test you when it comes to blocking punts.  They will test us.  We will test them.  But, also you want to be able to make the returns.  I know that Heyward Skipper is an excellent return guy, and they have the ability to really hurt you in special teams play.

On Place-Kicker Josh Brown

Josh Brown and Sandro DeAngelis have competed.  I guess that competition has been a struggle for both of them.  But Josh certainly has shown that he has the ability to kick the long field goal, and he has the ability to be consistent, and it?s been good to see him put this all together this past ball game.  As you look at him, he?s the guy that?s won some big games for us throughout his career with last-second field goals.  So, I?d say the ability of Josh to kick back-to-back 40-yard field goals was always there for Josh.  It has to be a big confidence booster for him, and I?m glad he?s gotten off to such a great start.

Josh Brown Off the Football Field

He was pretty mature when he arrived to be very honest with you and did a lot of the right things.  I think college is kind of a maturing process for anyone that goes through it, and he?s no exception to that.

On September 11, 2001, and your Emotions

I don?t know that we got our team prepared well.  I don?t know that we as coaches prepared well for that game.  We did the best we could.  It was under circumstances that were disheartening for everyone in the country.  We like everyone else tried to move forward and do the best job we could. But I think we were a country that was really struggling at that time.  Everyone was doing their best to support one another and move forward, and that?s what we tried to do.

How Did September 11 Change You?

I?ve always seen myself as a guy that is extremely patriotic and someone that loves their country.  I always felt I understood what the country is all about, but when something that happens like happened on 9-11 it shakes everybody for a period of time.  But then what it does is it brings you back to the point of how great a country this is and how very fortunate we are to live in it by how people responded and helped one another.  To me that was just a great reminder of what this country is all about and kind of reinforces that you really want to do everything you can to help everybody you can in terms of this country.

On Where he was During the September 11th Tragedy