Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript From Coach Fitzgerald's Monday News Conference
11/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 17, 2008
2008 Northwestern Football
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly News Conference
Opening Statement...
"Looking back at Saturday's tape I thought it was a great program win for our young men. To go on the road after a difficult loss at home and respond the way we did, based on the elements, Michigan's Senior Day and the emotion they had, I'm proud of the way we responded. We had some guys step up big in the second half. I thought C.J. Bachér played one of his best halves of the year, our wide receivers made big plays down the stretch and defensively to come out and execute the way we did, especially down the stretch when Michigan had good field position and we made four big plays to get the stop, was very important for us.
From an injury update standpoint, unfortunately Corbin Bryant's knee will require surgery so he will be out for the remainder of the season. Very disappointing for him. He's a young man who has battled injuries early in his career, got himself a starting role this year and was playing some special football for us. Again it will be an opportunity for someone else to step up and I know our young men will do that. We've done it well this year and one man's setback is another man's opportunity.
Moving into this week, our senior week for 23 very special young men as well as our trainers, our managers, cheerleaders and students, it's a big week for us. It's the last opportunity to stand in front of our fans and family and the whole university. We'll be excited. It's a great challenge because Illinois is as talented a team offensively as we've played all year. It starts up front with two seniors, Ryan McDonald and Xavier Fulton, who are very athletic and very experienced. Across the board they have weapons who can score on every play, with Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn, who they can throw the ball to or bring him in the backfield. Jeff Cumberland is a physical mismatch for everyone that plays against him as well as Michael Hoomanawanui. They're physical and can run vertically down the field. It's a very dynamic offense, Mike Locksley does a great job spreading the ball out to their weapons. On defense, I like watching the way Brit Miller plays football. He's moved into the middle, he plays with great passion and he's a great player. David Lindquist inside is very solid and Vontae Davis is one of the best corners in the Big Ten if not the nation. He's very physical and very talented. It's going to be important for us to use the emotion of the pregame, bottle it up and use it the right way but our guys are excited for the challenge."
On the status of quarterback Mike Kafka after suffering a concussion at Michigan...
"Mike is doing fine, he responded well after the game. We'll take it one day at a time in practice but he is doing well so I fully expect Mike to play."
On preparing for the multiple running backs on Illinois...
"I think it will be similar to what we saw at Michigan, using two or three guys in different styles so we need to be prepared for those different styles, whether a guy likes to spin on contact or use a stiff-arm or what have you. From an offensive standpoint they're very similar regardless of which back is in the backfield. Mike does a good job utilizing the backs to their strengths and they're very involved in the offense."
On what he's most pleased with this season...
"It's been all the guys that have stepped up after having role changes from the start of the year to today. We've had a tremendous amount of young men that on day one was `A,' and now their role is `B.' We've seen how they've gone about preparing for that and seen how they handled it. We've seen the depth of our recruiting with the young guys playing their hearts out for their senior teammates right now. That's what I'm most pleased with in terms of maybe what I didn't expect from before the Syracuse game to now. And of course the play of our seniors has been outstanding. You look at an unselfish guy like Keegan Kennedy moving from defensive line to offensive line. You look at Ross Lane and Rasheed Ward and Eric Peterman playing their best football of the year, John Gill playing a great game Saturday and making big plays. We have some unsung heroes like Phil Brunner, the way he has snapped his entire career, Kyle Daley unselfishly being a holder and being a play away from being our punter, Mike Dinard who coming in thought he might have an opportunity to be a starter and then Saturday was nominated for player of the game on special teams. We've had guys that have been injured and that's unfortunate for them. David Oredugba and Todd Dockery continue to play well on special teams, Prince Kwateng as a senior, there've been a lot of guys but maybe the guy I'm most proud of is Kevin Mims. He's playing his heart out, playing as a technician. This is their last opportunity at Ryan Field in front of their families, our fans and our university and it's going to be a special day."
On what gets him the most fired up as a coach...
"Every time we win, it's the happiest day of my life. When I hear our guys sing the fight song in our locker room, it's music to my ears. Because the amount of sacrifice and preparation time that our coaches, players, trainers and strength staff and our program supporters all comes together on game days, and it's pretty fun."
On whether winning at Michigan was more satisfying as a player or a coach...
"Frankly it was more satisfying Saturday. As a player you're ecstatic to be on the field but the games are a blur. As a coach, to see how much sacrifice goes into each win, to go up and watch our guys kept battling and fighting, it was a fun victory as a program and I'm proud of our guys. It was a long time ago, 1995, but Saturday was definitely more satisfying."
On the prospect of playing in a bowl game...
"I get excited just having the opportunity to play one more game after Saturday. Those things will all take care of themselves if we take care of things we're in control of, which is how we prepare this week. Outside of that, everything is beyond our control but what's fun to me is we've put ourselves in a position to have this game be very special. I'm excited for our seniors and for the entire senior population at Northwestern."
On his players' potential to make All-Big Ten teams...
"I don't focus on that and our guys don't either. I think we've had a lot of guys who are deserving of that and belong on the ballot. Whether or not that ends up happening, we've kind of been in the practice of not voting for our guys. The way I go about it, I'd rather have it voted on by our peers. But I look no further than a guy who is playing the best football of his career, Corey Wootton. He's played outstanding in every game. I could go on and on but one underclassman who sticks out to me, on top of the guys who are seniors and have played well, is Corey Wootton."
On Illinois quarterback Juice Williams...
"He's very comfortable in that offense. You can see the teaching Mike Locksley has done with Juice and he's become a very dynamic football player. Initially he made a lot of plays athletically and continued to play outside the framework of the offense. Now you see him going through his progressions, making plays in the design of the offense and he still has that dual-threat ability to keep plays alive. It makes you so frustrated as a defensive coach because you can have great coverage and he'll make one or two or three guys miss to prolong the play. He's grown exponentially."
On the team's ability to handle late-season pressure...
"I think we're a very comfortable outfit, we're not tight. I haven't seen our program crack under pressure, we talk more about prepared and the things we need to do to consistently prepare and when you do that, pressure isn't part of your vocabulary. From that standpoint I think we're focused on what we need to do to improve and what our opponents do to use their weapons on offense, defense and in the kicking game, so that's been our focus."
On the influence of some postseason practices last year...
"I don't know how happy our guys were to be out there practicing without a (bowl) destination in mind. I thought our attitude was solid but really when we came back together as a team after recruiting was where I saw a shift in our attitude and it started with our seniors. They had an understanding of why we stayed home last year, internally the opportunities we had and didn't take advantage of, and the steps we needed to take to be prepared. The way the our guys meshed with the new group of coaches that came on our staff, we had a lot of trust built and that starts with communication in our locker room, our guys' willingness to give up their free time to come and meet and build relationships with our new coaches. After all that we've given ourselves a chance to have this last game be very significant and that's where we're at right now."
On the play of Corey Wootton...
"Corey's grown first and foremost from a maturity standpoint in the way he goes about preparing for each game. I think last year he was a bit of a roller coaster and was a little indicative of our team. When he was on he was unstoppable, when he didn't prepare the way he needed to he was inconsistent fundamentally and technically. He had a great offseason and a tremendous spring coming back in the best shape of his life. His motor in practice has been relentless and his play on Saturday has been a direct result of the way he practices. I have not seen Corey take one play in granted in practice and that's carried over into games. I'm very proud of him. He's bought into what Coach (Marty) Long and Coach (Mike) Hankwitz have taught him about attacking the line of scrimmage, shooting your hands and once the ball declares itself, just playing relentlessly. He has a tremendous motor on top of his fundamentals."
On playing Illinois...
"It's a rivalry game and there's a trophy missing in our trophy case. We went to Champaign last year, got beat by a very good football team and they took it from us, they earned it. We feel like we didn't give ourselves the best opportunity to win that game and they were fortunate enough to take advantage of it. There's no way they're just going to give it to us. These are two very good football teams, two well-coached teams in my humble opinion, and two teams playing well right now. I was impressed with the way they played against Ohio State, much better than the way we played against them.
On the program's continued ascension...
"I see our program getting better each week, there's no question about that. I see how the young guys are pushing our middle-aged guys, so to speak, who are pushing our upperclassmen for playing time. When you have that competition you have that opportunity for the program to grow and get better. In my opinion we've recruited two good classes, we have seniors who have helped bring us where we are now. As coaches we see the finish recruiting-wise and it seems like winning continues to help when you do that so I'm pleased where we are as a program. I'm pleased with our academic success, we've gotten great reports back academically, and I'm proud of how our guys are giving back to the community in our food drive this week so our guys are stepping up to get some food for those that are maybe less fortunate than us. I like where our program is headed right now and it's because of our coaches and the young men in our locker room."
On Illinois linebacker Brit Miller...
"He plays the game the way you want guys to, with a lot of passion. I've gotten to watch their show on Big Ten Network a little bit and you can tell he's a great leader, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's got a great sense of when to slip blocks and when to be physical and take on blocks, he's very good in the passing game. He has a knack for rushing the passer and he's definitely a young man who if he's on the All-Big Ten ballot I'm going to vote for him."
On Northwestern's running game without Omar Conteh and Tyrell Sutton...
"I thought we did a nice on job on third-and-18 for a touchdown, so that worked really well. I thought at times we had some target issues, we had some assignment issues up front, definitely things that we can coach, correct and fix. I like the attitude of our offense today, there's room for improvement but we'll get back on that tomorrow. Running the ball all starts with attitude. We're going to run the football and we need to do that to win. For the most part we've done it pretty well this year and it's a challenge on all of us, not just the tailback or the O-line. It's an 11-man operation. Jeravin (Matthews) is No. 4 on the depth chart right now but he's one week better. He has the great joy of running against our No. 1 defense every day in practice so he met Mims and Hahn and Wootton and Gill last week. I definitely see him growing up but this isn't his first time playing tailback, he did that in high school. Stephen (Simmons) is our starting tailback and Jacob Schmidt and Scott Concannon are 1-A and 1-B."
