Northwestern University Athletics
Weekly News Conference Transcript
9/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 7, 2009
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly News Conference Transcript
Opening Statement...
"Thanks to everyone for being here on Labor Day. It's going to be a fun game on Saturday with a couple promotions going on this weekend. One is Heroes' Day, where all of our armed forces and public service officials have an opportunity to have their families come and be admitted free, and it's also a special day for me, Orland Park Day, where Orland Park residents have a chance to come and have half-priced tickets. We had about 1,000 Orland Park natives at U.S. Cellular Field for Orland Park Day so hopefully we can have some folks come up from the South Side and enjoy some Wildcat football.
Looking at the video (from Saturday), there was a lot to grow from. First of all on offense, we came out of the gate the right way and executed well aside from a couple plays we'd like to have back. There was the one throw at the start of the third quarter but for the most part I thought we executed well. We really went into that game blind as to what Towson would run defensively. We saw just about every pressure possible and I thought our offensive line, along with Mike (Kafka) and Dan (Persa), handled that well. Defensively, I thought we started fast and had great focus in the beginning but as the game went along I thought we looked at the scoreboard instead of looking at what we needed to do to improve and play the way we're capable of. We gave up a touchdown and had some poor situational awareness and I thought our communication on both scoring drives lapsed a little bit. We also had no idea what they were going to do on special teams but I thought our kickoff team played well, I thought we punted it well other than the one rep where I would have liked to have seen a little more roll. We need to be better in punt return and I thought we were a few blocks away from having a big day on kickoff returns. I was pleased with some of our players and I think other guys know exactly what they need to improve on after watching the film.
I was really pleased with one young man who walked onto our program, he's our special teams practice player of the week, Mike Jensen, a young man from Southern California. A month ago he walked on and in the last month that young man has done nothing but work hard, give our offense a great look and last week we played him at wide receiver to give our defense a look. I'm very proud of the job Mike has done.
As I look ahead to Eastern Michigan, I see a team led by someone who has as much fire in his belly as anyone in Ron English. Ron and I have known each other for a long time, we recruited Southern California when he was at Arizona State and I was at Idaho. He's a tremendous defensive mind and football coach and he's assembled a great staff. I know we'll have our hands full. As I watch them on tape, they played better as the game went along and it'll be a great challenge in our second game. Defensively, they've got a transfer from Michigan in John Sears that they're using a lot of different ways and he's a physical player. Ryan Downard is a young man who a few years ago led the country in interceptions so it'll be a great challenge, but we'll focus on ourselves and we've got a lot of room for improvement."
On Eastern Michigan's offense...
"From what I've seen on video it resembles some of what Coach (Lloyd) Carr's offense was at Michigan. On Saturday against Army, they got in the gun a little bit and it resembled the way that Andy (Schmitt) threw the ball a year ago. They've got a lot of skill and speed at running back. There will be some growing pains for them as they go through making the transition from being a four-wide empty team to more of a traditional offense."
On his relationship with Ron English...
"We recruited with each other down in Southern California so we'd run around together recruiting and got to know each other pretty well. When Ron was at Michigan we competed against each other. He's a tremendous football coach with a great staff and we'll have our hands full because they're going to be very well-coached."
On the status of Jeravin Mathews...
"He was walking around today, he looked pretty good and we'll see how the week progresses. We'll probably list him as probable right now but it's only the start of the week."
On whether anyone earned more playing time based on their performance Saturday...
"Not necessarily. I'd say most of them looked like a bunch of `High School Harry's'. It was their first time playing college football and it showed: lining up wrong, not getting lined up, lack of focus, not executing, not knowing their responsibilities. Hopefully we can knock all that high school out of them in practice this week, they've been in the arena now so the shock and awe of `Wow, this is college football' is hopefully over and they can just settle down and play the way they're coached the play. A lot of those young guys have a long, long way to go."
On true freshman Arby Fields' performance...
"Very similar to my last statement, he played 11 plays and cramped up. He needs to do a much better job preparing for the game, that's unacceptable. I liked how he looked with the ball in his hands, I thought he executed his responsibilities the way he's capable of but there's a lot of room for improvement in his preparation for playing Big Ten football."
On true freshman Patrick Ward's performance...
"Again, it looked like his first time playing college football. You buckle both sides of your chinstrap and go out and play a little bit, Pat was on the ground most of the day and Arby cramped up. If I were to give them a first pop quiz grade I'd say they have a lot to learn. But they're both going to be very good football players. There's the old coach-ism that you make your biggest improvement from week one to week two, but only if you focus on those things in your control and you work diligently to improve them. Jared Carpenter and Demetrius Fields are two guys who played a lot on Saturday and as they were sitting watching film they had their head in their hands saying `I can't believe I look like that on tape.' It's good for them to experience that and I'm excited to watch them practice quite frankly. Pat will be in the rotation. He's got great footwork and flexibility and he does things that are natural to that position. Each rep, each time he's out there he's going to get better and better and I was encouraged from the standpoint of him going out and competing."
On the development of Quentin Davie...
"We ask `Q' to do a lot. Last year he played our SAM spot and now we've moved him inside to take over the position where Prince Kwateng played a year ago. Q has really grown, done a nice job studying video, learning the position and being a student of the game with Randy Bates and Mike Hankwitz. He does a lot and he's able to handle it, which shows you how intelligent of a football player he is. He's got a lot of football in front of him and he's got a bright future if he continues to work hard."
On what needs to be improved from week one...
"If they watched the same tape we did, which they did for the last four hours, I don't think we have to worry about them being humble. We did not play the way we're capable of on Saturday. Fundamentally, technically, effort-wise, emotionally--those are all areas where we can improve. Probably most disappointing was the focus. And that's hard. It's human nature when you're up 30-0, it's hard to keep your foot on the pedal. But great players, great teams, great competitors can do that. Mike Kafka gave a great talk in camp about when Florida State scored 37 or 40 runs in baseball on Ohio State, they were up by 20 and just kept pouring it on. It doesn't need to be in points all the time but it needs to be fundamentals, technique, communication and playing together. We lost that focus in all three phases and it's something we need to improve on this week."
On the play of Drake Dunsmore...
"I thought Drake played well. It's probably the most he's played live in two years. He's a weapon. He can block at the point of attack, run routes, be a receiver, flex him out. There's a big role for him. How we'll use him each week depends on what we want to do offensively but it's great to have him back and I thought he played well on Saturday for his first time out in two years."
On Corey Wootton's performance...
"He was in 14 or 15 plays and I thought he did well. I don't think he had any action at the point of attack so there wasn't a lot of room for him to make plays. He's in great shape for being a little over seven months removed from his injury. I'm pleased with Corey and Corbin Bryant, with both guys coming back relatively quickly."
On Dan Persa's role on the offense...
"We're going to try to play Dan as much as we can. Mike's our starting quarterback and we're not deviating from that but we wanted to try to get Danny in when it mattered. I think we were up 21-0 and we were able to get him in there. When exactly it will be, I can't answer that. But we want to see how the flow of our first group is going but Dan's a weapon, he's a dual-threat quarterback, he had a good day Saturday and did a good job sitting back there taking the heat and getting off a good delivery. The similarities between Mike and Dan are pretty close so we're able to do a few more things with him, be a little more aggressive, and it's a great asset to have."
On former NU players who made NFL rosters...
"I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of Tyrell (Sutton), who performed in camp with Green Bay to get an opportunity with Carolina. For John Gill to face some adversity, changing addresses from Detroit to Indianapolis and make the practice squad. I'm happy for Brett Basanez with the Bears, and he'll be chomping at the bit for an opportunity. Guys are buying in, it's coupled through recruiting and through Larry Lilja's strength programs giving our guys an opportunity to play on Sunday and play for a long time. I'm encouraged to see that group of guys, I'm happy for them. I sent them all Facebook messages to invite them back on their bye weeks to be honorary captains for our games and hopefully we'll have more of those guys back. We'll see as the season unfolds."
On restoring the team's focus during the course of a game...
"I thought our focus early was great. We went up 28-0 and then they had the unfortunate error of snapping the ball over the punter so now it's 30-0. Right there is where I thought we took our foot off the gas. We turned it over the next series and then give up the touchdown. Those things are unacceptable, first the turnover and then the inability to put the fire out. That was a typical experience you may go through in a game, you turn it over then you have to go out and get the job done on defense. I'd say there were two series we didn't have the focus we're going to need as the season goes along. It's a great teachable opportunity for our players to go through and knowing our players the way I do, there's nobody here with smiles from ear to ear. There's great focus on what we can control and improve on."
