Northwestern University Athletics
Weekly News Conference Transcript
9/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 13, 2010
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly News Conference
Opening Statement... "As we look forward, we're excited to head down to Houston. It's a great alumni base for us, I know the Northwestern Alumni Association sold out their tailgate for this trip. I recruited there for a number of years and I'd speak to that group every time I was down there recruiting and now Randy Bates has taken that and run with it. We've had tremendous success there, Houston has been an outstanding pipeline for us in recruiting. Since 2001, we've had anywhere from four to nine players from the city of Houston on our roster. Right now the number is five and it will be a great homecoming for those young men. I visited with them a little while ago about taking care of their business early in the week -- a lot of family requests, ticket requests, things of that nature.
"As I watch Rice on tape to get prepared, I see a lot of similarities. They run a 4-2-5 defense but they play a lot of quarters, they're very aggressive up front, their secondary has some players that were Freshmen of the Year, they played a lot of young players last year and their defensive front is very active. I thought they played well and handled the run game against Texas in the opener and last week they were in a tough game they found a way to win. On offense, they have a ton of experience up front, they use their tight ends the way we use our superbacks. Vance McDonald was a Conference-USA All-Freshman team player and they have Sam McGuffie who played in this league as a true freshman splitting time with Tyler Smith at tailback. They have a two-back system at times, they play both quarterbacks and a number of different receivers. They have really good kickoff and punt return schemes, both their kickers are outstanding -- I think their kicker had two 50-yarders against Texas.
"It's going to be a great challenge for us. We were average on the road at Vanderbilt, we're going to have to learn from that experience, learn how we improved against ISU and then have a great week of practice to prepare. It will take great focus and discipline to go down there and play against a great football team."
On how Northwestern developed recruiting success in Houston...
"We're going to start and end our recruiting here in the Midwest and in Chicagoland but we hard-target some cities outside the area where we have a footprint. Houston is one of those cities, along with Dallas, and it started a number of years ago. Before I went down there, Howard Feggins recruited a lot for us there and that started the pipeline. We've had a lot of Houston guys over the years but this last decade it has really taken off. No. 1, we're in the Central time zone, so it's a two-hour flight up and down, you can fly from Hobby into Midway or from George Bush into O'Hare so there are a lot of options for travel. The Big Ten Network has helped, all of our games are aired down in Houston so our alumni base has a lot of parties down there, I get invited to all of them in the spring. Randy Bates has taken that foundation and done an outstanding job. You watch the young people on tape there and the football is outstanding, the young men have great grades, their great fits to our program, and what I'm most proud of is that every young man I listed who stayed within our program graduated."
On recruiting NU's current Houston natives...
"Justan Vaughn was from the Pearland pipeline, we had Trevor Rees, Brandon Roberson and now Justan. Tony Heath, their head football coach, is a great friend and we obviously have a great relationship to have three of their young men come play football for us. Will Hampton is from Cy-Creek, which year-in and year-out is a powerhouse program. Coach McCaig and his staff have been up here for our spring clinics so we have a great relationship there.
"We discovered Venric Mark as we were looking for some skill guys midway through last season and thank goodness we found him because he can play. I don't know if he slipped under the radar, he just really started playing well. He was on our radar as a junior, then we got his early senior video and we thought he was a perfect fit for what we're trying to do. We just had to find a way to get him to buy into what we're trying to do and I believe he's found the right fit. We weren't the only school, it was a dogfight that went all the way down to the end and found a way to get him. I believe Utah, Colorado, Rice and quite a few schools in Houston were recruiting him. When you recruit in Houston it's kind of like a fraternity; everyone in the Big 12, the Pac-10, the Mountain West, Conference-USA and a handful of Big Ten schools (is there). I loved recruiting there. Outside of recruiting the (Chicago) Southside, it was one of my favorite cities to recruit as a position coach. The Greater Houston Coaches Association is a great group of coaches and like I said, Randy has done a great job recruiting there."
On NU's progress in the running game...
"In the opener we were going to try to go out and establish the run but Vanderbilt took some things away so we decided to make them pay with our option and I thought we did that pretty efficiently. Did we want to take carries off Dan's shoulders? Yes. On Saturday we were able to establish the run pretty early, I thought our backs and Arby (Fields) played well, maybe his best game overall. He caught it, ran it and protected well. That's encouraging for us but we have a long way to go. It's kind of like the quarterback: when we win he gets a lot of credit, and with the running backs if we don't run for 4,000 yards you guys are going to ask me about the running game and they get the blame."
On Dan Persa's performance...
"It's not about perfect it's about execution and he's done that. You look at his passer rating, No. 1 in the nation, and I'd like it to stay there. Why not? We ask our players to play to their strengths. For Mick McCall and our offensive staff, it's players, formations and plays. Danny is a perfect fit for our offense, he's done a great job managing things, spreading it out. We have a number of young men with receptions and it's tough to stop."
On eliminating single-man breakdowns on the offensive line...
"Three of the guys -- Al Netter, Pat Ward and Ben Burkett -- were nominated for Player of the Game so we're getting closer. We're still not there yet but I thought there was a step forward."
On possible distractions facing NU's Houston-based players...
"That's why I talked to them this morning and told them their business had to be handled by today or I might not take them, how about that? They weren't very happy about that. They're excited to get this week started in practice but I'd be burying my head in the sand if I said I didn't think it was going to be a big game for them, being able to go home. That's all talk between now and when the ball goes up in the air Saturday and they need to be focused. They're all playing, including two as freshmen. When you look at all of our Houston guys, except for the ones who were injured, they all contributed greatly, that's why it's been such a successful pipeline for us. Outside of Chicago and Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Houston and Texas as a whole have been great pipelines for us."
On Rice's no-huddle offense...
"That's what I mean in that we'll see a similar offense to us. With the heat down there, it's a concern to me. We're going to bring 70 guys and expect to play 70. Who knows, we may have to slow down our offense. We're going to practice outside tomorrow and then we'll go indoors and crank up the heat Wednesday and Thursday, we got it up to 92 degrees before we went to (the Outback Bowl) and then it didn't get over 75 the whole time we were there. So we'll try to simulate it but we're in great shape and we're a well-conditioned team. We had the first 10 days of camp that were brutally hot so we've had that experience and we're ready to play. We do have quite a few guys from that area and from the South where it's warm but it's still a concern. I believe we'll prepare and handle it, we have a plan from our athletic training staff that we start Thursday. They're calling for about 87 as a high and it will cool off in the evening."
On mishaps in the kicking game...
"It's execution from the operations standpoint so we'll iron some things out. A week ago it was protection but I thought our protection was better this week."
On Vince Browne's development as a defensive end...
"Last week in practice we used some of ISU's exotic run plays and things that stressed the defensive ends and we put Vince in those situations. Early in the week he didn't play them right but he learned and had some things down for Saturday. It's encouraging because he's played a lot of football but continues to learn. Outside linebacker is similar to defensive end aside from getting down in a three-point stance but now the little things are starting to make sense and the game is starting to slow down for him."
On Rice's use of its running backs...
"When I watch (Tyler Smith) what stands out to me is he's very powerful, he runs behind his pads, I like how he catches the ball. He'll get into a Wildcat package in short yardage and in the goal line where he's more of a lead back for Charlie Ross. Sam (McGuffie) is explosive and a dynamic athlete, I remember recruiting him after Omar Conteh, who played at his high school, and we tried to sell him on looking at all the success Omar had but he went to Ann Arbor and now he's gone back home. They definitely tried to feature him in the Texas game: the first play they run him, then the second play they flank him out as a wide receiver and run him on a reverse, they threw a 51-yard pass to him on a wheel route Saturday, so there's no question he's a major part of what they try to do."
On whether he has altered the team's travel routine to improve success on the road...
"We've been consistent with our routine and our focus has been great. One thing about going on the road that we've talked about, we get them at 10 a.m. Fridays and we have them for 48 hours. At home we typically get them about 3:30 or 4 p.m., they go to class for our home games while our road games we leave earlier. We've played well at home too so we're pretty consistent with our routine. Mostly they eat (on the plane). It's unbelievable how much food they get. We have breakfast, go through our Friday script, then load up the buses and our charter spoils us rotten. Most of them just relax, we travel first class so it's nice."
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