Northwestern University Athletics
Monday Press Conference: Penn State Week
10/2/2017 3:38:00 PM | Football
Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement…
"Like all of us in the country, it's a tough day. Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by the tragedy in Las Vegas. It is a tough day to be an American, there's no question about that. You look at senseless acts and it just breaks your heart. On behalf of our football program, our thoughts and prayers are with all those families and individuals that were impacted by last night's tragedy. It was very sad to wake up and see this morning. I want to lift up the first responders and those that anytime there's an issue similar to last night that run to the action and help those in need."
"Turning our attention back to something obviously less significant, to football. Talk about the players of the game from last week. Offensively up front, Tommy Doles played one of his better games. I thought he played really physical, and well enough for us to win. We need more guys to play similar to him. Big playmaker was Garrett Dickerson. Made a big play to get yards after the catch. Defensively, I thought Paddy Fisher was outstanding. Young guy that is playing at a very high level. And after a difficult week for the Miller family last week, to see the way that Sam Miller played was outstanding. He was our defensive playmaker of the week. Tyler Gillikin was 10 out of 11 snapping, he was our special teams player of the week. Eric Eshoo, Ben Oxley and Troy Hudetz were O, D, and special teams players of the week respectively."
"Exciting weekend coming to campus, from the standpoint of homecoming. We've got a special, honorary captain of my heart in Trevor Siemian. It's going to be great to have the Broncos' captain here, one of our former captains, two time academic all Big Ten. Obviously everyone in our program is incredibly proud of him, and for him to come back on his bye week and support our program we are very thankful."
"Going to be neat to have BTN here and do their tailgate on Hutcheson Field. I hope all of our students are going to be able to get down there and have some fun, wake up with the tailgate and make their way over here for kickoff. That would be absolutely outstanding, and I hope they have fun with that. Its been neat to see over the last decade, to watch BTN grow. Its been awesome for our program. You look at the ability for us to recruit outside of the footprint, and get our brand out there nationally. I think BTN has been a big part of that. So very thankful for all that they do, and it sounds like it's going to be a beautiful day for that. I look forward to hem having some fun."
"Looking forward to our opponent, it's an outstanding football team. I think their one of the best, if not the best team in the country. I think my good friend Coach Franklin and his staff has done an outstanding job. Offensively McSorley and Barkley and Hamilton are three of the most dynamic guys. I know the tight end got banged up in the game, we'll see if he plays, but those three guys are outstanding. You know Barkley is maybe the best player that I've ever seen on tape. I've played against some pretty good backs, I've coached against some pretty good backs, but he's just absolutely spectacular. He's great in the run game, he's great in protection, catching the ball out of the backfield, he's a great return man, he does it all and he's an outstanding football player. I think Trace is a great player. He reminds me a lot of Danny Persa before Persa got hurt. A lot of similarities there, where they play great within the framework of the offense, very athletic. The opportunity to make plays with his legs is really really impressive. He's a definite threat in the run game to complement Saquon in the run game. Hamilton to be the all-time leading receiver. I played against Bobby Ingram, and I don't think we covered him once, so to see that type of success in his career is incredible. Popping over to defense, I love the way Cabinda plays. You think of guys like LaVar (Arrington) and other great linebackers that they've had there, the list goes on and on. The secondary is probably the most experienced and most competitive group that we've seen. They challenge everything, they're physical, they've got a great package with their zone pressure stuff. I think that coach Fry and Banks do a great job defensively, and coach Moorhead does an outstanding job offensively. I think the area they've most improved is in the kicking game. It showed up big time last week. Obviously to start the game off with a kickoff return and then to get the caused fumble and the touchdown. The way they're punting it, and all those things, very impressive to watch. Hopefully we'll have a great week of practice and be ready to play."
On the defense and big plays…
"We've got to eliminate those four plays. Those four plays were the difference in the game. You can't play 60 plays well and four plays poorly on defense. A lot of times that's four times seven, and I'm not a good math guy but that's too many points. We've got to be better there without a doubt, and we should've been better on all of those. Not to discredit Wisconsin, they made the plays, but we should have been better on all of those plays."
On best players he's seen on tape, including Saquon Barkley…
"Ron Dayne. Eddie George. Tim Biakabutuka. These young guys don't even know who he is. Do you know who he is? It's ok if you don't. Google him. Google him. There have been some dudes in this league now. Anderson. I can go on and on. To see the skill set that Barkley has, it's everything. He's great in protection. He's great running the ball. He's got great vision, he's got great balance, he's got great speed, and he's got great toughness. Amazing vision, and he's just durable, he's tough. And then he catches the ball the same way; he returns the ball the same way. I had a chance to watch the Iowa game, and the toughness that he showed, as a fan, we had the bye week, and I'm sitting there cheering for him like 'wow.' If I were a Penn State fan I'd be pretty stoked up. He's good."
On how they plan to execute differently against Penn State…
"Hopefully we'll show you Saturday."
On kneeling for the anthem…
"I think that if guys are going to execute their freedom of speech then that's a choice that I'll fully support. It's a choice that we all have been given, and a privilege that we all have been given. To me though, and I've already expressed this to our squad, so this is nothing new, I've done a ton of research and you can look at what I said last week to Teddy. When you look at the peaceful protest that guys have made, it has not at the National Anthem, it is not at the military, it is not at the freedom that we all have been provided. I say that, and then you've got 40 percent of the country that takes it out of context. That's the 40 percent that you can't control, and I've expressed that to our guys. I've tried to help them understand that anytime that you do something that has to do with something that we all believe in, and I think that every American does, that I know, believes in our country and are very thankful for the freedoms that are provided. That anytime you step out to show peaceful protest that has nothing to do, at least with how people have expressed it to me, it's taken that way, and it's taken that way because its attached to the anthem. Because it's attached to the flag. Even though that's not what has been said and not what's been done. So you have to understand that that is going to be the reaction, and that is what comes along with that. Do I believe in protecting our guys' freedom of speech, absolutely. Because that's what's been provided to us as a country. We've got a lot of guys on our team that have military families, and guys that have first responders, and guys that have law enforcement, and firemen, and things of that nature. Not only brothers and sisters and things of that nature but siblings and cousins and neighbors. I know that our guys support that from the discussions that I've had with them. My personal, outside of when I go to the Blackhawks games, I always stand and salute the flag because that's what I believe in. I'm also entitled to that too. That's my belief. That's what's so great about our country, is that as long as we have dialog and respect each other and work to come together we can create solutions and solve problems in our country. On days like today, football seemed insignificant. On days like today, are for injustice and things that are not fair to people around the country that doesn't change. If young men are trying to step up, and like last week, I showed them the video at halftime from Stills and Thomas and those guys are trying to make a difference in our community. They created a police ride along program. We've had a police ride along program here at Northwestern Football for 20 plus years. We try to be part of our solution in our community. We do those types of things to try and be active. Could we, should we be more involved? Yeah, absolutely. Me included. But I think that's on all of us as citizens, as Americans. It's on us to come together, not to fall apart. Some people don't want to talk about it. And that's fair, and I respect that too. But they don't want to talk about it until they want to take social media blasts at you. I wear purple shorts and I get made fun of. I get told I shouldn't wear shorts. Like I told the players, that comes along with the territory of being 42 years old and head football coach. When you're a student, and you're a student-athlete, you're given a lot, and a lot is expected, and you decide to get involved and engaged it should be commended. It takes a lot to do that, and this is just one example of a lot of areas that I'm very proud of our guys that are courageous. So, what they decide to do and things of that nature will be things that we'll talk about as our week goes along, but I know that our guys, no matter what choice they make, they fully support our country.
Maybe I'm one of those new age coaches, but we're in college. We're citizens before we're students. We're citizens before we're coaches. I started our team meeting today talking about the tragedy in Las Vegas. I don't care about distractions. I've been entrusted by parents to help young men grow. I hope like heck we win a lot of football games and championships. But my job number one is to help our guys grow and develop to be the best men that they can be. Along with that is being a student, and along with that is being an athlete. But number one, when I'm long retired, I want my guys to say that 'you gave me everything that I needed to be prepared for life, to be the best man I could be, the best husband and the best father.' That's my goal, and I hope we win a lot of football games doing it."
On deciding what running backs to play…
"Justin felt better today than he has in a month, so that's great. You try and sprinkle the touches, and see if we can get somebody hot. We weren't able to do that. Some of that was on Wisconsin's play, some of that's on our play. We had some plays that were there, there were some plays we were able to take advantage of schematically and we were about a block away a couple times from really getting the run game going, so credit our opponent. Any time that injuries are a factor it's a challenge. You try to get the right guys the right reps in practice, and then play the guys that are hot. I'm very proud of Justin's toughness to see him go out and try to compete on Saturday. I don't think he hurt us, in him not being 100 percent."
On the team deciding to link arms for the anthem…
"What I talked to the team about is understanding the whole 360 of their choices, no matter if it's this one or the rest of their life. I'm here to support them with 100 percent with whatever they choose to do. But they have to think about understanding not only the ability to peaceful protest, but the why. Why do you feel this way, and are you truly engaged. It's one thing to say that I want to take a stand for something; it's another to back it up with action. You have to be willing to back it up with action no matter what it is. This is one topic of many. I think we'd be very naïve as individuals and as a country to think that what these young men are trying to do, and I'm not just talking about Northwestern football, I'm talking about any athlete or person that's trying to make a positive impact, to look at that from a negative light, I think that shows just how much harder we have to work to try and come together. Those are discussions that we had about ways to try to come together and unify. I'm not going to apologize for my guys being thoughtful. I'm not going to apologize for my guys thinking about trying to make an impact and help others. That should be commended. I know some people have taken things out of context, that's going to happen no matter what our guys say, and no matter what they do and no matter what they do in life. This is one topic and one variable that will be the same way as they move forward. I'm very proud of the courage that young men have shown, because it's out of social norm, and any time you do something out of social norm to stand up for somebody else there's going to come with it people that don't understand and you can't control that. I'm going to stand with them 100 percent, and I love them dearly, and just make sure that you understand the full 360 of the choices that you make. This is one of all in their lives, and that's what I get entrusted to do."
On youth football and recruiting
"Yeah, we've had, I think, at least one, if I'm not mistaken, group have a chance to play [at the new lakeside practice facility]. I think a couple kids out on that field's last name was Fitzgerald, so I think they knew a guy. So yeah, I mean it was just awesome. It was a beautiful day and they had fun. I know we've got other camps that use those fields. Our intramural athletes use that on campus, and that was all part of the thought process – we went into creating a facility that could not only be used by our student athletes, but also by our campus and our community. So, there's not doubt – does it play a part in recruiting? Yeah, I hope those young men, and I think there was a young lady that played that day, I hope they all work real hard in school so we can recruit 'em here a couple years from now - academically first and foremost, but it's gonna be really neat not only for football, but when our soccer kids get a chance to get out there, and lacrosse, and field hockey, and all of our students, I think it's going to be just an awesome opportunity here as we move into the next calendar year."
On Tyler Gillikin's twin punting for PSU…
"Yeah, we recruited 'em both, recruited 'em both. You know, Tyler trusted me more I guess, right? No, just joking. Great family and Tyler's having a great start to his career, I'm really proud of him. And then we've got the Fessler brother, too. So we've got a couple of brother combos in the game, so, kinda cool to have that type of opportunity. Big, big deal in those houses now. Holiday bragging rights, to say the least. It's a big game for those guys."
On the Gillikin twin he recruited but didn't land…
"You know, it's probably a better question for Tyler. But great family, and we would've loved to have both, and happy to see Tyler's brother is having a great career. I'm not surprised he's doing a good job punting the ball. Really good job. Had a great game on Saturday."
On Larkin's yards per carry against Wisconsin, how he's established role in RB rotation…
"I think Lark had a really game, and I think he's had a really good start to his career. From the standpoint of the future for him, it's very exciting. With guys getting banged up, the future is now, right? The opportunity is now, and I thought he did a really good job with the opportunities he was given on Saturday."
On what he tells players in order to contain Saquon Barkley…
"Well, football's an 11-man deal, right? You know, it's an 11-man operation, and obviously he's going to make plays – he has against everyone that he's played – and we've just gotta find a way to make a couple more. And any time you play a Big 10 game, you gotta execute, you gotta play within the framework of what you're being asked to do, we've gotta win the turnover battle. He's gonna make his plays, and we've just gotta respond, and if it's an explosive play, you know, zero points is ideal – three points you can live with, you just can't make him be 7. He's just a great player, and I'll be a huge fan of his after about 4 o'clock on Saturday, for the rest of the year, to win the Heisman. I'd vote for him. Five games in, I'd vote for him. But I don't get a – (speaking directly to reporters) – you get a vote? You guys get to vote? Teddy, you get to vote? I won't ask you to vote for him right now. I won't put you on the spot."
On which unit on the team has made most progress from start of season, and which has made the least…
"I think the linebackers have probably played better than I thought they would [when] going into the start of the season. Especially Paddy Fisher, I think that he has played really outstanding football for us and just pops off the video. There's no doubt about that. The group that… I really thought we would be much better running the football at this point. It's something that we've prided ourselves in, and so that's not on one group. I think that's just collectively as an offense we've got to be able to run the football better for us to be able to be successful consistently."
On what he saw in Trevor Siemian that made him think he could succeed in NFL…
"I wish I could redshirt him again (laughs). Would have been great. You know, he came in undersized, and needed to get stronger. The ball just came off his hands so easy, he had such a great release, and we just had to try to project on what he might be as he continued to grow and battle through a couple injuries, you know, later in his career for us here. I think otherwise he ends up being, not kinda top 5 in records, he ends up being probably at the top, and we probably would've done some things a little bit differently. Had just a wonderful career. You know, I remember vividly when we had our conversation after he got hurt senior year, and he's like, 'I'm not sure what I wanna do,' and I'm like 'Listen, I think your best football is still ahead of you. I would go for it, and if the worst thing is you get into a camp and you end up not making it, you'll never have regret for just at least trying that.' To his credit, he worked his rear end off. I mean, it was so impressive to watch how he rehabbed to get ready for his pro day. He couldn't roll out, and he couldn't really move, but he could at least drop back, and that was one of the best pro day performances I've ever seen – from a guy who was probably 65, 70 percent. Coach Knapp, who at the time was with the Broncos, was here for that workout. And you couple that with what you saw from [Trevor] and his improvement, that was the thing – you just saw him getting better, he just kept getting better. I think that's why the Broncos really thought highly of him. There were a couple other organizations too, but I thought they did really good research on him, and I thought for sure towards the end of the draft that they may – especially with where they were at, if they didn't trade all those last picks that they had, that bunch of picks there at the end of that draft, if they didn't trade up for anybody, I thought that would be potentially the destination for him. Then to see it happen, and you know, he's been basically having to battle for his role every year, and I think that makes him better, I really do. I think that he's stepped up to the challenge; I think he has played within the framework of what he can do. I don't think he does too much, I don't think he tries to force the ball from what I've heard and what I've seen in a couple times I've seen him play. He just looks like the Trevor that I know. He just plays with 'em in the offense, gets the ball out of his hand pretty quickly, and is playing at a pretty high level."
On the passing front's struggles against Wisconsin, potential challenges against PSU…
"Well, Saturday, if you wanted to dissect each rep, I could probably pull it up. But we had a couple communication breakdowns, we had two guys get beat, we held the ball a couple of times, so it wasn't one thing. I'm sure it was well documented [as] all the O-line's fault, which, that's good, 'cause they need it. You can't have eight sacks and not have the O-line get beat up for it. We must play better at right tackle, I mean, there's no doubt about that. That's not a mystery. That performance was not good enough for us to be consistent on Saturday. Those two guys are gonna keep working at it, there's no doubt about that, and we're gonna keep coaching the heck out of 'em, and they're gonna get better, I believe that, because I know they're gonna work at it and I know it's important to 'em. Penn State, from a standpoint schematically, high zone pressure team. So, you know, we're going to see a lot of zone pressure. From what they've shown in the past, obviously they'll have their game plan specific to us, and we'll have to adjust. Haven't seen Penn State in a couple of years, so we've done a lot of studies, and then we'll see how they plan to attack us, and make our adjustments accordingly."
On positives Fitz saw in the film from the Wisconsin game…
"Well, I thought we started the right way. I thought the way we came out, you think about some of the drives we had across the 50 [yard-line] and we're moving the ball against one of the best defenses in the country, we're moving the ball. And then, you know you get a communication breakdown upfront, you get a guy beat, you drop a ball, we hold the ball – you just start adding up a handful of self-inflicted wounds over a handful of series, all of a sudden now, we put ourselves in a big hole because at the same time, we sit here and give up a couple explosive touchdowns. But to our guys' credit, they came battling back, and that's not – there are no moral victories. You wanna talk about being mad – I was never so mad in my life [as] when I had a handful of text messages [saying] 'hey, great battle back.' You know, that's not what we do around here. We put ourselves in a hole and we should fight back. We shouldn't have put ourselves in the situation. A game ends up being a nine-point difference; we throw a pick and have a safety. There's a difference in the damn game. So, for all the negative and all the garbage that was out there for a quarter, there were three quarters that I thought our guys fought their ass off. And you must do it for four quarters. And if you do it for four quarters, you give yourself a chance to win a Big 10 football game. I tell our guys all the time the hardest thing to do is to win a Big 10 game. The teams are very talented, well coached, and it just comes down to the team that executes the most. And to Wisconsin's credit, they did that quarter. And we put ourselves behind schedule, and we must build off the momentum that we had for most of the first half and the fourth quarter. But our performance in the third quarter, if emulated, will get us beat every time. We can't do that. It's disappointing, but you 'fess it, you fix it, and you move forward, and that's what I saw from the guys today. I expect us to have a great week and get ourselves ready to go."
Student Athletes
Justin Jackson on limited practice time and injury status...
"Well, I injured it in the Bowling Green game. Obviously, we had the bye week. I'm just trying to get back to where I want to be but knew I would be a little bit limited for Wisconsin. I came out of it feeling good and should be much better this week. It doesn't limit anything. At this point, at least for the last game, I had to wear the brace. That is a little bit of an adjustment feel wise having that on my leg. I'm still able to do everything. Just trying to get the strength back, but I'm feeling good."
Justin Jackson on his performance versus Penn State in 2015...
"It was a tough game. Man, that was a while ago so I'm trying to remember. We got after it. That was my sophomore year, so we ran the ball a lot that year. Obviously, we were facing a tough defense then and we're facing a tough defense now, so we're going to have to execute better than we did in the third quarter against Wisconsin. We're just trying to pick it back up like how we started the game. Getting first downs and converting."
Justin Jackson on the program rushing record...
"Everyone keeps bringing it up a lot. Our goals as a team are to win the Big Ten West and obviously last week wasn't what we wanted, so this week we are going to have to step it up against a great team coming to our place and take what we want. We are just going to have to play better.
Tommy Doles on whether or not they are collectively ticked off from the tape from the Wisconsin game...
"Absolutely. We always say the team will go as the offensive line goes and we didn't play well enough. We are a unit and that is on us. We have to execute in the running game and protect Clayton. We failed to do that. It's really frustrating when you see that. Especially a lot of things that we worked on in practice and still made mistakes. The great thing is we have another day. We can come back to practice tomorrow, attack our preparation and play a great game against Penn State. That is what we're planning to do. I'm confident we are going to fix a lot of those mistakes. You said it though. It's frustrating to see those on tape."
Tyler Lancaster on what he sees on tape in Penn State running back Saquon Barkley...
"He's one of the most talented players I'll ever play. He's the best back, well at least competing for the best back that I have ever seen. We really have to limit him. He is going to be tough. It's going to be tough with him obviously. We need to stop the run and force them the pass. That is where I live, stopping that run inside. He is very shifty. He can jump cut. He can do anything. He likes to bring it to the outside of the defense, so I'm just trying to hold down the middle and make him cut out so our guys in the back can get to him."
Joe Gaziano on how you balance getting up the field but set the edge on Barkley...
"He is a dynamic back and it's tough to control where he is going to go. I think how we defend that is staying strong in our gaps and being able to control our blockers first and not worry about where the ball is going to. We need to play defensively sound in our gaps and focus on our technique so that we can be able to stop the run early."
Justin Jackson on how the team will address the national anthem Saturday...
"We have a lot of different guys on this team that come from a lot of different backgrounds with a lot of different viewpoints. We always talk about respecting each other, loving each other and supporting each other. If someone wants to do something, that is completely their right as an American citizen and to peacefully protest. We have the backing of our coach, our coaching staff and all of our leadership council. We will talk more about the logistics of everything, but that's up to each individual."
Joe Gaziano and Tyler Lancaster on slowing down a mobile quarterback like Trace McSorley...
Gaziano: "As an outside rusher, it's important for me to be able to contain the ball and make sure that I'm not getting too far upfield where he can escape out the side door. That's one area that I can improve on. Generally, the defensive line needs to be sound on our pass rush lanes and get to the quarterback in a direct matter so we aren't vacating spaces where he can escape out the pocket.
Lancaster: "Joe talked about not getting upfield and not creating that lane for the quarterback to escape. As inside guys, we need to push the pocket. If the ends are doing their jump, he's going to step up and he's going to step into pressure up the middle with the big guys. As long as we can press that pocket and Joe can keep his edge without creating that gap for him to run through, we should be able to contain him."
Tommy Doles on what it's like to block for Justin Jackson...
"It's great. That's the best way to sum it up. It's always exciting knowing if we do our job, he is going to do the rest. Sometimes it's pretty cool. You make your block, you'll see him throw a move on a guy in open space and think 'That would totally work on me too.' He is a fantastic teammate, a hard worker that comes in every day and is the leader of our offense. There is no one I'd rather have in the backfield."
Justin Jackson: "Thanks, buddy."
Justin Jackson on if he has a relationship with former Wildcat Damien Anderson...
"I talked to him this summer. I got the opportunity to talk to him a good amount. He is a great guy. I've obviously watched his tape. Great running back having a 2,000-yard season and being a Heisman candidate. He played in the NFL as well, so obviously a great running back. He is one of the best in the Big Ten and one of the best in Northwestern history. Being able to come at his record is pretty cool, but like I said, a lot of our focus right now is to beat a great team. They're the No. 5 team in the country and it's going to take a lot. I'm going to try to be on my A-game and I know a lot of these guys are too. It's going to take a whole team effort."
Tommy Doles on whether it feels like the offensive line woes are the same as last year or if there are new issues...
"That's a good question. I think there are some things that I know we have improved on from last year. We have more depth on our offensive line. When we have long drives, we can keep our energy up. There are some things we have definitely gotten better at. And then there are some mistakes that we continue to make. Some of it is schematics and execution, not communicating well enough. That happened a few times. In Big Ten road games, that is something we need to be prepared for. It's going to be loud. We need to communicate. While there are things we have improved on, there is a lot of work left to do. I wish we would have gotten to a different point before the Wisconsin game, but here we are now and we are ready to keep working. I'm confident we are going to get things done."
