Northwestern University Athletics
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The Skip Report: Checkin' in on Paddy Fisher
11/23/2017 9:59:00 AM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Last Monday, with just one more regular-season game remaining, Pat Fitzgerald looked at his redshirt first-year linebacker Paddy Fisher during a Leadership Council meeting and asked, "What did you learn this year?"
"Man, this is a grind," Fisher replied.
"Then look at the year he's having," Fitzgerald would say after recalling that moment. "This is the first time he's had to play every game for four quarters— well Saturday (in their rout of Minnesota) he didn't have to play the fourth quarter. But that, to me, is what we're looking for. Guys with that kind of attitude (to grind), that kind of work ethic, that kind of demeanor. If you can get a collection of those kind of guys, you've got a chance to have something special."
"We usually played 16 games in high school," Fisher himself will later say when asked about that moment. "But out of those 16, four or five of them were full, four-quarter games. That was usually the last three games of the playoffs and a preseason game. So throughout the year in high school, my body wasn't getting beat up as it is now. I'd only play a half and then the ones would get pulled and the twos would go up. The competition in the district wasn't, obviously, as good as it is now in Division I football. So it's a different game. You've got to be physically and mentally prepared each week, and toward the latter half of the season it gets very tough on your body."
Has he made adjustments to help handle the new demands?
"I'm hydrating more. I'm in the training room every day getting healthy. Sleeping more, just resting up. Just eating healthier."
Is he at all overwhelmed by the grind?
"No. No," he says, virtually scoffing at such a silly idea. "This is what I want to do and I knew this would be part of it. I just didn't think it would be this hard. Especially in the Big Ten, we're playing smash-mouth ball. So it's tough. It's a grind. But that's what I want."
So it is as Fitz often says: that the hardest thing for guys to understand when they join the 'Cats is just how hard it is to succeed at this level.
"He says it every week. 'It's incredibly hard to win every game, every week,'" Paddy Fisher says. "I'm here to vouch for him. It's extremely hard. Every week you've got to give 110 percent, and you have to go four quarters, and then some."
***
Pat Fitzgerald, who knows a bit about playing middle linebacker, often says this as well: a guy's got that position nailed when the college game looks to him just as it did in high school. Then, he is saying, that guy is no longer paralyzed by analysis, that guy is no longer thinking before acting, that guy is free to just operate like some heat-seeking missile. Three weeks ago, 48 hours after Fisher had collected 19 tackles in the Wildcats' triple-OT win over Michigan State, he was asked if his young middle linebacker had reached that point.
"I haven't asked him that directly," he said. "But from my vantage point his confidence is going up and up and up, and there goes his performance with it. It's hard to play Big Ten football, let alone be successful at it. Every guy thinks he can do it. But there's still a little bit of doubt inside your mind until you go out there and do it consistently. You're probably thinking too much. Then all of a sudden you come to the realization that, 'I can do this.' I think he's done that. I think he's come to the realization that, 'Hey, I can play at this level.' Now he's trusting his instincts, he's trusting his film prep and fundamentally he's just improving every single day. It's been a really impressive start to a young man's career."
"Of course (there's doubt). Until you get on the field, until you prove yourself," Fisher said this week after hearing his coach's observation. "There's always going to be that hype around Division I football, NCAA football, Big Ten football especially. These guys are extremely blessed physically. They're huge dudes. It's hard to realize that. You've got to go out there— until you prove yourself, that's when the confidence starts increasing. Until then there's that hype. When you prove yourself, the hype kind of dissipates and decreases a lot."
But even back in late September, at a presser days before the 'Cats' Big Ten opener at Wisconsin, he evinced no fear or apprehension about going into a snake pit for his first conference game.
"I don't go into the game with any fear," he says when reminded of that moment. "I feel prepared— the coaches do an incredible job preparing us during the week. My film prep helped me a lot. But I never go into a game with fear. I never go into it with any doubt. I do go into it not necessarily knowing the outcome or what's going to happen. So I just go into the game and give it all I've got, and what happens happens."
Has the game now slowed down for him?
"It has slowed down a lot, yes. Especially now, after 10 starts, 11 games, it's definitely slowed down. I feel a lot more comfortable."
Fitzgerald has recently emphasized the leadership senior Brett Walsh has brought to the linebackers' room. What has Walsh meant to Fisher?
"He's meant more than I could explain. He's helped me so much with the game plan each and every week. He's a big part of my success. Nate Hall too. Of course the D line, the DBs behind me. I couldn't do it without them. It's not a one-man job. They're there to remind me of different calls on the field and stuff. I can't do it all by myself. We check each other, it's checks and balances. So he and Nate Hall have meant beyond words."
Walsh has mentioned he has tried to take care of the mental work so the rookie doesn't have to think too much and can just play.
"Exactly," Paddy Fisher says. "He's the thinker and I'm the guy that just naturally goes out. He's a very good natural player too. But once I start thinking more and more, that's when I play a little slower. That's why I make the film prep during the week muscle memory. So when I go out there it's all muscle memory and natural."
Three months ago, back when the 'Cats were preparing for the season they conclude Saturday in Champaign against Illinois, Paddy Fisher was generally unknown. This does not mean he held no expectations.
"I had," he says, "expectations to win the starting job and to lead the team in tackles and potentially lead the Big Ten. I think I'm doing well on those goals."
He does start, and he does lead the team in tackles, and he is third in tackles in the Big Ten, and so, yes, he is doing damn well when it comes to his goals. But to hear that someone who had not yet played a snap in college had such high ones— that leaves his listener agape and saying, "That's not usual for a freshman."
"It's not usual, but I've been well-prepared," Fisher says. "Going way back even to youth football, I've been surrounded by great coaches and great teammates and great friends and family that have gotten me here. It's not a one-man job. I have not done this by myself."
Was it emphasized to him back then to strive high?
"Of course. Of course. I've always feared failure. Success has always been the big picture deal with me. I've always wanted to be successful. That was driven into me, and I've had friends and family and great coaches and teammates who've driven me every day."
Does he ever get nervous, does he ever doubt that he might not make it?
"I don't feel any nervousness. I feel— Coach Fitz says this a lot. 'Proper preparation prevents poor performance.' That's 100 percent what it is. You go into the week, you study your film prep, take notes on the write-ups and what the coaches say to us. If you're preparing right, you're not going into the game nervous."
He is told his listener, after meeting deadlines for 41 years, still found himself wondering if he could do it when faced with yet-another one.
"It's human that people have that doubt in their mind," Paddy Fisher finally says. "But if you want to be the best in this league and at this level of competition, you can't have that doubt. You've got to go in every week and tell yourself you're the best, tell yourself you can do this."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Last Monday, with just one more regular-season game remaining, Pat Fitzgerald looked at his redshirt first-year linebacker Paddy Fisher during a Leadership Council meeting and asked, "What did you learn this year?"
"Man, this is a grind," Fisher replied.
"Then look at the year he's having," Fitzgerald would say after recalling that moment. "This is the first time he's had to play every game for four quarters— well Saturday (in their rout of Minnesota) he didn't have to play the fourth quarter. But that, to me, is what we're looking for. Guys with that kind of attitude (to grind), that kind of work ethic, that kind of demeanor. If you can get a collection of those kind of guys, you've got a chance to have something special."
"We usually played 16 games in high school," Fisher himself will later say when asked about that moment. "But out of those 16, four or five of them were full, four-quarter games. That was usually the last three games of the playoffs and a preseason game. So throughout the year in high school, my body wasn't getting beat up as it is now. I'd only play a half and then the ones would get pulled and the twos would go up. The competition in the district wasn't, obviously, as good as it is now in Division I football. So it's a different game. You've got to be physically and mentally prepared each week, and toward the latter half of the season it gets very tough on your body."
Has he made adjustments to help handle the new demands?
"I'm hydrating more. I'm in the training room every day getting healthy. Sleeping more, just resting up. Just eating healthier."
Is he at all overwhelmed by the grind?
"No. No," he says, virtually scoffing at such a silly idea. "This is what I want to do and I knew this would be part of it. I just didn't think it would be this hard. Especially in the Big Ten, we're playing smash-mouth ball. So it's tough. It's a grind. But that's what I want."
So it is as Fitz often says: that the hardest thing for guys to understand when they join the 'Cats is just how hard it is to succeed at this level.
"He says it every week. 'It's incredibly hard to win every game, every week,'" Paddy Fisher says. "I'm here to vouch for him. It's extremely hard. Every week you've got to give 110 percent, and you have to go four quarters, and then some."
***
Pat Fitzgerald, who knows a bit about playing middle linebacker, often says this as well: a guy's got that position nailed when the college game looks to him just as it did in high school. Then, he is saying, that guy is no longer paralyzed by analysis, that guy is no longer thinking before acting, that guy is free to just operate like some heat-seeking missile. Three weeks ago, 48 hours after Fisher had collected 19 tackles in the Wildcats' triple-OT win over Michigan State, he was asked if his young middle linebacker had reached that point.
"I haven't asked him that directly," he said. "But from my vantage point his confidence is going up and up and up, and there goes his performance with it. It's hard to play Big Ten football, let alone be successful at it. Every guy thinks he can do it. But there's still a little bit of doubt inside your mind until you go out there and do it consistently. You're probably thinking too much. Then all of a sudden you come to the realization that, 'I can do this.' I think he's done that. I think he's come to the realization that, 'Hey, I can play at this level.' Now he's trusting his instincts, he's trusting his film prep and fundamentally he's just improving every single day. It's been a really impressive start to a young man's career."
"Of course (there's doubt). Until you get on the field, until you prove yourself," Fisher said this week after hearing his coach's observation. "There's always going to be that hype around Division I football, NCAA football, Big Ten football especially. These guys are extremely blessed physically. They're huge dudes. It's hard to realize that. You've got to go out there— until you prove yourself, that's when the confidence starts increasing. Until then there's that hype. When you prove yourself, the hype kind of dissipates and decreases a lot."
But even back in late September, at a presser days before the 'Cats' Big Ten opener at Wisconsin, he evinced no fear or apprehension about going into a snake pit for his first conference game.
"I don't go into the game with any fear," he says when reminded of that moment. "I feel prepared— the coaches do an incredible job preparing us during the week. My film prep helped me a lot. But I never go into a game with fear. I never go into it with any doubt. I do go into it not necessarily knowing the outcome or what's going to happen. So I just go into the game and give it all I've got, and what happens happens."
Has the game now slowed down for him?
"It has slowed down a lot, yes. Especially now, after 10 starts, 11 games, it's definitely slowed down. I feel a lot more comfortable."
Fitzgerald has recently emphasized the leadership senior Brett Walsh has brought to the linebackers' room. What has Walsh meant to Fisher?
"He's meant more than I could explain. He's helped me so much with the game plan each and every week. He's a big part of my success. Nate Hall too. Of course the D line, the DBs behind me. I couldn't do it without them. It's not a one-man job. They're there to remind me of different calls on the field and stuff. I can't do it all by myself. We check each other, it's checks and balances. So he and Nate Hall have meant beyond words."
Walsh has mentioned he has tried to take care of the mental work so the rookie doesn't have to think too much and can just play.
"Exactly," Paddy Fisher says. "He's the thinker and I'm the guy that just naturally goes out. He's a very good natural player too. But once I start thinking more and more, that's when I play a little slower. That's why I make the film prep during the week muscle memory. So when I go out there it's all muscle memory and natural."
***
Three months ago, back when the 'Cats were preparing for the season they conclude Saturday in Champaign against Illinois, Paddy Fisher was generally unknown. This does not mean he held no expectations.
"I had," he says, "expectations to win the starting job and to lead the team in tackles and potentially lead the Big Ten. I think I'm doing well on those goals."
He does start, and he does lead the team in tackles, and he is third in tackles in the Big Ten, and so, yes, he is doing damn well when it comes to his goals. But to hear that someone who had not yet played a snap in college had such high ones— that leaves his listener agape and saying, "That's not usual for a freshman."
"It's not usual, but I've been well-prepared," Fisher says. "Going way back even to youth football, I've been surrounded by great coaches and great teammates and great friends and family that have gotten me here. It's not a one-man job. I have not done this by myself."
Was it emphasized to him back then to strive high?
"Of course. Of course. I've always feared failure. Success has always been the big picture deal with me. I've always wanted to be successful. That was driven into me, and I've had friends and family and great coaches and teammates who've driven me every day."
Does he ever get nervous, does he ever doubt that he might not make it?
"I don't feel any nervousness. I feel— Coach Fitz says this a lot. 'Proper preparation prevents poor performance.' That's 100 percent what it is. You go into the week, you study your film prep, take notes on the write-ups and what the coaches say to us. If you're preparing right, you're not going into the game nervous."
He is told his listener, after meeting deadlines for 41 years, still found himself wondering if he could do it when faced with yet-another one.
"It's human that people have that doubt in their mind," Paddy Fisher finally says. "But if you want to be the best in this league and at this level of competition, you can't have that doubt. You've got to go in every week and tell yourself you're the best, tell yourself you can do this."
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