Gopher Football
The 2005 football season is fast approaching and the players have returned to the practice field. Bryan Cupito, Mark Setterstrom and Ernie Wheelright share their thoughts the upcoming season, the brutal Big Ten schedule, and what they’ve done in the off season to improve.
Mark Setterstrom
– On Bryan Cupito putting too much pressure on himself last year . . .
People like to say that if you win or lose a game, you can pin it on the quarterback or any other position. But you win or lose as a team. I think Bryan really learned that from all the hardships we had last year. We had some tough losses, and it wasn’t always on him. I think he’s matured in that sense, but at the same time, he’ll always be his own tough critic; that’s what drives him to be the best player he can.
– On how things will change in the running game with the loss of Marion Barber . . .
Yeah, we lost a great back in Marion. It was definitely nice having him back there, but we have a couple young guys coming up that will hopefully fill his spot. They’re both very talented as well. Laurence is a playmaker and he’ll always do his thing. So our rushing attack will still have the same focus. We’ll be using two guys in certain situations, and hopefully we’ll see the same results.
– On the strength of schedule . . .
We have had an easier schedule the last few years. This year will be a really tough year, especially in the Big Ten. I’d say this is going to be the toughest the Big Ten has been since I’ve been here. I love facing the best guys and the best teams. It’s a great opportunity to prove ourselves every week, then if we do win a bunch there’s no questions at the end of the year. We’re really looking forward to that challenge.
Bryan Cupito
– On the criticism of the passing game last year . . .
I think that’s fair criticism. The running game was there last year as it has been the past few years, and the passing game was not there. Ernie Wheelwright and Jared Ellerson had a little bit to do with it, but mostly it’s put on me not making plays.
– On how he handled the criticism of his play last year . . .
I don’t really get mad, it just kind of motivates me for this year. Last year was kind of embarrassing with how things turned out towards the end of the year. We just have to build things from the bowl game to now. With Coach Peterson, we just kind of tell it how it is. When we watch film, we don’t lie. We say “œyou should’ve done this”, or “œyou should’ve done that”. If I would’ve hit Ernie Wheelright against Michigan when he was wide open on the deep ball with five minutes left we would’ve won that game. It’s stuff like that we can’t allow to happen this year.
– On what he has done to improve his game for this season . .
Us three (Cupito, Wheelright and Ellerson) have been out there two times a week since the bowl game working on the passing game, so we want to carry that into camp and I think we’ll be a lot better this year. We’ve been working on every route you think of, we’ve ran it about a thousand times each, and we’ve been doing them since the end of January. We just stopped doing it this past week, and we’re hoping to carry the improvement into the season.
– On the role of passing in the offense . . .
This is definitely a running offense. Everybody knows Minnesota for running, and we have a great offensive line. Eslinger, Setterstrom and Maroney, everybody knows about them. But the passing game is open, we just have to take advantage of it. We didn’t do that last year. Everybody knows what we’re going to do to them. It’s no surprise when we play them, they’re going to stack the line to try and stop Maroney. But the receivers are back, I’m back, we have to get Matt Spaeth more involved in the passing game, so I think all of those things will come into play and help the offense out.
– On how the returning experience will help the offense . . .
Last year we started losing and I kind of let things slide. But I’m going to take advantage of my experience this year since I’m more comfortable with things, and I’m not going to let that happen no matter what the circumstances are. As a team, just about everyone is back. We lose Melander, Barber and Harston but we have good replacements so I don’t think we’ll miss a beat at all.
– On if Minnesota can compete for a Big Ten title . . .
Last year we got blown out against Michigan State; we just didn’t come ready to play. But we also lost to Michigan by three, Iowa by three, and those are the two teams who won the Big Ten. We’re right there. We have the coaching, probably as good of coaching as anyone. It’s not that we don’t have the talent to win games or anything, we just have to get over the hump and do it.
Ernie Wheelwright
– On personal improvements . . .
I expect a lot of myself. I put in a lot of work over the off season”¦ I got stronger from spending a lot of time in the weight room, I’m bigger and faster this year, so I’m excited to get out there and show what I can do. I have a year under my belt now, so I’m ready to make big plays and help out the team.
– On the strength of schedule . . .
It motivates us. We have the toughest schedule in the Big Ten, so we have to go out there and play with the best. If you want to beat the best you have to play like the best, so that’s what we want to come out and do this year. We have to make sure we have our heads in the game, and we have to be ready to come out this year and work.
– On the off season . . .
Working with Bryan Cupito over the off season helped a lot. We have our coordination and timing down and everything, so so we’re ready to go out and do what we have to do. For myself, I’ve been pumped since the end of the bowl game. I don’t want to forget that game, because it kind of brought me back down to earth and motivated me. I’m not the top player I want to be, so I can’t stop working until I get to the top.
– On the blocking aspects of being a wide receiver . . .
I LOVE being a blocker, and it’s been like that since high school. It’s just like bullying people on field. You get to push those little DB’s around! You kind of get a kick out of that because it makes you feel like a lineman. You see those linemen get pancakes, so when we can go out there and pancake some DB’s, that a good thing. The coaches really help out a lot to make sure we are good blockers and make sure we don’t have any downfield holding calls.