alexvanabbema
New member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2014
- Messages
- 19
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Peter Mortell:
(Going to kicking camp)
I spent a few weekends this year down in whitewater Wisconsin, doing some kicking camps with the top 50 punters from around the country. So it was nice to get out there and see how you measure up against the best. I was there with about eight other Big Ten punters. It was fun to go down there and compete, and at the same time learn some things, and really work on just improving your technique and putting yourself in a position to be successful this season.
(Improvements made during the year)
A big thing for me is that I’ve been trying to increase my hang time. So sometimes last year I kicked maybe a 55 yard punt with only maybe four seconds of hangtime. I’m trying to maybe not necessarily kick it as far, but maybe higher and give our coverage team a chance to get down there and cover the ball. I’m also working on directional. All this offseason was focused on getting it higher, and closer to the sidelines, and really limit the returners chance to get a good return on it.
(TCF hardest place to kick?)
I would say that TCF was the hardest place that I’ve punted. Nebraska’s definitely up there. I haven’t been there yet but I’ve heard it’s pretty brutal. The thing about TCF is, with each punt the wind changes. We don’t decide what direction we’re going to go until third down. So you have to be pretty strategic with how you play the wind.
Isaac Freuchte
(Offense clicking)
I think this has been a good week for us, getting a little break, getting some fresh legs coming back. I thought we looked really good today, felt good. Mitch looks good, offensive line looks good, so I feel like we’re getting back on track and we’ll hopefully do well.
(Offseason different than years past?)
I think a little bit. Mitch took a lot of the leadership, and really took the whole offense and just talked about getting everybody as one unit. And did a really good job of getting everybody competing against each other, trying to get better every single day. Really just working all summer to become the best offense we can, and I give the credit to Leidner, he did all of it.
Jonah Pirsig
(“Next person in” mentality of offensive line)
Coach Kill and Limegrover say the best five will play, it doesn’t matter what position. If you got four centers that are the best five are going to play, they’re going to find a spot for them all. At this point I’m in that group of five, so I just have to concentrate on staying in there.
(On first college start)
This will be an interesting situation. It’s nothing like high school ball, I’ll have crazy butterflies in my stomach. Even right now being a week away I’m kind of nervous. But I’m sure that after that first play all the butterflies will go away and it’ll be about playing football from there on out.
(Cohesiveness of line, even with injuries)
The whole offensive line, we’re really close. We hang out after practice, so it’s not really much about that because we all know our assignments, and we all know what to do in certain situations. I’d say it’s more just trusting that the guy next to you is going to do his job, and you do your job and your job only.
(Matt Limegrover)
(Tight End depth, how it changes team offensively)
Last year we held our breath at times because we said if someone goes down in a ball game we may not have enough to fill these personnel groupings, and that chunk of the game plan kind of gets thrown out. We feel like we’re kind of three deep at our fullback, our line, our H tight ends. That’s a nice luxury to have if a guy gets dinged up, another guy goes in. Lincoln Plsek is probably one of the more improved guys in my opinion that we’ve had, as far as his route running, and catching the ball in the open. He’s had an outstanding spring, and he’s just built on that.
(Drew Wolitarsky injury, depth at WR still?)
I think that the way we’ve approached things, because of our depth at tight end, and the things we can do, we don’t have to rely on every play having three wide receivers in there. So that’s nice to have but obviously we want to get Drew back as quickly as possible, he’s worked well with Mitch all the way through, but at the same time we’re not sitting wringing our hands going “woe is me”.
(Spots that are still up for grabs on offense)
Eleven. It’s always competition, so Coach Kill is going to have that as part of his tombstone, because competition will make them all better. All joking aside, I think the kids know that if they don’t perform, especially in the skill positions, and the tight ends, we’ll have other options and they’ll just sit on the sidelines. To say there are starting spots, obviously offensive line you’re going to say that, quarterback you’re going so say that, tailback you’re going to say that. The rest of those spots, depending on what play I call first, it could be very different with those guys rolling in.
Limegrover also said that the fullback position is very tight, so he will likely have a timeshare at the position.
(Going to kicking camp)
I spent a few weekends this year down in whitewater Wisconsin, doing some kicking camps with the top 50 punters from around the country. So it was nice to get out there and see how you measure up against the best. I was there with about eight other Big Ten punters. It was fun to go down there and compete, and at the same time learn some things, and really work on just improving your technique and putting yourself in a position to be successful this season.
(Improvements made during the year)
A big thing for me is that I’ve been trying to increase my hang time. So sometimes last year I kicked maybe a 55 yard punt with only maybe four seconds of hangtime. I’m trying to maybe not necessarily kick it as far, but maybe higher and give our coverage team a chance to get down there and cover the ball. I’m also working on directional. All this offseason was focused on getting it higher, and closer to the sidelines, and really limit the returners chance to get a good return on it.
(TCF hardest place to kick?)
I would say that TCF was the hardest place that I’ve punted. Nebraska’s definitely up there. I haven’t been there yet but I’ve heard it’s pretty brutal. The thing about TCF is, with each punt the wind changes. We don’t decide what direction we’re going to go until third down. So you have to be pretty strategic with how you play the wind.
Isaac Freuchte
(Offense clicking)
I think this has been a good week for us, getting a little break, getting some fresh legs coming back. I thought we looked really good today, felt good. Mitch looks good, offensive line looks good, so I feel like we’re getting back on track and we’ll hopefully do well.
(Offseason different than years past?)
I think a little bit. Mitch took a lot of the leadership, and really took the whole offense and just talked about getting everybody as one unit. And did a really good job of getting everybody competing against each other, trying to get better every single day. Really just working all summer to become the best offense we can, and I give the credit to Leidner, he did all of it.
Jonah Pirsig
(“Next person in” mentality of offensive line)
Coach Kill and Limegrover say the best five will play, it doesn’t matter what position. If you got four centers that are the best five are going to play, they’re going to find a spot for them all. At this point I’m in that group of five, so I just have to concentrate on staying in there.
(On first college start)
This will be an interesting situation. It’s nothing like high school ball, I’ll have crazy butterflies in my stomach. Even right now being a week away I’m kind of nervous. But I’m sure that after that first play all the butterflies will go away and it’ll be about playing football from there on out.
(Cohesiveness of line, even with injuries)
The whole offensive line, we’re really close. We hang out after practice, so it’s not really much about that because we all know our assignments, and we all know what to do in certain situations. I’d say it’s more just trusting that the guy next to you is going to do his job, and you do your job and your job only.
(Matt Limegrover)
(Tight End depth, how it changes team offensively)
Last year we held our breath at times because we said if someone goes down in a ball game we may not have enough to fill these personnel groupings, and that chunk of the game plan kind of gets thrown out. We feel like we’re kind of three deep at our fullback, our line, our H tight ends. That’s a nice luxury to have if a guy gets dinged up, another guy goes in. Lincoln Plsek is probably one of the more improved guys in my opinion that we’ve had, as far as his route running, and catching the ball in the open. He’s had an outstanding spring, and he’s just built on that.
(Drew Wolitarsky injury, depth at WR still?)
I think that the way we’ve approached things, because of our depth at tight end, and the things we can do, we don’t have to rely on every play having three wide receivers in there. So that’s nice to have but obviously we want to get Drew back as quickly as possible, he’s worked well with Mitch all the way through, but at the same time we’re not sitting wringing our hands going “woe is me”.
(Spots that are still up for grabs on offense)
Eleven. It’s always competition, so Coach Kill is going to have that as part of his tombstone, because competition will make them all better. All joking aside, I think the kids know that if they don’t perform, especially in the skill positions, and the tight ends, we’ll have other options and they’ll just sit on the sidelines. To say there are starting spots, obviously offensive line you’re going to say that, quarterback you’re going so say that, tailback you’re going to say that. The rest of those spots, depending on what play I call first, it could be very different with those guys rolling in.
Limegrover also said that the fullback position is very tight, so he will likely have a timeshare at the position.
irsig at right tackle, Bush at right Guard, Olson, Epping and Campion at Left Tackle? 
