GopherLady
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This is the 1st press conference Jerry Kill has done on his own since before his leave. He had a lot to say, I caught what I could, but this is not verbatim:
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/306881?referrer_id=388419
• We enjoyed the victory on the way home, the kids handled themselves well, we know there are a lot of things we need to improve upon.
• I think they're a young football team that's gained some confidence. Until you have a little success, it's hard to believe, we've had blind faith for a while, and now they've had some success. At IU, our backs were against the wall, and we found ways to lose those games before but we found a way to win. We're going to enjoy the wins, but we can't forget where we came from.
• The one thing we need, we have to stay healthy. You look at what happened to the Packers last night, losing their QB. You can only have so many next mans up, you gotta stay healthy.
• Philip is going to practice today, but is sore, we anticipate he'll be ready to go.
• Derek Engel is not running full speed today, but we're going to do everything to get him ready to play.
• We have a team that have handled adversity, and you could go either way, and they went the right way. It's fun to see them progress.
• Tommy Olson came in for Jon and did a heck of a job. Coach Klein has gotten them stronger. Any of our coaches will tell you we need to become stronger and more physical.
• Jon Christenson - Anyone that gets hurt, it's a tough deal. He's had surgery, and is in a lot of pain like anyone would be, we hope he gets out of the hospital tomorrow or tonight. He's a tremendous young man, when the trainer goes out there, he already knew what happened. He's a really smart kid. He's a tough kid, he took the flight home. Tommy did a good job, and Jon's a big part of that because he tutored Tommy. Zach Epping is the center after Tommy. We moved him to center, and he'll get some reps today.
• Is it hard to recruit offensive linemen? Ben Lauer is playing for us right now, and he had an injury his jr. year so was a little off the radar, and now he's gotten a lot bigger and stronger. Where we're at, we don't get to select all the time. So you get a big frame guy and let Coach Klein go to work.
• Coach Limegrover would be the 1st one to tell you, it's been a tremendous group effort. I credit the kids responding to their coaches and working hard.
• You look at Brian Anderson with the running backs, that’s why they're getting better - you do a good job teaching and the kids respond back.
• Sometimes you have to be away from something and then come back in, our coaches all believe we were getting better. When I came back, it seemed like our kids were popping around a lot better. The coaches, those guys have helped me, they picked it up. I go to practice right now, and I don't need to say hustle up or get your tail end in gear, they just do it. The kids have rallied with the coaches. The older you get, the more you play, the better you get. I think that right now, we need to continue what we're doing. Coach Claeys did a great job getting a TO at the end of the game. We were able to stop the bleeding because there was no huddling.
• In that final drive in the game, we were afraid we were going to score too fast. You have to take what the defense does, and we had Maxx opened and scored.
• Maxx Williams - I think he's an unbelievable player for the age he his. His bloodline is so strong. His family is all great athletes, Maxx doesn't have no choice. We were driving to the airport, and a car people were honking and screaming and Maxx Williams said - that's just my family.
• Everyone wants to know the roles, and I think our guys understand it. I'm the CEO right now, and me in the box right now is the best for the football team and the HC. Tracy is the guy that needs to be down on the field.
• I can see better in the box, and I can be part of things. My ego is not that big, why fix it if it ain't broke. That's what we'll continue to do. Hopefully we'll keep having this success. I can't really explain the bond that our staff has. Like Tony Dungy's book - "Uncommon", we're a little uncommon.
• I think each week is important to this football team, we set high goals before we got into the season. We are playing at home, and I think we need to win games at home. I'm not going to downplay this, it's important. But our kids are pretty loose, and having fun, we don't want to get them all tight about it. If you play the best you can, you can feel good about it either way. You don't want to play nervous and tight, no one feels good, that's what we did against Iowa. You gotta have fun, you gotta enjoy it.
• I'm fortunate that I've been in coaching for 30 years and I've been on that side of things (when asked about NU game) - it's the worst feeling you can get. They are great people, and they've been great to me. I used to see Pat at Northern. I've had a lot of people reach out and so forth. Buzz Williams send me one thing, and I opened up the mail and sent me something else. I don't even know the guy. There are a lot of good people out there. If I compete, I'm competing to win, that doesn't mean I don't love them.
• Our kids, because it's different 10 years ago through social media, etc. If you make it bigger than life, they get uptight and nervous. I said we're not changing anything, we're going to keep doing what we're doing. It's going to be a packed house, have a lot of fun. Every game, IU was important. This game is really important, we've got a lot riding on the game...and then next week is important, they all are.
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/306881?referrer_id=388419
• We enjoyed the victory on the way home, the kids handled themselves well, we know there are a lot of things we need to improve upon.
• I think they're a young football team that's gained some confidence. Until you have a little success, it's hard to believe, we've had blind faith for a while, and now they've had some success. At IU, our backs were against the wall, and we found ways to lose those games before but we found a way to win. We're going to enjoy the wins, but we can't forget where we came from.
• The one thing we need, we have to stay healthy. You look at what happened to the Packers last night, losing their QB. You can only have so many next mans up, you gotta stay healthy.
• Philip is going to practice today, but is sore, we anticipate he'll be ready to go.
• Derek Engel is not running full speed today, but we're going to do everything to get him ready to play.
• We have a team that have handled adversity, and you could go either way, and they went the right way. It's fun to see them progress.
• Tommy Olson came in for Jon and did a heck of a job. Coach Klein has gotten them stronger. Any of our coaches will tell you we need to become stronger and more physical.
• Jon Christenson - Anyone that gets hurt, it's a tough deal. He's had surgery, and is in a lot of pain like anyone would be, we hope he gets out of the hospital tomorrow or tonight. He's a tremendous young man, when the trainer goes out there, he already knew what happened. He's a really smart kid. He's a tough kid, he took the flight home. Tommy did a good job, and Jon's a big part of that because he tutored Tommy. Zach Epping is the center after Tommy. We moved him to center, and he'll get some reps today.
• Is it hard to recruit offensive linemen? Ben Lauer is playing for us right now, and he had an injury his jr. year so was a little off the radar, and now he's gotten a lot bigger and stronger. Where we're at, we don't get to select all the time. So you get a big frame guy and let Coach Klein go to work.
• Coach Limegrover would be the 1st one to tell you, it's been a tremendous group effort. I credit the kids responding to their coaches and working hard.
• You look at Brian Anderson with the running backs, that’s why they're getting better - you do a good job teaching and the kids respond back.
• Sometimes you have to be away from something and then come back in, our coaches all believe we were getting better. When I came back, it seemed like our kids were popping around a lot better. The coaches, those guys have helped me, they picked it up. I go to practice right now, and I don't need to say hustle up or get your tail end in gear, they just do it. The kids have rallied with the coaches. The older you get, the more you play, the better you get. I think that right now, we need to continue what we're doing. Coach Claeys did a great job getting a TO at the end of the game. We were able to stop the bleeding because there was no huddling.
• In that final drive in the game, we were afraid we were going to score too fast. You have to take what the defense does, and we had Maxx opened and scored.
• Maxx Williams - I think he's an unbelievable player for the age he his. His bloodline is so strong. His family is all great athletes, Maxx doesn't have no choice. We were driving to the airport, and a car people were honking and screaming and Maxx Williams said - that's just my family.
• Everyone wants to know the roles, and I think our guys understand it. I'm the CEO right now, and me in the box right now is the best for the football team and the HC. Tracy is the guy that needs to be down on the field.
• I can see better in the box, and I can be part of things. My ego is not that big, why fix it if it ain't broke. That's what we'll continue to do. Hopefully we'll keep having this success. I can't really explain the bond that our staff has. Like Tony Dungy's book - "Uncommon", we're a little uncommon.
• I think each week is important to this football team, we set high goals before we got into the season. We are playing at home, and I think we need to win games at home. I'm not going to downplay this, it's important. But our kids are pretty loose, and having fun, we don't want to get them all tight about it. If you play the best you can, you can feel good about it either way. You don't want to play nervous and tight, no one feels good, that's what we did against Iowa. You gotta have fun, you gotta enjoy it.
• I'm fortunate that I've been in coaching for 30 years and I've been on that side of things (when asked about NU game) - it's the worst feeling you can get. They are great people, and they've been great to me. I used to see Pat at Northern. I've had a lot of people reach out and so forth. Buzz Williams send me one thing, and I opened up the mail and sent me something else. I don't even know the guy. There are a lot of good people out there. If I compete, I'm competing to win, that doesn't mean I don't love them.
• Our kids, because it's different 10 years ago through social media, etc. If you make it bigger than life, they get uptight and nervous. I said we're not changing anything, we're going to keep doing what we're doing. It's going to be a packed house, have a lot of fun. Every game, IU was important. This game is really important, we've got a lot riding on the game...and then next week is important, they all are.
