The Gophers secondary depth will be tested with Boddy-Calhoun out for the season.
Here are the quick notes from his press conference:
• We’ve had a chance to look at Western and start to prepare for them.
• (On if he wants Nelson to slide more when running the ball) We’re an option team, that’s part of it, you have to protect yourself. You have to play smart, and there will be some games where Phillip may not carry very much, depending on how they play the option. We could have Mitch come in if Phillip is taking a few too many hits. Mitch will have a role as we go on, as we progress as an offense.
• When Nelson hurt his shoulder – thought of putting Mitch in there, if he had been hurt. Your backup QB need to be prepared. I think all 3 of our QB’s are ready to play.
• Williams and Cobb played really well. Since I’ve been here, seeing cuts, pushing the line of scrimmage, running instinctively is as good as we’ve done as a RB group since I’ve been here. They did a good job of pass protection, except one time, Rodrick didn’t and that cost us a sack in the red zone.
• Trainers said Donnell has done well in his rehab. He’s a good kid, and a positive kid.
• Coach Claeys was very upset with the defense because of what happened on the last drive. We had somebody not do his job, he was very verbal at halftime. We’ve made some mistakes while running option football. I think there’s always room for improvement. We have a whole board of things that we need to improve on. We have a lot of guys getting better from week 1 to week 2, but there’s a lot of things we need to fix.
• Special teams – did a lot of things well. Had a big return before half. We need Nick Rallis back, hopefully we’ll get him back next week.
• The special teams feel pretty good, I don’t think our snapper feels that good, but he’ll get a workout, he’s a veteran, takes great pride in it.
• I think we’ll evaluate the WR position in the next two weeks. We have 6-7 people, 2-3 drops, but there’s talent. We need to get that figured out.
• CB Briean Boddy-Calhoun is out for the year with a torn ACL.
• As far as the timing of games, I prefer what the fans want.
• It seems like in the Twin Cities, the 11am game is not the most popular, and our night games are a good crowd. I think the Twin Cities likes night games. If I had my choice, I’d let the fans decide. I’d like to see whatever is best for our fans. You need to fight for your time, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get it, just fight for it. We need to worry about things we can control right now, and that’s our football team.
• Harbison is a physical player and playmaker. He got hurt at UNLV, but he has some physical strength, but we need to see that on gameday.
• Part of winning is getting healthy and staying healthy.
• Will Derek play a bigger role this week? He has to. He and Eric Murray both.
• Sid: What’s the scoop on your All American punter? Kill: Huh? We recruited an all American kicker.
• North Dakota State can compete with a lot of teams right now, they’re a hell of a football team, from the top to the bottom.
• I don’t think a Big 10 school gains anything in playing a FCS school, but it’s the nature of the game, that’s what it’s all about. Giving those people opportunities. It’s the camaraderie. It’s more of a risk, if they can beat you, but it’s the good of the game.
• You’ve got to be prepared for change, I’m older and I’ve had to learn texting and I don’t like texting. The world has change.
• Western Illinois is very similar to Iowa. The crazy thing about coaching is that we all know each other, and we all get each other fired.
• I don’t know anything about the scheduling, I have nothing to do with scheduling, take that up with Norwood.
• Alex Keith has a broken bone in part of his hand, he won’t practice much, but he can play with it.
• When I came here, all I did was talking about playing 8 home games. That’s all I’ve talked about. I try to have input, but the HC doesn’t make the decisions. I don’t know if people think I have that much power, they’re wrong. All I want is 8 home games. If you do that, you build a fanbase. You want your people to get excited about your program.
• I don’t want to be asked anymore about scheduling, because I have no control over it.
• The number one thing that turned around K-State is scheduling. If I got a call, I would have told him, don’t schedule NDSU, Craig Bohl is a heck of a football coach.