COURTESY OF NEBRASKA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
On if he is looking for payback with the game against Northwestern “I wouldn’t necessarily call it payback, but I am definitely aware of what occurred last year and I think that was last year’s team’s problem. Northwestern is a good football team. They are disciplined just like they were last year. We are looking forward for another opportunity to get back on the field this week.”
On the series against Northwestern “Like you said, I think there is a history of a lot of good games being played and kind of crazy finishes. Again, Northwestern is a very solid football team and they are not going to make a lot of mistakes, not going to have a lot of penalties, things like that. I think they have a history of that.”
On the game with Northwestern last year “Well, that is tough to say. I think they are a good defensive team, solid. I think that just speaks to where I was at last year with things. Not necessarily that they were giving a certain look that let me kind of explode there. But again, just going to be prepared for this week, prepared for what they bring defensively and they have a couple of really good players on that side of the ball.”
On whether mistakes become contagious “I wouldn’t necessarily think they are contagious. I would say they are more isolated, depending on the circumstances that that drive has or that game, whatever it may be. I don’t have too much else to say on that.”
On turnovers “A lot of it is ball security and then another piece of it is throwing interceptions and that is - as far as interceptions are concerned - that is just isolating that play depending on my read, whatever may have happened during the play, the throw. When it comes to fumbles, that is something that we work on every day in practice. It is a conscious effort to be better at ball security and that goes for me and that goes for all the rest of the offensive guys.”
On getting past the problems “I think it is no secret, it is definitely out there that I have been through a lot as a person and then as a player just being a part of this program. Having great coaches and great people around me that I could fall back on. I think the rest of us, the rest of the guys on this team feel the same way. We are already moving on toward this next week, we are already focused on this week’s opponent, Northwestern. We realize we have a really good team in front of us, and we are excited for this opportunity to go out there and play again in front of Memorial Stadium.”
On the loss to Ohio State “You know, I don’t want to talk too much about it. We are moving on to this week, and we are excited for this opportunity to play again.”
On getting over the loss to Ohio State “Like I said after that game and like I’ll say right now. That won’t define this team. What will define us is how we finish, how we can react, how we can bounce back this upcoming week. We have another opportunity, its football, we have an opportunity to play this Saturday, and it started with us coming to work this Monday and I think we did that today.”
On redeeming his performance “I would think that anytime you get a chance to go out there and play it is an opportunity you are excited for, and I think it's regardless of what happened the week before.”
On Sunday “I sat back and watched the NFL on Sunday and worked on some accounting homework. Nothing too new. It is the life of a student-athlete. And again, going back to having great people around me that I can fall back on. And I am excited. I’m excited for this new challenge that we have this Saturday and it is just putting things into perspective. It is still an honor to be here at Nebraska, still an honor to play quarterback here and you can’t take for granted a Monday practice and that is what I did today. That is how I wanted to look at it and how I wanted to treat it and set an example for the team and move forward.”
On whether he has experience running the offense out of the new formation “I did in middle school, whatever that is worth. I like it. But, I think it could be a real weapon for us moving forward, and we are going to continue to work on it and progress with it, and we will see where it goes in the coming future.”
On reading the option play “I think it is different. I think it is a little bit of a different read, but it is something that we practice and I think just being a dual-threat athletic quarterback, getting those reps and just working on it you get used to reacting in that way.”
On Coach Frost’s advice “I don’t think there is a better guy to learn from than Coach Frost, a guy who did it a ton in college. I think he gets all the ins and outs of it.”
On if Coach Frost modeled the new scheme for him “Yeah, a few times."
On why that series of plays worked so well in the second quarter “I don’t want to speak too much on last week’s game, but I think it took them off guard a little bit and it is something that we have been working on, and again, the guys had an attack mentality and the offensive line did a great job with that series of plays.”
On if he has looked at film from the 1990s “I have looked at the clips and seen Scott Frost in action. Pretty fast guy.”
On if Coach Frost is faster than him in the film “Well we will hold off on that for now. I can’t say too much after getting tracked down last game.”
On running back Dedrick Mills “I think he has evolved as a player. It has come at him in different levels. Since when he first got here the learning curve has been interesting for him, and I think he has done a great job of handling it all and just practicing hard. That is one thing that hasn’t changed is that he has been full attack mode in practice and games, and you can tell he is working his tail off. The offense is coming faster and faster for him, and I think he is just becoming a better player with each day.”
On if Dedrick Mills carried a football around with him everywhere last week “He did. I tried hitting it away from him. I came up from behind in the players' lounge and did all that stuff. Again, he takes it seriously. It means a lot to him and us as players notice that.”
On his accounting class “Accounting 201, it is fantastic.”