9/28/2010: Kirk Ferentz teleconference transcript (premium)
Posted on 28. Sep, 2010 by admin in Iowa Football
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
Below is a written transcript of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz’s teleconference on Tuesday with the Big Ten media:
Ferentz’s opening statement:
“First of all, it was good to hear Mark [Dantonio]. I just got the tail end of that, and it was great to hear his voice. I know he’s working back to the field. I think all of us across the conference were very concerned, and I just feel good that he’s doing better, so that’s good. Also, congratulations to Mike Daniels. Mike really played a nice game the other day, and he’s a guy that has really improved a bunch this past year, so we’re very happy for him. Happy to get the win Saturday, and obviously, I’m sure like everybody, just eager and anxious to start Big Ten play. Things get interesting now obviously, and in the weeks ahead. A lot of football ahead. We’ve got a real tough task facing Penn State this coming Saturday, and have a lot of work to do at our end. We’ll start that up today.”
On what the buzz surrounding Michigan QB Denard Robinson does for the Big Ten:
“Anytime a player is throwing up statistics like he has thrown up, it’s going to create positive attention for the conference. What he has done has really been amazing, remarkable. I haven’t seen Michigan on film, but the first thought I had was my early years here, I was trying to prepare for a guy like [Antwaan] Randle El. It was no easy task, and he was just a very dynamic player. It appears that this quarterback is off to that same kind of start with more and more pronounced statistics.”
On how he would assess Adrian Clayborn’s season to this point:
“He’s playing well.”
On what Clayborn’s performance against Penn State last year did for him:
“You know, he had a tremendous outing. The one play that he made was really kind of just one of those plays that is kind of like [Warren] Holloway catching the ball in the Capital One Bowl, and you can go right down the list. It was a great effort on his part. A. A high effort play, and B. A very athletic play to scoop the ball up and take it in for a touchdown. Those are certainly Kodak moments, but what he does now from down-to-down is what I think makes him a very outstanding player.”
On how Clayborn being double-teamed helps other guys around him:
“Yeah, that’s just part of football. Good players at all positions. I think every staff at the beginning of the week when they start game planning, they have certain players on the opposition that you really have to be aware of and factor them into your game planning. So he’s going to attract a little more attention than he did two years ago, and that’s part of being a good football player. I think he’s dealing with it just very well, and hopefully he’ll go on to have a great year.”
On the types of challenges Penn State running back Evan Royster presents:
“He’s a tremendous football player and an outstanding running back. I don’t know how close he is to breaking the all-time record, I think Curt Warner holds that. He was a pretty feared college player. Being in that category, first of all, it feels like we’ve seen him six years in a row. I know that’s an exaggeration, but he has been a really good football player for a long time, and he’s going to break that record. I don’t know how soon or how far away he is, but he’s going to break that record, and that tells you the caliber of football player he is. He’s a tremendous football player and can do a lot of things very, very well. We talked about being aware of guys and game planning. You better start with Evan Royster if you’re playing Penn State, that’s for sure.”
On how strong the league looks heading into conference play:
“You know, I’m kind of ruining the party here, but I don’t think we know a whole lot about anything right now. We’ve played four games. I don’t think anybody has played more than that. It’s not even October yet. I know everybody wants to know who’s going to do what and all this stuff, how strong the league is, who’s going to win the Heisman. I think we’ll all have a better idea here in about a month. There’s so many things that can happen locally, nationally, so I don’t think too globally when it comes to topics like that. I think we have a good conference, and I’m entering my 12th year of feeling that way.”
On what he saw from Penn State after it rallied to beat Temple:
“I think they got a pretty good football team. It’s pretty simple. I grew up in that part of the country, but if you just go over the last five years, they have won 51 games. They’ve got a running back who’s getting ready to break every record in their books. They’ve got a defense that has given up 12 points per game over the last two years on average. Those are a couple of statistics to start with, and the team we’re going to be playing Saturday night, it’s going to be a tough game for us. I know that. We better get ready.”
On if he saw evidence of his team being able to move on from the loss to Arizona:
“We certainly played better Saturday than we had the week before, but the same thing I just said to the last caller, you measure teams over a season. I don’t think you measure them over one week. What we did last week was real positive, but now we’ve got eight real tough conference games coming up, and we’ll learn about this team each and every week. If we win this week, great. If we lose, you know, that’s not so good, but we’re going to have to go on and play the next seven. It’s really as simple as that. I think we’re doing some good things. We have a lot of things we can improve upon. My guess is, every coach in the conference and country is probably feeling the same way at this point.”
On the importance of having playmakers like DJK in his system and what is does for the offensive attack:
“Well, I think that unless you just run the ball every snap, if you’re an option team, you know, with option teams that’s probably true. It’s always good to have good receivers. You know, it’s really hard just to do one thing. So if you run the ball at all, if that’s part of your plan, again, unless you’re an option team, you better have somebody who can help you out outside. If you’ve got two guys or three guys, that’s even better. It’s pretty hard just to take the ball around every snap, again unless your deal is option. We’re not committed to that at all. For us, it sure helps if we have somebody step up and do a good job. Derrell has done a nice job.”
On his run defense and the importance of being stout against the run:
“Well, we’ll learn more as we go. We haven’t really faced anybody that is committed to running the football. I think I’m correct in saying that. We don’t see a lot of that during 12 games, basically. But we’re going to find out about that this week. We’re facing a back that’s not only all-league, but all-world. We better be ready to go. He’s a heck of a football player. Extremely dangerous, and they’ve got good players around him. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, and we’ll have more challenges throughout the course of the year, that’s for sure.”
Recent Comments