• last year
Iowa offensive players
Transcript
00:00 Is that a pass interference?
00:02 Was it pass interference?
00:04 Yeah.
00:06 Yeah, you know what? I mean, I feel like
00:08 what's the NCAA or Big Ten
00:10 gonna find me if I say that's a horse sh*t
00:12 call or what?
00:14 Yeah, I don't know.
00:16 I probably shouldn't have thought to F on the name.
00:18 Don't worry, I won't use that.
00:20 Yeah, I won't.
00:22 Now, it seemed like they were letting a lot
00:24 go in relation to that
00:26 during that game. Did it feel like they were
00:28 letting a lot of hand fighting and stuff go on
00:30 down the field?
00:32 I don't know if you would consider that hand fighting, but
00:34 I don't know. We're taught
00:36 to fight through it.
00:38 Because, I mean, it's football.
00:40 There's holding on every play. I'm sure our line
00:42 holds on every play, but
00:44 just gotta fight through it and try and contest the catch.
00:46 And the ball doesn't lie. We got to pick six the next play, so
00:50 we made up for it.
00:52 And the first P.I. was
00:54 like, they were griping about it. I was like,
00:56 "At least a second early." Yeah, for sure.
00:58 I'm not trying to get you
01:00 in more trouble, but I'm just saying, like, do you feel
01:02 like that their complaining maybe affected
01:04 that later call?
01:06 I mean, I really don't know.
01:10 I don't know how it worked. It was
01:12 the first one, the guy hit me
01:16 before the ball got there, and the second one, the
01:18 guy ripped me down before the ball got there.
01:20 So I don't know what they were looking at.
01:22 I don't care. We got the win.
01:24 That's all that matters.
01:26 On to the next one.
01:28 When you have games like that, do you say things
01:30 to the officials and do they acknowledge it?
01:32 Or do you just let it go?
01:34 Um...
01:36 I don't know. I actually don't think I said anything to that guy.
01:40 I couldn't even find him. I was looking for him
01:42 for a second. I looked around. I was
01:44 looking to see if there was a flag. I was a little
01:46 bit in shock, but
01:48 it happens. Like I said, the ball doesn't
01:50 lie. Pick six.
01:52 I got Castro. Big ten
01:54 defensive player of the week.
01:56 This is your fifth year in the program.
01:58 As far as muscle
02:00 memory goes, how quickly
02:02 does it take you to adapt to
02:04 that stance, this front step,
02:06 make sure your backside knee is in the
02:08 same direction? Not too long.
02:10 Again, it just comes down
02:12 to Coach Ferenc, Coach Barnett,
02:14 and the way they teach our offensive line here.
02:16 Also, the trust
02:18 in everyone else on the line.
02:20 I'll do my job. They'll do theirs.
02:22 It doesn't
02:24 take too long at all. There was a lot more gap
02:26 blocking, I think, especially
02:28 counters the other day.
02:30 How does that make your...
02:32 What does that do plus-wise
02:34 for your line? You guys do it all, but
02:36 in particular, that's not something
02:38 you necessarily majored in in the past.
02:40 Yeah. I think
02:42 really just allows us to use
02:44 our physicality.
02:46 I would say we're
02:48 a very physical offensive line.
02:50 Gap and pull plays are
02:52 exactly that. It's a very physical,
02:54 hard-nosed
02:56 brand of football. I think it allows us to
02:58 show it off a little bit. This team is
03:00 2-0. You've won both games,
03:02 but is there still a sense of
03:04 maybe not satisfied with where we are?
03:06 We've won the games, but
03:08 we've still got a lot more to do. Yeah.
03:10 Definitely. Like I said earlier,
03:12 there hasn't been
03:14 a day where we come out and we're just
03:16 feet back, feet up on the table, leaning back,
03:18 enjoying things like we're coming out every day.
03:20 Excited and eager
03:22 to not only practice, but get better
03:24 and get to where we want to be.
03:26 When I asked about jazz,
03:28 Brad's a little punch back there.
03:30 What have you noticed about him
03:32 when he gets in the game? Yeah.
03:34 We
03:36 played a little bit in the bowl game against
03:38 Kentucky last year.
03:40 But obviously, just in practice,
03:42 he's a guy who
03:44 practices really hard.
03:46 Loves the game of football.
03:48 You can tell that just with the way he runs.
03:50 We had
03:52 a third and short last week.
03:54 He got the first down,
03:56 but you could tell he
03:58 wanted more.
04:00 It's awesome to have guys like that.
04:02 Everyone in the running backstage is like that.
04:04 It doesn't matter who we put back there.
04:06 That is a really nice thing to have.
04:08 Has the experience that you've had in the past
04:10 tackled? Does that help you at guard?
04:12 Yeah, I would say it does.
04:14 There's definitely things that transfer.
04:16 Like I was saying earlier,
04:18 the way that offensive line is taught here,
04:20 it's not necessarily
04:22 position specific in terms of fundamentals
04:24 and stuff like that. It's really
04:26 not too much of
04:28 a difference, I guess.
04:30 Where do you think the offense needs to improve to have more
04:32 consistency to have a full game
04:34 performance like you do in the first half?
04:36 We're watching the film. We're doing a lot of things that
04:38 we're hurting ourselves. Nothing the defense
04:40 has done has been able to actually stop us
04:42 from doing what we want to do and getting things we want
04:44 to get done. It's kind of just the little tweaks that
04:46 we have to make for ourselves.
04:48 These first couple games are the things that you
04:50 work on these things so when you get later on in the season,
04:52 all those things that you messed up and you missed
04:54 at those times, they're capitalizing on now.
04:56 Sounds like a close call.
04:58 Everything we've seen, like watching the film, we're close
05:00 on a lot of things. Close on a lot of deep balls.
05:02 Close on a lot of runs.
05:04 I would say everything we went through, we can see
05:06 that we're really close to actually making the plays
05:08 that we want to make and doing them how we want
05:10 them to be done. Western Michigan defensive
05:12 line, what do you kind of see?
05:14 They got a lot of crazy stuff. They got a lot of
05:16 pressure. Coach Copeland
05:18 was saying it's kind of like Star Wars.
05:20 You don't know what you're going to get out there. There's a whole bunch of stuff going on.
05:22 They're sound with what they do.
05:24 They discipline what they do.
05:26 It's going to be definitely a good game, good task
05:28 and we just have to take advantage of
05:30 the opportunities we have. When you say crazy
05:32 things, is it more just crazy blitz
05:34 schemes by the defensive line?
05:36 Define crazy, I guess.
05:38 It's a lot, yeah. They play
05:40 different coverages like the tilt-to
05:42 coverage. You can have the
05:44 safety come from the left side all the way to the right side
05:46 to play cover 2. Stuff that we
05:48 don't really see normally.
05:50 Probably won't see this defense again throughout any other
05:52 teams we play. It's definitely more
05:54 defiant to how Western Michigan wants to play.
05:56 We probably won't see that defense again.
05:58 It's just crazy for our eyes to see.
06:00 When you talk about
06:02 you guys being close on all things,
06:04 how do you get over that?
06:06 Is it just reps? Is it watching film
06:08 more times? How do you
06:10 get over that gap? That's all reps.
06:12 You just got to keep doing it to be able to
06:14 do it successfully.
06:16 Trial and error. You're going to do it
06:18 and mess it up maybe.
06:20 As you keep going, as you keep getting the shots,
06:22 you keep getting the runs going. All those things
06:24 have to click slowly.
06:26 When it's baby steps and
06:28 reps and stuff, is it hard to
06:30 stay focused and not want instant
06:32 success with an offense right away?
06:34 It's kind of a slow process to get there.
06:36 No, you got to stay focused all the time. This is our job.
06:38 We're out here and it's what we have to do.
06:40 If your mind is anywhere else but the game
06:42 and handling that situation when you're supposed to be handling that
06:44 situation, then you're not bought into the
06:46 situation at all. We're all just focused
06:48 on doing our job at all points. No matter if it's
06:50 going slow, if it's going fast, just bought into the
06:52 situation. The outside world may not see it,
06:54 but do you see the improvement
06:56 on a weekly basis from the offense? Have you
06:58 seen it? Oh yeah, definitely. I've seen us moving the ball
07:00 and I see places where we almost
07:02 had the big shot that all the
07:04 fans and all the people want to see, like the big deep
07:06 balls and big runs. We see it on film
07:08 and we're this close to doing it.
07:10 We just know as time goes on and how we
07:12 keep progressing and we keep getting the practice reps
07:14 and we keep finding the
07:16 little details, we'll get to what we want to happen.
07:18 Has Cade bought you dinner yet?
07:20 He said he owes you one after he missed you on that go-around.
07:22 He didn't buy me dinner yet, but I'm making
07:24 sure he will get me that dinner. I'm going to
07:26 run that tab up a little bit on him too.
07:28 Like the personnel,
07:30 we get a lot of looks from those guys. I would say
07:32 he gets a great look. We just get to see a bunch of guys
07:34 like that and give us a run for our money.
07:36 So being able to go up against them
07:38 really gives us a look and I think we've been taking our run
07:40 good. Is there a confidence that this
07:42 offense can keep taking steps
07:44 week by week no matter who the opponent is?
07:46 Yeah, I think you do that with practice
07:48 each week. If you have good practice, you're going to have confidence
07:50 going into each game.
07:52 I think it all starts from the top, which is
07:54 Coach Baird's
07:56 leadership in our team
07:58 as well. So you've got guys like Cave,
08:00 Luke, just a whole bunch of leaders on our team
08:02 that are really emphasizing the no-tempo in practice.
08:04 If we have good practice, we'll definitely
08:06 feel confident on Saturday. Going into your
08:08 third game of the year, you've had two games of it.
08:10 It's looked like progress and growth. Does it feel
08:12 like this is a game and an opportunity where maybe
08:14 everything clicks and you have a
08:16 big breakout performance across the board?
08:18 Yeah, we hope for a perfect game, but that's just
08:20 not realistic. It's an imperfect game.
08:22 There's going to be things that happen
08:24 and that's just part of the game, but it's how you adjust
08:26 to those things. Go on the
08:28 run and things like that. This week of
08:30 preparation is huge. It's another week
08:32 for us to get better and hopefully come Saturday
08:34 we'll play better than we did last week.
08:36 Two games in a row where the offense is starting
08:38 hot and then the second half
08:40 kind of struggles.
08:42 How do you adjust
08:44 and fix that going forward?
08:46 All we've got to do is just continue to play.
08:48 It's easier to ride the rollercoaster
08:50 of emotions. You're on such a high when
08:52 you get big plays like that, when Jazz
08:54 made that big run.
08:56 You just have to stay calm
08:58 the whole entire game. People are going to make
09:00 plays. That's what they do. We just got to block up
09:02 front and let our skill guys do what they do.
09:04 We'll see
09:06 what happens after that. Is there ever a
09:08 sense of, "Hey, we're 2-0, so
09:10 we're winning, so
09:12 that's good enough?"
09:14 Or as a lineman, do you think we can always
09:16 improve and keep doing better no matter
09:18 if we are winning?
09:20 There's games
09:22 where we might have won, but we get
09:24 in the film session and it's just absolutely
09:26 awful. Coaches are on us and things like that.
09:28 Then there's games where you lose and
09:30 you played well up front
09:32 or whatever the
09:34 position is. The only thing you
09:36 can do is improve. I think that's the biggest
09:38 thing that we really harp on is each week
09:40 come in and work on what
09:42 maybe you struggled with the week
09:44 prior. That's just the way we work.
09:46 Have you seen the most improvement so far?
09:48 I would definitely say
09:50 as an offensive line
09:52 just our pass pro, I feel like we're
09:54 definitely clicking. The way
09:56 we communicate, the way we practice and things like that
09:58 compared to last year. I feel like
10:00 we're just... Maybe it's just that we're
10:02 more comfortable with one another as well. I'm definitely
10:04 more comfortable with these guys because I've been with
10:06 them for two years now. I understand
10:08 who they are and things like that, but
10:10 I feel like going into a game
10:12 we're very confident in our pass pro
10:14 and that we're going to set together.
10:16 That was something you guys talked about along the preseason.
10:18 Do you feel you've gotten better with the...
10:20 Or have you gotten better with the
10:22 communication? You pick up
10:24 that guy, you pick up that guy if you're facing
10:26 a funky front. Do you feel you've gotten better
10:28 with that? Yeah, I definitely feel
10:30 like we've gotten a lot better with that. We're going to see
10:32 a lot of goofy fronts. Like Iowa State
10:34 played a very different defense.
10:36 3-3-5. Things
10:38 like that. But as long as everybody's on the same
10:40 page, which I feel like we are for the most part,
10:42 we're going to be okay. I just have to
10:44 make the call. If it's wrong,
10:46 it's wrong, but we're just going to go with it.
10:48 And then if somebody sees something, we're going to adjust
10:50 and go with that. And then if the quarterback
10:52 sees something too, he can re-buck it and things
10:54 like that. There's a lot that goes into it.
10:56 You just got to see it and you got to
10:58 communicate it with everybody else.