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Zook Talks It Over With The Media
Oct. 2, 2007
Quoting Head Coach Ron Zook...
...on this weekend's game vs. No. 5 Wisconsin "Obviously, the football team that's coming in here this week is a really, really good football team. There's a reason that they are the No. 5 team in the nation. In my opinion, they're better than they were last year. I was kind of hoping that losing their quarterback, they wouldn't be quite so much of a threat, but the guy that's come in there has done a great job, and they are a well-coached team. Any time that you are able to put together, not only a year, but what they've done since 2004, I think that they are third in the nation behind USC and Texas in terms of the number of victories. They are first in the Big Ten. It's going to be a great challenge for us. It's going to be imperative that our football team understands how we've gotten to where we are. I think that we have made progress. I told them that Monday night, but we aren't close to where we need to be. And the second that we forget how we've gotten to this point, we will be a very, very mediocre football team, just another also-ran. It's important that we continue to take care of us, in terms of our mental state, our practice, our preparation. This is a good football team you're going to see come in this weekend.""
...on Wisconsin's Bret Bielema being a head coach at the age of 36: "He's handled it extremely well. Any time that you're having the success that you're having, then you have those kinds of problems that you have to deal with. This tells me that the coaching staff has done a great job, he's done a great job in terms of managing it. They continue to recruit extremely well. I think that he'll be the first to tell you that the program was on solid footing when he took over. It's important that he's able to keep the thing going. I know that Coach [Larry] Coker talked a lot about that when he took over at Miami. Sometimes it's even harder to maintain or continue the success that the program has had when you take over. That's a tribute to what he's done."
...on Wisconsin Head Coach Bret Bielema: "He's a good guy. I've seen him in Big Ten meetings and so forth. I saw a commercial that his mother did, and I think that it talks about the kind of guy that he is. We probably are from similar backgrounds in terms of work ethic. You have the opportunity something that you love to do. You put all your energies and focus into that. I'm fortunate to have a wife that keeps me straight. That's even more impressive that he's able to do all the things that he does without someone keeping him straight."
...on Badger running back P.J. Hill: "He's a big, strong, physical back. Breaks tackles, runs low. Looks like he's lost a little weight. He's quicker, faster, more of a cut-back runner. We thought last year that he was a heck of a cut-back runner, but he's big back who's got all the moves. Obviously, here's a guy that was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in the league, a pretty good league. Right there tells you the kind of back that he is."
...on Hill's abilities:
"I think the size of him, like Jerome Bettis for example, he had moves, but he was a more power kind of run-over-you type guy. Where P.J. can do that as well as make you miss. I think that there were a couple plays in the Michigan State game where he about broke a guy's ankle. He's got the shiftiness, the vision, and the God-given ability that you need to have to be a great running back. They've got a great scheme. They are just going to line up and beat you up."
...on what has contributed to the improved play of the Illinois offensive line: "I think number one, Wolfie's [offensive line coach Eric Wolford] done a great job. The chemistry of the offensive line is really good this year. We haven't played quite as many people. I'm always on Wolfie on that. We need to play more guys. You've got Martin [O'Donnell], you've got Ryan [McDonald], guys that have been in the system. This is their third year starting. Xavier [Fulton] kind of come over and learned on the run. A lot of people don't know this, but Xavier is a pretty smart guy. He's picked that stuff up and done extremely well, from that standpoint. I can't say enough about them. I'm proud of them. Of course, Akim [Millington] is going to the other side. So you get some continuity with guys who have a year under their belt or two."
...on the aggressiveness of the Illini O-line: "I think in the Big Ten you better be aggressive or you'll get eaten up. People talk about the Big Ten being a big smash mouth, and I think that it is a smash mouth conference. But it's also a conference that's got a lot of skill and a lot of things that you need to be prepared for. Overall, I think you better be strapped up and ready to go."
...on what it's like coming onto a Big Ten team's coaching staff: "I think anytime, unless you've got all of the players back, it's an area of concern because those guys have to play together, have the timing and chemistry. I think that every year, a football team's chemistry changes. You lose guys, and even if you've got most of your guys back, it's a different chemistry. I think that the chemistry that the offensive linemen have taken, and obviously, that's a lot to do with Wolfie, is great. I think anytime you've got a new coach coming in, you're not exactly sure, you talk with them, you try to spend as much time as you can with them, but until you work with them and get together. I think that the chemistry in the offensive room, Locks [offensive coordinator Mike Locksley] has done a great job with all the coaches. Everyone gets along. We all can voice our opinions and concerns and no one takes anything personally."
...on the differences in the coaching styles of Wolford and former UI offensive line coach Ed Warinner: "I don't know if there's a lot of difference. They are both very demanding coaches. They are both good coaches. Ed's doing a great job as well. This is just the timing of being the third year. We have guys that are doing this for the third time now. Anytime you do something for the second, third, fourth time, you get better at it."
...on whether the Illinois offensive line is grading out higher this year: "Well, yeah. They are doing a great job. I think any time you can run the ball the way we've run it, they have had a lot to do with the success we've had there."
...on the lower sack numbers the UI offensive line is yielding this season: "You'd like to have even less. The fewer the sacks, the better. It is a lot to do with the protection and what we're doing that way. Once again, I've said this many times, coaching is putting players in positions where they can be successful. If there was one system that was best, we'd all be using it. This is the system we believe in. I think the system is flexible enough that we can play to the players' strengths. I think Locks and Wolfie have done a great job of that."
...on having so many smart players on the offensive line, such as Martin O'Donnell, Akim Millington, Ryan McDonald and Xavier Fulton: "Well, Jon Asamoah is an awfully smart guy, also. You've got a smart crew up there. I think that helps. For the most part, to play college football nowadays, you've got to have a little bit on the ball. I don't know that it ever was, but they used to say you'd be a dumb football player. There are all sorts of things going on, checks, not to mention the things they have off the field that they have to do."
...on Wisconsin's defensive line: "They play hard, they play tough, and they're well coached. This is a defense where they shut us out last year in the second half. They scored 20 unanswered points. Here's a team, in the Big Ten, they have almost 10 minutes more of possession. The offense does a great job of holding on to that football, so the defense is fresh when they go in there. They fly around. They get after you. They've get two awfully good corners. One was all-conference. One was honorable mention all-conference. They've got a nice scheme. They coach it well. The kids play extremely hard, and they get after you."
...on learning from last year's game against Wisconsin: "We're both doing a lot of similar things, so you learn from that, but it's a different ball game. It's a different place. They are the No. 5 team in the nation, so they are going do everything they can to stay there. This is a great challenge for us. This is kind of what I alluded to earlier, this is a great opportunity for us to play a team like this. This is why you come to a place in the Big Ten to have this opportunity. We have to continue doing the things that we do, and we can't get caught up in all the noise and the system."
...on what kind of "noise" he's been hearing about this upcoming game: "I'm not really hearing anything. It's not the coaches that I'm worried about, it's the players because they are out there. I don't read the paper. I listen to a Christian radio station, and that's all I listen to. I don't hear any of the things, if anything's being said, for that matter. Although (sports information contact) Cassie's (Arner) had more things for me to do, but I think it's important that our players understand that we have made progress. So all the hard work, and all the things we've done, we have made progress. We haven't worked harder than anybody else because everyone works hard. To make it in this game and this league, you have to work hard. You want them to feel good about what they've accomplished, but understand that we haven't really done anything yet. We've made progress. I want them to feel good about that but understand how we got there. I told the team on Monday, 'You guys who have been around here for the past three years, just remember two years ago. The night that Penn State came in here, and they took everything but our equipment.' I think it's important that they remember that point right there. This is a very humbling game. You have to maintain that focus."
...on being favored to win against Wisconsin: "That favorite stuff. That's got to be a Wisconsin guy trying to get them upset. I don't know how you can have a team (favored) that's been 2-10 the last two years playing the No. 5 team in the nation. I think that's somebody just trying to get them upset."
...on the 24-hour rule (enjoying a victory for a short time before getting back to work for the next game): "It takes a lot of energy. This is a hard game. It takes a lot of sacrifices. I'd be foolish to think that they didn't think about it yesterday (Monday). But I really was happy in the way that practice went, with the focus and so forth. It's going to be important that they do the same thing. That's part of the maturing process. There's still a lot of rough water out there. You better keep those hatches battened up right now because we've still got a ways to go."
...on quarterback Juice Williams: "Juice did some really good things. If you go back and look at the first 11 passes, Russ [Weil] dropped one, Brian Gamble misjudged one or it would have been a touchdown, and Jacob [Willis] ran too deep on a route, otherwise Juice would have been 11-for-11. He did some awfully good things. But I think the other thing, too, was it was a change that we made to get Juice to settle down. It doesn't mean we're making a change. Juice is still our quarterback. He's our guy. I think Eddie [McGee] knows that he's got to be really good. I told Eddie yesterday, and I really believe this. One of the hardest jobs in the National Football League is the backup quarterback. He's got to be just as prepared as the starting quarterback, knowing that he's probably not going to play unless the quarterback gets hurt. That's a hard deal. Eddie's learning. He had a good practice yesterday, and we've got to continue going on in that direction."
...on wide receiver Arrelious Benn: "It's like what Coach Locksley said in the second or third series, 'Why's Rejus out of the game?' I said, 'Well, he's tired!' He just ran 90 yards, but then he came back and ran 29 yards with four or five guys on him. I don't think it's we're not getting him the ball on purpose. I think it's something the defense is doing also, where they are trying to take the guy away. But he's going to get better with stamina and so forth. Like I say to them, I don't care how long you've been playing, or what kind of shape or condition that you're in. You're going to get tired. It's just the recovery period. And that's the thing, he comes back quickly." |
