Oct. 9, 2007

Quoting Head Coach Ron Zook...

...on this weekend's game at Iowa

"I've said this many times about the Big Ten. We've stepped up every Saturday and obviously, this is another week where we're going into a very hostile environment, against a very good football team. It's going to be imperative that we remember the things that got us to where we're at today. As we told them on Monday, there's a lot of noise in the system, so to speak, right now. It's kind of uncharted territory for us. Our guys need to understand, and I think they do, there's only one thing that matters, and that's the University of Iowa. We've been here, going into our third year, our third time playing them. We haven't been able to beat them yet. Obviously, we're going there, to a hostile environment, a team that you might say is backed up against the wall a little bit. Anytime you get someone that's backed into the corner, you know they are going to come out fighting. You're going to get everything they have. It is no doubt in our minds, the staff, it's going to take every bit the same effort that we had last week, and maybe even a little more because they are a good football team. I'm proud of our football team, the way they played last week. It was a very physical football game. As we told them again yesterday, it will take exactly the same kind of game over in Iowa City."

...on playing all 60 minutes:

"I think you always want to play 60 minutes. I think we're getting closer to it. I don't believe that we're 100% there yet. Once again, the 60 minutes, you've got to maintain that intensity. I think we made progress there, but we still had some lull periods there on Saturday that we didn't play quite with the level. Anytime you play a game that intense, of course it was hot, all those things, all those factors enter into it. It was hard. It demands an awful lot of your football players too to maintain that intensity."

...on Illinois' injured players:

"Fortunately, with the physical game that it was, and that's probably as physical a football game that I've been around in a while, everybody that played should be ready to go Saturday. We're sore, banged up, just like you'd expect to be after a game like that, after a Big Ten game. That was kind of my comment at the beginning. The one thing about the Big Ten, you'd better be strapped up. One giant after another."

...on subbing players in:

"Well, you've got DaJuan. DaJuan is probably the No. 1 guy, but Marques Wilkins is a guy that's probably going to get a little more time. We said this early in the year that the good football teams are able to handle adversity in those kinds of things. You're going to have adversity during the game. You're going to have adversity during the season. During the games, you're going to have injuries and those kinds of things. Marques is the guy that's come in my office wanting to play. He gets those opportunities to do that. This is why it's important in recruiting that the middle of your football team has the depth to do that. If you look at Iowa, one of the things that they are very, very good at, just like Wisconsin, the middle of their football team is extremely athletic, extremely good, and that's level that we have to get to."

...on the Illinois defense:

"Tom [Sims, defensive line coach] will run a bunch of them in there now, and particularly on a day like Saturday where it was hot, you're able to keep those guys fresh. I think it's two things. Number one, when you get into playing a lot of plays, it's cumulative. In other words, you play a bunch of plays this week, and then next week, and then the next week, and after awhile, it begins to wear on you. The fact that we're able to keep those guys fresh, Tom does a great job of playing them, not only at the right times. And they get in there and get more and more time. Josh [Brent], for example, got his first sack. He was so excited about that. They just continue to improve that way. We've all said this a lot of times, you can't buy experience. That's the only way you can get it, and it allows us to stay fresh up front."

...on maintaining the team's humility:

"I've tried to be as honest with them as I can. First, of all, I think it's important that they understand that they have made progress. They have accomplished some things that a lot of people didn't think that they could. I think that it's important that they understand that, but they also have to understand, we have not really accomplished anything yet in terms of something that we can enjoy at the end of the season. For us to do that, it's going to be imperative that we do the same things that got us to where we're at."

...on what Illinois' success has meant to his weekly routine:

"I get a lot more e-mails and calls. (Sports Information contact) Cassie's (Arner) got me doing a lot more things, but I think that's part of it. You want your program, you want people to be proud of the program. You want the Illini Nation. This is about the University of Illinois football program. It's about the people that have played here. Some of the things that make me feel the best is I get e-mails from former players, guys that I don't know and haven't had the opportunity to meet yet. That's what college football is all about. It's the Illini Nation. It's the Illini program. Coach Guenther is my boss, but he also played here, in a great era. I think he's excited about it as well."

...on whether the success will change him:

"I'm not going to (change); the football part is going to stay the same. As a coaching staff, we've said that we have to stay the same, and nothing can change. If we want the players to be that way, then we have to be the same way. I think it takes some of their time. I was teasing Coach Disch, he said something about taking a lunch, and I said that we don't have time for a lunch. We have to do those things, and eat on the run. You kind of have to do those things, but it's all part of it."

...on keeping the players focused:

"I don't go with the idea that we're going to do that, or that we have to do that. I think that our guys know. I think the biggest thing is we want our football team to continue to do the things that got us to this point. To do that, it takes a lot of concentration. That's what happens. You're halfway through the season. They are a little bit tired now. They have to understand that unless we are focused on our end, then everything that's happened so far is for nothing."

...on wIowa's defense and their turnover margin:

"You always want to have turnovers. They have done a great job. I believe that they are No. 1 in the Big Ten in turnover margins. I think they are plus eight, and we're plus one, so that tells you that they've done a great job defensively. They are as good a defense that we've played. They are third in the nation in total defense. I think they are third in the nation in scoring defense. They just do the same thing. They line up and beat you up. We've done a very good job in playing great defense, but turnover margin is something that's very important. We say this all the time, we have to take care of the football. They have done a great job of it. We've made progress and gotten better at it. That's always the thing going into a game, you want your defense to be able to force turnovers, and you've had to take care of the football."

...on Iowa's quarterback:

"When we first got here, he had already committed to Iowa. We tried to talk to him then, but a guy that's kind of bided his time, and now it's his turn. I think he was under a very good quarterback in Tate last year, and this guy, you can see it. He's a competitor. He's a left-handed guy, which makes things a little different. He makes things happen. I think that they've changed their throwing game a little bit in terms of more quick stuff, but still you can see him improve as the season's progressed."

...on what he saw in him as a quarterback in high school:

"His competitiveness. He did an awful lot of things that you like to see in quarterbacks in high school."

...on rankings affecting recruiting:

"It doesn't change the recruiting. I think that it helps a little bit. People across the country are going to hear about the University of Illinois. Once again, I think it's important that we keep in mind that it's Iowa. That's all we talk about is Iowa. If somebody asks you something outside of Iowa, it's about Iowa. All the things that you want to enjoy in January, in February, in the off-season, all those things are for nothing if you don't continue to do the things we've done. So it's about Iowa. It's all we talk about. I mean, this is a good, good football team. I mean they've not maybe won a few games, but they could be 4-2 just as easily as they are 2-4. That's the thing. We have not had success with Iowa, since I've been here, since before we got here. I think it's important, you've got to understand, right away, going into that stadium, it's a tough place to play. In the back of their minds, they think they're going to win. They aren't going to give us a game. We have to go play the same way we've played the last couple of weeks."

...on revenge as a motive against Iowa:

"I don't want to say it's revenge. Every game you compete, every game you do everything you can do to win. It's going to be important in the Big Ten conference that you do those things, to compete, to win. I don't look at it as a revenge deal. I look at it as it's the next Big Ten game in what little success we've had so far, that we have to play against."

...on which coaches he runs into while recruiting:

"I think a lot of times in the Midwest, we'll all be recruiting the same players. They are pretty strong in Ohio. They do a great job in Ohio as well. We've been fortunate to get two guys out of there. So I think we will always run into each other."

...on Iowa's pink visitors' locker room:

"I think that's an overblown story. In fact, really, it's a nice locker room. We went there a few years ago. It's a new facility. It just looks like a women's locker room. I remember when I was at Ohio State, it was a bright pink."

...on Iowa's football program:

"Anytime you stay at a place as long as Coach Fry did, I mean I think that speaks for itself."

...on playing QB Juice Williams this week:

"It depends a little bit. I think it's hard to answer that question. I feel very confident that Juice is going to be fine, but I think that we'll have to wait to Saturday to see where we're. I feel very confident that Eddie can come in if he has to, but I also feel very confident that Juice will be ready to go."

...on RB Rashard Mendenhall:

"You've all heard me say this many times before, you always have to have more than one running back. Last year we talked about, you need three guys. And I really think that you do. Rashard's doing well. His body's holding up well. He's excited and hasn't shown any signs of wearing down. But I think we'll get Daniel in there more as we get going with this thing a little bit more and more. He's a 100% now, he was 100% this past weekend. But the week before, he had kind of a sore ankle. Maybe 92%. I think he's 100% as needed."

...more on Rashard:

"I'm really proud of Rashard. I really am. We said that before the season started that if Rashard had the kind of year that we felt like he could have. I think that everyone in this room understands that he's a very, very talented young man, a great kid. You really kind of get out of college coaching is the fact that you see him mature. I see his leadership qualities. He wants to be the guy now. I never really say that. You saw him get the tough yards. He's not afraid to put his shoulder down and run in there. I don't have anything to do with the awards and so forth, I think the fact that he's doing it in the Big Ten conference on a consistent basis shows you that he is some of the things that we said earlier in the year, where we felt he could be a good of a back as there was in the Big Ten."

...on RB Walter and Rashard Mendenhall:

"Well they're very, very close. They're all very, very close. But Walter and Rashard, you very seldom see them apart particularly at meals and things like that. I don't there's any question that they help each other and keep each other on even keel.

...on Illinois' punting:

"Well it's a question of consistency. Last night it was right where you'd like it to be, of course we weren't in pads so it was a little bit easier. The blocked point and the tie to get the ball, all those kinds of things are consistent things that typically happen with guys that don't have a lot of consistency. But, last night I felt pretty good about it. That's the whole problem with the punting game is the consistency part of it. It's always who's going to be the consistent guy today, but Anthony had a good night last night."

...on whether the players are easier or more difficult to deal with when the team is winning:

"These guys practiced hard and they've done everything we've asked them to do, and we've pushed. I told them last week and told them again yesterday that the coaches are going to be more demanding. Human instinct is to relax if you don't keep the petal to the metal. We have to draw a line and say this is the way we're going to do it; it has to be this way and we're not going to accept anything else. They're done a great job with that and I'm really proud of them, the way we've practiced and the way we've prepared. It's been a grind these last 3 weeks and I've told them that we have a couple weeks left, that's the Big Ten Conference."

...on the team's recent success:

"People are saying that everything else is a fluke and this is the game we're going to let down. Anytime you're in a proving stage, and our program's in a proving stage, people are going to keep questioning you until you finally knock the last one down. We got to keep doing it, we're making progress, we're going in the right direction, but once again it's imperative that we continue to do the things that we've done to get here. Obviously right now it's imperative that we put all of our attention, all of our focus on Iowa because number one they're a good football team and number two if we don't we'll be right back where we were."

...on the team's current mentality:

"My mentality is to try not to get out of my routine other than the things you have to do. We are pretty much focused the same way and hopefully are players are as well, which I really believe that they are."

...on DB Dere Hicks:

"We had Dere [Hicks] at receiver this past spring and he's one of those guys that played quite a bit last year in a back-up role as corner. And going into spring it felt like he was going to be a starting corner and I said to him "Do you want an opportunity to play on the offensive side of the ball?" Last year when he wasn't playing as much as he wanted to play he wanted to go over there and play receiver. Then he went over there for the spring he felt like he could help our team more on the defensive side; he's done a great job. The thing I'm really impressed with Dere is particularly within the last three weeks he has really improved. He wants to be as good as he possibly can be and his work ethic in practice and his work ethic in the games, he's tried to make himself be the best he possibly can be."