Transcribed by Bill Seals
On if playing against dual threat quarterbacks first two weeks will help versus TCU’s Kenny Hill:
“All those guys are a little bit different because of the system they run their offense within. What we have the expectation of this week is the tempo and speed at which we’re going to face from TCU. The quarterback fits more of what they do in terms of offensive production and success. They play at a really high rate. He’s got the ability to make all the throws across the field and he’s just dangerous enough with his feet if you load the box and don’t account for him in the running game, he’s going to make you play. We can take and draw on a little bit of what’s happened the first two weeks, but it’s a total different animal that we’re facing this week than maybe what we had the first two weeks.”
On Hakeem Butler’s health and team’s overall:
“Overall health-wise, we’ve gotten really lucky. I watched that again afterwards on the way home, and it looked really bad. We dodged a huge bullet there. He did not practice yesterday and we’ll see where he’s at mid-week to see if he’s potentially available this game. Right now I’d say questionable. He’ll be fine and we’ll get him back on the field as soon as we possibly can. We’re really lucky because he’s playing really well for us.”
On if the team is where he expected it to be heading into week three:
“I don’t know if you know that until you play games. You think you know what you have, but until you get out there and compete and until the lights come on. I don’t know if I could tell you yes or no. I know we have a lot of work to do in those areas right now. You’d love to say, ‘hey let’s just put the next guy in,’ but the reality of it is we’ve got to coach our own guys. These are our young men and we’ve got to continue to get them better and play at a rate for us to have success at.
“What I saw in our practice yesterday and even in our locker room after the football game, are our kids haven’t given up and are into it. They want to continue to get better. We have to coach them to get them to where they need to be for us to be successful.”
On opening the Big 12 early and the season and if they’re excited about that:
“It’s another really good football team and opponent. The positive and excitement that I have, and you look at the Big 12 right now, this is our first conference football game. We’ve got to be excited that this is a new adventure. We know we haven’t gotten off to the start we wanted to, but now it counts. We get to go on the road and play. As much as anything of who we play, right now it’s more of us and worrying about that. We’ll see where we’re at.”
On the status of Nigel Tribune heading into week three:
“He will be available. Nigel has practiced with us the last couple weeks. He’s done everything above and beyond what we’ve asked him to do, and some of the plateaus we put in place to get himself back to a status where he’s available to play. We’re certainly excited to have Nigel back. He’s a senior within our football team and a young man that has some talent to help us on defense.”
On importance of getting transfer defensive backs like D’Andre Payne and Evrett Edwards back:
“It was great to get D’Andre back last week. We all wanted to see him in a football game and play the game. He had a pretty good football game. He had a couple huge stops on third down. He made some great plays at that nickel position. He looked healthy. He’ll just continue to get better and better.
“With Evrett, it’s kind of the same way. He got dinged up in that first football game for us. As you get into some conference and see the speed in which you have to cover and some of the skill sets of some of these offenses that we’re about to play, you can’t have enough of those guys. You can’t have enough guys that can tackle in space and cover. It’s why it’s great to get a guy like Nigel back as well. He gives you some depth and opportunity to do some things defensively that you need to do to have success in a conference like this.”
On if the future could be a two-quarterback system at ISU with Lanning and Park:
“If you look at my past, I’m never a one-quarterback guy but about what gives us the best chance to be successful. I wish I could sit here and we’re two years into it and I really have a great feeling of what gives us the best opportunity to be successful. We’re two games in and I think we continue to learn and grow. We need to evaluate and do a great job of putting a product on the field for us to be successful. Is that one quarterback, two quarterbacks, three quarterbacks? Whatever it is, we’re going to do whatever we need to do to give ourselves some consistency on the offensive side of the football.”
On the status of freshman tight end Chase Allen:
“That’s been tough. Chase has dealt with the flu right before the UNI game. We thought we got it nipped in the bud, but went back into the hospital over last weekend Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We finally got him out of the hospital last week. We’re still pressing forward with and we’ll see where he’s at this week. It would be great to get him back with us. He could give us some needed reps at the tight end position.”
On the concerns about team’s minus-four turnover margin through two games:
“I think offensively if you look at what those have been, a lot of it has been poor decision making. You can control that. We’re minus-four as it sits right now going into conference play. Is that good enough? No way. It cost us a football game. The other one is a situation where we’re trying to make a play last week and turn the ball over. On the flipside of it, you’ve got to get some of those and have only gotten one. We need to continue to progress. If I sit right here and we’ve got a bunch of fumbles, that might be a different story a little bit. We’ve got to continue to drive it home. That number has to change for us to have success. We haven’t gotten off to a great start with that number and it hasn’t helped us with what our record is.”
On if playing against dual threat quarterbacks first two weeks will help versus TCU’s Kenny Hill:
“All those guys are a little bit different because of the system they run their offense within. What we have the expectation of this week is the tempo and speed at which we’re going to face from TCU. The quarterback fits more of what they do in terms of offensive production and success. They play at a really high rate. He’s got the ability to make all the throws across the field and he’s just dangerous enough with his feet if you load the box and don’t account for him in the running game, he’s going to make you play. We can take and draw on a little bit of what’s happened the first two weeks, but it’s a total different animal that we’re facing this week than maybe what we had the first two weeks.”
On Hakeem Butler’s health and team’s overall:
“Overall health-wise, we’ve gotten really lucky. I watched that again afterwards on the way home, and it looked really bad. We dodged a huge bullet there. He did not practice yesterday and we’ll see where he’s at mid-week to see if he’s potentially available this game. Right now I’d say questionable. He’ll be fine and we’ll get him back on the field as soon as we possibly can. We’re really lucky because he’s playing really well for us.”
On if the team is where he expected it to be heading into week three:
“I don’t know if you know that until you play games. You think you know what you have, but until you get out there and compete and until the lights come on. I don’t know if I could tell you yes or no. I know we have a lot of work to do in those areas right now. You’d love to say, ‘hey let’s just put the next guy in,’ but the reality of it is we’ve got to coach our own guys. These are our young men and we’ve got to continue to get them better and play at a rate for us to have success at.
“What I saw in our practice yesterday and even in our locker room after the football game, are our kids haven’t given up and are into it. They want to continue to get better. We have to coach them to get them to where they need to be for us to be successful.”
On opening the Big 12 early and the season and if they’re excited about that:
“It’s another really good football team and opponent. The positive and excitement that I have, and you look at the Big 12 right now, this is our first conference football game. We’ve got to be excited that this is a new adventure. We know we haven’t gotten off to the start we wanted to, but now it counts. We get to go on the road and play. As much as anything of who we play, right now it’s more of us and worrying about that. We’ll see where we’re at.”
On the status of Nigel Tribune heading into week three:
“He will be available. Nigel has practiced with us the last couple weeks. He’s done everything above and beyond what we’ve asked him to do, and some of the plateaus we put in place to get himself back to a status where he’s available to play. We’re certainly excited to have Nigel back. He’s a senior within our football team and a young man that has some talent to help us on defense.”
On importance of getting transfer defensive backs like D’Andre Payne and Evrett Edwards back:
“It was great to get D’Andre back last week. We all wanted to see him in a football game and play the game. He had a pretty good football game. He had a couple huge stops on third down. He made some great plays at that nickel position. He looked healthy. He’ll just continue to get better and better.
“With Evrett, it’s kind of the same way. He got dinged up in that first football game for us. As you get into some conference and see the speed in which you have to cover and some of the skill sets of some of these offenses that we’re about to play, you can’t have enough of those guys. You can’t have enough guys that can tackle in space and cover. It’s why it’s great to get a guy like Nigel back as well. He gives you some depth and opportunity to do some things defensively that you need to do to have success in a conference like this.”
On if the future could be a two-quarterback system at ISU with Lanning and Park:
“If you look at my past, I’m never a one-quarterback guy but about what gives us the best chance to be successful. I wish I could sit here and we’re two years into it and I really have a great feeling of what gives us the best opportunity to be successful. We’re two games in and I think we continue to learn and grow. We need to evaluate and do a great job of putting a product on the field for us to be successful. Is that one quarterback, two quarterbacks, three quarterbacks? Whatever it is, we’re going to do whatever we need to do to give ourselves some consistency on the offensive side of the football.”
On the status of freshman tight end Chase Allen:
“That’s been tough. Chase has dealt with the flu right before the UNI game. We thought we got it nipped in the bud, but went back into the hospital over last weekend Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We finally got him out of the hospital last week. We’re still pressing forward with and we’ll see where he’s at this week. It would be great to get him back with us. He could give us some needed reps at the tight end position.”
On the concerns about team’s minus-four turnover margin through two games:
“I think offensively if you look at what those have been, a lot of it has been poor decision making. You can control that. We’re minus-four as it sits right now going into conference play. Is that good enough? No way. It cost us a football game. The other one is a situation where we’re trying to make a play last week and turn the ball over. On the flipside of it, you’ve got to get some of those and have only gotten one. We need to continue to progress. If I sit right here and we’ve got a bunch of fumbles, that might be a different story a little bit. We’ve got to continue to drive it home. That number has to change for us to have success. We haven’t gotten off to a great start with that number and it hasn’t helped us with what our record is.”
