Transcribed by Bill Seals
Opening statement:
“We’re really excited to get this point of the season. It’s been a long, good fall camp. I’m proud of some of the headway that we’ve been able to make. I still think there are a lot of question marks about this football team, and some of that will start to get answered this coming Saturday. We look forward to doing that against an opponent, culture and team that we have a great deal of respect for. What Coach (Mark) Farley has been able to do at UNI has been extremely impressive. He has a very talented football team coming back, led by a dynamic quarterback and then some really dynamic defensive players.”
On particular areas you prepare for with Panther quarterback Aaron Bailey:
“I think that’s the trick with a guy like Aaron. He’s got the ability to hurt you both ways. He’s certainly got the legs and ability to make plays and extend plays with his feet. He’s also got an arm to make the throws and has a really good receiving corps around him. What you have to do is present multiple looks and continue to try to play situational football. How do we get them into situational football and win in some of those areas?”
On Bailey being the first of several talented quarterbacks the defense will face:
“It’s kind of the gauntlet. It’s the starting point for us. As long as we’ve coached and been a part of our schematics, we’ve always talked that the starting point is the quarterback. What’s he do and how do you try to challenge that quarterback? Aaron certainly presents those. It’s the start of the gauntlet for us in good quarterback play.”
On nine true freshmen being in the two-deep and how many will play:
“I have said this multiple times that this is a really talented freshmen class to come in here. Regardless of how you want to say depth in any way, shape or form, it’s still impressive for a young man in a Big 12 football program to be able to come in here and earn his way into the two-deep. How many of those guys will play depends a little bit. We’ll find out a little bit more this Saturday. Practice this week will dictate playing time, snaps and how much they’ll play. Those young men that are on that two-deep have certainly earned the right to be on that two-deep.”
On if he’d like the avoid the situation of playing so many true freshmen in future:
“I’ve always said this…it doesn’t bother me if you’re a senior or freshman, the best player is going to play. I always go back to a school like Mount Union where we were extremely talented top to bottom. If you’re the best player at your position, you’re going to play. That’s the fair way to do it. That’s honest. Whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, what you want and hope to build within your program is great competition year in and year out. When there’s great competition, those practices become so critical to your success. Nobody can just skate by. You love that competition because it makes the best of all of us.”
On if any certain true freshmen have surprised him by making the two-deep:
“All of them surprised me. Until you get a young person – no matter how talented they are on film and what you’ve seen from them in the recruiting process – into this competitive environment where there’s 85 scholarship players and 105 players that are on this level competing on this stage, you don’t know what you’re going to get. We have an idea of what they’ve been able to do and what they’ve done so far has been extremely impressive. But until the lights come on and they play on that stage, you really have no idea what you have or don’t have. I think all of those young men have earned the right to be there. Really, there are some really talented guys that aren’t on there and it’s not because of their effort in fall camp, but maybe some more depth at those positions.”
On what kind of gap there is between an FCS program such as UNI and Iowa State, a Power-5 school:
“I think that’s hard to tell right now. As you go into that first game, that’s a little bit of the unknown both ways. What I do know is the confident and culture of that program is right. You’re talking about a team that had success a year ago and have had success over Coach Farley’s career. They know what to expect. Their kids play hard all the time. They have great consistency about themselves. You turn this game on a year ago and it’s 10-7 early in the third quarter. The reality of it is that team got better last year as the year went on and continued to get better and make strides. I couldn’t be more impressed with UNI. They’ve won big football games and have played people in the postseason. That’s what good programs do, they reload.”
On Allen Lazard not being in two-deep as return man, and if he’ll still factor in back there:
“I don’t know if you will or won’t see him. He’s certainly back there at times in the punt return game. Right now starting on our kickoff return team, it’s just a matter of Trever (Ryen) being dynamic back there and having a really good fall camp. I don’t know if it’s a plus or minus. It’s still pretty fluid as we start the season.”
On Lazard taking next step to becoming a great wide receiver in Ames:
“He’s consistently a really talented football player. What we have challenged him to be – when there’s nobody from a talent standpoint that’s maybe is pushing you at times, how do you come out and be the best every day. He’s got all the talent in the world to be one of the best, and one of our greatest challenges is to getting him to be that guy every day. The elite players that I’ve been around, those guys come out every day and are the best on the football field. Allen has made really good strides in that direction and that will continue to go. I thought it was really impressive that this football team nominated him as a captain. That tells you a lot about what his work ethic is. He’s really trending in the right direction.”
On ultimately how he will judge the success of this season’s team:
“It’s more about the attitude, effort and way we play. It’s not about the opponent, it’s about us. That’s never a disrespect about the opponent. It’s about what type of culture you’re trying to build, what’s your program look like, how hard do you play, what’s the consistency that you play with, how do we attack the details. Turnover margin. Winning third down. Winning in the red zone. Do we really understand that? Really good teams, when the W shows up on that side for them with great consistency, they do all of those things right. You can’t hide. You don’t just luck into winning. You need to make those things habits instead of circumstance.”
On how they will go about attacking a UNI defense that’s lost an abundance of starters:
“You can get in saying they did lose a lot, but you also look at it and see so many of their guys that are playing maybe weren’t starters but played a lot of reps. UNI has done such a great job of that in the past, playing so many guys. Coach Farley’s son is kind of the ringleader at the MIKE linebacker spot. He has great talent and leadership ability. Some of those defensive linemen, there are a lot of guys that played a lot of football that are back playing for them. In the secondary, there are four or five guys competing for spots that played a ton for them a year ago. They’ve got really good players that know their scheme, know who they are and what they do. They have reloaded instead of rebuilt that defense.”
Opening statement:
“We’re really excited to get this point of the season. It’s been a long, good fall camp. I’m proud of some of the headway that we’ve been able to make. I still think there are a lot of question marks about this football team, and some of that will start to get answered this coming Saturday. We look forward to doing that against an opponent, culture and team that we have a great deal of respect for. What Coach (Mark) Farley has been able to do at UNI has been extremely impressive. He has a very talented football team coming back, led by a dynamic quarterback and then some really dynamic defensive players.”
On particular areas you prepare for with Panther quarterback Aaron Bailey:
“I think that’s the trick with a guy like Aaron. He’s got the ability to hurt you both ways. He’s certainly got the legs and ability to make plays and extend plays with his feet. He’s also got an arm to make the throws and has a really good receiving corps around him. What you have to do is present multiple looks and continue to try to play situational football. How do we get them into situational football and win in some of those areas?”
On Bailey being the first of several talented quarterbacks the defense will face:
“It’s kind of the gauntlet. It’s the starting point for us. As long as we’ve coached and been a part of our schematics, we’ve always talked that the starting point is the quarterback. What’s he do and how do you try to challenge that quarterback? Aaron certainly presents those. It’s the start of the gauntlet for us in good quarterback play.”
On nine true freshmen being in the two-deep and how many will play:
“I have said this multiple times that this is a really talented freshmen class to come in here. Regardless of how you want to say depth in any way, shape or form, it’s still impressive for a young man in a Big 12 football program to be able to come in here and earn his way into the two-deep. How many of those guys will play depends a little bit. We’ll find out a little bit more this Saturday. Practice this week will dictate playing time, snaps and how much they’ll play. Those young men that are on that two-deep have certainly earned the right to be on that two-deep.”
On if he’d like the avoid the situation of playing so many true freshmen in future:
“I’ve always said this…it doesn’t bother me if you’re a senior or freshman, the best player is going to play. I always go back to a school like Mount Union where we were extremely talented top to bottom. If you’re the best player at your position, you’re going to play. That’s the fair way to do it. That’s honest. Whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, what you want and hope to build within your program is great competition year in and year out. When there’s great competition, those practices become so critical to your success. Nobody can just skate by. You love that competition because it makes the best of all of us.”
On if any certain true freshmen have surprised him by making the two-deep:
“All of them surprised me. Until you get a young person – no matter how talented they are on film and what you’ve seen from them in the recruiting process – into this competitive environment where there’s 85 scholarship players and 105 players that are on this level competing on this stage, you don’t know what you’re going to get. We have an idea of what they’ve been able to do and what they’ve done so far has been extremely impressive. But until the lights come on and they play on that stage, you really have no idea what you have or don’t have. I think all of those young men have earned the right to be there. Really, there are some really talented guys that aren’t on there and it’s not because of their effort in fall camp, but maybe some more depth at those positions.”
On what kind of gap there is between an FCS program such as UNI and Iowa State, a Power-5 school:
“I think that’s hard to tell right now. As you go into that first game, that’s a little bit of the unknown both ways. What I do know is the confident and culture of that program is right. You’re talking about a team that had success a year ago and have had success over Coach Farley’s career. They know what to expect. Their kids play hard all the time. They have great consistency about themselves. You turn this game on a year ago and it’s 10-7 early in the third quarter. The reality of it is that team got better last year as the year went on and continued to get better and make strides. I couldn’t be more impressed with UNI. They’ve won big football games and have played people in the postseason. That’s what good programs do, they reload.”
On Allen Lazard not being in two-deep as return man, and if he’ll still factor in back there:
“I don’t know if you will or won’t see him. He’s certainly back there at times in the punt return game. Right now starting on our kickoff return team, it’s just a matter of Trever (Ryen) being dynamic back there and having a really good fall camp. I don’t know if it’s a plus or minus. It’s still pretty fluid as we start the season.”
On Lazard taking next step to becoming a great wide receiver in Ames:
“He’s consistently a really talented football player. What we have challenged him to be – when there’s nobody from a talent standpoint that’s maybe is pushing you at times, how do you come out and be the best every day. He’s got all the talent in the world to be one of the best, and one of our greatest challenges is to getting him to be that guy every day. The elite players that I’ve been around, those guys come out every day and are the best on the football field. Allen has made really good strides in that direction and that will continue to go. I thought it was really impressive that this football team nominated him as a captain. That tells you a lot about what his work ethic is. He’s really trending in the right direction.”
On ultimately how he will judge the success of this season’s team:
“It’s more about the attitude, effort and way we play. It’s not about the opponent, it’s about us. That’s never a disrespect about the opponent. It’s about what type of culture you’re trying to build, what’s your program look like, how hard do you play, what’s the consistency that you play with, how do we attack the details. Turnover margin. Winning third down. Winning in the red zone. Do we really understand that? Really good teams, when the W shows up on that side for them with great consistency, they do all of those things right. You can’t hide. You don’t just luck into winning. You need to make those things habits instead of circumstance.”
On how they will go about attacking a UNI defense that’s lost an abundance of starters:
“You can get in saying they did lose a lot, but you also look at it and see so many of their guys that are playing maybe weren’t starters but played a lot of reps. UNI has done such a great job of that in the past, playing so many guys. Coach Farley’s son is kind of the ringleader at the MIKE linebacker spot. He has great talent and leadership ability. Some of those defensive linemen, there are a lot of guys that played a lot of football that are back playing for them. In the secondary, there are four or five guys competing for spots that played a ton for them a year ago. They’ve got really good players that know their scheme, know who they are and what they do. They have reloaded instead of rebuilt that defense.”
