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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 10, 2015

Tracy Claeys

Minneapolis, Minnesota

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Claeys.

Q. How is Jalen Myrick doing?
COACH CLAEYS: Just talked to Ed. He got out of the hospital here within the last 30 minutes. They're on their way back. So he's improved. Obviously he'll be out with the situation he's had. At least they got it situated and he's on his way back.

Q. Do you have any way of knowing is this going to be a long-term thing now?
COACH CLAEYS: I was told three to four weeks, and he should be back to okay as far as his lung and that goes. You know, by all likelihood he'll be done for the rest of the season.

Q. How tough is that going to be? Another defensive back you have to replace.
COACH CLAEYS: Same answer: take the healthy ones, find out what they do best, practice them, get them in the game, give it your best shot. Ain't going to do any good. It's one thing with the NFL, we can't go out and pick somebody off of waivers and that.

I thought KiAnte Hardin the other night stepped in, did a great job. So we'll just take the next healthy one and throw him in there and go.

But it's been a weird season as far as that goes. But at the same time our kids, they have answered the bell, haven't used it as excuses, continue to compete. I expect we'll do the same.

Q. Do you like the culture of the defense when you see them playing hard throughout Ohio State? Do you like the attitudes?
COACH CLAEYS: I've liked the kids all year. As I say, the Nebraska game was just weird. De'Vondre wasn't able to practice that week. Cody did practice. We just had a lot of things there.

Like I say, I could have handled it a lot better. Besides that, our kids on defense have showed up, competed, given us a chance to win ballgames. With some injuries, Damarius Travis, if you told me we'd play this well without him when the season started, because he's a big leader getting us lined up, Antonio Johnson has done well, those kids back on linebacker. Good thing is that except for the one week, we've stayed pretty healthy at linebacker. Those kids have played well.

Ohio State, to have to move Gaelin Elmore inside. The are an unselfish group. Wherever we've let them line up and practice, they've done very well. Very happy for them.

At the same time, we have three big ones left to go. We can't afford to have another slipup like we did defensively against Nebraska.

Q. Have you heard anything more about the contract situation for you going forward here?
COACH CLAEYS: I haven't. We got back so late on Sunday. So hopefully, like I say, I'm hopeful we'll hear something this week. But have not had a chance to do that. This Floyd of Rosedale is a pretty big deal.

Q. Last year you were able to put up 51 on them. They're obviously going to remember that. You also talked earlier this year about some of the bigger losses sticking with you more. How will that impact Saturday?
COACH CLAEYS: We tell our kids all the time what happened last week has no effect on the game this week. It's who shows up. You have to go through the week, the proper process of preparing. You need to do that. If you don't, you're going to have troubles.

It snowballed. You have games like that. We weren't that many points better than Iowa last year. Good football team. Just so happens between the turnovers and everything, just snowballed, got on a roll, more things went our way that day.

They're playing better this year, there's no question. They've kind of gelled. Things are going their way. It will be a tremendous challenge. At the same time, being a trophy game, our kids will be excited. I expect us to play well. It will be a tough environment.

I'm a big believer in previous games have nothing to do with this week's game as long as you go through the process of preparing.

Q. What is the biggest difference with them?
COACH CLAEYS: Defensively they're playing better. I think they've gotten back to what they've done in the past. Their front four has really played well for them.

Offensively they haven't really changed a lot. Everybody has little changes you make. But the quarterback, more athletic, can make more plays with his legs than he did.

Weisman is a more of a ram-it-up-in-there tailback. One thing about the tailback this year, he's much more patient. He's done a much better job of finding seams in their zone and getting big runs. I think their tailback is playing really well.

It's one of those things, I think they've stayed pretty healthy. There's no question they're playing as a complete team. Last year they made more mistakes. This is a typical Iowa team. You don't see them making a lot of mistakes to beat themselves. They're going to make you beat them. It will be a challenge.

Q. You went into that game against them last year, both alive in the division race. When these rivalry games come up, you can't win the division right now, but you can still spoil it for them, how much does that add to the rivalry?
COACH CLAEYS: Again, being the trophy game, bordering states, any time you play teams from bordering states there's a bragging right that goes along with it.

Yeah, there will be a lot of excitement. Our kids will be excited. They'll be excited. A night game there.

A game I remember is two years ago going there and getting it handed to us. That's the game I remember. So it's tough to win on the road. But at the same time if we just do the things we need to do, they play the way they've been playing, I think it will be a real good ballgame.

Q. Do you think there's a real plus for you with this being your third straight night game, some advantages of that, getting into a routine with the kids?
COACH CLAEYS: I think more important with this being a night game is how late we got back from Ohio State, and now we're not hurrying up. If it had been a Saturday morning game, I really would have been concerned because of that. Since those two games back-to-back are night games. I think it's more from rest, being physically able to regenerate your batteries again and get them going. I think that more so than the night game.

I think there's a lot more excitement around night games for the most part. As a coach, they're hard, because you don't get any time to recover. The game is over, you get the next morning and go right to film. As far as excitement for the kids, I'm a big fan of night games.

Q. What has Mitch Leidner done? He's proven to be pretty tough, keeps coming back. What has he done inside this team as a leader?
COACH CLAEYS: I don't think our kids have ever doubted Mitch on that part. He works hard at practice. A lot of it had to do with at the beginning of the year up front. He got beat up, he really did. Offensive line got to where we had gotten better. Like I said, the timing is better. He hasn't taken near as many hits. When he runs, he gets down. Since he's gotten healthier against Ohio State, he's able to escape a little bit better, moving around better to make more plays.

Tremendous kid, great leader. Works hard. Nobody ever questions how important it is to win. So our kids I think have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

Ohio State, obviously their front four caused us to where we couldn't throw some of the balls where we wanted to throw, got us off our spots and that. A lot of that had to do with who we were playing against.

We have to do better, I mean, obviously. At the same time we need to keep him healthy for the way he's playing. He is making plays for us. Even the balls he's throwing are catchable to where KJ has just done a tremendous job catching the football.

So I'm excited. It's always good at the end of the year you want to get per each week. Mitch is truly one of them. Not only has he gotten healthier, he's played better and better as the weeks have gone along.

Q. What is Iowa doing that is so effective?
COACH CLAEYS: Their front four. Iowa is Iowa. If you've seen them, they're a 4-3 team. Same thing as a year ago, just playing better. Confidence has so much to do with it than the scheme and ta-da, ta-da.

I always talk about putting kids in a position to do what they do best. Right now their kids are very confident. The things they're asking them to do, they're very good at. We have to find a way to do better than what we did last week against Ohio State, for sure. That will help out Mitch also.

But it is a challenge with how well they're playing versus the run.

Q. Going to throw the ball a lot?
COACH CLAEYS: Take whatever they give us. That's what I tell everybody. If they give you the run, you got to be able to run it. Every defense has a weakness. If they give us the throws, we got to take the throws they give us.

Q. How confident are you that your running game can improve a little bit even though you're banged up on the O-line?
COACH CLAEYS: I'm always a pretty confident guy. We'll get after it. I think we can run it better, and we will.

Q. Any good news on the runningbacks?
COACH CLAEYS: On the runningbacks? We'll see how they practice today. With class and that, sometimes he hasn't had a chance to work everybody out yet. We'll see how it goes. I think Wednesday we'll let everybody know where we're at with all of that, okay?

Q. Do you see Rodrick staying in the mix even if you have the other two back?
COACH CLAEYS: Oh, yeah. No matter what, if they get back, they're still going to be banged up. We got to be careful and make sure Rodrick's ready to go.

Q. What can you say about how he's kept his head in there? When you put him in in Columbus, he had some juice in his step. He could have checked out.
COACH CLAEYS: No question. He loves football. I think you can say that about a lot of our kids, they love football. We've been able to keep Rodrick in there playing on special teams and things like that.

Yeah, he hasn't got the carries he's wanted, but he's gotten to play. Being a senior, he'll be prepared and ready to go. I think he'll do a great job if we've got to call on him.

Q. How has KJ been? Six catches for first downs or touchdowns on Saturday. That's been his MO all year. How important is he to what you've done?
COACH CLAEYS: You got to keep drives going. The main thing is he's caught the ball. He's made some tough catches. Ball gets close to him, he makes the catches he needs to make and at least gets to the sticks. Tough kid. Tough kid. He really is.

He's playing a lot of plays. At the same time he doesn't want to come out of there. He's a legitimate threat every time. So we've got to find a way to where people can't just pick on him now. We got to make sure we're taking the open receiver.

But it's awfully hard not to throw to him because of all the plays he makes. I always say, if you're going to go down, you go down with your best. Right now he's our best.

Q. What do you think about Jack Lynn's development? Came in undersized. You got him built to look like this, how he's gone even the last two years.
COACH CLAEYS: It's kind of how we are with the recruiting aspect of it. We have to take the kids that have the talent, the play, they're just a little bit undersized at the time. Get them in the weight room.

He's playing now when most people probably should play. Redshirt sophomore, junior year. The thing, he's such a great student of the game. The thing that Jack has helped with his development with some of the injuries, we've been able to move him around and he's really played well wherever we have played him.

We would definitely miss him. He's a little banged up right now, but everybody is. That kid shows up to practice every day. I mean, again, like a lot of our kids on defense, I think they enjoy playing the game.

He's put an awful lot of work into it from when he first got here to where he is now. He's always had the talent level. It's a matter of getting his size up to where it needs to be.

Have a good week.

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