INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 17, 2024

Aiden Fisher

Press Conference

Q. You guys have talked all year about how your expectations were always kind of this high, to be on this sort of stage playing in games like this. But were there any moments for you along the way, whether it was after a game, whether it was maybe sometime in the spring, when you sort of felt validated in that ambition when you looked around and you thought, we all believe in this, but now we know we can play at that level?

AIDEN FISHER: Yeah, I would just say fall camp was kind of the turning point. Everybody had that belief no matter what. It was a matter of fact of putting the pieces together and building the camaraderie we needed.

Yeah, spring ball a lot of faces weren't here. We went through the spring portal and some guys got back from injury. Once we got back in fall camp everybody was rolling together and I think we all had the sense that this could be a special team.

Q. You've used the 4-3 look a little bit more the last four weeks with Rolijah Hardy. What have you seen from him as the season's gone on, and what do you guys think the 4-3 look gives you as opposed to just you and Jailin on the field?

AIDEN FISHER: Definitely gives a lot of versatility to the defense. Some teams like to use different personnel groupings, and it helps us having different schematic things to put forth as we go on each game.

But I think the thing with Rolijah is he has just been a sponge. He's gotten in that room and he's wanted to learn every single thing, everything that me and Jai Walk say. He's always listening and he's really impressive. He's a really good player, really smart player, and he's impressed a lot of people, I know that, and he's just a great player and one that we're very fortunate to have in our room.

Q. As this week has gone along and this game is getting closer, how are you going about balancing it's just another game versus want to go actually take in some of those moments and appreciate the spot you're in?

AIDEN FISHER: The thing for me is, you know, I look back on this game and this season once it's all done. Right now I'm just trying to keep my focus on getting to the game first, and then just making sure that we come out on top.

I'll look back once the season in total is over, I'll look back but right now focusing on another game.

Q. Mikail Kamara with us has projected confidence from the beginning. He's embodied a lot of what this team has been all about and he's conveyed that very confidently from the start. What is he like as a teammate and how he talks with you guys and how does he embody what this team as accomplished this year?

AIDEN FISHER: First off with him, the numbers speak for themselves. He's a phenomenal player once he's on the field, but what he brings off the field is really special. He's a really good leader. He's a great teammate, and one that brings energy every day. He's always checking in on people and making sure everybody's good.

He's a great player, but I think he's an even better person and he's such a great teammate to have around.

Q. Yesterday Coach Haines was talking about how much he trusts you over the last two years and how helpful you are in practice to coach these guys almost as much as he has. What gives you the confidence to do that each and every single day?

AIDEN FISHER: I would say it starts at the top. Coach Cig believes in me a lot. That kind of falls down to Coach Haines and the guys in my room. As long as they believe in me, I'm going to have that confidence to help them out, and I not just the prep that I put many myself, but how hard I work and making sure that I things cleaned up and shored up for myself; that way I'm good to protect to other people and lead by example and show them the way and how I got to I'm at right now.

Q. Coach Haines yesterday mentioned how difficult it's really difficult to stop a running quarterback like Riley Leonard. What's the key to slowing him down?

AIDEN FISHER: First you want to make sure you keep everybody in front of you. They do a great job with the running attack, and our thing will be the same thing we've played with all year, great angles. You watch a lot of film on him; he's a great player.

A lot of people take really bad angles on him. Some people just think he's slower than he is just based off his position but he's a really good athlete. Just got to make sure we take good angles to him and once we get to him, make him pay the price for carrying the ball.

Q. Every unit has to perform for Indiana to win this game. What have you seen in watching film on Notre Dame from their offense in total that Indiana has to do from a defensive standpoint to win the game?

AIDEN FISHER: We've got to stop the run. Something that we're very prideful in here as a defense and something that they are really good on offense. It's going to be a really good matchup.

Our biggest thing is like I said, take the smart angles, attack when it's there and make sure we stop the run, first of all.

Q. You've been rated All-American and top rated QB among QBs. What's the sense of pride and accomplishment all you guys have made coming from different levels to the Big Ten, get it done?

AIDEN FISHER: First with team success comes individual success, so as long as the team is doing well, obviously your players are going to reap the benefits of that.

Definitely a sense of pride, especially where we came from and how hard I know how everybody here has worked to get to this point. It's a blessing and all glory to God for putting me in this position and it's just something that I think I've worked really hard at and I'm really prideful about.

Q. When we talk to the coaches, they mention how the Ohio State game was a learning point and a lot of lessons. What's the most important lesson you learned from that game?

AIDEN FISHER: There were a lot of distractions going into that game, a big game with a hostile crowd and it's just something that we have to learn to manage and handle. Going into this game it's no different than the Ohio State game. It's a big game, one with obvious, huge, implications but at the end of the day it's just another game we have to prep for like we did the past 12 games.

Just learning from our mistakes from the Ohio State game, things we got to hit on. We've had three weeks to clean things up and shore up, so we'll learn that lesson and put it to use Friday.

Q. How much fun is it to play in this defense? What do you like about it? And I know this is not the offense with a quarterback, but do you have input not necessarily on the game plan but like make some suggestions? Hey, I would like to do it. Do you have any input at all?

AIDEN FISHER: First question, playing defense, I don't know if you can find a player in that locker room that doesn't have fun playing this defense. First, you're on a top a rated defense and you're making plays every Friday, Saturday, and you're having fun playing with guys that you care a lot about.

And just seeing the emotion that playing this defense brings, you're flying around, you're hitting people, you're making big plays, intersections, sacks.

Playing an explosive defense obviously is a lot more fun than just playing one that you're going to give up 2 to 3 yards a carry and you're off the feel. Like we want TFLs and sacks and explosives. I don't know how anybody would not want to play in this defense. It's a lot of fun.

And then to my input, me and Coach Haines talk a lot. We'll send each other text messages, show each other different things we see over the weekend from different teams. So we'll be able to kind of, I give my input there talks to Coach Haines and seeing things that he likes and just kind of going from there. So just a little bit of input making sure that me and him are communicating at a high level.

Q. How do you try to manage your emotions where obviously you're excited for the game but you don't want that to take over? How do you manage that personally?

AIDEN FISHER: Back to the Ohio State game, you feel a feeling of losing again. So I know a lot of the guys here, the JMU guys, I think we lost three times in the last two years. It's not a feeling that we like and not a feeling that we want to repeat. Managing your emotion comes from that. You know exactly what it takes to win a game and you know kind of the mistakes that you made to lose the Ohio State game.

Making sure that you're staying level the entire time. We're going to make good plays and sometimes we're going to give up bad plays. In the grand scheme of things you have to stay leveled and make sure that you're focused on the next play as soon as the whistle's blown.