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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 12, 2007Brandent EnglemonTHE MODERATOR: We have safety, Brandent Engelmon. Q. Brandent, why were you held out of the portions of the last game? Are you a hundred percent going into the next game? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Definitely 100% going into this game. Nothing's going to keep me out of this game, anyways, so. Q. Do you think your cohorts feel the same way? Nothing's going to keep them out of this game? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Oh, yeah. All the seniors. Anybody who is playing in this game, whether they have any nicks, bruises, anything, they're going to play in this game. Q. Do you understand why people will judge this senior class based on the track record? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Any time you have a rivalry to this magnitude, you're going to be judged based off of it. Where, like, I'm 1 and 3 against them, including my red-shirt year. So I guess the last game matters the most. Just going out on a good note. Q. Does that make this year's game even bigger? Can it be different? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Yeah, definitely. With all of these, with the Big Ten on the line. It's the last game we'll ever play in the big house. It's the biggest game of my career. Q. In the last games, have you thought much about that, and the highs and lows you've had? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Yeah, just throughout the season. This season's gone by pretty quick. This is my fifth year, like I said. This year's been going by extremely quick. Just counting down the days we have left in the stadium, it's crazy. Q. Have you had a chance to look at the film and the defense, and what you have to do better? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Say that again? Q. What were they doing (Indiscernible)? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Really, it was just us. A fit here or there, and not understanding the routes we're getting out of certain formations. We knew pretty much going into the game the formations and the type of players they were going to run out of then, we just didn't fit them up correctly all the time. Q. Did you kind of take a break from this when you're away from practice? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: You really don't want to take your mind off of it during the week. Everything you do you prepare for it. So just day-in and day-out, that's on the back of your mind. Even in class, anywhere you go, it's in the back of your mind. Q. How much has last year's loss affected you going into this? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: It's a new season, new team, different implications on the line. It's the Big Ten still on the line. But last year was a different story and two different teams this year. So... Q. (Indiscernible). BRANDENT ENGLEMON: What does it say about it? Just other people being able to step up and know their positions and be effective, too. Here we just have the expectation of the position, really, to do well. If you're on the field, you're expected to do well. Q. (Indiscernible). BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Coach Carr's been through it all, so just like when we started off on two, he's been through similar situations. And just him being the leader of the team, he helps the players on the team understand that we still could reach one of our goals, which is to win the Big Ten Championship. Q. You talked earlier in the season about how he had challenged you in the off-season. What's he talking about? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Say that again? Q. You talked about his challenge to you before the season. What has he taught you that you'll carry with you when you go out of here? What lessons? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: There's been so many lessons. But the game of football, in general, teaches you a lot of lessons. You can't take anything for granted. You have to fight through adversity. Just little things like that that carry on for the rest of my life. Q. Coach Carr talks about how adversity builds character on the team - is that ultimately what you fall back on going into this game? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Say that again? Q. How much does character in the fact that you've had to bounce back before the season. How much does that play into going into this game coming off a loss? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Any time you face adversity and you have the opportunity to bounce back, it builds your character, like Coach Carr always says. But Wisconsin was a stumble, just like earlier in the season when we stumbled. So hopefully we'll bounce back from that. Q. You played in the 2003 game against Ohio State? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: I remember our defense was very aggressive. Chris Perry had a great game. The defense was real aggressive though getting out back then. Q. What would be a bigger story to you, a bigger deal, having this crazy comeback or beating Ohio State for the first time? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Both. At the same time, you always want to beat Ohio State, but that could be for the Big Ten championship as well. I mean, it's just added to that hype before the game. Q. Can you talk about the importance of not letting them make big plays, and what do you have to do to make sure they don't? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Any time you allow an offense to not drive the ball all the way down the field and give up the big play 30, 40 yards, I mean it really kind of wears down the defense and demoralizes the defense. In order to stop that, everybody has to execute the techniques and fly around and get to the ball and making plays, really. Q. What do you remember from the coach talking to the team last year? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: I can't remember anything in particular. I can't remember anything in particular. It's just the magnitude of the game, really. We have great respect for coach Schembechler, so just his presence alone kind of stunned everybody. Q. Take you back to '03 one more time. You had just gotten here, you were red shirt, can you describe the feeling after the game, what you were thinking then? And what it was supposed to be? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Yeah, being a freshman, you kind of take for granted what happened. I didn't really understand what it takes to get there being a freshman. I just thought it was kind of given to you. But like over the next three, four years you learn that it's not that easy. And me being on the demonstration team for that year, I don't know. I feel like I wasn't really part of it. But at the same time I look back at that film or whatever and learn what I had to do in order to get there again. Q. How much are you and the other seniors looking back at the fact that you haven't beaten these guys the last three years? Is it extra motivation? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: It's definitely not a concern. It's a different team like I said before. We have different players, they have different players. But it's still a rivalry. We want to go out on top. Q. If you had to pick one thing over the last three years what has hurt you the most? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Big plays is probably one of the main things. We've given up maybe four to five big plays each year on average the last three times. Q. Lot of those were made by Fred Smith, and is it nice not to have to worry about him this year? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: It is, but they have other weapons to compensate for him being gone. Q. Are you surprised how those new weapons have come along so quickly? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Yeah. At the beginning of the year we knew the defense was going to be strong. And their offense just coming along like they have been, it's just extra for them for their defenses it's great. And then the offense is good, too. Q. Can you talk about Wells, how do you guys stop him? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: I mean, any time you have a great running back like that it's up to everybody on the defense to stop him. You have to get 11 guys to the ball, hitting him every play, every chance we get. Q. Does it get old? Do you get sick of hearing you guys have never beaten Ohio State? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Yeah, it definitely does. Like I said, any time you have a rivalry, and you haven't won in a couple of years, you get tired of hearing -- oh, they can't beat O-State or they can't win this game. It's getting old. Q. When you're at practice, and you're walking around town do you have to anticipate the unexpected? Do you get the occasional phone call? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: No, not really. No. Q. No matter how much you look at film, you know they've got something up their sleeve that they've been planning especially for you, I would think. In your four years here so far, has that been the case they always throw something special? BRANDENT ENGLEMON: Their coaches do a great job of attack the defense's weaknesses. So as a defense, we have to be disciplined every play. In order to stop any kind of trick plays or something they might have up their sleeve. End of FastScripts |
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