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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 10, 2008

Mike Massey

Q. What's the season been like for you, I guess, first as a senior and then as your position as a tight end this year?
MIKE MASSEY: I mean, it's been kind of a roller-coaster season. We didn't know what to expect going into the season, new coaches, and we were just so concentrated on making sure we knew the offense, get the offense going, and make sure we had good camp and make sure the guys were focused. Every game we started out going -- losing that first game. Then we had the high of beating Wisconsin, and then just trying to -- then after that we lost those games and just trying to keep the team together and get them on track and make sure everybody is focused.
You know, I haven't really had time to -- I don't think the seniors have had time sentimental and think about the last season and going through things for the last time. I think right now actually this week, it kind of started to hit us that this is our last time playing at home. So this is really the first time it's kind of hit me this is the last go-around.
No, it's been a good season. It's been fun. We have a tight group of guys and a good senior class. I've enjoyed myself.

Q. Are you confident that you'll be able to -- regardless of what happens next week, you'll be able to continue feeling like you are a tight-knit group?
MIKE MASSEY: Yeah, we've gone through a lot, especially the senior class. We've had two Rose Bowls, fifth years have had two Rose Bowls and had a great year last year in the Capital One Bowl. We've had a 7-and-5 season. We went to the Alamo Bowl. That was like our first because our first year we went to the Rose Bowl, then we went to the Alamo Bowl, and that was really the first time dealing with adversity.
So we've gone through a lot, and I think that's really helped us knowing how to handle this season as a group of guys and keeping the younger guys -- since we have so many younger guys playing. It's helped us know how to handle different situations, and looking back on it, you'll never forget the guys that you went through all that stuff with.
Yeah, without a doubt, you know, no matter what happens in these last two games, it'll be a positive experience.

Q. Is there a single best football memory you'll take away from this place?
MIKE MASSEY: Single best? No. You know, not really, just because there's so many. Speaking of -- just at Michigan Stadium, there's so many games. I think one of my best games was probably -- like you have the Michigan State game in overtime, you have all that, you have Penn State, but I think our best game really was last year when we came out -- one of my best games as a team I think was when we beat Penn State after losing to Oregon. That was huge for us; we needed it so bad. I think little games like that. Obviously big ones everybody knows about, but certain team efforts stick out to me more than the more than big games.
I'll never forget that Penn State game last year.

Q. Is it harder to educate the freshmen on how important it is to keep the traditions here and keep winning when you're not winning?
MIKE MASSEY: Yeah, these guys -- you know, it's hard for them. They didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and then to have a season like this, and losing games and having everybody questioning what's going on and new coaches, you know, they didn't really know -- I think it's a good and bad thing. We didn't know what it was like. They didn't know about the winning.
Yeah, I think that's where guys and the older guys really stepped up this year and tried to tell the guys, hey, you know what, this is one season, one game. This program is building a lot more than that.
I think these new coaches, the coaching staff, did a great job, too. I think that's one of the things they did when they got here is tried to truly understand what Michigan is all about, and I think that we did it with a lot of team meetings and a lot of almost educational things, trying to get these young guys knowing what's going on and knowing what this program is all about.

Q. Did you guys as seniors help the coaches?
MIKE MASSEY: No. I mean, they're all smart guys and they knew what they were getting themselves into. Yeah, well, I mean, I think they learned from us as much as we learned from them along the way. I think they learned a lot from this season, and I think they learned a lot from the first game until now about what going through a season at Michigan is all about and the type of guys that are on the team. I think we learned a lot about them as coaches, because we've gone through so much together already in such a short amount of time, and I think they helped us just as much as we helped them. It's kind of a group effort.

Q. (No microphone.)
MIKE MASSEY: Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. The young guys, the guys we have on offense are great, they really are. A lot of the guys, offensive line, I've known those guys for a while and I'm pretty close to those guys. I think they really stepped up this year, and they really took on a senior leadership role.
Even though I was on the only senior on offense, I think we have a lot of guys that took on the role of leader younger than they usually would have. For me, I learned a lot from those guys. They're all good guys, and they all give effort. You can't ask for anything more from a group of young guys, especially the freshmen, the true freshmen that came in there and played and played such a crucial role.
They understand and they respect the fact that I'm a senior and I have to do what I'm going to do, but I haven't had to do that too much. That was one of the cool things I told them right from the beginning. When the coach took over, I said, hey, this is my third offense I've had to learn in four years, from two different offensive coordinators to these guys.
I said, I'm in the same boat you are and we're all in this together. You know, we've got to make the best effort and we've got to put everything together as much as we can. I was a senior, but I was also learning just as much as they were just because it was all new for us.

Q. You got immersed in those old offenses. When you catch glimpses of what this eventually will be, is there an excitement about what it can be down the road?
MIKE MASSEY: Yeah, you guys see it just as much as we do. I mean, the offense, I'm sure people have told you, everybody on -- it puts a stress on everybody on offense just as much as it does defense just because if one guy is not doing their role on offense, mistakes can happen and it won't work. But when it does happen, everybody gets excited. Like last game, everybody was clicking on the same page, and when everybody gets going, it's exciting, exciting to play in it, being a member of the offense. It's exciting, and I think the guys really -- we have such a better understanding of what like each play -- the overall play he's trying to do, not just knowing our job and our responsibility. We understand why, why we need to get that block or why we need to get outside the hash or two yards.
I think once everybody is starting to get -- once everybody is starting to understand the true flow of the offense, it's really starting to mesh and mold and exciting to be a part of it and exciting to watch.
I think they're going to score a lot of points, a lot of points in the future here.

Q. Where can this team be as a program in two or three years?
MIKE MASSEY: I don't know. I don't know. All I can say is I don't have -- I have so much confidence in these coaches, so much confidence in the young players that are here and the characters that are here. You know, the characters in the freshman class all the way through the juniors right now, they're all the type of guys that you want at Michigan. They're all hard-working, they understand what's going on, and I think under these coaches they're going to have nothing but success.
You can't have anything but confidence that it's going to go great things the next three or four years. As an alumni, I'll be very, very proud and be back here watching them and supporting them.

Q. Is it bittersweet that your senior year is maybe only sort of the foundation for the stuff that will happen in the future?
MIKE MASSEY: You know, these are the cards we were dealt. Some senior class had to be that first senior class, and somebody had to be seniors in that first year. Yeah, I'll look back on it and we'll all look back someday and say, you know, that was a foundation and all that. But you know what, we're just as much a part as a team four years from now or five years from now, whatever, that wins a Big Ten title or wins a National Championship, whatever. I'll feel just as much a part of that team as those guys that are on it just because of what we went through this year and how much we've learned and how much the coaches have learned as coaches from this year.
Yeah, it'll be kind of bittersweet, but I'm proud of this team. We've got a great group of guys and great seniors, and I couldn't be happier and I couldn't be prouder to be a part of this team, to be a part of Michigan.

End of FastScripts

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