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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 13, 2011Mike BrewsterJim TresselTHE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Tressel. Coach, thanks for joining us. COACH TRESSEL: Thanks so much. We have eight practices under our belt and it's a young group. I wasn't aware we had 16 starters back, but I'm sure you know better than I do. We certainly lost a bunch of great kids that were anxiously awaiting the NFL Draft. See how they'll fare with that. But we've been really pleased with our young people. They've given us good effort. We haven't had the greatest weather this spring. We've had a little off-and-on rain like everyone in the Big Ten area. But it's been a solid eight practices. I think we're growing. There's a lot of competition at a lot of positions. We're getting excellent leadership from our older guys. You'll hear from one of them here when we're done, Mike Brewster, our great offensive center. I think the blend of youth and experience and the realities that we have a lot of things to get better at have lent to us having a good spring practice thus far. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions from the media. Q. We've arrived at Terrelle's senior year. When he comes back this year, what do you expect out of him as a senior? Anything specifically you're looking for him to improve on off of last year? COACH TRESSEL: Terrelle has had an interesting spring practice thus far because he had a surgery after our bowl game and has been unable to participate in most of the parts of spring practice. He'll be back running around the 1st of May. He can kind of stand still throwing the ball. What he's done to take the next step in his development is spent a lot more time in the film room. He's done a little bit of coaching of these young guys that are going to need to carry the weight until he gets back. I just think his knowledge of the game, his awareness of what's important will help him take that next step. We've been proud of the progress he's made each year. There were a lot of expectations for him when he came to campus. He got thrown in the lineup a little earlier than any of us thought he might. I thought he responded each year, got better and better. He needs I think to make a significant improvement so that we can talk after this four-year career saying he became the best he can possibly be. I think he's serious about making that happen. Q. When you talk about spring practice, it seems like every coach is happy for the most part at this time. How important is it really to have a good spring practice? What happens if spring ball doesn't go well? Can that set you back for the coming season? COACH TRESSEL: We think it can. We always talk about the fact that you can't win the championship in the spring, but you can lose it if you don't progress to the level that you need to do so in 15 practices. We all have the same rules, so we all have 15 practices, then we're allowed 29 pre-season practice opportunities. The amount of progress you need to make in each of those situations is huge. You just can't get slowed in the development and the experiences. That's why I think spring practice is so important that you try to be as healthy as you can be because you hate to have guys sitting on the sideline when they could be practicing football and not getting those reps. We think that spring practice is important. I think most coaches feel as if their spring is going pretty well simply because guys are making mistakes, they're getting coached, they're seeing them respond after that, they're seeing them grow a little bit. They also know that pre-season really is two times the impact of a spring practice. So we can't really get all caught up in how much progress we have in the spring because you don't practice day after day. There's a little bit of a spread and so forth in between your practices, plus you can only be in full pads a certain number of times, tackling, all of those different rules. But those reps and experiences are important. That progress that we need to make in the spring is huge. Q. When I asked Mel Kiper about Terrelle missing the first five games, how much that might hurt him as an NFL quarterback prospect, he said he sees Terrelle as a tight end in the NFL in the coming years. I wanted your reaction to that. Also, what do you see in Terrelle that tells you he can be an NFL quarterback? COACH TRESSEL: I think this: You can never worry too much about someone's opinion because there's lots of them, and you can't hold on too tightly to the opinions you like. For instance, when we had our second pro day when Cam ran, we had all those coaches, assistant coaches, GMs there. We were talking to them about Terrelle, picking their brains, what is the next step we need to make. Almost every one to a man said he made a quantum leap last year in just the way he managed the game, the way they could tell he understood the game. Most of them said whether he plays seven games or 12 games really isn't as important as how well he plays those seven games, the refinement, improvement, those types of things. We've got to go to work like crazy once he gets back on the field. He's throwing without his lower body right now. Once we're allowed to start setting and so forth. I think as you listen to the experts, they'll tell you that making sure a guy can do things from both under center and the shotgun are crucial in that league. He's done both, but he needs to get better at both. I think his footwork, I think the quickness of his decision making has to keep improving. I would say this: I doubt if anyone in the draft of 2012 will be picking him as a tight end. I would venture to guess, again this is just my opinion, my guess is he'll be selected as a quarterback. Q. The guys who are there now, if you were playing a game tomorrow, do you have a pecking order for the four quarterbacks that are vying to be the starter for the first five games? What is your evaluation of those guys thus far? COACH TRESSEL: That's such a difficult one because you guys have been there probably, what, four of the seven or eight practices that we've had. I'm sure your opinion would vary based upon the ones you've seen. I kind of vacillate each day. I thought yesterday probably the guy that had the best day was Kenny. But we don't have a game tomorrow, so what you're trying to develop is that consistency over time. I think it is critical by the end of 15 practices that we do start thinking about some sort of a pecking order because when we get back in August, the repetitions are going to be diluted a little bit because Terrelle will be back in there getting some repetitions and you're not going to be able to spread out the reps like we've been able to do like in Terrelle's absence this spring. I wish it was definitive. I wish someone was head and shoulders above another. But at this point I don't see that. Q. You came to Nebraska last year for a speech, so you looked around, took in the facilities and the program. Talk about what you saw when you went there, and what you think about Nebraska joining the Big Ten. COACH TRESSEL: I think what you feel is more important than what you see. When you get off an airplane and head into Lincoln, you just feel college football. It's just in the air. I think I was there in like April. They were in spring practice. I got a chance with Coach Pelini and Coach Osborne and some of the other guys to walk around. It wreaks of history and tradition. To me it's a fabulous addition to our league, to have someone like the Cornhuskers come in. Bo has done a great job. He's a Buckeye graduate. We're excited to have them in the league. Q. We've seen Jonathan Newsome out there a couple days, but not much out there with the defense. Is something up with his status right now? Seems like he would have gotten maybe a little bit more reps with the defense. Is there anybody else whose status is a little bit limited because of off-the-field issues this spring? COACH TRESSEL: You know that I've been known to have a doghouse. Jonathan is kind of in and out of it simply because we're not a hundred percent sure he's doing everything he needs to do to the best of his ability. So, therefore, he's only gotten part of the privileges. As soon as he feels and we feel that it's heading in the right direction, he'll have his opportunities to regain those privileges. I don't think there's anyone else that is in that situation at this moment. I don't expect him to be in it long. Sometimes we have to do what we think will help a young person learn. Q. When you're talking about spring ball, you don't think you can win a championship in spring but you can lose it. Is that the case with quarterbacks, too? How much can a quarterback either keep himself in or take himself out of the competition in spring ball alone? COACH TRESSEL: Well, that was going to be the subject of one of my future blogs. Q. Can you preview it for us? COACH TRESSEL: I heard you were liking the fact I finally got into this century and wrote a blog for once (laughter). You know, I think every rep is important. The quarterbacks need to feel that way. I also think that in spring practice, because there's a limited number of linemen, there's a limited number of experienced receivers. You know, sometimes the world doesn't look perfect every time you have the ball back there when you're trying to make decisions and so forth. You might have had one of those days where as soon as you hit your back foot, there was a little bit of an issue coming at you, and you couldn't have one of those progressive days. I think until we get to the fall, you can't put total onus on the quarterback's performance. I'm sure in the spring game, spring scrimmage, whatever it will be, there will be some guys that the world was set up better for them than other guys, so some people will say, Oh, gosh, this guy should be the quarterback, whatever. I think we just have to keep evaluating every little thing they do. I'd hope you couldn't 'lose' the quarterback job, but maybe you could if you looked at the whole body of work and it wasn't what we needed it to be, with the reality that the reps will be harder to earn come pre-season. I think we also have to be fair and look at the scenario each one of them was under and evaluate them as objectively as we possibly can. THE MODERATOR: Appreciate the time, coach. Thank you. COACH TRESSEL: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Mike Brewster. Mike, thanks for joining us. MIKE BREWSTER: Thanks for having me. THE MODERATOR: Talk a little bit about how spring practice is going and then we'll take questions. MIKE BREWSTER: We've had eight practices. I think the most positive thing I've seen is every practice we've had, we've gotten a little bit better. Guys are understanding their assignments a lot better every day. Guys' techniques are getting better. We're getting more comfortable with the quarterbacks rotating in and out. The defense has been flying around like they always do. So far it's been one of the best springs I've been a part of. I'm proud to say I can be a part of that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Mike. Let's go to questions. Q. Given all the attention, negative attention, given to your program over the last three or four months, are you mad? Are you rallying, circling the wagons a little bit, trying to use what's happened to some of your teammates as motivation, considering you won't have them for the first five games next year? MIKE BREWSTER: You know, to be honest, our main focus right now is just spring ball, trying to get these guys ready. We only have 10 linemen. We're getting a lot of guys reps at different spots. A guy like Marcus Hall is playing left tackle, left guard, right tackle, right guard on a daily basis. We're not focusing on the first five games right now. We'll handle that when it comes. We've been doing a really good job of just staying focused, keeping our eye on spring ball and blocking the rest of the attention, just been blocking it out. Then I think the guys have been doing a really good job of just coming every day into spring ball or to workouts or whatever just focused. I can't say enough about that. Q. Mike, with the suspensions coming up at the beginning of the season, is there a different approach that the team is taking in spring ball? MIKE BREWSTER: No. Our approach has been just how it's been the past three springs. We're just trying to get better. We're trying to get guys prepared for next season. I mean, spring ball is such a springboard into fall camp that it's unbelievable how much guys can learn in spring. I know for myself last spring, I really used it as a way to sharpen my tools, prepare for my junior year. I'm really just trying to help out these young guys. The older guys have done a really good job of leading. Like I said, I feel like this is one of the best springs I've been a part of. The focus has been really good. Q. Is it almost like a sigh of relief to get back on the football field and not have to sit on the sidelines and read all the things that people are saying? MIKE BREWSTER: It's been great to get back on the field, get the feeling back. A few months off, a little rust at the beginning. Through practices, the first couple were a little rusty. We've just been progressing upward ever since. I think that's what you really want to see during spring ball. Q. You have so many candidates at quarterback. Does it require some adapting on the part of the offensive line in terms of working with different guys, what their needs are, the different abilities they have? MIKE BREWSTER: I'd say the biggest thing is just getting snaps from under center. For the past few years, I've really only taken snaps with Terrelle. But once we get that down, first couple days, fumbled snaps here and there, ever since, we've kind of gotten a comfort level with all of the quarterbacks. Right now, no matter who's in, it's really not affecting our play. We're just trying to teach some of the younger guys their assignments just so we can keep the pressure off the quarterbacks so they can get their work done, let the receivers do their work, really just let the offense progress. Q. With all the changes coming to the Big Ten, Nebraska, division play, championship game, from a player's perspective, what are you most excited about with all the new stuff? MIKE BREWSTER: I'd say one of the main things is going to play at Nebraska. I think that will be a great experience, something that going into college I had no idea I would ever get to experience. I'd say that's one of the main things I'm really looking forward to. As well along with the possibility to play in Indianapolis in the Big Ten championship. I think that's a great goal for us to have. I think it would be an amazing experience to be part of the first one. There's a lot of cool things that can happen next year with the Big Ten splitting up in two different divisions. I'm really just looking forward to it. Q. You were an All-American center last year. You're considered the leader on the line this year. What is the part of your game you definitely wanted to work on this spring to improve? MIKE BREWSTER: I'd say the biggest thing for me, even before spring started, I just wanted to get my body to another level that it's never been at strength-wise and conditioning. I can tell it's really paid off for me so far, being a lot more stable, kind of anchoring down. I'm always trying to get my technique better. It's never going to be perfect. It's an ongoing thing that I've got to keep improving, every day just trying to focus on blocking. My communication skills with the rest of the line is especially crucial right now because guys are still learning and they're coming along. They trust what I have to say. So really just all those things together I feel like I can really help out. THE MODERATOR: Mike, we appreciate the time. Best of luck the rest of the spring. MIKE BREWSTER: Thank you. Appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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