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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORDDecember 27, 2015Henry Krieger CoblePasadena, California Q. You and Jordan Walsh have been roommates all five years, and had never met before, right? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: No. I didn't know him. Q. Break down that relationship for five years now that leading up to today. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I mean, he's one of my best friends and he has been since I've been at Iowa. Yeah, like you said, we hadn't met until day one on campus or at camp. I think it was camp. Our first camp ever. And we weren't even roommates in the camp. We got to the dorms and that was when we started spending time. It was like the first day we were like living together was the first day we met. And then we have just been close ever since. He's an awesome roommate and awesome friend and it's just been an awesome time. Being around him all that time. Q. How are you guys similar and how are you different? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I think our personalities are a lot alike. I think he's a really reserved, soft spoken guy. And I think I'm kind of the same way. I don't like -- I'm not a big talker, but when I'm around like my good friends, I'm obviously a little different than maybe I'm around big groups of people. He's the same way. He's an extremely hard worker and he's just -- I haven't seen anybody work their tail off like he does in school and in football. He's just -- I try to be the same way, go about my business kind of quietly. Q. Did you choose to room with him out here too? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah. Q. You had a choice this time. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, we did. Q. You both want to turn pro, I assume. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I know Jordan has an unbelievable chance. He's one of the best guards in the country. And he has been for the last few years. I'm definitely thinking that I'm going to give it my best shot, because you only get one chance and I think that it would be an unbelievable thing. I don't know why I wouldn't try. Q. I don't know if -- I know that when I re-watched the game on ESPN, but after you scored a touchdown against Purdue, I think you were the first guy there. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah. Q. What was that moment like for you guys? Being the last home game. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, it being the last home game, I think -- and I had never caught a touchdown in Kinnick and I was like, man, that would be unbelievable if I had a chance to do that. Not that that was the goal of the game. The goal of the game was to win, but being able to get in there and for Jordan to come and celebrate it, it was an awesome thing. And it's something I won't forget. Q. This may be one of the few bowl games where both teams will be employing a tight end or more than one tight end. I guess in the Big-Ten you guys face teams that do it. But with all these intra-conference matchups there's going to be a lot of spread teams against you. What does that mean to you from the tight end pride kind of perspective? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: It's been awesome being able to watch the guys from Stanford over the years. They have NFL guys coming out annually it seems like. And for us to be able to play a team that really plays -- they have a lot of different, versatile players and their tight ends are great receivers and great blockers. And that's kind of what we try to be on our end. We try to be very well-rounded players that can do a lot of different things. So, from a tight end pride standpoint, it's something that you like to see teams do that because I think it's really hard on defenses. Q. When I talked to Stanford's tight end, they think it's like the pure football position because you have to be able to block and you have to be an athlete down the field. Do you agree with that? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I think that the best tight ends you see on Sundays are the ones that can do anything. Like Rob Gronkowski, you see him going down, making acrobatic catches and catching touchdowns and you see him go down on the goal line blocking for people. And I'm one of those guys, I think that it is, every facet of the game of football, especially the offensive side of the ball, blocking, pass blocking, and then catching balls and running routes, I think that's every facet of the game. Q. You say obviously you probably watched more of Stanford's defense film. But you say you're a little bit familiar with their offense, is that an offense you like to watch for fun? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I think that being a pro-style team, you kind of know the teams that are pro style. And they run a bunch of stuff. They're an unbelievable offense. That's just from watching them on TV and stuff throughout the year, throughout multiple years of being a college football player. But yeah, you notice teams that use tight ends, I think that's kind of something that you notice, teams that have good tight ends, and you like to watch those teams. Q. I feel obligated to ask you, is the beard your normal look or is that your playoff beard? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Obviously it is kind of more like a playoff beard. I started growing it back in camp in August and I think once we started having a little success, I was like, I got to keep it. I think it's like, you know, like, what, hockey or baseball thing? Those guys all grow out their beards in the playoffs. So I was like, why not, I'll go with it. And now it's a nice beard and I kind of have stuck with it. Q. Did any of the other guys do it? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I don't know, I think I'm the one that kind of went for it the whole year. There's other guys with beards on the team, but I think mine, mine's probably right up there with the best of them. Q. [On debating to shave his beard...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I did kind of, but I think part of it was laziness and part of it was just kind of liking the look now that I've had it for so long so I just went with it. Q. Krieger Coble? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Krieger Coble. Q. Where does that name come from? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: What do you mean? Like the origin of it? Q. Yeah. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I don't know. I honestly don't know. I think my mom, Krieger, is German and Russian or something like that. And then Coble I think is German too. So, yeah, I mean, my mom kept her maiden name when she got married and so now I have two last names. Q. Have you ever been out to California? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: No. This is the very first time. Q. Are you from the Midwest? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, from Iowa. Q. So what's it like to be out here? Is it living up to your expectations? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: It's awesome. It's just so different. There's really almost no similarities between Iowa, especially in the middle of the winter, compared to sunny and 60 every day out here. But it's very -- it's a lot of fun. It's very crowded, there's a ton of people here. It is way different than Iowa. I'm from a tiny town in rural Iowa. So this is the polar opposite. Q. What's the thing that surprised you most? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: What do you mean? Q. Being out here. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Oh, man, I kind of had an idea what to expect, but just the amount of people. We went it Disneyland yesterday and it's just crazy crowded. And that's something you don't see is crowds of people every where and cars and traffic all the time. That's just a little different. Q. The Rose Bowl, the Pac-12, Big-Ten, it's been the pinnacle, it's been the thing. Now that you're here, now that you're living it, has it lived up to the expectations? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I think just the bowl experience itself, the stuff that surrounds the bowl is probably second to no other bowl, just the events that we get a chance to go to and the way we are treated, hospitality that we're treated with at the hotel and just being able to be taken to different places, I think it's just really great. So, yeah, it's definitely lived up to expectations. It's been an awesome time. But now I think we're trying to hone in and get our focus narrowed down and just play the game. Q. [On a potential Rose Bowl trophy...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: This would be the best by far. We got a chance to play in the Big-Ten championship game and came up a little short. That would have been the best at the time, and then we would have been playing for another big trophy. But as far as that, this is by far the biggest game that I think any of the guys on the team have played in. We're really excited to have a chance to play for it. Q. [On the Disneyland experience...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I wouldn't have minded just hanging out at the hotel. Q. There were so many people? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: It was like the most busy day of the year the day after Christmas. It was a mess. Q. Yeah. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I mean, I had never been there before. Q. It was something to see. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I never have to go back if I don't want to. Q. When is the Senior Bowl? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: The 30th. Q. So you have some time at home. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I'll kind of take the week off after the bowl just to hang out. I'll work out and stuff for a couple weeks. Five or six days before the bowl we'll go practice. Q. That will be a good experience. That will be really cool. HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: It will be really cool. Really cool. Q. [On Disneyland...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I think they were both cool. I just -- it was very packed and, but it was great fun. The Fast Pass was key. You needed that. It would have been a tough day without a Fast Pass. Q. [Continued...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah. Oh, it was packed. It was crazy. Q. [On his hometown...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Southeast Iowa. So, my hometown's Mount Pleasant, but I grew up in a small towns around there. Q. [On Coach Ferentz...] HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah. He's one of the most recognizable figures in the state. And as a kid, being a Hawk fan growing up my whole life, I was just, I think that the respect that the people of Iowa have for him is great. He's great, he's a great leader and he's just a great representative of the state. And just being able to play for him the last five years has just been a great experience. Q. Were there certain impressions you had about him or going in that maybe were changed after you got there? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I think just what you see on the TV. I mean, he doesn't show much emotion at all in the games and during press conferences and stuff, he's very reserved. And that's the kind of guy he is. But he's very intense in practices and during the game. Stuff that people don't usually see. And he's just so passionate and such a great leader. That's something that I hadn't been exposed as to a high school player and just having a guy like that on your side, it's just something that -- I mean it's just huge. Q. There were some rumblings after last year that there might be some changes. Were you concerned about that? How much validity was there to that? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: I think that was just kind of blown up more so than what any of us around the program thought. The guys in our program have nothing but respect for Coach Ferentz and there's just so much more that he does as a man and as a coach and a leader than what meets the eye to the public. So, being on the inside of it all and just being able to see him day-to-day, there's no one else that I would ever play for in college football. I think that anyone you ask on our team would say the same. Q. Did he incorporate some changes though coming into this year? What were they? HENRY KRIEGER COBLE: Yeah, I mean, I don't -- it was just all just a matter of mindset for our team and just being very strict and disciplined for from January like Coach Davis said, to just having great leadership and guys just looking at our goals more. And Coach Ferentz just made sure that we didn't sway away from that. I mean, he's just been awesome. Just to be able to be around and to work through the amount of the work that we had to put in, in order to get to this point has just been great. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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