DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: MONTANA ST. VS NORTH DAKOTA ST.

January 8, 2022

Hunter Luepke

Jackson Hankey

North Dakota St. Bison

Postgame Media Conference

North Dakota State 38, Montana State 10

Q. Hunter, talk a little bit about the day out there and being named the most outstanding player.

HUNTER LUEPKE: Well, for starters, it was a beautiful day in Frisco. Wasn't snowing like last time we were here, so always thankful for that.

The fans were loud, ecstatic. It was exciting. Then just the game itself, everything went our way. We had a good game plan. Everybody executed well, and we came out with a W. Everything we drew up happened. It was a good day.

Q. Jackson, your thoughts on just an outstanding performance today by you guys, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

JACKSON HANKEY: Yeah, I mean, like Hunter said, things clicked for us. We were able to play well, to play disciplined, to keep them out of the end zone for the most part, so it was a really fun day. It was fun to play with this group, to finish things out the right way, and yeah, it was a day that I'll remember forever.

Q. Hunter, it seemed on that first touchdown run, you kind of welcomed the contact on the way to the end zone even though you might have had a clear path. And for Jackson, I know you're on defense, but what did it mean to have Christian Watson back in the fold?

HUNTER LUEPKE: Well, on the first touchdown, I got past the first guy and then I saw that second guy, and I like contact, so I just went for it.

JACKSON HANKEY: As for having Christian, we have a ton of confidence in our offense anyway. We have guys like Hunter, TaMerik, and a fantastic offensive line. We have confidence that those guys are going to be able to put up points regardless of who's in or who's out.

But obviously having Christian, he's a special type of player. He's a playmaker like few people that I've ever seen, so knowing he was playing today gave us a lot of confidence and gave us excitement to get the ball back to our offense and watch them go to work.

Q. What does this mean for you personally to win this championship, going to Frisco and going home with the title?

HUNTER LUEPKE: We put in a lot of work after the loss to Sam Houston last year, and I think Coach was saying it was like 360-something days that we haven't had the championship and we've been practicing and getting better every day with Kramer and meetings and everything.

It's just awesome to finally achieve your goal that you've had for so long.

JACKSON HANKEY: Yeah, I would say similar. It's been a lot of fun to have this season, to see the success that this team has had and to finish where we did. Obviously in the spring things didn't necessarily go our way, but we didn't panic.

We kind of looked in the mirror. We were able to humble ourselves a bit and get back to work, and we were able to come back this fall and to have a really good season, and we did it with the same guys that we had in the spring.

It's been a joy. It's been a pleasure to be part of this football team. I'm so grateful for how it ended and where we came from and that we were able to get back to this spot with the people we had and with the way we did it. It was really special.

Q. Hunter, you had a stretch where you had like five straight touchdowns. Did you even do that in high school, have a stretch like that?

HUNTER LUEPKE: I don't think so, not at all. Yeah, I mean, the O-line were blocking great today, and the holes were ginormous, so it makes my job pretty easy when my number gets called.

Q. Jackson, 25 games in almost a calendar year. Describe the toll it's taken on you.

JACKSON HANKEY: Yeah, we were thinking about that a lot this week, whether that's ever been done before by anybody else. I'm not sure that it has, just the circumstances that have been around the last year or the last two years. It's definitely been a twist in my career that I never could have imagined coming.

But looking back now, especially after today, I think we can find a lot of reasons to be grateful for the way things went and the way this team was able to respond.

Yeah, so it was kind of a roller coaster the last couple years, but it's been a lot of fun, and to finish out today, you know, our goal back when all this thing started was that we were going to come out of this doing it better than anybody else, and we can say today that we've done that.

I'm really proud of this team, proud of these coaches. These guys mean the world to me and given me something that I'll cherish forever.

Q. Your coach when asked about how he described this season and this team, he used the word and emphasized "love." For you gentlemen, how would you take that? In your mind and in your soul, what do you take out of when your coach says how much love he has for this team?

JACKSON HANKEY: I think that's been obvious over the year. We have a group of guys on this football team that do love each other, and that's grown through the challenges that we've faced, and that motivates us to play and to play for one another.

And, man, I can personally say that there are a few people that I love in this world more than my teammates, more than my coaches. It's been a privilege and an honor to be part of this program and to play alongside them. I've made some friends, coaches and players included, that I'm going to have for the rest of my life.

I'm thankful for that, and that plays a huge role in the motivation of myself and also this team.

HUNTER LUEPKE: Like Jackson said, it's really motivating when you care for the guys on the field and off the field with you. Yeah, we spend a lot of time together, so you get to know everybody on this team. Our relationships grow day in day out.

When you're spending five days, six days a week with a position group or a teammate, you're going to get really close and I want to play hard for them when it comes to Saturday.

Q. Your third touchdown put you guys up 28-0 right before halftime. Did that give you more motivation going into the locker room? What was the mood when you went up 28-0?

HUNTER LUEPKE: I think we still had business to take care of. We had 30 minutes left in the game and we had to come out hot in the second half. It's not like we stepped on the brakes or anything like that, but we were still focused, more focused if that.

Q. Jackson, you've been a part of these for a couple now, but what was it about the first timers in this game that played for the first time, how they responded? What did you think about that?

JACKSON HANKEY: Well, you know, we've talked about this before, but even in the spring we've had to have a lot of young players that stepped up and we've had to count on them. Man, I think some of our young guys have done a really good job. They've stepped into some big roles.

There was a lot of people on this team that were contributors that probably didn't play as much in the last one, and it speaks to the way that this program develops players, to the way that it cares about players, to the way that older players on the team guide and develop younger players.

If you watch the game, you can see a bunch of young people on our team that played really well and contributed a lot to our success. With that, it's exciting to see what they are going to do in the future. I know I'm excited to watch a lot of these guys. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun, and I think this program is going to stay headed in the right direction.

Q. Jackson, when Tommy goes down first series of the game, how hard is it as a defense to change your mindset to a different style of quarterback and maybe not even just let up a little because now it's a backup guy in at that spot?

JACKSON HANKEY: Well, we played against No. 12 back in 2019 in a semifinal game, I think, so we had some knowledge of the type of quarterback he was.

If anything our mindset kind of flips from -- we knew Tommy was going to come in and run the football. We were pretty sure that No. 12 wasn't going to as much, even though he did get us a few times.

But it was a lot more ready to defend tailback run game, ready to defend some more pass, some shots down the field. It was a little bit of a flip of mindset. But yeah, I think we adjusted and handled it well.

Q. Why does this program look so strong and fresh every year in this game?

JACKSON HANKEY: Well, I mean, I would say the amount of work we put in and the amount of depth that we have. I think Coach Kramer, as has been said many times, is one of the best in the business. He does a fantastic job getting us ready to play a season, making us strong and well conditioned.

And other than that, we have great coaches that develop young players and create a lot of depth. That's one thing that we had this year. If you look at our D-line, they play eight or nine guys, and it doesn't seem to be a drop-off. We've rotated a few linebackers over the year, and guys step in and do a really good job.

I think it's a combination of what Coach Kramer has done for us and also the depth that we're able to develop. Yeah, that is a huge part of it. I think that's what helps us through these long playoff runs is really those two.

Q. Just talk about being named the most outstanding player today and what it means to you but also what it means to win it for your team.

HUNTER LUEPKE: Yeah, I'm definitely thankful to have received the award, but I've got to give all the credit to my teammates because the O-line played great, receivers caught the ball, and really meeting times. Cam played fantastic; defense were lights-out today. It wasn't just me, it was a team win.