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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: OREGON v WISCONSINDecember 28, 2011Peter KonzPASADENA, CALIFORNIA PETER KONZ: I did the whole practice. Q. I assume you feel pretty good to go? PETER KONZ: Yeah. I mean, I just want to keep healthy. Yesterday I did limited Disney, just because I didn't want to keep walking. I'm going to try to stay off my feet as much as possible. Because it does get sore. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: No. I think the week's going to get better. I've been mentally repping, like I've been saying all along. Yeah, exactly this whole Bowl prep, which has been about a month. But everything's going pretty good. I've been watching film every night, just to make sure I stay mentally sharp, just because I know I haven't had the reps the other guys have. Q. What did the specialist say? Can you talk about what he talked about about the injury? PETER KONZ: He said everything looked really good, that our rehab had been going really good. For a dislocation you don't expect the results we've got, especially with my range of motion, my ability to get on my feet. He was pretty impressed with how well I was doing. And he just made sure that everything was stable, everything was intact. There was something that looked like a fracture but it wasn't a fracture. And he also told me that. I mean, our people told me that it was probably not much of a fracture, if it was. So he was able to disregard any fracture. Q. So he didn't see anything structurally? PETER KONZ: No.  It all looked good. He told me you can play in the Rose Bowl as long as you're functional. So it comes down to the coaches, whether they think that I'm ready to play. I think he's trying to get used to left guard again. Kevin asked me when's the last time I practiced. And I said, well, Minnesota. Like fully. So it's been a while. So everybody's gotta adjust right now. But it will be a smooth transition. We've been playing for years together. So it won't be that bad. Q. Are you going in with the thought that you are going to start, practice is going to start? PETER KONZ: Right now I'm going in with the mentality that I'm going to start. I've got to prepare myself to play. Whether whatever the coaches are thinking is what will happen. But I gotta go in with the mentality I'm going to play. So we're going to prepare that way. And today we'll see what happens. I mean, yesterday was only 12 periods, about an hour. So we'll see how an hour and a half does and how comfortable they are with me in there and how the ankle feels. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: Well, that's what I'm doing right now. That's how I'm practicing. That's what‑‑ we're getting reps in right now, and that's what I'm doing. Q. Can you talk about the work in progress? PETER KONZ: It's always a work in progress, because you have to know whoever is going to start has to be healthy and whoever is behind you, if I'm only good for a quarter or two quarters or say something happens, which yesterday I actually got hit in the ankle. It just hurt, but I was able to go through and it wasn't a hindrance, actually. I was really surprised. When I got hit, got hit pretty hard. I went to the ground, but I was able to get up for the next play. With relatively low pain that you'd think after damaging it so good. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: I don't know. I remember falling to the ground and swearing. I just like hooked my foot on somebody and just tripped. And I remember thinking, well, if it hurts too bad make sure you pull yourself out. There's no need to hurt yourself on a day like today. But actually I just kept going through it and it was fine. And when I got to the hotel I was able to rest enough where it felt fine. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: Well, not until after the Rose Bowl. So Coach B wants us to wait until all that. Yeah, he said he'll let you guys know. He just wanted us to focus on the Rose Bowl. So we'll deal with that afterwards. Q. Can you say if having a former offensive line coach is kind of a neat idea for a guy who knows, who has lived it? PETER KONZ: Well, I mean, all Wisconsin guys are good. Coach Bielema lived in Wisconsin, coached for Wisconsin, and Coach Rudolph, who played for Wisconsin, has Wisconsin in his blood. I mean, I think as a player you always kind of gravitate towards people who you think you can relate to a little bit more, whether or not that's true, you know what I mean? If you think you can gravitate to somebody, you can. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: I think Rudolph, believe it or not, is more vocal. Just as far as talking during practice. I think Bo sometimes just kind of sits back and lets you realize your mistakes sometimes. I think Rudolph is more vocal. But then again I don't know how that will differ because you've got five guys on the O line you have to watch at once compared to one or two tight ends. So I'm not sure how that will affect that, but I think Rudolph might be a little more vocal. Q. Are you surprised with (inaudible) PETER KONZ: I don't know. I guess I was really surprised just because Coach B just said it one day in a meeting. Coach Bostad apologize, wanted to tell us first. You gotta do what you gotta to do as a man, I guess if I was a freshman, I would be more surprised. But I understand he's got his family to look towards and do everything he can as far as his happiness. Q. I didn't quite hear you. So he told you in a meeting room and Bostad told you he wanted to tell you first? PETER KONZ: Yeah, I think it's one of those things that slipped out. It wasn't a big deal. Q. What did Bostad say to the linemen? PETER KONZ: He just told us, not everybody's going to like it, but he asked us to respect it. And we do. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: Well, he's a very good coach. And no one wants to lose that kind of mentor, that person who makes you as good as you are. Especially the older guys. The younger guys might be able to adjust because they've only had him for a year or two. But guys like Groy or Fredrick, I know they know what they're going to miss. Q. Is there a quintessential way to sum up his personality? PETER KONZ: Oh, wow. I'd say anytime we get in a meeting room and he goes on one of his rants of‑‑ but there's something always‑‑ there's always like a‑‑ it's a genre that Bo has, there's basically a moral to any story he tells you, even though it might seem like ranting, there's always a purpose whether it's not to get ahead of ourselves as far as a schedule or not to get full of ourselves because we're highly ranked and we still got work to do. There's always a moral, something to be had in his speeches. He's one of those guys, he's very direct, and there's always a point to what he says. So if you don't listen, you're going to miss it. Q. Could you almost expect‑‑ you realized you could give him, is one of those guys? PETER KONZ: Oh, most definitely. A lot of guys come in not knowing they can be an all‑American or go to the NFL. And he does a great job of training us. And you know what, it's proven in his coaching methods that he can create good players. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: If you're an O line coach at Wisconsin, there's always big shoes to fill. Q. How is Coach Chryst handling all this? PETER KONZ: He's always the same guy. Coach Chryst is always the happy peppy kind of guy. Q. Always telling jokes. PETER KONZ: Yeah. He does, he really does. And you know it's just comfortable. Especially we're at the Rose Bowl, and you don't want to be thinking about any of the coaching changes or anything. You just want to play. And he's been doing a good job of making it seem like any normal game week. And I really appreciate that. Q. Some people think that last Rose Bowl was Coach Chryst's finest moment (inaudible) the only game in the last two years, year and a half (inaudible)‑‑ PETER KONZ: I don't think that's his style, really. That's never been his style. He just wants to be the best him every day. That's how you can describe Coach Chryst, is that every day he just wants to be his best. And whatever happened yesterday he'll try to fix. But it's really just moving forward all the time. That's always been him. Q. What's the lingering regret from that game offensively? PETER KONZ: Maybe that we didn't score more. As of late that's been our reputation of just being a heavy offensive scoring team. And scoring just signifies that you're able to master a defense or be able to call any play and be able to fit it up properly. And that's big to an offensive line. That's the only point I can really talk about. But I mean if you're able to control the uncontrollable so to say, it's really a point of pride. Q. (Inaudible) have you heard that comment? After that last series and moved it right down the field. PETER KONZ: I mean, so many people came up to me after that Rose Bowl and told me what we should have done. Q. Where were they before? PETER KONZ: They didn't tell us what we should have done to get there, but somehow... Q. Do you have any answers? PETER KONZ: I mean, Wisconsin football is always power football. It's always been run up the middle, just because that's the way we're able to recruit. We've got a lot of big kids coming out of the state. A lot of people who pride themselves on physicality. So I mean, we'll always stick to that. That's all I can tell you. Q. If you look at that game last year, the challenge was more speed on defense. And it appears to be there's a similar challenge this year with Oregon. Different scheme. PETER KONZ: You know what, every year they do this to us. We are the big guys. They're the fast guys. Florida State, they could run all over us, and we were the Clydesdales and they were the stallions. The next year Miami was the most athletic team, all about that ESPN 30 for 30 just came out about their speed and talent and athletic ability. And we were the guys who wished we could be them. And then last year, it was TCU had the best defense and they were the fastest, and we were once again the slow giants, and this year's no different. It's just the usual headline. I'm telling you. I mean, we're not that slow. We're not. I mean, Nick Toon, extremely fast. Montee Ball, is around a lot of people this year. Russell can evade anybody. I'm sure Oregon's saying the same thing that they're also big, too. We're two very good football teams and you don't get by on just speed or physicality or your size. You have to have a balance. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: You know what, no one ever says it, but I know what everybody thinks. Because they say‑‑ I remember hearing a line about this game, the headline is going to be speed versus power. I was like where have you been the last four years? (Laughter). Q. Nobody said we're original. PETER KONZ: I guess it works. (Laughter). Q. Comments about the Rose Bowl, what did you expect? PETER KONZ: Normally I just respond there's a lot of things you can do with two points. I mean, you can go back and say well we could have gotten one more first down and put us in field goal range. We could have ran more inside. We could have ran more outside. You could have passed more because maybe their "D" line was their strength. There's so many factors that go into a two‑point loss that you can ascribe it to anything. Maybe we weren't cheering loud enough. (Laughter) I mean, if it had been a bigger loss, you can say, okay, we were sloppy at this; they were doing this and we never adjusted. But it's hard to just blame it on one thing when it's two points. Q. Comparing Montee and Michael in this game. (Inaudible) if you're a fan of college football, are you concerned about this, and what do you think of the two styles? PETER KONZ: To be honest, I haven't watched them in a long time.  We were so busy. I had 18 credits this semester. Q. So you're excused. PETER KONZ: Thank you. You know what, they're very similar, especially after Montee lost weight. I think when he was a little bit heavier, he was more of a John Clay, who scored a touchdown for the Steelers. Saw that. That was pretty cool. But I'd say Michael, I'd guess he prides himself on his agility, as far as I can see. I can't watch that many games offensively. I'm more focused on the defense. But Montee, I think, just hits the holes straight and hard. Michael is able to do the Barry Sanders type deal. Montee to me just seems straight and narrow, just get the quick yards and then after that just keep running. Q. How long did it take you to notice a difference in Montee after he gave up that weight? PETER KONZ: It was right away. UNLV for sure. Because he was able to get passed the guys who might have caught him the year before. Just that extra half step or whatever it was was able to push him into the end zone, which is exactly what he told me in the summer when I asked him why he was losing weight, because he was already extremely successful with the weight towards the end of the season last year. Q. Other factors for you? PETER KONZ: A lot better than I expected. I expected a lot more pain in my ankle. I expected to maybe be a throbbing. But it stayed consistent, and didn't get any worse, which is really positive. And it lets me know that I'm getting ready to play. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: All the 1s. I didn't get any with the 2s. Q. Do you expect to play now, if you had to‑‑ PETER KONZ: Oh, definitely. I'm going to go into this expecting to play. I mean, if everything stays good and I stay healthy and I keep progressing, then definitely. Q. (Inaudible) PETER KONZ: You know what, I don't know. Just because he's a very good coach, a guy you'd want to stay under. But, again, there's so many other coaches that can bring a different side of your game out. So it makes you think. I can't say precisely one way or the other, but there's definitely positives and negatives. Pros and cons. (Laughter). Q. That's a good point, though. As much as you might like it if a new guy came in he could offer something that you didn't even know about. Potential growth. PETER KONZ: Exactly. I talked to like Gabe and Mof, and they didn't always have the same guys. They had different guys. I think they might have started with Huber. And then (inaudible). And I know I talked to Vanden Heuvel who said each person brings something else into your game that maybe hadn't developed as much. I know we definitely run heavy in our practice, and I don't know what Rudolph would do. But he definitely has a different edge. He has different experiences, different knowledge. He'll place value on different things, which makes you think well there's definitely some benefit to having someone different. He already knows he's good at what he does. Q. Do you mind if I gave your mom a call, just for background stuff? PETER KONZ: I think she'd like that, yeah. Q. Has any of this surprised you where you're sitting now? PETER KONZ: Yeah, most definitely. Kevin and I were always the guys up in the film looking at the trophy case at the three Rose Bowl champions and the three big‑time champions. And there was always a goal of ours to work as hard as we can. But with football you have 22 guys, it's really hard to put together a championship caliber team. You can only go as far as preparing yourself. And just hope the pieces fall into place and everybody does what you want them to do. It's just been an amazing ride. Two Rose Bowl is more than anybody can ask for, especially back to back. This is the granddaddy of them all. It's the Bowl that you've always wanted to go to as a kid, especially growing up in Wisconsin. And it's just amazing to me that we got here twice, and that we've all bonded together as tightly as we did, and being able to grow and being able to accomplish this for a second time and be able to be here. It's just amazing. Q. How about being an all‑American? PETER KONZ: It didn't enter into my mind until Coach Bielema told me about it. And it was‑‑ I was awe struck. I was very thankful, very thankful that I have the parents that I do, I have the community that supported me as I do, that I had the financial background that I could be able to chase my dreams like I do. And then the opportunity to grow up in Wisconsin, be able to‑‑ my mom‑‑ to be able to afford the camps that eventually probably led to my scholarship that led to my success, which allowed me to graduate next spring. It's just an amazing like domino effect that wouldn't have started without all that support and it's just awesome. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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