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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: STANFORD v WISCONSINDecember 28, 2012Ethan HemerPASADENA, CALIFORNIAS Q. How is your week going so far? ETHAN HEMER: It's not bad. Q. Having any fun? ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, it's been good. Comedy club was fun last night, just been nice to kind of get away from the snow a little bit and just enjoy ourselves out here. Q. Talk about the focus on the team. This is your third trip. ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, I think that a lot more guys are focused at the task at hand. Everyone is locked into what we have to do to get the win this year. This is our third time out here, and the upperclassmen, we know what it takes to win, and kind of everyone has bought into that now, more so now than ever, and we're out here to get a win, and we know that's the main thing. Q. Are you doing any extracurricular stuff? Do you find it hard to strike a balance? ETHAN HEMER: I mean, guys are having fun. I don't want to give the impression that we're sitting in our room and not really doing anything, but at the same time everyone is being smart with it. No one is going out until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Guys are in bed at good times. No one is making bad decisions. People don't want to let each other down is the big thing. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: You know, we were right there in both of those games and just came down to finishing on a couple plays. That's one thing that Coach Alvarez has really stressed. This bowl prep has been, you know, we need to finish everything, finish drills, finish practice, finishing school, so we're out here and we're going to finish. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: There was. Q. Were you surprised or ready for that? ETHAN HEMER: Well, we kind of had an idea it was coming tomorrow. We weren't sure how. They kind of sprung it on us, which was fine. Everyone responded well. It was a nice change up because we haven't tackled anyone for three weeks now. It's been a while since we had like a real tackling drill. So kind of knocked everyone's rust off, got in a good vibe. It was a good way to start off practice. Q. Talk about bowl prep under Coach Alvarez. ETHAN HEMER: Short, snappy practices. Everything we're in, we work hard and then we're off. I think everyone has kind of embraced that and really grown to enjoy that kind of practice. Q. Yesterday they were talking about the swag Coach Alvarez has. How would you describe that? ETHAN HEMER: It's a quiet, quiet confidence. The man just kind of walks around, he's almost got like an aura around him like this man built what we are and everyone knows it and recognizes it. Q. (Inaudible.) Are you guys aware of that and‑‑ ETHAN HEMER: I think for a man who stepped in and stabilized everything, giving us an opportunity to play under him, we would love nothing more than to give him another victory in this Rose Bowl. And I'm sure he'd say the same thing about us because of our resiliency and everything else, he wants nothing more than a victory. That kind of goes into his motto of everyone needs to count on me. I think that was something he said back in the day. Everyone has got to be accountable to each other, and boy, if we take care of that, we're going to have a really good game on Saturday‑‑ or Tuesday. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: He got snowed in? Q. I guess so, in Utah. ETHAN HEMER: I have not seen him out here, talked to him and saw him in Madison, but nothing out here as of now. Coach Alvarez says he doesn't want them to really interact with us, they're just kind of observing everything. So we'll probably see them on the practice field at some point, but there's not going to be any kind of interaction between us. I don't foresee that. Q. When you look at Stanford, they're not the traditional Pac‑8, Pac‑10, Pac‑12 team, high‑flying offense, yet this seems like a team that's more of the Big Ten mold. Is that the impression you get when you watch them on film? ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, definitely a very physical team. They don't beat themselves. They do what they do well, and I think it plays into both teams' advantage that we've seen it every day in practice. So because of that I foresee a physical, hard‑fought game. I mean, there's two teams cut from the same cloth, if you will, that love to run the ball and play stingy defense. I think it's going to make a great game. Q. Power right, power left, power right, power left? ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, a lot of that, and then a play action here and there, try and throw them off. Sure do, absolutely. Going through our Big Ten play, not a lot of Big Ten teams are running the spread stuff, so it's kind of fun to get back to a traditional team. Q. How big are adjustments going to be in a game like this? ETHAN HEMER: It seems like every bowl prep there's always new wrinkles, new aspects of an offense that we haven't seen or prepared for, just like in the season. During the season teams pull out new things. For us it's going to be huge communicating with our coaches on the sideline and allowing ourselves to make adjustments to what they‑‑ we have to be flexible and deal with what they throw at us. Q. Someone said because you've played such good defense all week long, you've had to do that on a weekly basis, teams are throwing more new stuff at you than ever before just to try to find something that works. ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, we've seen a lot of new things, and I guess they'll start out with like what works with them and then maybe midway through the game they'll try something new. I think we've seen that in every game, and I guess it's a testament to how well we play our scheme and how well we're able to then adapt to whatever they show and then make changes on the fly. Q. Is that because you guys are fairly basic? ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, I guess you could say that, because we're pretty basic with our lineup and play. But at the same time we're guys that are also very experienced. We've seen a lot. We're able to recognize different formations and different aspects that aren't what we game planned for and then communicate it to our coaches. Q. Chris Ash is a master of adjustments and can see things. Would you agree with that and is that a pretty good skill to be able to see something like that and process information quickly? ETHAN HEMER: No doubt. I mean, Coach Ash just does a really, really good job of seeing what's going on, going through his stuff and then finding an adjustment that works and us running with it. He expects us to be able to play off of that because we're older, because we're more experienced. So we've got a really good system going right now with that. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: You would think it would be really hectic, but we're to the point now where nothing really fazes us. Let's say they throw in some kind of wrinkle, we're on the sidelines, we'll talk about it, coaches will talk quick, and then we'll go with it. We'll go with whatever we do. I mean, our communication is so huge on game day that it really, really makes a big difference. Q. What's it been like with this set of circumstances (inaudible) you know you're not coming back here. Does it change what practice has been like? ETHAN HEMER: If anything it's made the practices more enjoyable because everyone is recognizing that we need to enjoy it for the last few days that we have with these men and they're moving on to new opportunities, and it's also for the younger guys an opportunity to show the coaches who are coming out here, while they won't talk with us, they're going to watch and observe, it'll be an opportunity for them to show that they can play. But on the whole I'd say everyone is really enjoying themselves these last few days with our coaches. Practices have been really good, really focused. Yeah, I mean, everyone is recognizing that it's a ticking clock and that we have a limited time. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, the arm bands say "I'm in and I'm on." Coach Alvarez had us wear these. The idea behind them is during finals when everything was pretty hectic and the coaching changes, no one was really sure what was happening, his thing is we are in, like we're in the moment right now, and at the same time we're also on, so we're going to take advantage of the opportunity, we're going to be focused in practice, we're going to just be a really, really good team because we know we can be. And I think everyone kind of batted around that idea, and the bracelets were just kind of like a token or an item that showed how much, because every player got one when the coach thought that they were in and on, as you'd say. Q. Do you think the players bought into it? ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, no doubt, more so the idea than the band. The band was kind of a little trinket, but everyone bought into the idea. Q. There's a big difference between Barry and Bret. What is the biggest difference? ETHAN HEMER: You hit it on the head. It's hard to say that there's anything that much more different. He's cut out some skill‑flex stuff. The scrimmage yesterday was new. That was something that we had never done before in any of the bowl preps. But I really enjoyed it because we hadn't tackled anyone for a couple weeks. So for that opportunity to like play some real football, get ourselves back in that mindset, like this is a tackle game, not a thud‑up game‑‑ Q. So it was full bring everybody to the ground? A.Yeah, it was full go, and he's told us that he's done that in his last Rose Bowl teams. It was like, okay, let's do it then. If it's had success, there's no reason to not try it and not go with what he says will work. Q. How long was the scrimmage? ETHAN HEMER: The scrimmage was roughly 10 minutes, I think, short, crisp, got some work with the ones and the twos and then it was done. Q. But it was full hitting? ETHAN HEMER: Yep, full go, tackle to the ground. Q. Any other noticeable differences in these three weeks? Obviously you've had the opportunity to prepare three straight years for this game. ETHAN HEMER: Gosh, it's just kind of been such a blur these last few weeks with everything that's going on. I think the biggest thing was he was just like a rock of stability for all of us, something that we could all look to, like this man is going to provide us with good coaches, number one, and number two, he's going to coach us and put us in a good spot to be competitive in this game. So the entire circumstances of this bowl prep were just unique. No one could have suspected this. It just caught everyone off guard, and then the roller coaster just kind of stabilized when he's just like, I've got this, don't worry, let's go win the game. Q. Going back to Coach Partridge and Coach Ash, what do you think their motivation is? ETHAN HEMER: Both of these coaches have been very in the moment, which the players have been very thankful for and very appreciative of. Everyone recognizes the limited opportunity and the limited time we have together. And the coaches are the ones that stress that the most, like well, we're here, you won't find a better coach or a person that's going to push you more, because they have a lot of respect for this program, and they love what kind of players we are, and they want to cherish these last few days. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: I do not have the band on. I'm in and I'm on. That's what it says. I do not have the band. Maybe one of these other guys has it, but I do not. It was red, but I wore it so much that it faded to white actually. The red totally washed off. Q. What's the strategy going into the Beef Bowl? ETHAN HEMER: The strategy is I'm going to eat until I'm full and then I'm going to stop and I'm not going to try for any records, I'm not going to try to out‑eat anyone because we all know Travis can eat a full cow if he wanted to, and no one can match that. So two or three plates will be just fine for me. That's all I need. Q. I heard he wasn't going to do it this year. ETHAN HEMER: If he doesn't want to eat, no one is going to be disappointed, so then there will be more for everyone else. It'll be nice. (Laughter.) Q. Can you fast forward a little bit past the bowl just in your mind? You might lose maybe one junior, I'm thinking Travis maybe, but you'll still have a lot of people coming back, new coaching staff. What would you hope for next year given the talent and some uncertainty with the coaching staff? ETHAN HEMER: It'll be tough to tell because we're not really sure what kind of coaches are going to be‑‑ I liked what I heard from coach Andersen when I met with him. The thing that sticks out to me the most is no matter our coaches, what their styles are, we have a talented, large senior class that knows how to win and expects to win. I would expect us to be very competitive in our division, compete for a title again next year, and I think that the coaches that we're going to bring in are going to be great. I think having a spring under their system will be very beneficial for all of us, though. But the answer to your question is we're going to be a competitive team. Q. What's it been like, going through essentially six assistants after last season, plus a head coach? How difficult is that? ETHAN HEMER: Boy, we looked at the offensive guys last year, and we were just like, boy, that's very unfortunate, and then we went into practice. Like it was like you felt bad for them for like one day, and then you're like, let's go. I mean, now we're kind of going through the same thing. It's like, you know what, people are going to feel bad for you for maybe a day, and then you've got to go to work. So I think that the big thing for us is not to worry about our coaches but rather ourselves and our team, because it is our team. The coaches coach but the players play, and that's one thing that this senior class is really going to have to build itself around is that we are the center of this team, we're the ones that win games. That will have to be our big focus. Q. Is the revolving door hard on guys, tough on them might be a better way to put it? ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, that's a good way to put it, I guess. We've been kind of spoiled here at Wisconsin with coaching changes. The last few years have been really stable, and around college football it's just not like that. Teams don't hold coaching staffs together for a long time, just because opportunities come and go, and college football has changed so much in the last few years, it's like everyone‑‑ the loyalty is kind of losing its luster, now all of a sudden it's go to the next big thing. But you can't blame coaches for wanting to take a new opportunity, you can't be upset about that. It is what it is. I think for the upperclassmen it's easier because we've been here, we've established relationships. A new coach will do us some good. We'll learn something new, expand our football game. For young players it can be kind of scary because here was something they were told would be stable that's not anymore. So recruits‑‑ I mean, everything, just like now we're seeing it first hand, what we read on the news, what we'd seen on ESPN with decommitments and then coaching leaving and all this and that and now we get to live it. So it's a little scary a little bit. But at the same time for the guys that are here on this team, it's us. That's the main constant. Like coaches will come and go but the players are still going to be here. Q. It's interesting what you said about next year's senior class. (Inaudible.) Like you said, coaches coach, players play. ETHAN HEMER: Yeah, he was like a player‑oriented coach. The little bit I've been able to talk to him, I'd agree with you. He makes a great first impression, talks about putting players first. So that was good to hear. It was good to hear that we had somebody that recognized us as a team that's coming back with a lot of talent, a lot of ability, and a team that knows what it takes to win games. Q. (Inaudible.) ETHAN HEMER: They were a really good team. They were a team that‑‑ they were‑‑ it took a missed field goal for us to win that game. A lot of good talent. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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