KIRK FERENTZ: Good Afternoon. I’ll say a couple words about camp, and certainly look forward to this week’s game against Utah State. I think we had a productive camp, which I kind of indicated last week. The first week of school is always a challenge. A little bit different environment certainly, and different feel.
But I thought the guys did a good job, focusing basically throughout the entire camp. They showed up ready to go pretty much every day, good work ethic, good attitude, and that included last week right through the end, as well. Happy about that.
Everybody is eager to move on to the next phase right now and everybody is looking forward to being back on Duke Slater Field and having a chance to perform.
It never really gets old and it is invigorating to get into a game week and start facing the weekly challenges.
Just a couple words about our team. I think we’re in a little better situation health-wise than we’ve been the last couple years coming out of camp. I’m happy about that.
The challenge right now is to transition into game week. It’s a whole different mode of operation than what we’ve been doing, and trying to work through that a little bit.
Depth chart is a fluid process right now, and we have a lot of good competition going on with our guys, so we’ll see what it looks like as the week goes on and check out some medical situations on top of it. We’re hopefully in a good position there.
Regarding the sports wagering. Noah’s appeal process is in process actually, and as I’ve said all along, we support him right now. Nobody is claiming that he’s not guilty of certain things, but I think really what the bottom line is, we’re just hoping for a reconciliation on this whole thing or reconsideration, and I’m hoping when the committee looks at it, reasonable people will reconsider the punishment. I’m anxious to hear how that turns out.
Our captains this week are Joe Evans, Jay Higgins, Luke Lachey and Cade McNamara.
Utah State is coming off a 6-6 season, Coach Anderson’s second year at Utah State, and prior to that he had a really good strong run at Arkansas State, did an outstanding job.
If you look at what he did going to Utah State, they were coming off a 1-5 season in the pandemic year, and he and his staff led the team to 11 wins two years ago and then came back 6-6. He’s had success everywhere he’s gone.
It’s always unique the first games because of the new players. You’re not quite sure about the roster and all that type of thing. But especially with the portal and this new era, I think those numbers are probably higher than ever. That part is a little bit of a wildcard.
But the bottom line is if you look at their staff, there’s a lot of DNA there that’s pretty consistent — I know they lost their offensive coordinator, but that is what Coach Anderson specializes in. He’s going to take that over. I think we have a decent feel at least what that looks like.
Same thing with the defensive coordinator. You go back through his career, a lot of consistency there, and same thing with the special teams coordinator.
I feel like we have an idea of what to expect schematically, but you just never know, and that’s true in any first game, no matter if the whole staff had returned. You never know who people get in the off-season.
Their quarterback is a veteran player, did a nice job last year. They’re an up-tempo and spread team, they are balanced run and pass. They have a good returning receiver, so he’s back. Heart and soul of their defense appear to be up the middle. They have a defensive tackle and linebacker returning.
They have a good punter, and they have one guy on that blocked three punts last year, which you don’t hear of that too often. We’re going to give him a lot of attention and be mindful of where he is.
Then again, first games are always a little bit unique in that regard, so the big thing is for us to be on alert. We have to be ready. We have to be sound and fundamentally sound and also do a good job with our communication and try to play it out as it goes.
That’s kind of the challenge right there.
I’m thrilled that the Kid Captain program continues. It’s been a great partnership between the hospital and our program, so really thrilled about that. Gracelyn Springer is going to be our Kid Captain this week from Alburnett, a young lady who’s been fighting cancer over the last two years, gone through extensive treatments and has been under great care there. The good news is that her cancer is now in remission, so that’s great news, and we’ll be glad to have her with us.
Just finish up by saying thanks in advance to our fans. Their response has been great. Sounds like ticket sales have gone well, and I know they’re anxious, we’re eager to see them in Kinnick. Will be great to be back in Kinnick.
I’ve done this for a whole now, and one thing, it never gets old. It’s always exciting to have that opportunity to take the field in Kinnick and perform in front of the greatest fans in the world, so we appreciate that.
Q. How do you describe the current status for Cade McNamara and how you’ve seen him recover?
KIRK FERENTZ: He got hurt obviously a couple weeks ago — everybody saw that.
It’s a soft tissue issue, and he started working at the end of last week. He’s been practicing. I can’t put a percentage on where he’s at right now.
He’s been cleared medically. That’s the good news. Then the thing we have to judge as we go along is how effective can he be and can he go out and perform in a way that’s representative of the kind of player he is.
Looked good in practice today. It’s kind of day by day. We’ll see how sore he is tomorrow and see how he’s feeling. Obviously we’d love to have him out there, but we also want to make sure he can perform at a high level.
Q. Would you say “questionable” is sort of the right way to describe his availability?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah. I think right now he is. I know what he wants to do. I know how he’s wired, and that’s part of our job, to be smart about it.
It’s always tricky. We’ll kind of take it day by day, see what it looks like. Again, first and foremost is what the medical people say. If he can’t play, he can’t play, but that hasn’t been the case.
We’re going to make sure he can play effectively and make sure he can play in a way that’s representative of the type of player he is.
Q. Is it the type of injury which if you play on it, it could get worse, or does he need a little bit more time to heal it?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, not do damage, otherwise they wouldn’t clear him medically, significant damage. But soreness and things like that, that’s probably going to be part of the equation.
There’s no right answers on these, and in all due respect, just about every guy on the team that’s been practicing is a little bit sore and has issues. Nobody is at full strength.
But what it boils down to is can he play effectively, and then second thing is, to your point, is that going to knock him out for three weeks if he does play. We have to be smart about that.
Q. If Deacon Hill were to start, how would you feel about that and has Joe Labas returned to practice?
KIRK FERENTZ: Regarding Deacon, a lot better than three weeks ago, two weeks ago or one week ago, and that’s what camp is for to watch guys improve. If there is a blessing, when Cade was out, gave him every opportunity to work a lot.
Then Joe just returned last week, at the end of last week, so it’s good to get him back out there. He looks good, and he seems like he’s fully healthy now.
It would have been nice to have him the whole period, but we didn’t, so he’s playing catch up, but that month of December advanced him, as well, and obviously spring ball.
It’s not perfect, but it’s a healthy situation right now and I am impressed with Deacon and his tempo. But you have to go out there and operate to do that, and he’s taken advantage of that, and he’s doing a nice job so far.
Q. With Joe missing as much time as he’s missed, does that mean Deacon is the guy if Cade isn’t available?
KIRK FERENTZ: I’d say that’s fair right now, but we’ll see how the week plays out. Joe started out probably further than maybe I would have expected, and that’s good news, but I’d attribute that to the work that he got last year, especially in December.
Q. Is part of Cade playing a matter of pain tolerance?
KIRK FERENTZ: It’s part of any injury, that part, but that part I’m not worried about with him because he’s a pretty tough-minded guy. Just what you don’t want to do is just, first of all, again, have a guy out performing where he can’t perform and doesn’t look about or just isn’t able to get the job done, quite frankly, and that’s not fair to him. It’s not fair to anybody.
Then you have to consider what’s it going to be like the day after, two days after, all those kinds of things.
We’ll see how it goes.
Q. Did you file an appeal for the other two players who have suspensions?
KIRK FERENTZ: It hasn’t been done yet. Talked to both guys. If they want to do that and go down that road, they can. I’m not sure either will. I don’t want to speak for either guy, but I’m not sure they will.
In Noah’s case, it’s pretty obvious; they’re talking about a full season. Again, nobody is in denial of what the facts are. It’s just I the issue in my mind is just does the punishment fit what the violation was. Nobody is denying there was a violation. That’s not the issue. But the issue is what’s a just punishment, and I think that’s a valid thing to think about and just give consideration. It seems like there’s a common sense element that’s missing right here.
Q. For those players, the Big Ten just instituted a rule where you have to release who’s playing, who’s not playing two hours before kickoff, will those players that are suspended be on that two-hour list that won’t play?
KIRK FERENTZ: That’s a good question. It’s not an injury, so I don’t know. That’s a good question. I don’t know that. I guess I have three days to find out.
Q. What are your thoughts on releasing availability?
KIRK FERENTZ: I have no problem with it at all. It’s probably a good initiative. Basically that’s really where players are. They’re either able to go, still some question, or they’re not able to go. One thing we’ve done the last couple years at least is I’ll typically let our SID know that a guy couldn’t go so there’s not the rumor mill going in the social media world, like did this guy do whatever or has he got malaria or whatever it may be.
Just to put all that stuff to rest.
I’m good with it.
Q. On Saturday if you guys decide Cade won’t play, would he be on the inactive list, so to speak?
KIRK FERENTZ: If two hours before we know he’s not going to play, we’ll put it on there. We’ll follow the rules.
Q. Could he be like in an emergency situation —
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, that’s a possibility, too. Probably rather not go down that road, but it’s possible. I guess then he’d be in the possible category.
Q. If Cade can’t go for week one, are you thinking more along the lines of having Deacon go the whole way, or as long as it’s competitive, or would there be some rotation plays for some of the backups, too?
KIRK FERENTZ: First of all, we’re trying to win the game, and that’s paramount. That’s point number one to our team is understanding no matter who you’re playing — first game you really don’t know your opponent top to bottom. All I know is these guys won 11 games two years ago and they had some good games last year, too, beat Air Force who’s a tough out. We have total respect for our opponent and we need that each and every year.
We had a pretty good football team in ’09, and took a miracle to win that game against an FCS team. If we didn’t learn that lesson as a program, I know other people maybe are a little slow on that, but it’s just the nature of the game that we play. It’s every week is tough.
But we’re playing to win, and we’re going to get the best guys out there. If Cade can play the best, he’ll be out there. If he’s not capable, then we’ll go to the next guy, who would be Deacon right now, but we’re playing everybody, and we’re playing to win certainly.
Q. What led you to want and pursue Deacon Hill?
KIRK FERENTZ: It kind of happened by connection with Jon Budmayr. Jon was involved in his recruiting. We were looking to upgrade the room like we are every room that we have in the building, every position. Felt like he was a guy who could make our team better.
Obviously Spencer was out. Not going to play this year. Then we had a guy transfer out, so we had spots to fill. Good to get somebody who had some experience and somebody we had some firsthand knowledge with. So felt like that was a win-win situation.
You never know until he gets here and gets in the program, but we’ve been really happy with everything we’ve seen.
Q. What qualities struck you when you were looking into that?
KIRK FERENTZ: Size wasn’t one of them. It kind of was throwing. He’s the biggest quarterback I’ve been around, at least pound per inch. Chandler might have given him a run for the height.
But he’s just a very impressive young guy. He’s got a different personality, night and day between Cade, very different personality. Throws the ball extremely well.
I think with each practice, we’ve seen him gain confidence. There’s a big difference there. Cade played a lot. Deacon didn’t. But felt like we knew enough about him, and it’s always nice to have some inside information if people have worked with somebody, and we benefitted from that, I believe.
Q. When you say night-and-day personality, what does that mean?
KIRK FERENTZ: They’re just different guys. Cade is a pretty aggressive, more outspoken, and Deacon is a little bit more reserved, and a little quieter in terms of his personality, demeanor.
But it’s like everything in life. All kinds of people have different personalities, but can you be good at what you’re doing, and thus far we’ve been really pleased with what we’ve seen with Deacon.
Q. How long was Joe Labas out for and what has been the process of him getting back?
KIRK FERENTZ: It was soft tissue. It started mid-July, I think, so it was a significant issue. But Mother Nature takes its course. That’s how it goes.
Q. How have you seen him get back into the flow of things?
KIRK FERENTZ: It’s been great. He couldn’t really throw the ball because of what he had. It was kind of painful for him. But he’s been throwing for a couple weeks now and now he’s able to move around a little bit, so he’s done good, and that’s just maturity and being around.
Actually last December was a total initiation for him and our offense other than spring ball, preseason. He had gone through the whole entire season without practicing in our system, and now he’s had the benefit of playing a game and doing that, both in December and the spring. He’s a much better player than he was say last Dec. 1.
Q. As far as the quarterback room, have you seen the offense take the steps you have envisioned, like you needed to see them?
KIRK FERENTZ: I think probably the one or two words I’d use would be maturity or experience, and they usually go hand in hand. That’s a big difference. You don’t have to be a math major. We had one scholarship receiver at this time last year out there on the field.
You pull Linderbaum out of the equation the last two years, we haven’t had a lot of experience up there, where you think about a guys like Colby had 11 starts going into last year, but there were a true freshman where he was just trying to survive, in all fairness to him.
It’s a night-and-day situation right now. We have a lot more experience and a little bit more maturity in both those groups.
It’s a big part of putting a successful team together. We’re not as experienced in all positions as we’d like right now, but it’s something you’re working on, just like talking about Joe Labas. That’s what practice and reps are for.
Deacon the same thing; the guys are out there, if they’re doing a good job and practicing the way they need to, and I think a lot of guys have done that this summer, this August, so I think we’ve probably moved along a little bit. That’s the biggest difference right now, maturity and experience.