Kirk Ferentz News Conference Transcript | Nov. 26

 

KIRK FERENTZ: Good afternoon to everybody. A couple words about last weekend.

Obviously, we’re pleased to get a win. A good effort by the entire team. Happy to get a road win anytime in the conference. That’s a good thing.

In a nutshell, I think our older guys did a really good job of playing well and giving us leadership. Next man in, that’s something we’ve talked about for 20-plus years. I think you had some good examples whether it be a senior like Nick DeJong probably playing his best game since he’s been here. TJ Hall was called upon, did a really nice job. Or a new guy like Jackson (Stratton), his first start in college football. A lot really covered the spectrum there.

Good efforts. Good job on ball security, takeaways. Good job on that. Happy to see that. Good job playing clean. Penalties, that type of thing. Special teams certainly gave us an edge, whether it be Drew or punting. We didn’t punt a lot, but Rhys did a really nice job there, too. Happy about that.

Want to congratulate a couple guys. Kaleb Johnson being a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. One of three people. That’s tremendous. Kaden Wetjen, a finalist for the Jet Award, too. Compliment to Kaden and the job he’s done.

Drew Stevens, Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. Playing like an experienced guy now. Happy for him as well.

Moving forward for this week’s game against Nebraska. Our captains are same four as last week: Quinn Schulte, Jay Higgins, Luke Lachey and Logan Jones.

Definitely out will be Reece Vander Zee. Still a ways away. Hopefully we’ll get him back for the bowl game. Starting to turn the corner a little bit there.

Jemari Harris won’t be able to go. Dunker, pretty sure that he won’t be able to go either. He’s improving, but I don’t think he’s going to make it.

Everybody else is moving forward. I think we have a chance to have everybody else ready for game time. We’ll see how that goes.

Nebraska is coming off a really good home win against Wisconsin. Playing really well. Made them bowl eligible. I think everybody knows that. It’s a credit to Coach Rhule, his staff, his players, for the job they did in two short years. Last year 5-7. A lot of really close, tough defeats. This year turning the corner, becoming bowl eligible.

Done a good job of putting the team together, whether guys that were there, guys they recruited, and guys in the transfer portal. Really aggressive on defense. To me it starts up front. They have two defensive tackles that feel like they’ve been there forever. I think they have been there four or five years, I don’t know. Both have started a lot of games. They’re showing it. They’re strong and aggressive. Really tough guys. Kind of starts there.

That’s really tough to block those guys inside. A lot of guys are doing a good job. They play a lot of people. Their safeties are all good. They play three of them. No. 2 looks to be the leader. He’s a really good football player on top of it.

Offensively a little bit different. A little bit more youth there. Contrast to the two defensive tackles that have been there a long time. Quarterback is an outstanding player. I can’t imagine there’s a better freshman quarterback in the country. No. 17, receiver, return guy, is a true freshman as well. Really good, outstanding football players. Very dynamic. They have a good offensive football team. Good at the skill positions. Big. Have some experience up front. Special teams, talented, good size, speed. Their punter is a really good performer as well.

It’s going to be a big challenge for us. I know they’re coming in here with confidence. We’ll have to be at our best Friday to be ready to go here.

We will have 23 seniors recognized. It’s always an interesting thing. We had our bye week a couple weeks ago. I told the whole team things are going to go fast the last two games. I’m sure the seniors will tell you that about their entire careers. When you get to the back end as an older player, boy, seems like it goes really fast. Kind of like a season.

Can’t say enough about these guys. They’ve all done a great job. Some of the guys have been here the entire time. A couple guys that transferred. Of note, interesting, we have 10 of the 23 are walk-ons originally here. Some have gone on and earned scholarships, other guys haven’t, but they’ve stayed with the program, done a great job.

Cherry pick, an easy one. Jeremy Chaplin was a good prospect when he came here. Developed into a really good football player, outstanding teammate. Also has earned distinction as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar on top of it. Great guy to be on the team. Kind of a little bit representative of the whole group as it pertains.

It’s a little bittersweet time. Kind of like being a parent. There’s a time where guys move on and they go on to the next phase of their lives. You’re happy for them. You want to see them have great success. At the same time you hate to see guys leave, too. It’s a little bit bittersweet. Always has been, always will be.

Bottom line is I’m really happy for the guys. I know every one of the guys are ready to go on to the next chapters. Some will play football for a while, but it won’t be forever. The most important thing they do in college is number one get their education, all these guys have done a great job of doing that or will do that in this semester or the next semester. The other part is having a great experience while they are here, be it football, social lives, learning how to navigate and make those types of decisions. I’m confident this whole group will do well. Wish them all the best here.

Kid Captain, we have a 12-year-old, Lukas Hazen, a young guy from Muscatine. Again, another tough story. Lukas was ill before birth actually. Born six weeks prematurely. Severe brain bleeding. Had a lot of challenges. The people at the children’s hospital, the whole care staff, has done a great job with him.

He is in a wheelchair now, but mom says he has a great spirit, she puts no boundaries on him. Big Hawkeye fan. Will be great to have he and his family with us. Honored to have them with us this weekend. Happy about that.

Last thing real quickly, the Heroes Game. I think one of the great concepts for a trophy and rivalry where you truly recognize people that are really special in each state. For us, it’s a real honor to be able to honor the memory of Dan Marburger. I am sure most of you know Dan’s story, who was the Principal at Perry High School. Last January stepped in front of a school shooter and saved countless lives. Tremendous individual. Every account that you hear about Dan was just an extraordinary person, great family man, great for education.

To me, you talk about true heroes, we talk about that term with sports, things like that. This really puts it in perspective. He is certainly in every sense of the word a true hero. It’s really an honor for us to salute him and his family Friday night.

I commend everybody who came up with the concept with the Hero Trophy. I think it’s a really neat thing.

I’ll conclude with that it is not an official blackout, but we will be in black Friday night. If the fans want to jump in there with us, we’d really appreciate that. I think it would be great. Should be a great environment. Should be a little chilly, so bring your hot chocolate.

Final game of the season, always special. A chance to recognize 23 outstanding individuals that have run the whole race and run it well. It’s not just a race, it’s a marathon if you consider the work these guys put in, playing through injury, disappointment, pretty. Much every one of the 23 have experienced that. To persevere and finish up, finish out strong, earn their degrees, all those things that are real meaningful, it’s a really special group.

I can tell you as a parent, the first time your kid comes out in the swarm, it’s a big deal, then obviously the last game. I’ve never met a college player that doesn’t remember their last game or the last game in high school. Certainly it’s a big deal. I’ve got a lot of respect. Certainly a lot of gratitude for all 23 of our guys.

I’ll throw it out for questions.

Q. I want to ask about injuries. With Gennings’ injury, what is the nature of that?

KIRK FERENTZ: He’ll be fine, yeah. He’s improving well. I don’t think he’s going to make it by Friday. It’s too bad. He’s worked so hard. He’s done a great job.

He’ll be back for the bowl. I imagine if we were playing next week, he’d probably be ready for that one.

Q. From a quarterback standpoint, how is Brendan recovering?

KIRK FERENTZ: Seems to be feast or famine. We had all three guys out there last two days. They both look good. The guys that haven’t been in there, Cade and Brendan, are both practicing. An interesting dynamic.

Went from Max White being No. 2 to he’s been pushed out to the No. 4. He’s not real happy right now. He’s done a great job. Real credit to him. He’s been a great team player for us.

Q. Do you know who your backup quarterback is at this point? How much can Brendan do now?

KIRK FERENTZ: So far so good. Obviously there’s some skepticism yesterday from me going to practice. But he’s handling everything well. He looks good. We’ll see how it goes this week. It’s a tight week. We don’t have a lot of practice time on the field. Cade looks fine. Keep our fingers crossed that both of them will be ready to go, then we’ll figure out the batting order going from there.

Q. In that same vein, is Jackson your starter right now?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah.

Q. Speaking of Jackson, you said you didn’t meet him till August, correct?

KIRK FERENTZ: Tim met him in May or June. Yeah, I met him when he showed up. It was right about this spot (smiling).

Q. Mason Richman said throughout camp, he’s been able to make some really nice throws. What have you seen from him leading up to this point?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, when Tim saw him out in California, whenever that was, he was impressed with his feet, the way he threw the football.

It’s always interesting with the quarterback thing. I always laugh about the NFL. When guys have their workouts, there’s no pass-rush, there’s nobody playing defense on other receivers. If a guy can’t throw, it’s probably a bad sign. You never quite know.

He’s done a good job. The most amazing part from my vantage point is he’s been a scout team player up until a couple weeks ago. That is a lot to get thrown at you. Not that he is doing everything. He’s really handled it well.

As I mentioned Saturday, the fact that he had a week plus to think about it, one more hurdle to climb. Sometimes you start thinking about, How did I get here? What am I doing here? That can work against you a little bit, too.

He seems to be really steady. Unflappable is probably a strong word at this point because we don’t know him that well. Handles things really in stride. It’s been impressive so far.

He didn’t play perfect the other day, but he did a lot of really good things. I was really impressed with his poise, be ability not to get in trouble, which is easier said than done sometimes, especially at that position because you’re involved in every snap, the ball is in your hand every snap. A lot of things can go wrong.

Q. Jay Higgins seems like he’s the embodiment of an Iowa story. What has Jay meant to this team, maintaining that Mike linebacker standard that you have built over the past two decades?

KIRK FERENTZ: The thing I’d really accentuate, that part about him not being in the transfer mode. This guy, Jack Campbell, you’d have to be an idiot to say I’m better than him at that given point.

There’s a lot of cutting and running going on just everywhere in life right now. Instead of pouting or I’m not saying choke back, but sometimes I call it second team cocoon where it’s a safe zone, don’t really have to prepare to my fullest because I probably won’t be in there anyway. It’s a dangerous place to be when you’re a backup. Sometimes you don’t do it intentionally, but it’s just not the same as knowing you have to go out there and perform, and everybody is counting on you.

He never did that. No matter what he did, he was just trying to get better. Played tremendously on special teams. Took a leadership role that way. It’s just who he is.

None of us knew he’d be as productive as he was when he got his chance to play. Boy, that kind of exceeded I think any expectations.

The rest of him, just the way he does things, his commitment to the team, his attitude, leadership, all those things, his mental toughness, can’t say enough about him.

At that position it’s a really important trait, important everywhere in football, but in that position. Yeah, it goes back to recruiting. I think all of us, there’s a consensus on the staff that maybe people are missing on this one a little bit, and he really would fit what we do and how we do it. It’s been great start to finish with him. He’s had such a great career. Really, really happy for him.

Q. Is Thanksgiving still your favorite holiday?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, you can’t beat it. It’s good because we’re not working for a couple days (after the game), which is rare this time of year. It’s a good deal.

Q. As far as Jay goes, his dad Roy is popular among the Iowa fan base. Your interactions with the Higgins family thus far?

KIRK FERENTZ: His dad is like Super Hawk. He’s the best. Going back to when Jay showed up here, I remember going to a basketball game. We were all there together, the Craigs and Higgins family. Just super people, really super people. He’s all energy, all positive. We may have to put him on staff here after Jay leaves (smiling).

Q. This graduating class, most of them were freshmen in the ’20 season, some of them were in the ’19 season. They came in at a really pivotal time in this program’s history, COVID, racial bias on campus. They’ve ran the race, persevered. Seems like every class you have has some strong story of character. What is it about this group that maybe makes it this special or unique?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, life is full of ups and downs. In competitive life there’s certainly going to be that. Yeah, you’re always interested to see who stays with things, I don’t like the term grinds it out, but who really shows grit and can really stick with it and finish a job.

Then you throw in the COVID. For the guys that got here during that COVID year, I was really worried just about their… It was crazy. They came, their parents dropped them off in the dorm. We had to be careful how we helped them get into the dorm.

Basically that summer of ’20, they were here training, then otherwise they were pretty much restricted to barracks. It was like being in the military. They really couldn’t go downtown. Nothing was open anywhere.

You have all these guys from different places that maybe in some way it was kind of interesting to watch, some ways it almost made them a closer group. I’m sure when the doors were shut, they were intermingling, all that kind of deal.

What a weird time for our whole country. Then you factor in, Hey, I’m a freshman in college. A couple of those guys got COVID, which that’s not a great thing for the parents. You got to call them. That was a really unique period.

These guys have all weathered it and done a really good job. They’ve been great to work with, really great to work with. Anyone that sticks around for a senior year, that’s really impressive. It really is.

Q. Not to give away state secrets or anything, is there a possibility we could see two to three quarterbacks on Friday or…

KIRK FERENTZ: I hope it’s one start to finish and everything goes really well. I mean, but sometimes that’s wishful thinking.

We’re not planning on any rotation. It’s only Tuesday right now. We have some talking to do as a staff. I don’t foresee that right now. I think we’re going to try to go start to finish.

We’ll end up doing what’s best for the team in our opinion, what’s going to give us the best chance to win here.

Q. Mason mentioned that the players gave Kaleb Johnson, I don’t know if you knew this, some kind of ultimatum in fall camp. Seems just really pleased how he has answered that call from his teammates. How have you seen him reach the finish line here? Can you rank him now in terms of the running backs you’ve had?

KIRK FERENTZ: Let’s wait for the season to finish.

He’s doing pretty well, I’ll say that. To that point, I think he missed a couple of the 100-yard deals. He did get the touchdown record, which is probably more important.

To his credit, you don’t luck into 21 touchdowns. It just doesn’t happen. The guys are blocking well. It’s a big part of him, too.

Yeah, I’ve been saying all year that he’s hit a maturity level that maybe he didn’t have his first two years. I think that’s what Mason is probably alluding to. Since we started camp, I think it was in July of this year, end of July, since we started, he’s just been focused and wired in. The maturity, the experience that he’s gained, there’s no guarantee. Sometimes guys are experienced, but, you’ve been doing this for three years? Have you not learned any more?

That’s not the case. He’s putting his experience to good use. He’s running smarter, better, stronger. Everything about it is better right now. He has a great attitude. He’s really fun to be on the field with and fun to be in here with or anywhere else. He’s a good young man.

Yeah, it’s been fun to watch his maturity and growth take place. He’s always had a good skill set. Part of it is catching up with the mentality part, too. That’s the benefit of being older, for sure.

Q. Off topic here a little bit. Every week you come in here and talk about the Kid Captain, good details about their story. Maybe something you don’t have to do. Can you tell us a little bit about how you get to know their stories, what the relationship is like with them?

KIRK FERENTZ: Like a lot of things, somebody preps me on stuff, gives me the information.

Our opportunity to interact with them starts in August. Myself and all the seniors, then speaking of seniors, they’re involved with them over in the locker room before Kids’ Day scrimmage or practice. It starts there. You get to meet them then.

It’s a thrill for them to come out on the field. They Swarm with the players. A lot of the coaches get involved in that. Then we’ll get to visit with them in the tunnel outside the locker room before pregame. Typically they’re parked right outside our locker room. You get a chance to go visit with the family, take some pictures, wish them well.

My association through the children’s hospital mainly came through my wife’s work there. She was very involved for I don’t know how many years. Going back probably ’15, ’17, whenever Steve left our house, went to college, that’s when she started getting involved.

The thing I’ve learned about it, which just fascinates me, my experience with medicine has always been with a coach. Back in the day when guys had a knee surgery they were there for a couple days. Now it’s a scope, you’re in and out. So things have changed.

But my point would be with orthopedic surgery, you spend a lot of time with as a coach, I don’t want to call it sterile, but it is kind of sterile. You go in, get fixed, come out.

With children’s medicine, what I’ve learned is there’s a sense of community. Obviously the doctors are in charge and they kind of set the direction. But you have the nurses, the children’s specialist, the therapists that do all the work.

Anytime you go over and visit anybody in the hospital, Children’s Hospital, there’s always a family member there. 98% there’s going to be a family member there.

In some ways it resembles or parallels sports some way. There’s a sense of community, a sense of extension beyond the patient leaving.

When I go to the dinners and stuff like that, I just sit there and drink a beer or two, let Mary go up and give the speech. I loved it. It was perfect.

You listen and learn. You learn about people and the stories. We’re trying to make a first down stop. Put in perspective, some of the work these folks all do. I think the real heroes over there are the nurses and the therapists. With all due respect to the doctors, I’m not minimizing their role. They’re there all the time, so good with the patients.

The other aspect is kids, who are amazing. It’s pretty cool to see.

Q. With Nick Jackson, this is his third Senior Day now it seems. What stood out to you?

KIRK FERENTZ: If we can get him a fourth, I’m all for it. Probably not possible (smiling).

Q. What has stood out to you the most about him and his leadership over these last two years?

KIRK FERENTZ: First time I met Nick, I remember talking to him on the phone on a Friday night. I think it was in December, whenever that process began. He was playing some kind of football video game with one of his buddies. I found that interesting. I thought he’s either lying or this is interesting. Friday night, he’s down there doing that. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure he was doing it.

From the first time you meet him in person, he’s a focused, serious guy. Knows what he’s looking for, has a clear vision of what he’s looking for. Fortunately for us we met the vision. Just been unbelievably good to work with.

He is one of those guys, 35 or now, Logan Lee last year, that are a little bit more mature than their chronological age. Nick was certainly that. I don’t know if blended in is the right word, but just became one of our team guys just like that. It was effortless for him. When you meet him, he’s just that kind of person.

Really good football player. Stellar person. Been a really good leader in our program, too. That to me is the perfect transfer portal guy, if you will, so… Every now and then you get pretty lucky.

Q. On any team the backbone of it a lot of times are the walk-ons who maybe don’t even get to play. Next year a lot of those numbers are going to go away. Have you had to have any conversations with any of the players that you know you’re not going to be able to make this? Probably 25 or 30 players over at this point, bringing in another 25.

KIRK FERENTZ: Of all the things that have been going on, there are a lot of unintended consequences as we all know. We’ve already figured that out with the transfer portal, NIL, which I think is at least hopefully going to start being structured a little bit instead of this crazy chaos that we’re living with right now. So there’s optimism there.

I think one of the most regrettable things is the 105 number. When we left the Big Ten meetings back in May, I don’t want to say confident, but I was optimistic that the number would be 120. I think as a group we had consensus. It seemed like there was good support for that. But things happen.

So anyway here we are with the reality of 105 with still a lot of questions to be answered. The details are not… I don’t think there’s anything in black and white yet. We’re approaching the end of the season, like two days, three days here.

To answer your question, we haven’t had those discussions. That’s something we’re going to have to do in December, to be honest, with our players, let them know that you may not have a spot just so they can… If they want to pursue other options, they’ll have that opportunity.

I think it’s really unfortunate. To me it was a missed opportunity. Seems like it would have been more logical to stair-step it down, 115, 105, whatever. That wasn’t part of the discussion, at least didn’t make it down to us.

We’ll have to deal with it and try to be as humane about it. The other flipside is that in my mind, 10 of the 23 guys, they got a role on our team. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t. They’re part of our team, valued, important. We’re cutting back on opportunities.

The other component, Dallas made that cut. Just from a football standpoint, Dallas Clark made that cut after year one here. Third or fourth team outside linebacker when I got here in spring of ’99. Wonder about how many of those stories are not going to ever take place that maybe could have or would have.

At a school like Iowa, that’s important. Maybe not so much at other schools. For us, you guys know our stories more than anybody. We got a lot of ’em. That’s another unfortunate by-product. We’ll figure it out and just try to be smart about how we operate.

Obviously most importantly try to be really transparent with our players, do it in a way where they have an idea what’s going on there. That means we’ve got to really kind of pinpoint our thinking here next week. Right now it’s all on hold until we play Friday.

Q. It seemed like Max Llewellyn had a pretty big impact on the D-line against Maryland. What have you seen from his growth and trajectory at Iowa?

KIRK FERENTZ: He came to camp probably before his senior year, I guess it would have been. He’s sitting down, him and his dad out there. We’re having a conversation, all of that. If you want to read my mind, I’m looking at him going, Are you sure this guy can be a defensive end? He’s pretty linear at that point.

Again this, kind of ties in with the whole thing. We have signing day next week. These guys are finishing their senior year. Most of them were committed back in June. They’re not even seniors in high school, we’re recruiting them.

Most of our guys don’t walk in here looking like NFL guys. They may look that way when they walk out, but they don’t look like that when they get here. Again, you got to project sometimes and think a little bit.

The one thing about him in camp, he had a high motor, really high motor, he was tough. That was kind of the basis for the evaluation.

From sitting back in my office there however many years it would have been, the growth he’s really exhibited has been really good. The thing that’s been consistent, he works hard, he goes hard.

I remember during COVID, he and his brother set up a gym basically in their garage. I’d call him, Nick was playing video games on a Friday night, Max was lifting in his garage with his brother, who is an athlete, too.

He’s a football guy, got a good mentality, goes hard. He’s really improved. The good news is is his best is in front of him. He’s a high-motor player for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Thank you.