Opening Statement...
"I think everyone can tell that we keep getting closer and closer, but we've told our players that we're not here to get close, you know. We're here to win. That's why we're here. That's what we're going to do. We've got to continue to push, and it's going to happen. I told them after the game that we've got 14 days left, and I know a lot of them, particularly the younger guys, are kind of driving around with their fuel light on. I told them that I drive around with my fuel light on all the time; I never run out of gas. We're not going to run out of gas. There's plenty of fuel, just a little traffic, and go as hard as we possibly can in the next two weeks."
...on Monday's practice:
"Last night we had a great practice. We shortened it back like we did last week, and obviously they kind of liked that, but had a good lift. I'm very, very happy with how the weights are, the weights that they're pulling and so forth."
...Injury report:
"Injury-wise, we couldn't be any better. Juice's jaw is a little bit sore, but he's our guy. I'm very, very proud of Tim (Brasic), the way he was ready to go. I think if anybody goes back and looks, it's awfully hard to continue to get yourself prepared, not know whether you're going to have an opportunity to play or not. To me that's showing a lot of maturity on Tim's part and what he's done."
...on this week's game:
"We're excited about the next football game. It's our seniors' last game. As I told our team also, this is their last opportunity to play in Memorial Stadium. And we want to make sure we can do everything we can to make the memory a fond one. I know there's been some ups and downs, but as I've told them, next year and the future years when things are going the way we all want them to go, they are going to be a very, very big part of this. I've told them that I got a text from Ryan Matha Saturday night. I texted him back. I said, Ryan, what happened Saturday he was a part of. Obviously he wasn't there in uniform and so forth, but I think it's important that those guys know that they are a part of it, and they have done a great job for us. So obviously, it's important that we finish off on a strong note for the seniors and also for the guys who are coming back next year."
...on avoiding the letdown:
"There shouldn't be any letdown. I told them yesterday that people are going to try and say that. If you let that happen I guess it could happen, but that's not something we're about. That's not something that these guys are about. I think that if we were going to have a letdown, we probably could have had it a while ago, but we've done a great job of trying to push through everything and do exactly what we've asked them to do."
...on DT Josh Norris:
"I'll be perfectly honest. In Rantoul, I kept arguing with Coach Simms. Can Josh do it? Can Josh do it? Let me tell you, if there is one guy that you'd love to have back it's Josh Norris. I mean, he is a mainstay. Reminds me of a guy that I coached in Tennessee that Coach Majors didn't want him on the field. The starting safety got hurt. I told him I'd play whoever he wanted me to play. Who do you want to play? I said I'd play this kid. The kid went on to lead the nation in interceptions. To me that's what Josh Norris is. You talk about a winner, a competitor, anybody would go to war with Josh Norris. Anytime, anywhere. I can't enough good things about the guy. He's a winner. He's a competitor. He's tough, He's a leader, smart. There are a lot of adjectives that he would fall under, a lot of positive ones."
...on LB J Leman's performance against Ohio State:
"For those of you who know J, you know the type of person that he is. One of the best things about J Leman is what you see is what you get. J's got a very, very strong confidence in him as a person and where he is and what he's about. Very strong Christian belief and faith. That's why you love to see him having the success that he is having. A guy that, once again we've said it all year long, he's a leader. When something happens, our guys are looking at him. He makes the calls, he's a calming force, and he loves to play the game. Football's a game that is hard to play, and if you can't have fun on Saturdays... That's the thing our coaches have done a great job of trying to enjoy themselves, have fun. You work too hard, you put too much in it. When you get to those Saturdays, you've got to let it go, play loose, play fast, have fun, and J, in my mind, is that type of person."
...on LB Brit Miller:
"I was watching Purdue last night from last year, we were kind of joking, and Brit Miller was playing linebacker at the time. I said to Coach Disch, 'Man you've done a great job with him, because he was awful.' But you know, he was a freshman, but he's really become an awfully good football player now. He's a guy once again that loves to play the game, he gets excited. He's bugging me, he wants to be on every special team. Those are the kind of guys you like to have."
...on new punter, Jared Bosch:
"Once again, I've said it again, I like the idea of being able to do that. I think there are some other things that you can do along with it. I was very, very proud of Jared. We weren't really sure whether this was the right game to break him in or not. Obviously the guy he was punting to back there and so forth, but he did a great job. We were going fast, and I wasn't exactly sure. We were trying to use the wind, and where the ball was and those kinds of things. I saw Kyle there, but I didn't see Josh. My mind kind of froze, and everyone is kind of looking at me and saying, 'Who's the new punter?' People call him the new punter now, but he's done a nice job. I'm really proud of him. He can boom them, too. He can get a hold of some. In fact, he's the only guy this year who's put it outside the fence up on the practice field. And of course, Jared being from right here in town is nice, also, I'm sure."
...on playing a spoiler-type role this weekend:
"We'll take whatever edge we can take. Obviously, we've talked about that, but I think right now it's just lets go out there and continue to improve and continue to be the tough football team that we all know we could be, and let's play 60 minutes. Once again, hopefully we'll do that. I think we will. We'll prepare like that this week. As I told them last night, 'Sooner or later you are going to begin to believe us when we tell you you're a pretty good football team.' And then I said, 'What's your definition of a good football team?' To me, the definition of a good football team is a team that prepares every week the same, prepares to win, and goes out there plays expecting to win."
...on the seniors:
"The senior class and with Ryan Matha texting me after the game on Saturday. These guys have had some tough days here at the University of Illinois in terms of wins and losses. What they've done for us, what they've done for our staff. They've stayed positive. They've done everything they can do to help us. As I told them, I'll be forever indebted to them. And any time I could help any of them down the road because they could have gotten negative, they could have gotten negative. Anytime you have a staff turnover, or things are different, or things change. They bought in and tried to do everything they could possibly do to help us win. That's why you want it for them."
...on RB E.B. Halsey's change of roles:
"I was talking to one of the players last week, and I said, 'Do you know who my most valuable players are one offense?' And he kind of looked at me, and I said, 'E.B. Halsey and Tim Brasic are two guys that epitomize a winner, a competitor.' Football is probably the ultimate team game, and they epitomize what a team is all about. It's not for your own personal satisfaction or so forth. They've done their role, and done it to the best of their ability, and stayed positive and pushed. I can't tell you how many times I've seen Tim Brasic talk to Juice, or I've listened to E.B. in the huddle, the things that he's said, and it tears my heart out when things don't go the way you want to go for them."
...on playing closer games:
"Like I said when I first came, we're not here to get close. Coach Guenther hired us to win games. The thing I want, I want the Illini nation to be proud, to walk out of that stadium and be proud of their team."
...on improving the team:
"I can remember the first recruiting weekend last December. I was telling my wife that we're going to be all right, and she said, 'Why is that?' I said, 'Because I look at how those seniors took those recruits in and how they wanted those guys in here.' We have everything we need in recruiting. We have a great academic institution that can compete with anyone in the world. We've got great facilities. We're going to be the best. But we've got people, and your players are your best ambassadors. Those guys have done a great job, and that's when I knew we had a chance. I wanted it to happen a lot faster as we all have, but those guys, there was never a division in the locker room. It was a team, and I think that's a tribute to a senior."
...on recruiting:
"We have two more evaluations. Coaches will go out Friday, and then we'll save one for the playoff games. Yeah, it's hectic. It's two full-time jobs, but it's something that you have to do and it's something that happens every year."
...on Purdue:
"A very, very good football team. Offensively, very impressive. They lead the Big Ten in offense. That tells you one thing. They've got a quarterback, I guess, who is very, very comparable - I don't know if he's as good as the guy at Wisconsin but he's an awfully good quarterback. Very accurate. Ed (Zaunbrecher)'s done a great job with him. They've got the receiver that gave us fits last year. Number 9, when he gets his hands on the ball, things are going to happen. The running back is the guy that played against us last year, number 28. The tight end is a guy, who in my opinion, may be even better in some instances to number 9 at Wisconsin. Just a talented tight end and receiver. They can score a lot of points and control the football.
"Defensively, they just play hard. They are more of a cover 3-type team, where last year they were more quarters. The guys just play hard, sound and try to let the offense make mistakes.
"They spread you out there and do a nice job with the option. Once again, it's a lot of the same things we do. They do it very well, also."
...on TE Jeff Cumberland:
"I'm so proud of Jeff. I might have told you the story. When I came in at halftime at Wisconsin I couldn't find him. Sometimes he's with the receivers, and sometimes he's with the tight ends back there. I didn't get nervous, but I just wanted to make sure he was OK. Honestly, he's a very conscientious guy. All you have to do is come by the study table at 10 o'clock at night and he'll be in there with those guys, every night. But he's fine. You're not supposed to be happy when things don't go right. But on the same token, you have to understand that things are going to get better. What do you do when you fall down? You get up, and that's what the game of football teaches you about life, and Jeff has done that. If you can see where Jeff has come from the day he's walked onto this campus, I'm so proud of him in all aspects, in school, in football. He's kind of a quiet guy, but he's a funny guy. I'm sure he wanted to do well against Ohio State, being from Columbus and so forth. I've said this since I've been here, everyone's got tight ends except for us. I think we're going to have two pretty good tight ends."
...on LB J Leman improving:
"J will get better next year just as he did this past year. That's just the kind of person J is. J will be the first to tell you that he hasn't played a perfect game and that's his goal, to play a perfect game. That has never been done by anyone. J's goals are team goals. All the accolades that come to J are well deserved, but J is a guy that it's more important to him that we win and this team gets to the place that its supposed to be."
...on the coaching decision to move Leman to middle linebacker:
"It was in the spring when we moved him. It was a move with a lot of discussion. It may have been the only time that I've walked in and said that's what we're going to do. I just felt it was his best position, it was the best way for us to get the best players on the field. He's a smart player. He's a guy that has that calming effect in the huddle. He's got that calming effect when things are getting crazy. I just thought it'd be important to have him in there, and thank God it worked out."
...on QB Juice Williams' jaw:
"I was talking to him last night. It was funny. He was writing a paper and sitting there. We were talking about 10 o'clock last night. He said it really wasn't his jaw. He didn't realize his jaw hurt until he took his helmet off. He said when he put his hand down on the ground to get up it didn't seem right. He wasn't seeing clearly. Then he realized that his jaw was bothering him, but he's fine. They x-rayed it Sunday morning to make sure, but he's OK."
...on Coach Ed Zaunbrecher (current co-offensive coordinator at Purdue; coached QBs at Illinois last season):
"He's been going against the defense for three years, actually four years. The offenses are very, very similar. I see a little bit of him in their offense, but it's basically the same offense. I don't know if there is anything that he can really gain. Signal-wise may be the only thing, but the signals have all changed, also."
