Toledo Game Week: Bret Bielema Press Conference Quotes
August 28, 2023 | Football
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois head coach Bret Bielema spoke with the media on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in advance to the Illini's Week 1 game vs. Toledo.
Opening statement:
"Obviously excited to get to game week. There's been a lot of build-up and a lot of things from last spring. To go through the spring, to go through the summer, to go through fall camp, I couldn't be more excited. I know as a head coach going into my 15th year, every season is just a little bit different, but these guys have really been a joy to work with. New additions, we had 40 guys going into fall camp who had never been with us for a fall camp. We probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25 guys who will take their first snaps as Illinois football players on Saturday night. A lot of that goes into their preparation and how they do things, but now to get it all coordinated and play in a way that you need to play to beat a team like Toledo.
"They're a very good football team, obviously picked to win the MAC again. Coach (Jason) Candle has done a tremendous job ever since he took over and has won more games than anybody else. Very difficult task in front of us, one that I think our guys are excited to play. From a medical standpoint, obviously, I said Matt Bailey, and then the only other guy is Zeke Holmes probably will not be with us on Saturday night. He's continued to get back and put himself in a position, but we're kind of pushing the pause button for him, just letting that get back underneath him. He's been practicing with us for the last two or three weeks, just had a conversation with him last night to take a pause, see where we're at after a couple of weeks, and see where we go.
"The only other thing is there's a couple others, unfortunately. During fall camp, it happened actually a couple of weeks ago. We've known about it for a while, but there's two guys from the same high school. Malachi Hood, unfortunately, just kind of a routine play, noncontact, was decelerating and he suffered a popped Achilles tendon. He was a guy that was really on the bubble of whether he was going to be with us. He's done a really good job of getting himself ready last spring, all winter, all summer, and he had a really good preparation to get to where we are. He was a guy on that bubble travel roster, and it's just been awesome to see his growth. Unfortunately, he won't be with us this fall.
"From the same high school football team, Jordan Anderson in our last scrimmage came out of a run, put his foot down, and unfortunately popped his ACL, so he's actually in a rehab to get himself ready. Malachi has already had surgery. Everything went great. We're waiting for Jordan to get himself in a position, and then he will start his rehab process. Unfortunately for those guys, both of them redshirted last year. I was excited to get them out there this year, but obviously we'll have to wait another year to see that play out.
"Really, that's it. Been very fortunate all spring, all summer, and all fall camp to have a limited amount of guys miss time. Zy is cleared. Zy will be back with us Tuesday at practice and shouldn't have anything moving forward with him. He's been great. A couple other guys with some nicks and bruises but should be full go for Tuesday practice. We actually went under the lights last night. Probably had one of our better practices of the year. Guys were really crisp, flying around, clean. Really excited with what I saw last time. We'll hit the practice field on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and we'll see where we go."
On his different mentality and concerns heading into the season opener:
"I always take the world of college football to show our guys what they can do. I think you just worry about those things, guys who haven't taken their first snaps. We have a new special teams coordinator. Disch has been an unbelievable breath of fresh air, just really some of the ideas and thoughts. I was really intrigued with his time in Georgia with the punt team. They have done it differently than how we've done it here.
"I think anything that involves our defense and the changes from a year ago. There's gonna be some strengths of what we do up front. I think in the back end, there are some guys that have played a lot of good football, but I'm sure we'll have time to see what the back end can bring. There are just natural things in an opener that you always talk about."
On preparing for a night game in the season opener (four of the Illini's first six games will be played at night):
"It's just playing the games as they play. Our last two Week Zero games have been during the day, but we prep a lot at night, so I don't think it's really any different. We practice in the morning now, but we're obviously in tune with what goes on when we're going to play day games, night games. The Penn State game is already scheduled for 11, so for me, as a head coach now going into my 15th year, the time of the game isn't such an important task as getting your guys ready to understand what that means.
"At night here at Memorial Stadium, the effect of our stadium is a lot different than next week when we go to Kansas. Wind can be a factor here that is a little bit more significant. I don't really see the time of the game being a factor, but we'll just get our guys ready. I thought we were really fast last night, and now we want to keep that. Our legs were fresh. Guys talk about how good they feel, and we really want to have that in full effect on Saturday night."
On the challenges Toledo poses:
"Without a doubt, the way they're coached. Coach Candle, just very impressive with the success he's had. It doesn't come by chance. He's got really good players that play really good football. We always talk and preach about good football plays are the result of good fundamentals, and it screams on their film all over the place, how well they're coached, how well they're disciplined.
"Offensively, there's no doubt #7 is a very dynamic, incredibly gifted athlete that makes good decisions with the ball. He's very effective on early downs. He can make something special on any given play. I always say that the greatest value of a great quarterback is someone who can make something out of nothing, and sometimes the answer isn't always clear and then he makes something that isn't there. He's very difficult to defend in that regard. They have perimeter players. They have a couple of wide receivers that are very gifted. They have a running back who's very dynamic. They have an Outland Trophy watch list person up front.
"On the defensive side of the ball, on the perimeter especially, they've got a couple of really good DBs, a safety, a corner that are exceptional. They have an active middle linebacker. Special teams, they've actually had a transition as well. Their special teams coordinator came from South Carolina and had been at Kansas State, so to learn, and study, and watch him over the last several stops he's had has been pretty impressive.
"There's not really one thing that you've got to watch. They're just extremely talented. I believe they have somewhere close to the same number of players up for national award lists that we have, which is very impressive. To watch those guys play, it's going to be a tremendous task in front of us right away."
On how outside perception of the program has shifted:
"That's one thing that's easy to see and something I've been really guarded against. For me as the head coach, you've got to be ahead of where you're at. I kind of had a steady crescendo. I knew a lot of our guys were up for national awards. I know that we received votes to be ranked. We didn't get ranked, but we beat teams that were ranked, so I made note of all that.
"Toledo, we refer to them as the MAC champs. There's no denying what they've done, and what they've been able to do in college football has been pretty impressive. I'm balancing that all the time, but the part that we, as coaches, have to be aware of now is just the immediate access our players have to people telling them how good they are.
"I'm very guarded about what our guys are hearing and making them understand, like I keep calling them wish lists, not watch lists. They wish you to be good. I wish you to be good. You wish yourself to be good, but really what you do is going to determine how well you get rewarded. I think we have a hungry football team. I think we have a group of guys that really want to work. I think they understand the ability to be humble is a really good trait. We have to keep the edge that we're in every game. We have to have not one chip on our shoulder but two, and that's how we have to play."
On Illinois' new coaches heading into their first games at Illinois:
"I'm just super excited. The four new guys that we brought in, I think it's been pretty seamless, just how they fit into our building. Each one's uniquely different. Charlie and Antonio, both sides of the ball: One I've known since he's been 16 years old, and one I've known indirectly for four, five, six years. Both of them have had a huge impact on our room.
"Offensively, Thad and Disch are both very gifted in what they do. Obviously, Disch has the aspect of being a special teams coordinator. He's been at Georgia, he's been at Tulane with great success last year. He called every one of those reps. He actually worked with Coach Candle at Toledo for four years, so he's got some inside knowledge of how things happen there. To see that special teams effect here will be kind of cool. And then Aaron, to be into a new role as a coordinator, to start off a game like this with a quarterback that's as dynamic as he is and as accurate as he is as a thrower, as a play caller, it's been pretty impressive to watch him put together a game plan and see where it's at.
"It's really a fun time in our building. To be in the Smith Center every day, it's probably one of the most enjoyable atmospheres I've ever been in as a head coach. It's just really a lot of fun. We haven't lost a game, so everybody's happy, but it's just a really cool building to be in."
