ThisCloud.net

3 comments so far July 26, 2010 by Brandon Vogel

As a signifier of the coming end of the long, football-less summer, the annual Big 12 Media Days always generate a little excitement. “Hey! They’re actually talking football! The end is nigh.”

As a legitimate news event? That’s a little dicier. Everyone at this point loves their chances, is excited about the possibilities, has the utmost respect for everything. You know the drill.

But with the tumultuous offseason Nebraska had, there was some hope that this year might be different. This was the last Big 12 Media Days for NU and probably the most anticipated. Would things get chippy? What are relations like in the conference today? Will comedy-Bo or curt-Bo show up?

What we got was “business as usual” Bo, a phrase he used a couple of times during his session with the print media.

Right from the start, Pelini announced that he wasn’t taking any Big 10 questions. Not surprising. What is there to say?

Also not surprising, the first question Pelini got was about the move to the Big 10, phrased in a way that he at least answered it.

Bo Pelini on how he handled news of the move with the team:
“Business as usual. In our program, the way we run our program, we talk to our guys about focusing on the process and what they have to do on a day to day basis to compete. That hasn’t changed. We really haven’t talked much about it. We’re looking forward to the fall and we’ve been doing our homework on our opponents, obviously our non-conference opponents first. We think we have an opportunity to be a good football team.”

On entering his third year as coach:
“I think it’s a big thing. Unfortunately in my coaching career I’ve had a lot of three year stints. I always felt like the third year in the system, the third year together you really have a chance to make a big jump. You have a lot of people in there, a lot of guys in the program who understand what you want, understand what the expectations are and understand exactly how to go about the process of becoming a good football player and a good football team. We’re excited about that.

After the Arizona game when I said “Nebraska’s back,” I wasn’t saying we’d arrive, that we were ready or that we’d won a national championship or anything like that. I finally felt that the culture we were trying to instill from the point that we got there had taken hold. That excites me as a head football coach. I really feel like we’re at that point where we can beat anybody we line up against or compete with anybody we line up against. That’s exciting for me and exciting for the program.”

On the message he’s received from Texas high school coaches about recruiting and the Big 10:
“Like I said, it’s been business as usual. Hasn’t had any impact on us.”

On fan reception in NU’s final year in the Big 12:
“You don’t reall know but I don’t really anticipate any problems. Number one, the leadership in the Big 12, from Dan Beebe and his staff, is exceptional. You go throughout the conference and the fans and institutions of the Big 12 are highly respected institutions. Very classy programs, very classy fans so I don’t anticipate any ramifications as far as that’s concerned. All we’re concerned about is playing good football and competing in a great conference.”

On Zac Lee:
“It’s a negative anytime you don’t get a chance to practice and gain reps. You’ve got to try to get better every time you step out on the football field. But right now he’s 100%, he’s competing well and he’s looking forward to a great fall.

Anytime you miss a significant amount of time it has an impact on you. You lose time to get better. At the age these kids are, and really any college football player, nodoby’s ever reached (their) potential so it’s not the ideal situation.”

On the not yet named starting QB and his role:
“We need the quarterback position to step up because, let’s face it, he’s at the center point, he’s the trigger guy. We are fortunate in that we do have some experience coming back at that position, we have two young men who are competing for the starting job with Zac Lee who had great springs, have a lot of talent, there very explosive athletes. Any time you have great competition at any position it’s going to make everybody better, it’s going to make our football team better…I’ve preached competition since I took over at Nebraska at each and every position and I think that quarterback position is just one where you’re going to see guys battling it out from day one.

On “THE VIDEO”:
“It was actually a mistake…(the marketing department) made the mistake of putting ‘Beat Texas’ on it. Be honest with you, I wasn’t really happy about it…I didn’t like the message it sent to our football team because that’s way down the road. We have a lot of things to do before we even consider Texas.”

On the QB decision:
“We equally rep our guys anyway. We’re in no hurry to make that decision. That’s going to be one that’s going to go up until at least the first game. I don’t know how that’s going to play out…I do know we have some very capable athletes at the quarterback position.”

And it’s here that the video feed from Big 12 Media Days vanished for a few minutes–conspiracy!?–but you get the gist. Excited about the team, unconcerned about Big 12 hostility and, like the rest of us, eagerly awaiting the QB race.

Even in light of the upheaval of early June it really was business as usual but media days do mean we’re that much closer to actual football.

Did you enjoy this article?

NextPrevious