Indiana University Athletics
Cam Cameron Quotebook
10/12/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Cam Cameron Quotebook Quotes from Cam Cameron's press conference on October 12, 1999
Opening Statement: "Well, I think the first thing, going back to the Northwestern game, you saw that we took a positive step just as a team. We can talk more specifically about that but I wanted to address Adewale (Ogunleye's) situation if you didn't have a chance to hear my earlier press conference. We flew him to Birmingham, Alabama, yesterday to see (Dr.) James Andrews who is the leading specialist in the country right now. A lot of NFL guys go through there. I talked to (Dr.) John McCarroll and (Dr.) Jim Nevins and I asked them, 'Who's the best guy in the country?' and they said Jim Andrews and that's why we sent him down there.
"Wally, obviously, had a tough time there on Sunday but I think, after he came back yesterday, really had a different view of things. Dr. Andrews mentioned the fact that he anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament damage but that the posterior cruciate may be intact so he went down there and found out some positive things. He also reassured him that he had a guy a year ago that basically had the same injury and still wound up being drafted highly and still wound up being drafted in the National Football League. As Wally told me, there was guys' pictures all over the walls of the office down there who have not only had this surgery but have gone on to play successfully. He also ran into (former IU player and NFL offensive lineman) Troy Drake who was down there. Troy Drake happened to be there and he had the same knee surgery and he's played with it. It was just a lot of reassurance to Wally that he's getting the best care possible and that he can visualize himself making a full recovery.
"They elected not to have the surgery just because of the swelling. They're going to wait two weeks and let the swelling go down and then he'll fly back to Birmingham and have the surgery and then stay down there for three, well as many days as it takes to start his rehab and then he'll do all of his rehab in Bloomington. Jimmy Rider, our trainer, worked with Jim Andrews so we're very familiar with how the rehab is done there. Jimmy knows all of the people down there and couldn't say enough good things about the way that they treated Wally while he was in Birmingham."
"The other thing I mentioned earlier about the Northwestern game, anytime your starting quarterback has already scored 20 touchdowns (12 rushing, 8 passing) you're looking for ways to diversify your offense. You got the first glimpse of our fullback and I think our fullback are going to do nothing but get better, and better, and better. De'Wayne Hogan is really starting to become a solid football player. (True freshman) Jeremi Johnson is a nice complement just because of his size and speed. We're probably going to have to start playing some more tailbacks because I'm sure it's going to start taking a toll on Levron. You'll start to see (true freshmen) A.C. Carter and possibly Brian Lewis and we'll mix Frankie (Franklin) in there also. I would anticipate that we'll start to play more tailbacks."
"We're going against basically the same Wisconsin team that won the Rose Bowl a year ago with the exception that they have a young quarterback. You're going to be able to watch this kid for the next four years and Brooks Bollinger is going to be a heckuva quarterback and he does nothing but get better and better. You all know about Ron Dayne but they've got (wide receiver Chris) Chambers, and they've got (wide receiver Nick) Davis, they've got several guys who can beat you on offense. Defensively, it's the same defense we played against a year ago. It's one of the better defenses. People have attacked them differently this year by spreading them out. How much we'll be able to afford to do that we'll see. I think the thing that makes Wisconsin go, with the exception of Dayne, is their kicking game. They've always done a terrific job with their kickoff team, their punt team, their kickoff coverage, and they've been able to win a lot of football games, a lot of close football games, with their kicking game over the past three years. Of course, we've seen that losing on a last-second field goal two years ago and then their kicking game last year, in the hidden yardage, devastated us. We've got our work cut out for us in all three phases of the game. They're coming off two great road victories - one at Ohio State and one at Minnesota. This is a great challenge for us but one I think our team is excited about."
