Indiana University Athletics
Enoch DeMar Press Conference
10/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 8, 2002
Bloomington, Ind. -
Opening Statement: "We have a big game coming up this week at home. The practices that we have had have given us momentum and I think that we know where we are at as team and we feel good about what we are doing. Today we will see what the coaches have for us regarding game plan.
Q: How much fun was last year's game, what are your memories of it?
"It was really fun. Everything was working well. The offense was doing what it needed to do, and just being in a hostile environment and succeeding."
Q: Assess the way your season has gone and the transition you have made with coaches?
"It has been kind of difficult but I think we are finally getting it down and understanding. I have been through three coaches, and some of the other offensive lineman have been through two coaches, so it is hard adjusting. The players have to adjust to different personalities and so do the coaches, but I think that when all is said and done we have benefited from it. Personally with our preseason camp being so hard I had a chance to see what I was made of and I think that I have gotten better as a result of it."
Q: Coach Addazio seems like a really intense coach, how does he strike you?
"He is very intense, but he cares a lot about his players, and that's just the way he is. He is a fired up guy and sometimes that rubs off on you and sometimes it doesn't, and that's just the way he is and we have to deal with it."
Q: Regarding your durability of playing in 38 games straight, what do you attribute that to?
"I attribute it to the guys I am out there playing with. I want to be out there playing with them and I want to be out there and be successful because I know that I can give them a better chance of being successful playing to the ability that I can play. It is also mental toughness."
Q: What made preseason camp so difficult?
"I think it was the intensity and our schedule. We were always moving and always on our feet and I think that that contributed a little bit to it being so difficult. It really showed me what I was made of and it made me a better player."
Q: The system this year compared to the system last year with Antwaan as quarterback. How much of a change?
"It has been a pretty big change. The basic concepts are the same, but to be able to run our offense everything has to be precise. Everyone needs to know their assignment and be able to execute their assignment with the correct technique. I can say with Antwaan if you missed a block it could be 30-yard run, but here if you miss a block you are going to pay for it. I think that that is the biggest thing, you have to be mentally more focused with this precise offense."
Q: How happy are you with the role as leader and is it different than it was from last
year?
"I feel a little bit more responsible. I think that there is pressure that I put on myself, it is not any pressure that coach or the players, but I think I take a little bit just in how I act and the things that I do, or the way that I approach things, everybody is looking at you. Especially the players, how you respond to certain things. That is some pressure that I put on myself, to do good with that."
