Quoted: Illinois
11/8/2023 10:00:00 AM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– As the days near closer to Indiana Football's week 11 matchup at Illinois on Saturday (November 11), Indiana offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Rod Carey, defensive coordinator and safeties coach Matt Guerrieri and select student-athletes addressed the media inside the Henke Hall of Champions.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media sessions can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Rod Carey | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On the importance of E.J. Williams when losing Cam Camper…
RC: If they both would have been out, then you get pretty thin pretty quickly. The thing about E.J. is that you can see that because of the time that he missed, his body is rested and he's ready to go. He's playing at a good speed right now and his confidence is growing. You can tell every time his confidence is growing every time he's out there. He's growing with the offense and the speed of the game. It's really good to have E.J., Cam is a big loss, but he is doing the exact right thing. I told him that too when he made that decision. "Let's go get this right," is what I told him.
On Brendan Sorsby's preparation for Wisconsin without having physical practice reps…
RC: It's an aberration for sure because that's not how football usually works. I give credit to him on the extra prep that he did. Football is a game at the quarterback position your mentality and physicality. He was very limited in his physicality (during practice), so he upped his mental preparation. He got some walkthrough reps too, which helps operate things. I thought it was a whale of a game by him, all things considered. It was certainly not perfect. We certainly have a long way to go. He knows that. I know that. We know that as an offense too. But I would certainly put that up there as one of the better performances I've seen, given all of the circumstances involved.
On the improvements from Brendan Sorsby…
RC: The number one place that I think he has grown quickly is game management. I mean that of understanding where you are on the field, what's the game situation and what really needs to be accomplished. Take that last drive. If we pick up that third down, the game is over. You have to call the pass in that scenario. But we told him, "It can't be incomplete. It can't be completed out-of-bounds short of a first down. It's either open or you've got to run it. you can't take a sack." There's a lot there and he had his third set, didn't like it, and he got forward for a yard. We got to drain the clock down and hit a big field goal. That's big growth for a young guy.
Matt Guerrieri | Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
On Aaron Casey's influence during practice…
MG: First off, he's a great teammate, which means that he cares about other people, he's selfless. He's a lead-by-example guy. He's not a rah-rah guy. He's going to prepare to the best of his ability. He's going to hold his teammates accountable. What you see there is what we see every day at practice. He's put in the work. I'm really proud of who he is, but he brings guys along. From a teammate perspective, he brings guys along with him. He pulls guys up with him.
On the increased playing time for Jordan Shaw…
MG: He's put the work in. He's learned our system. He's able to play multiple positions. I'm really proud of his development. What makes him unique as a young player is his mentality. I know I've said it a lot, but to me is, "How does a young guy step onto the field?" All of these guys are talented, but if you have that kind of mentality to step up in a big spot, not panic, perform at a high level, that to me is what separates Jordan. He's put the work in and earned that opportunity.
On the secondary's level of play while dealing with injuries…
MG: You've seen guys continue to focus on individual improvement. Collectively guys rally together, especially when there's an injury. I think you've seen that with Noah (Pierre) going down. You've seen Louis Moore being more vocal. You've seen different guys in certain spots say that we really need to rally together and put this on our back, and guys have done that. It's a really "man up" mentality, but I think that they are taking a lot of pride in that this is our job. We're down a couple of guys, but we're going to get it done.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media sessions can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Rod Carey | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On the importance of E.J. Williams when losing Cam Camper…
RC: If they both would have been out, then you get pretty thin pretty quickly. The thing about E.J. is that you can see that because of the time that he missed, his body is rested and he's ready to go. He's playing at a good speed right now and his confidence is growing. You can tell every time his confidence is growing every time he's out there. He's growing with the offense and the speed of the game. It's really good to have E.J., Cam is a big loss, but he is doing the exact right thing. I told him that too when he made that decision. "Let's go get this right," is what I told him.
On Brendan Sorsby's preparation for Wisconsin without having physical practice reps…
RC: It's an aberration for sure because that's not how football usually works. I give credit to him on the extra prep that he did. Football is a game at the quarterback position your mentality and physicality. He was very limited in his physicality (during practice), so he upped his mental preparation. He got some walkthrough reps too, which helps operate things. I thought it was a whale of a game by him, all things considered. It was certainly not perfect. We certainly have a long way to go. He knows that. I know that. We know that as an offense too. But I would certainly put that up there as one of the better performances I've seen, given all of the circumstances involved.
On the improvements from Brendan Sorsby…
RC: The number one place that I think he has grown quickly is game management. I mean that of understanding where you are on the field, what's the game situation and what really needs to be accomplished. Take that last drive. If we pick up that third down, the game is over. You have to call the pass in that scenario. But we told him, "It can't be incomplete. It can't be completed out-of-bounds short of a first down. It's either open or you've got to run it. you can't take a sack." There's a lot there and he had his third set, didn't like it, and he got forward for a yard. We got to drain the clock down and hit a big field goal. That's big growth for a young guy.
Matt Guerrieri | Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
On Aaron Casey's influence during practice…
MG: First off, he's a great teammate, which means that he cares about other people, he's selfless. He's a lead-by-example guy. He's not a rah-rah guy. He's going to prepare to the best of his ability. He's going to hold his teammates accountable. What you see there is what we see every day at practice. He's put in the work. I'm really proud of who he is, but he brings guys along. From a teammate perspective, he brings guys along with him. He pulls guys up with him.
On the increased playing time for Jordan Shaw…
MG: He's put the work in. He's learned our system. He's able to play multiple positions. I'm really proud of his development. What makes him unique as a young player is his mentality. I know I've said it a lot, but to me is, "How does a young guy step onto the field?" All of these guys are talented, but if you have that kind of mentality to step up in a big spot, not panic, perform at a high level, that to me is what separates Jordan. He's put the work in and earned that opportunity.
On the secondary's level of play while dealing with injuries…
MG: You've seen guys continue to focus on individual improvement. Collectively guys rally together, especially when there's an injury. I think you've seen that with Noah (Pierre) going down. You've seen Louis Moore being more vocal. You've seen different guys in certain spots say that we really need to rally together and put this on our back, and guys have done that. It's a really "man up" mentality, but I think that they are taking a lot of pride in that this is our job. We're down a couple of guys, but we're going to get it done.
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