Oct. 6, 2009

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MARK DANTONIO WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

COACH DANTONIO: Obviously, it was a big win for us last Saturday. It was a huge win for the program, but more importantly, I think that this will help spring board us on to our next opponent, Illinois, as we prepare for a road game over there.

Illinois has probably played one of the toughest schedules in America. Right now, if you look at who they have lost to, they are a 1 3 football team but they have lost to Missouri, a 10 4 team last year that went to the Big 12 Championship Game and lost to Oklahoma; an Ohio State team picked to be the Big Ten favorite, and a Penn State team that was 11 2 last year, as well as being picked to be one of this year's conference favorites. They have played tough competition, and they have an offensive player that is second all time among quarterbacks in Big Ten Conference in rushing and he certainly has been a phenomenal all purpose player, in Juice Williams. Eddie McGee will have an opportunity to start this week, but we expect to see Juice Williams, as well.

Offensively, this team is tied together very well conceptually and their coordinator (Mike Schultz) came from TCU and he does things that are difficult to defend. (Arrelious) Benn is an excellent receiver and also a very notable player. Illinois has a good group of tailbacks; an experienced offensive line, with three starters back; very good tight end and I'll learn how to pronounce his name as we go; and a couple of other talented receivers, in (Jarred) Fayson and (Jeff) Cumberland. So they have got an excellent group of offensive skill players.

Defensively, five starters return but they are very solid inside. (Doug) Pilcher is a very good defensive end. They have three of their four starters are back in the secondary, so they have an experienced secondary. And Ron (Zook) has done an outstanding job there, taking Illinois to the Rose Bowl two years ago. Everybody has adversity.

I'm sure they are facing their own challenges, but we are expecting a great game. From what I understand, it's homecoming and it's a sellout, so it will be very, very exciting for us over there are.

In regards to where we are at as a program right now, we need to take the next step, and even this next weekend, as we try to get to 3 3 overall. It's a huge game for us, and we'll prepare accordingly.

Obviously, I wore my (Detroit) Tigers jacket up here that Coach (Jim) Leyland gave me in July of last year, 2008. So we want to support them in any way we can. Just want to say, "Go Tigers!" and looking forward to their game tonight.

I'll just take questions.

Q. When Nick Saban left Michigan State, he said that one of the things he had learned - and it cost him some wins sometimes - was being too conservative when he got leads. As a coach, how do you guard against being too conservative offensively and maybe let something teams back into the game?

COACH DANTONIO: If you are asking the question from this past weekend, did you notice we threw a pass on the first drive when we got the ball back with three minutes to go or something to that effect. We were not playing conservative but when it becomes third-and-2, you'll probably run it more times than not. We missed the lead block or whatever, and they hit us for a loss.

But to answer that question, on defense as well, you've got a situation where we have stopped them pretty much the whole day. I felt we had the quarterback running around; a lot of the plays were loose plays like the one that he hit for a 60 yard touchdown was a great job by him. But also a poor job by our safety who should have rolled it over No. 1, farthest receiver out and played that effectively. We practiced that quite a few times, and then we missed a tackle. It was an outstanding play by (Darryl) Stonum with the run after the catch.

But the rest of the time, there were a lot of loose ended plays. It was raining, the quarterback dropped the ball twice, fumbled out of bounds once, receivers breaking routes off, can't get to the quarterback, he is scrambling here, scrambling there. So a lot of loose ended plays. We sent pressure one time. He drops the ball, picks up the ball, the pressure goes right by his hip and he should hit the guy in the backfield but we don't.

So the last play of the game, we max blitzed him, as well. So I don't know if we were playing conservative, we rushed four guys almost every time, Greg Jones being the fourth in there, but you know, a lot of loose plays, a lot of chaos at the end of the game, which at the end of the game, a lot of times that happens.

In answer to your question, you keep doing it and you keep working on those situations, the two minute situations at the end of a practice, but it's never quite like you play in a game. But the end result is we won the football game, we played very well up to that point to get us to the point, and we had missed opportunities on our side and we have to take advantage of those opportunities to put it away.

We had the routes, we had a couple guys run clean . . . open on fourth-and-4; and if you hit that, it's over, but it is what it is. We're happy with the win.

Q. How good is the Illinois quarterback (Eddie McGee) that's going to be starting his first game, and what problems does he present?

COACH DANTONIO: Well, he presents a lot of the same problems that Juice (Williams) does. Eddie is a little bit taller, but very athletic. He played last year, pretty significantly, he's a red-shirt junior, so he's been in the program four years. He played the entire Illinois State game because of an injury at that point.

He's a good quarterback, and he can get it done. So he's going to run with the ball. He'll pitch the ball on options, and he'll throw the ball down the field, so we're going to see a lot of the same things. I don't think they will alter their offense. I also think they have the ability to put both of those guys on the field at the same time, and they have done that in the past, so you may see that.

We do expect to see Juice Williams regardless, and one of two things is going to happen: either McGee is going to play well and continue to play or he doesn't play as well and Juice comes in to give them the spark. We will expect either of those situations and we have to be prepared for both.

Q. As of 30 minutes ago, the stadium scoreboard was still on and then it got turned off, it sounds like it was on maybe all weekend. Is there an emphasis, as you try to improve the football culture around here, is there any concern that one game, especially the Michigan game, when you beat them, there could be too much emphasis on that game?

COACH DANTONIO: I'm sort of concerned because I thought they said we were going to keep it up for a year, but I guess they turned it off early. (Laughter).

We have to focus on the next game.

Q. From the naked eye, looked like Chris L. Rucker, who has had troubles this year, had maybe the best game of his career; and if so, can that boost the confidence of your whole secondary which needed to play a good game and did?

COACH DANTONIO: Hopefully so. Chris L. (Rucker) had an outstanding spring last year and an outstanding fall. He's a guy who has started here since he was a freshman, so he's an outstanding football player.

Other people have guys that make plays too. Sometimes, it's ball judgment and those types of things, but I go out there in practice and watch him pick off balls 60 yards down the field. We even experimented with him - not experimented with - we actually had him ready to play wide receiver when (Mark) Dell was out. He took reps with our wide receiver group, and so he was sort of considered the fourth guy. He has excellent ball skills, but you have to make the plays on the field. He's big; extremely fast; and he's a very good tackler.

So yeah, we felt the same way. He had an excellent football game, and this should propel him forward with confidence. He's a tough player. He plays into the boundary where a lot of the balls come to, and we play a lot of press coverage. We get on guys tight, but you have to play the ball and cut them off on the deep throw.

So I think that a couple of times this season, he's been hurt on those things, but I think he's a very, very capable and an outstanding football player. The guy started for three years now for us. He'll be fine. And I think that our secondary did need a boost. We have good players back there. But things happen.

So you've got a lot of to take care of (as a cornerback), a lot of different types of routes coming at you. You need to have a pass rush on a consistent basis. The quarterback gets out in space and starts scrambling at times, so it creates different problems for you downfield. There are a lot of different scenarios that they go through, but it's a team game and takes 11 of us to get it done.

Q. How important has (B.J.) Cunningham been to your offense, considering (Mark) Dell was out for the first few weeks and he's continued with that steady performance ever since? Also, is it possible that he's the most improved player from a year ago?

COACH DANTONIO: As a red-shirt freshman last year, B.J. did some things very well early in the season and then he got nicked up . . . hurt with a hip pointer and came back and had a decent season. But I think he's just like any second year player starting for the second time, he's developed more confidence and he's raised his level of play. He's become one of four, five, six, seven guys that we can go to out there, mixing in our tight ends with that.

So I think our quarterbacks are very comfortable with getting B.J. the ball in traffic over the middle. He has tremendous deep-ball judgment, and he's a big-body guy at 6-2, 212, so he's a guy that can use his body and come down with the ball. He's had a very, very good season thus far.

Q. The offensive line seems to be solidified, so how much will that help the offense going forward?

COACH DANTONIO: Any time you have your offensive line solidified in terms of who is playing where and that they are healthy, obviously you are going to get better play. It's helping out a guy like (Brendon) Moss, who will be playing in his third game at right guard so he's getting more accustomed to being in there. It's the same thing with D.J. (Young). (Joel) Nitchman is back at center; (Joel) Foreman at left guard; and left tackle (Rocco Cironi) has remained the same, so those things are obviously a help to us. As you know, our tight end and fullback positions add significantly to our blocking schemes, as well.

And even our wide receivers get involved in blocking down field, so again, it's an 11 man thing, when we run the football, there's not just one person that's accountable for getting the job done. It's the same thing on pass protections. You look at the one pass protection that we had the sack and the fumble on in the game, the running back is supposed to chip that guy, along with the tackle. So he's expecting a little bit of help. With Larry (Caper) being a freshman, he didn't chip the guy, and that's inexperience. Consequently, the guy gets the edge and he runs him down. But that's more of a great football play by the defender, but it's also a little bit of a mental error by the running back. So it takes everybody in there doing their job, along with the quarterback going through the proper reads and throwing on rhythm for this to get done.

Q. You play a freshman like Larry Caper, you look for growth in that person, the touchdown he scored late in the game, what did that do for that and what does that mean for the rivalry?

COACH DANTONIO: First of all, it boosts his confidence greatly. He had a great game against Notre Dame and ran very, very well. He put the ball on the ground a couple of times (against Michigan), which you don't like to see and which can't be tolerated, but he came back and he responded in a tough situation - in a pressure filled environment in a big, huge game. It should do great things for him as a person as he moves forward.

As far as what he does for the rivalry, like I had said earlier that game belongs to the players, and with things that happen in that game, history is made, His play will go down as one of the plays in that long line of history that will be remembered by a lot of people.

Q. Illinois is in the same position you were a week ago; do you have to emphasize to your guys that their intensity may be off the charts, and with the homecoming crowd, that they are going to have to match it somehow or exceed it?

COACH DANTONIO: It's very, very difficult to win away from home anywhere you go, and certainly in the Big Ten Conference. There are no games that you can just go in and say, well we are going to win this one, or let's worry about the next one. That doesn't exist here.

Our guys need to be ready mentally. As I said earlier, last week's game needs to springboard this football team forward. If we are not able to catch fire, if we play over there emotionless, if we don't play we;; over there and don't execute well, but more importantly, if we don't go over there with a sense of energy, then really, what good did this game do us other than just sort of instinct stuff.

So we need to be focused. We will prepare. That's been the nature of our football team, and get ready to play our next game. The next game is the most important.

Q. He kind of stole my question a bit, as a footnote to that, do you as coaches have to work harder to give them an emotional edge? I know they all count one and it's the Big Ten, all that jazz, but Michigan and Notre Dame are traditional rivals. You played the Big Ten opener at Wisconsin, but you don't have any of that natural stuff here this week. Do you have to work harder to get them to play at a peak edge?

COACH DANTONIO: I would hope not, with the fact that we are a 2 3 football team. The way I've put it is that we are just trying to get even (3-3 record with a win against Illinois). We are trying to get to 3 3. So I guess if we are even, we're leadin' would be the motto because good things can still happen. First thing is to take care of the business at hand, and that's get to 3 3.

While I don't want to sit here and talk about that because that's not where I thought we would be, but it is where we are at, so we need to deal with that and play to that. We have never had a problem getting up for a game. That has not been our problem here since coming here. So I expect that our seniors will lead, that our players will lead. They understand the importance of this football game long term, and they will be ready. There are enough new things that they have to work on offensively and defensively to help keep their attention.

So that's as much as anything. You're not going in the same math class learning the same things. This keeps your attention. You'd better be thinking about what you have to do and then executing the game plan to be successful.

Q. Just wanted to ask about the status of Kendell Davis Clark and is he going to play this week?

COACH DANTONIO: He's listed day to day. We do expect him to practice this week, so we will see how he feels today as he's moving around out there.

But he has traditionally been a very fast healer, and as Jeff (Monroe) talks about his years here as a trainer, he feels like he's one of the top-five guys in terms of dealing with injuries and coming back form a toughness standpoint.

In addition to that, I'm sure everybody knows Rod Jenrette is out for the year now. He may be able to play in the bowl game, but he had a great game on Saturday. And I wanted to mention that. He played with great effort, toughness and he was all over the place, so I just want to make special recognition to Rod for what he did in that football game. He was a tremendous performer in there for us.

Q. There are fewer ors this week on the depth chart but at safety where Trent Robinson and Danny Fortener are listed together. Will practice this week determine the starter? Are they really that close for that starting spot right now?

COACH DANTONIO: They are very close as you saw in the game, they both played. Trenton had a little bit of a problem early in the game. It's a big game, a big game for a young person from Bay City. Guys wait for this game when they come to this program for their whole life. They really do. And I would imagine it's like that everywhere in big games. They wait for opportunities like this. He made a couple mistakes but I felt like it was important to get him back in the game and push him back in there. I always feel that way.

Danny Fortener came in and did an outstanding job. And when it came down to the end, Danny Fortener was playing because he's got a lot of experience. Danny goes into the situation this week as an either/or. But you look at the situation that has developed with Rob being out, so Fortener could play at that position as well. Marcus Hyde could be in there, as well.

We'll have to see how everybody practices. Ashton Henderson is another guy that enters into the picture a little bit, and also Kendell Davis-Clark when he comes back. That's why we still have five guys that we can play in there. We have experience back there, so we can move guys around. These guys have played a lot of football here and know what's going it on, so that's a positive.

Q. You mentioned on Sunday that you were going to give the Big Ten Conference a call regarding the penalties, have you done that and if so, how was the conversation?

COACH DANTONIO: Yes, I have done that. What we do is send the penalties in, they evaluate and then they get back to us and I have not heard back. We do that, but at the same time, I don't comment on those things. Bill Carollo is the Big Ten's coordinator of officials, and it's his job to grade the officials, and say yes, no, that's a bad call, that's a good call.

But there's human error, there's no doubt about it. There's always human error no matter what you do, whether it's on the football field as a player or as a coach or as an official. So there's human error, and you try to get it right to the best of your abilities. So it's part of the game.

Q. Speaking of human error, isn't the booth review getting a little silly? It seems like they do it every five plays.

COACH DANTONIO: The replay? I think what they are trying to do is get it right. So, you know, even then, some of them, you can't get right.

So I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm glad they are taking a look at some of these plays, because they are significant plays. They have a guy sitting up there and they review every play and if they see something, they hold play up. So I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, but there are some things that can never be overruled just based on the rules.

Q. (Brynden) Trawick seems like a pretty intriguing guy with his size and speed at safety. Do you see it as a chance that he could get back over there?

COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, there have been some thoughts on that, but he has been playing linebacker and on special teams. So he hasn't played safety in four-and-a-half week, so it would be an emergency type thing. Also, we may possibly travel one of our true freshmen.

Q. On the flagship station, you recently commented you were tired of talking about Michigan and you're wearing the Tigers' jacket. Can you talk about how you have done a lot to relate to the rank and file fan? Fans have embraced you. Talk about what you've done.

COACH DANTONIO: Well, I don't know how to really answer that one. I've just tried to be myself when I talk to people. I don't know how to answer that other than that. I've tried to just be myself. At some point in time, you start to feel like enough is enough sometimes, in regards to what subject you are talking about.

But for those who have seen me mad, I wasn't mad.

Q. You'll be watching the Tigers' game this afternoon, though, right?

COACH DANTONIO: No, we'll actually be at practice, but our thoughts will be there. We will have people checking in and letting us know what's going on.

I think everybody in Detroit and in the state of Michigan is excited. They should be. So we are excited, as well and hope for the best.

Q. Speaking of position changes earlier, I think on your radio show last week you mentioned Dion Sims had been practicing at defensive end. Is that something you are still looking at?

COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, we are. I told Coach (Ted) Gill, we are on to the Chris Gamble method of introduction now, which is when I was at the Ohio State, the wide receivers and defensive backs were messing around, I was all the way down the field on the inside drill, and I looked down and saw him pressing at wide receiver and I'm like, the guy can play. So he gave him to us for five minutes, the next practice, but I was determined that we were going to get him in the game and let him play. So the next week, we got him for 10 minutes, and the next week, we got him for 15 and the next week, we got him for 20.

So we'll see if we can teach him a little something, see if we can get him on the field, but he's an excellent football player. We have a good group of tight ends; it's a position of depth for us. I just want to make sure that he's playing significantly on this football team on the offense and if he has an opportunity maybe on the defense in special situations like Kellen Davis did a little bit in 2007. We'll see if it works or not, but it's always fun to try. He's an excellent athlete; a big-body guy with quicks.

Q. Coach Gill said pretty assertively about a week and I half ago that Dion Sims was a tight end and playing on defense was not going to happen. You're the guy who calls the shots, so what do you make of that?

COACH DANTONIO: That's nice. (Laughter) I call the shots. But like I said today, in period seven, you got him. But it's a seven minute thing; we'll see what he can do. It's just an experiment type of thing. We do that all the time. We did the same thing with Chris L. Rucker at wide receiver a year ago, and he did a good job and so he was a guy that could go in and play a little bit.

We did the same thing with Kellen Davis in '07. We popped him in there for a couple of plays. He ended up playing a couple of plays and gave the guys a rest and provided a little speed off the edge with his athletic ability. But we cannot put a person in there who cannot succeed because of (a lack of) knowledge. So it's got to be very limited of what we do and allow him to use his athletic abilities. He's a tight end and not a defensive end, and he will remain a tight end, but we will be able to use him at other positions a little bit. We need to use the best football players we have and never close our eyes; we need to think out of the box a little bit at times.

Q. What about the Illinois defense, how good are they, and what problems do they present?

COACH DANTONIO: Coach (Ron) Zook, he's a defensive secondary coach by trade, he's a defensive coach by trade. They are very well tied together. They are a little bit younger, especially the linebacker crew. They are very stout in the middle with their two defensive linemen; a solid defensive end; and three starters return in the secondary.

They do some different things. They will play man coverage; they will be able to pressure you. They will zone pressure you. I'm sure they are going to focus on stopping the run. But again that will be the key to the football game: can we run it and stay balanced with where we are at in that whole thing.

But we will have our work cut out for us. They are a physical football team. When we looked at them and studied them in the spring, we came away from our study saying that University of Illinois has as talented a football team as anybody in this conference athletically, and that still remains, they are extremely talented.

As I said when I started this press conference, they played a tough schedule thus far. They have played a team that went to the Rose Bowl, a team that went to the Fiesta Bowl and a team in Missouri that played for the Big 12 Championship. Those are all very good football teams.

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