These are rough quotes from Kirk Ferentz during his 8 minutes on the Big Ten Teleconference this morning.
---
Opening Statement
First of all, just really pleased to get going here. Overall, we've had a good camp. The guys have really practiced well and moving into our new facility has really helped, I think. Like every team in the country, we're eager to play right now. We've got a good group of veterans coming back and a group of younger players that we're eager to get out there. This week, we play a quality program in Illinois State. Coming over from Purdue, Brock Spack has done a tremendous job of building that program. They had a great season last year and brought a lot of good players back this year, so it will be a challenge for our football team.
Q: Coach, much has been made about Jim Harbaugh and the access given to the media. What is your take on media access and what Jim is doing?
KF: I'll be honest, I'm not real sure what Jim is doing. We're pretty focused on what we're doing.
Q: He's closed practice to reporters, but opened it to students.
KF: It's up to each coach to decide what is best for their football team and I'm sure he's doing that. You try to prepare your team as well as you can for the first game.
Q: What are your thoughts on Tim Beckman being fired at Illinois?
KF: Unfortunate circumstances, especially the timing. Outside of that, I don't really know what happened.
Q: How do you think Bill Cubit will do?
KF: Bill did a great job at Western Michigan and is a good coach with experience. Not something you want, but fortunate to have someone like Bill there to pick up the reins.
Q: You have several guys on preseason lists this year.. Can you talk about some of your top returning players like Ott, Smith, and Blythe?
KF: Yeah. I don't think we have a team that has a superstar type of player - even when we did last year, it was an offensive lineman, Brandon Scherff - but we have a good group of talented players and veterans like the guys you mentioned and we're excited about the newcomers too. Excited about our quarterback, C.J. Beathard, who will be making his second start. We're eager to see how it all comes together.
Q: How is your confidence in the running game and new offensive line?
KF: My concern was more so back in January. The good news is LeShun Daniels and Jordan Canzeri have had a good year going back to January and both are practicing very well, and Derrick Mitchell has given us another option there as well. That tied in with our linemen... We have some new tackles - both of last year's are in the NFL - so we knew we had some work to do there. But I think we have some good players coming up. They'll have some growing pains, but they're on the right path to have good careers here.
---
Opening Statement
First of all, just really pleased to get going here. Overall, we've had a good camp. The guys have really practiced well and moving into our new facility has really helped, I think. Like every team in the country, we're eager to play right now. We've got a good group of veterans coming back and a group of younger players that we're eager to get out there. This week, we play a quality program in Illinois State. Coming over from Purdue, Brock Spack has done a tremendous job of building that program. They had a great season last year and brought a lot of good players back this year, so it will be a challenge for our football team.
Q: Coach, much has been made about Jim Harbaugh and the access given to the media. What is your take on media access and what Jim is doing?
KF: I'll be honest, I'm not real sure what Jim is doing. We're pretty focused on what we're doing.
Q: He's closed practice to reporters, but opened it to students.
KF: It's up to each coach to decide what is best for their football team and I'm sure he's doing that. You try to prepare your team as well as you can for the first game.
Q: What are your thoughts on Tim Beckman being fired at Illinois?
KF: Unfortunate circumstances, especially the timing. Outside of that, I don't really know what happened.
Q: How do you think Bill Cubit will do?
KF: Bill did a great job at Western Michigan and is a good coach with experience. Not something you want, but fortunate to have someone like Bill there to pick up the reins.
Q: You have several guys on preseason lists this year.. Can you talk about some of your top returning players like Ott, Smith, and Blythe?
KF: Yeah. I don't think we have a team that has a superstar type of player - even when we did last year, it was an offensive lineman, Brandon Scherff - but we have a good group of talented players and veterans like the guys you mentioned and we're excited about the newcomers too. Excited about our quarterback, C.J. Beathard, who will be making his second start. We're eager to see how it all comes together.
Q: How is your confidence in the running game and new offensive line?
KF: My concern was more so back in January. The good news is LeShun Daniels and Jordan Canzeri have had a good year going back to January and both are practicing very well, and Derrick Mitchell has given us another option there as well. That tied in with our linemen... We have some new tackles - both of last year's are in the NFL - so we knew we had some work to do there. But I think we have some good players coming up. They'll have some growing pains, but they're on the right path to have good careers here.
