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We will be hearing from Seth Wallace, Kelvin Bell, and Brian Ferentz today.
These are rough quotes and notes. Not a full transcript.
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Seth Wallace
Opening Statement
Certainly appreciate seeing everybody today. Obviously we appreciate you guys being here week in and week out. At the linebacker position, first I want to wish all the luck in the world to Nick Niemann and Barrington Wade as they look to move on to the NFL. Secondly, it was nice to be back in Kinnick last weekend. Great to have you guys covering it, the fans there, and the parents there. That's a big deal for us. Our players were excited about it and excited to get back again on May 1.
I want to send my best to Pat Harty, who is having a procedure today. Then I want to recognize Tom Kakert and Leah Vann. I listened to their podcast and Leah it's good to have you with us. You've got a remarkable story and wish you all the best moving forward. Then want to send my congratulations to our women's soccer team and wish the best to our field hockey team.
At linebacker, we may have flown beneath the radar a little bit this spring, but our expectations are high. We have a group of 12 working hard right now. Three with some experience, three that just enrolled, and other guys somewhere in the middle. Only 8 starts among them all, but feels like a pretty veteran group. Working a lot on position flexibility as Seth Benson mentioned yesterday. It's a challenge, but I see it as a long road. We've got 5 practices left this spring and then 27 in August. I learned a real good lesson in 2017. Josey Jewell was out with a separated shoulder, so we had to slide Ben Niemann inside. Ironically he's an inside backer now in the NFL, but back then that was his first time inside. I don't want that to happen again where a guy has to jump in with no experience, so trying to create that experience now.
Q: Kirk kind of reserves his greatest applause for players with an extra heartbeat. Josey Jewell, Pat Angerer, and then said it about Jack Campbell last year. What do you expect from him this year?
SW: Last year was a tricky year on a lot of different levels. Another stat you might be able to bullet point, all of these guys have three years minimum left of eligibility. All of them have an extra year if they want it. As it relates to Jack Campbell, I could go on about a couple other guys like that, but I do believe that's how they grew up and then how they developed. As it relates to Jack, there's something extra there. You just turn on the tape and watch the way he practices, it's clear there's a motor and something that tugs at him to get to the ball on every play.
Q: Thanks for listening to the podcast. We need to do one together sometime. Having Seth in the middle, how do you decide that? Is it traits? Not in stone?
SW: Not in stone at this point, Tom. If our doors were open and COVID wasn't around, take for instance if we were playing the old Illinois team that spread you out, if we had three linebackers on the field, I'd probably have Campbell in the middle with Jacobs and Benson outside. If we were playing Wisconsin, we'd find a way to get Jack Campbell up on the line of scrimmage at outside backer like a standup defensive end with the other two inside. With what we're doing right now, I think it will give us that kind of flexibility. All three working together really well and a clear cut lead. Continue to work on depth behind them.
Q: With yesterday's verdict in mind, where do you see the most areas of growth personally and team wise?
SW: I think starting with personal side of things, just more awareness. Obviously being more transparent, more communication and more one on one conversations with guys closer to the situation and then collectively as a team, I would say it's brought us closer as a team. We've come more transparent as a coaching staff and a team as a whole. The one thing you realize is we're so far away from where this thing is going. I don't know that we've gotten any closer - I'm talking about globally - but we can do the work here in our building and get to know each other better. If we do that, we have a chance to affect those on the outside. It's been a good process for us, but still a lot of work to do as a country.
Q: Seth Benson, can you describe his growth this spring? He talked about you putting players in uncomfortable situations. What would those be?
SW: He is conditioned like you would condition a baseball mitt. I don't want to call him a Swiss Army knife, but that's what we're trying to create where we can put our best or next best linebacker in any position. Being uncomfortable would be Jacobs at LEO, Campbell at MIKE, and Benson at WILL on one play and then rotating the very next play. When you were sitting at MIKE one play and WILL the next you have to put your eyes somewhere differently and communicate differently. That's what we're doing this spring and these guys are growing from it.
Q: Hi Seth, thanks for the shout out. I wanted to ask about Zach Twedt and Justice Sullivan, who sat out on Saturday?
SW: They were both sitting. I want to mention Eric Epenesa, who joined us this spring as well. Zach hasn't been on the field this spring. He came in needing some fine tuning medically. He's doing a great job. Extremely diligent, takes great notes. Justice is very unique in a lot of ways. From a player standpoint, he might have the heaviest hands of anyone we've ever had. You can hear him hit a guy with his hands from across the field, which is unique. The scheme and all that is a long ways away, but I'm looking forward to what's down the road. It's exciting forecasting Justice's future.
Q: I was hoping you could talk about the evolution of the LEO position.
SW: You go back and you look at some games last year and you'd find yourself coming back to one, it starts with personnel. If they come out with 1 back, 1 tight end, we're going to live In CASH. If they come out in 21 personnel, we're going to live in the 4-3. What you saw last year against Wisconsin in the second half was due to situation in the game. Ball was ending up on the perimeter a lot more and wanted more sturdiness so living in 3 linebacker world regardless of personnel. But if it's more of an RPO or the ball is passively ending up in different places, we're going to be inclined to put another guy out in space.
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