Mark Mangino Press Conference Quotes, 9-28
Sept. 28, 2004
Lawrence, Kan. – Mark Mangino Press Conference Quotes, 9-28
Opening statement:
“Good afternoon, let me start by announcing our players of the game for last week. Our defensive player of the game was Jermial Ashley, special teams player of the week was John Randle, our offensive scout team player of the week was Hassan Johnson and our defensive scout player of the week was Bruce Ringwood.”
On the Texas Tech game:
“Looking at the game. Our defense played tenacious and did a wonderful job. You always like to see your defense cause turnovers. They are playing very well and we need to continue improving on the defensive side of the ball. On offense, there is not enough consistent play and that’s all eleven guys, not just one guy. We need to move the sticks. We have to improve our run game. It will get better as our offensive line works together and get the experience that they need. We have to be better throwing and catching the ball as well. All areas of the offense needs to improve, but the good news is that it will improve. I’m confident in our offense and I have no real concerns at all. Special teams continue to improve and we are getting close to making field goals, so I am pleased with that.”
On Nebraska:
“They have a new coach and their kids are learning. You can see week to week that they are getting better and better. You can see on offense how their kids are starting to undrstand the system. They have a great athlete at quarterback that can hurt you throwing and running. Their defense is stout, tough and hard-nosed. They play hard and give you a lot of looks. We will have to prepare well again. It’s conference play and you have to be ready week in and week out. It is going to be a good challenge for us and we are looking forward to playing another conference game and getting back on track. They play physical football. They play disciplined. Whatever they do, they do it well. They make plays and they have a lot of talented kids. Nebraska is still Nebraska.”
On the offensive line:
“What our coaches are trying to do is create some depth on offensive line so that perhaps we can get a rotation going on the line from time to time. We’ve been playing quite a bit with the same kids. My intention is to be able to play with more than five offensive lineman for a majority of the game. I think our offensive line is going to be fine, we have to continue to look at personnel. I don’t want to give the opinion that we are in a panic, because we are not. In fact, as time goes on this group is going to get better and better.”
On KU’s defense:
“There is a possibility that we might tweak some personnel on defense. We are playing great defense, but we always want to get better and better. When we make moves, it’s not so much that we are demoting people, it’s that people get in the game and do well and adapt to the situation and earn more playing time. We are not making any wholesale changes, we are pleased with our defense. But part of coaching is putting people in the right spots.”
On John Randle and Charles Gordon:
“They are talented kids, at this point in our program we need to recruit those types of kids. We just don’t have enough of them right now. I am always mindful of their workload. I will never put them in position where they might get injured from fatigue. They do a lot of things well. We have kids in our program that are like them but are still developing.”
On Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium:
“It is one of the great venues in college football, and I enjoy going into those kind of places and competing. With all of the tradition, I think it’s a fun atmosphere and it is what college football is all about.”
Selected Quotes From Kansas Players
Senior center Joe Vaughn
On bouncing back after the loss:
“We just need to rebound by trying to get better every week and correct the mistakes that we have made. We need to do what we are coached to do. We just want to work hard and correct the mistakes that to put us in that position. We just know we have to keep working with the coaches. It is in the past and we just need to focus on the next game.”
On a rotation of offensive linemen:
“That is up to coach. I don’t have a problem with it. I think that either way we are going to play better because we are going to work hard this week in practice and correct those mistakes. I doesn’t matter who is in the game.”
On taking criticism after last week’s performance:
“It is motivating, you just have to be able to take criticism. It is not a bad thing. It is a motivator and we look forward to getting back at it this week.”
Junior offensive lineman Matt Thompson
On last week’s performance:
“We have gotten a lot of attention, but it is not the kind of attention we want. We are looking forward to proving ourselves this week. We are taking it practice by practice, making sure that everyone is sound and continues to execute. Last week was definitely not a good week for us, so we are definitely looking to rebound.”
On taking criticism after last week’s performance:
“There a lot of things to be said after a game and not all of them are positive. We took it in stride and we are past it now.”
On the offensive lines mistakes from last week:
“I think is is combination of both (individual and group). At times, I personally did not execute and at times we, as a group, did not communicate well and we didn’t execute that. We are working towards correcting that and looking forward to next week.”
Running back John Randle
On what he expects from Nebraska’s defense:
“We don’t know a whole lot about them. I hear that are pretty big and they have a good defense with speed. Their defensive line is pretty decent. I don’t know exactly everything about them about them right now, but we will find that out later in the week as we scout them. We just have to be ready for them.”
