Player Comments from
Weekly U-M Football Media Luncheon
10/18/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Senior Co-Captain and Nose Tackle Rob Renes
On what the team accomplished in the off week ... "We tried to get as many guys back to 100 percent health as we possibly could. We watched some films to get ready for this week and take advantage of the rest of the season."
On being ready to move on past the Michigan State loss ... "Absolutely. We've got five games left and that's what we want to take care of."
On watching other Big Ten games on Saturday ... "We all tried to watch as much Big Ten football as we possibly could. Everyone we've played has been extremely tough and you've got to expect that. Illinois is going to be a great football team to play against. When you play a team that is up-and-coming like they are, you have to take advantage of it and play your top ball or you are going to get beat."
On preparing for this weekend's game ... "You've got to stay focused. You've got to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are and from week to week improve on those weaknesses. Just limit any downfall of what you are doing well. This week we understand that we have to establish a running game and defensively we have to do what we weren't able to do last week -- get more pressure on the quarterback and play more collective defense and not give up as many points."
Senior Offensive Lineman Chris Ziemann
On what the offensive line needs to break out and get the running game going ... "One of the things we're concentrating and working on in our practices this week is to be a more physical offensive line. And also, working a lot on our techniques and sustaining blocks."
On the Illinois defensive line ... "They are a very good defensive line. They are talented. Basically we need to take this chance to improve and concentrate on our offensive play."
On what it will take for Michigan to take it up to the next level ... "I think you have to look at it as you as an individual and as a group. If everyone looks at themselves and says what they need to work on then and works on those things at practice, then together we'll become a lot better as a team."
On how the team is looking at the rest of the season ... "Basically we are working in the 'precious present' as coach (Lloyd) Carr always says. We are taking one day at a time, one game at a time. We're looking to improve with every practice and every game. That's what you have to do to better yourself."
Sophomore Cornerback Todd Howard
On Illinois ... "I've got a couple buddies that play on the team and it's pretty exciting to get a chance to see them. Illinois doesn't get televised that much. I have a buddy and I watched [Illinois] over at his house, I got to see their offense. I think they're a lot better than their record shows. They've got the ability to play well, you saw against Michigan State. If we take them lightly, I think we'll have a problem."
On the Illini being better than their record ... "They've got a lot of athletes. I'm from Illinois and I've seen the players on their team. A lot of them were on my all-state team, a lot of guys that were ahead of me. A couple guys from my high school play on the team, Antonio Harris and Eric Garrett. I've seen them play and I know what they can do. So, to underestimate a team just because of their record, I see their potential and I think they could give any team problems."
On Illinois' receivers ... "I haven't really gotten a chance to look at them. I looked at them a little bit yesterday. They've got a tall receiver, (Michael) Dean and the other guy, Greg Lewis, I haven't really seen him that much. I saw (Aaron) Moorehead play a couple times. They're tall receivers and they're talented and they're on scholarship obviously so they got recruited for a reason."
On regrouping after the loss to Michigan State ... "After Purdue, we were real excited. We had a very good performance against them. We came out against Michigan State probably kind of flat, a little less emotional than we were against Purdue. We didn't underestimate Michigan State by any means. We came into the game expecting to make plays and it sort of seemed like we were sitting back waiting for the plays to happen instead of going out and making them and that's the thing we're going to have to change. Plaxico Burress is a great receiver but I think if we had played with a little more emotion it would have been a different story."
"We weren't totally dead. It was just the fact of matching Michigan State's intensity and that's pretty hard at their home field given the fact that everything was on the line and they came out and they played harder than us."
On the effect of the off week ... "We've had a real good week of practice last week and we've been coming around. There's been a lot of intensity in practice and you can really tell the difference between Michigan State week practice and this week's practice. As far as the schedule catching up with us, I don't think that's happened. Everybody's still pretty much healthy. The week gave us a chance to heal some injuries. We're going to come out of this break pretty fired up."
On his friends on the Illinois team ... "I haven't had a chance to talk to running back Antonio Harris lately. He hasn't really been playing. They're excited, they won a couple games and that's going to do nothing but reinforce their confidence and they know they have the ability, after playing a great game against Michigan State, so they know they can play with anybody. If they saw us play Michigan State and the way they played against Michigan State, I would feel they think they have a chance."
On not overlooking Illinois ... "All you have to do is look at history. That's what happens, people overlook people and they get beat and that's something that you never want to do. You can't win the Big Ten without playing all these teams and that's what we have to do. We have to play one game at a time. We have to beat Illinois, we have to go out and play against Indiana and then Northwestern. We can't overlook anybody."
On the off week ... "I took it as a positive. It gave me a lot of time to think about the State game, and you get that sour taste in your mouth and you don't get a chance to get it out for two weeks. It dwells in your mind. Every day you wake up and you think about it, you always think about what you could have done and everything. You can't go back in the past but it does give you motivation to go out the next week and the next couple days in practice to work on the things that you did wrong, watch yourself on film, look at yourself and see your mistakes and improve on those. That's how you get better."
Senior Fullback Aaron Shea
On the team's lack of success running the ball ... "We're not happy with how we're running the ball. We're not running with any consistency and you just have to look at yourself in the mirror and say 'What can I do better to help this team run the ball' and I think that's what a lot of the guys are doing this week, and hopefully we'll get this figured out and start running the ball with consistency.
"It could be a bunch of things. Sometimes maybe I might miss my block and the next time someone else missed their block. So I don't think it's one thing because if it was one thing, we'd get that thing corrected. So I think it's just something here, something there, not to point anyone out, we're just not doing it as a team."
On the run blocking ... "I think desire has a lot to do with running the ball but I think also what affects how you run the ball is how defenses are playing you. If a defense is playing you eight guys in the box, nine guys in the box, it's awful tough to run the ball. I think different defenses play different against us. If you're going to keep a base defense and have seven in the box, we'll run all over you. So I think it's just a matter of who we're playing and how they're playing us."
On running the ball against Illinois ... "I think definitely come Saturday, from the first down, we've got to go out there and run the ball and we've got to run the ball with effectiveness. We're throwing the ball well up here, there's no question about that, but we're not a throwing team, that's not Michigan. So we just have to take it upon ourselves to go out there and run the ball Saturday and run it with effectiveness. It starts tomorrow in practice."
On watching Illinois last weekend ... "They have a good defense and I think that Minnesota's a real good team, a really underrated team and just a fundamentally sound team, a well-coached team, and we're going to have to go out and play our best game next week."
On Illinois' linebackers ... "Its hard to tell just from the TV copy. I know Danny Clark is a great athletic linebacker. They've got this (Eric) Guenther, he looks like he likes to hit. So kind of like our linebackers, not very big but they can run. They're athletic so we're going to have to keep our face up. Sometimes they're going to want to come around us. We'll be ready for them."
On the team's response to adversity ... "We've had a great week of practice. We have some great senior leaders on this team that are not going to let this team fall apart. We're going to go out and do everything that we can do to keep everyone playing the way that we should be playing and get back on track. Right now, I'm looking at this like it's a new season. We're 0-0 and we just have to go out and prove ourselves each week and win every game the rest of this way and it'll take care of itself."
Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
