Player Comments from
Weekly U-M Football Media Luncheon
9/13/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Senior Quarterback Tom Brady
On his confidence this season ... "I feel real confident. I'm not getting fooled as much as last year. It's been easier to read the other teams' secondary coverage."
On talking with U-M secondary coach Teryl Austin, who was at Syracuse the previous three season ... "I haven't had the opportunity yet because we're just starting to prepare today, but I will definitly get some advice from him."
On losing to Syracuse last season ... "This team has its own goals, we can't take last year's game back. This season we just want to go out and perform as well as we can."
On placekicker Jeff Del Verne ... "One time at the end of practice -- Coach (Lloyd) Carr likes to put us in game situation almost like a dress rehearsal -- so he put a challenge to Jeff that if he made a field goal our practice would be over and if he missed we would have to run laps. He made the kick and then did a dance for us. He's one of the funnier guys on the team."
Junior Placekicker Jeff Del Verne
On the difference this year as a starter ... "The only thing that was different this year was I didn't have Hayden (Epstein) pushing me this spring, but when he and I compete it's a pretty intense battle."
On playing on artificial turf ... "Every kicker I've talked to says they kick better on turf, just from the standpoint of seeing the ball better and always getting a good spot. It should be fun kicking on the turf."
On why Lloyd Carr calls him "loosey goosey" ... "I was pretty chubby when I came here. I was 220 pounds and I couldn't bench press one of these tape recorders, so when I got here it was kind of a joke -- look at the fat kicker. A lot of the older guys used to pick on me, but it was all in good fun."
On his good start of the season ... "It's important to get off to a good start. It's a good base to start with, but I've kicked well all year. In the spring I struggled and went to a kicking camp and got help from Gary Anderson from the (Minnesota) Vikings and since then I've been pretty solid."
Senior Offensive Lineman Steve Hutchinson
On a revenge factor against Syracuse ... "They came here and beat us in every aspect of the game last season. We don't have revenge for anybody, so we just want go there and play our kind of football."
On having an 8 p.m. kickoff ... "It doesn't really matter. We usually sit around the hotel and watch the earlier games. We get kind of antsy sitting around, but it's not a big deal and it doesn't throw us off."
On U-M's low yards-per-carry average ... "Rice brought eight and nine guys to the line of scrimage every play and left the pass wide open, so we took advantage of that. We do need to improve in the run game especially this week against Syracuse. Our stats aren't where we want them to be, but we will work on that in practice this week."
On quarterback Tom Brady ... "He has gone into every practice and both games with a great mindset. He's been a great leader on the field and when he's not in the game he helps out Drew (Henson) with the signals doing whatever he can to contribute. We have two good quarterbacks competing and they're both handling themselves well helping the team as much as possible."
Senior Defensive Lineman Rob Renes
On Syracuse ... "With (former quarterback) Donovan (McNabb) gone, it's great news for us, but the bad news is that the quarterback they have now (Troy Nunes) is a tremendous athlete."
On last year's loss to Syracuse ... "Last year was a learning experience. They came into Michigan Stadium and beat us bad and we take pride in playing at home. We don't have revenge on our mind, but it will be very similar to the Notre Dame loss last season -- we learned from it and we will be ready on Saturday."
On the play of the defense so far ... "We feel very confident in our front seven because we have so much experience there. Josh (Williams) and I and the rest of the guys are taking a lot of pride being our last year, so we want to get the job done."
Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
