2004 FBL vs. Miami (Ohio) -- Postgame Quotes
9/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr
On Chad Henne "Obviously for a true freshman, what I'm really impressed with is the way he handled the communication issues and what he did at the line of scrimmage. You can see that he has a tremendous arm, a great release and I don't think you could ask anything more of a true freshman than what he did today. We had great field position because of the plays our defense made. We didn't sustain a lot of long drives but I though he really settled down. He's got a lot of things to learn and a lot of improvement to make. He's still competing, but I was impressed."
Freshman Quarterback Chad Henne
On his first collegiate start "It went pretty good. For your first start, there will always be those nerves going on. I think I handled it well. We slipped up a little bit in the first quarter, but we came together and meshed the rest of the way."
On his emotions running out onto the field "There are no words to explain that feeling. It's awesome to go out and see all those people. You just have to go out and play through the nervousness. You have to play like your practice all week."
On his performance "There's always room for improvement. There are some things I didn't do right. Every week you have to get better. I went in there and handled the offense. I stepped in and got the signals and everyone was confident in me. I thought that was a huge key in itself."
On who will be the starting quarterback next week "We don't know right now, that's up to Coach Carr. We're all going to prepare as if we were the starter every week. Whoever gets the job, let's just go out there and win."
On his sense of the history of quarterbacks at Michigan "It's a great opportunity for a true freshman to come into this program, especially with the tradition and all the great quarterbacks that have gone through here. You just have to live up to it, do your best and continue that tradition."
Senior Safety Ernest Shazor
On his interception "We were in man coverage and I read my man really well and saw the quarterback release and I just picked the ball off."
On a variety of players getting into the game "I think it was a good experience for the young guys to come in and play. After I got my pick, a lot of guys were able to come in. Jacob Stewart came in and got an interception for us. It was great."
On Ryan Mundy "Ryan is probably one of the greatest guys on the football team. He picked up the packages really well in the spring. He became a starter this fall and he started the interceptions off for us. He got me hyped to go out and get myself one."
On how the defense needs to prepare next week "We need to limit the mistakes and improve the communication. We missed a lot of checks out there; it didn't show because we were still in position, but we still need to communicate better and play well."
Senior Wide Receiver Braylon Edwards
On the play of Chad Henne "Chad had already proved himself in two-a-days. He's a special kind of person who you automatically have faith in; you believe in what he can do. We just had to come out and support him and do what we were supposed to do and play better than normal. I would grade him an A for the simple fact that he's a true freshman starting in his first game in an environment like this. He played as though he was a veteran. He threw two touchdowns, he stood in the pocket and he made things happen."
On the offense "It was the first game, we had to work out some of the kinks as a whole. I'd give it maybe a B-. We are very capable of doing good things and we didn't play up to the capability of our offense. The first quarter was lacking, but the next three quarters we bounced back. We played exceptionally well in the second and third. We'll have to work off that this week in practice and try to come out and play better against Notre Dame."
On the defense "The defense played exceptionally well. If it had not been for the defense's effort and spirit in the first half, it might have been a closer game. The defense came out here and did the things we knew they could do and they did them every down. They didn't allow too many yards; they got a lot of turnovers for us and continually gave us the ball. Whenever we needed a play, they made it. If they can do that for 11 more games, who knows what can happen."
