Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium
(Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Nov. 12, 2012
Pre-Minnesota
Will Compton
Sr., Linebacker, Boone Terre, Mo.
On his decision coming to Nebraska and what he thought he
was getting into with new coach Bo Pelini
“It was a unique situation, I remember. I remember committing to Coach
(Bill) Callahan and his staff first. We had a top class coming in that was committed
and everyone scattered after that. I stayed committed, but at the same time I
was looking elsewhere. I remember being in the living room with my mom after my
official visit here and after Coach Bo (Pelini) and all of them got hired. After talking
with them I remember telling my mom that I was down to Notre Dame, Illinois,
and Missouri, because Illinois and Missouri in particular were having good years.
Illinois went to the Rose Bowl and Missouri was having a great success that year.
I remember telling my mom that I wasn’t coming here that year and she started
crying. She really like the staff, Coach Bo and everybody here and she
thought I was making a mistake. Right before I committed, Coach Bo called me on
a Friday, because I had just left my mom’s school with Missouri's coaches and Bo
called and asked if he could do one more thing before I made my decision. I
think it was the next Tuesday. I was basically just being courteous and I said
sure, thinking I was just going to talk on the phone with the staff or something.
He said he wanted to send the defensive staff down on Sunday in the jet and
watch the NFC Championship with me and I said, alright that’s fine. I remember
it was Coach (Marvin) Sanders, Coach Carl Pelini, Coach (Mike) Eckler and Coach JP (John Papuchis) and they all
came on Sunday night. We sat with the family and I had a couple of friends over
and it was just Nebraska from there. We had a great night and once they walked
out I just said I didn’t know what I was thinking in the first place and I said
that Nebraska is where I definitely want to go.”
On what he remembers on the redshirt year having 50
redshirts
“Some of us were just talking about it this morning being back in Selleck
Hall, the dormitory we stayed in, and we had a bunch of guys. We became close
pretty fast, a bunch of different cultures. We all became friends quick and
we’re just reminiscing on the fun times we had there. That year we were the
first class that came here with Coach Bo and we talked about in four or five
years what it’d be like as seniors. Fortunately we’re in a driver’s seat type
of place right now and we have to finish the year off, but we want to make it a
memorable one.”
On the Virginia Tech game where Bo told him to get ready
and almost had his redshirt pulled
“I remember that. I was like a deer in headlights. I was nervous and caught
off guard. I think Phil (Dillard) blew a coverage and I think they took the lead but
Coach Bo turned to Coach Eckler and told him ‘Get Will ready’ and Coach Eckler
turned to me. They were both walking towards me fast paced just ticked off at
what had happened and Coach Eckler said ‘Will get ready to rock and roll’. I
was nervous and grabbed my helmet. I was standing there, pacing back and forth,
and moving around. It ended up they didn’t pull my redshirt and nothing else
was said to me the rest of the game and they stuck with Phil. There was another
game at Baylor when we started getting injuries. Cody (Glenn) was down and Phil was
down and I started to grab my helmet. Coach Bo called me over and said ‘Don’t
worry about putting your helmet on because we’re not going to put you in there'.
I wouldn’t do that without sitting down with you and your parents and talking
about it.”
On how he’d summarize the senior class
“I don’t know. It’s a brotherhood. We all really are close, very close. We
all get along. We’re all usually on the same page and at times there’s a bunch
of bickering about stuff like brothers would but we’ve been through a lot
together. Like I said earlier, we’re trying to make these last weeks as memorable
as we can because we’ll remember this month and the beginning of next month for
the rest of our lives. We’re chasing our goals.”
On if he’s the peacemaker in that bickering bunch
“It just depends. It depends on the situation. Sometimes I might be bickering
or in an argument, but other times I could be the peacemaker. It just depends.
You get a lot of different things with us but we’re all close and we all have
each other’s backs.”
On what the last tunnel walk will be like for him
“It’s going to be different. I don’t know. I see myself and they all joke
with me about being sentimental because I always bring up our last stuff, last
this and last that. I’m trying to take it all in and live in every moment that
I can because it’s the last year that we’re all going to have together. It’s
going to be memorable. I say I’m not going to get emotional when it happens but
we’ll see what happens. We have a game to win and I’ll have a bunch of family
in. We’re just trying to send the senior class out the right way.”
On how special it’d be to be a part of the class that
brought Nebraska back to winning a championship
“It’d be extremely special. We’re in a position to do a few different
things that hasn’t been done here in quite a while. We’re all aware of that, but
we have to stay locked in. We can’t take this next game lightly at all. We have
to take care of us and take care of business. These last games, like always,
they don’t matter anymore. We’re in the driver seat but we have to continue to
stay in the driver seat and to do so we have to take care of business this next
week.”
On what he’ll remember most about Memorial Stadium
“There are a lot of things. The fans, the tunnel walk, the pregame speeches
with Coach Bo, the sideline conversations and the on-field conversations, and
everything. I can think of a bunch of stuff that I’ll remember it all forever.”
On what change he’s seen from Bo and if he takes more
feedback from players than he used to
“Yes, without a doubt. We communicate all the time. He communicates with us
players all the time. The stuff that we went through in the offseason, having
player meetings and he’ll be in there and we’ll all give each other feedback on
things. It was never a player takeover type of deal, but he wanted our feedback
on things and he always wants to get better. I think he has gotten better each
and every year. I think he’s matured, especially on the sideline. I know some
people might not see that, but he really has. He’s just grown as a head coach
over the years.”
On how the team has played at home and what it’d mean to
be undefeated at home
“It’d be awesome. We’ve played well at home. If we start off slow we’ve had
strong second halves at home. Our fans have helped us out a lot with the noise
being the twelfth man. It’d mean a lot to us to get an undefeated home season.
We’re aware of doing that and it hasn’t been done since 2001 or something. It’d
be huge. We’d love to do that and we plan on doing so with our last home game
as seniors as well. It’ll be a good game this weekend.”
On what he wants to tell the fans that criticize how Bo
interacts with players on the sideline
“It doesn’t bother me. I know what happens and I know what’s being said. I
know what is meant when things are said. We’re out there battling and we’re out
there in a war. Bullets are flying and there’s going to be disagreements just
like there would be in a household. We’re a family and we all know that.
There’s never anything that puts somebody down or to put a player down or
embarrass him. It’s never about that. It’s just executing and we’re all trying
to get done what we expect of each other. It doesn’t really bother me and I never
really care what the outsiders think of what happens or how they think Coach Bo
is or how the players might be. Like I said, we’re out there trying to get a
win and we expect to win. When that’s expected you have high standards and
you’re going to have disagreements when things go wrong and things do go wrong.
It doesn’t bother me.”
On why the team is so successful in the month of November
over the past few years
“Each and every year we’ve kind of been put in situations where we could
control our own destiny. I think the sense of urgency always kind of rises, as
it should be high at the beginning of the season in the first place. I think
when people start to understand what is at stake, then that’s what does it. I’m
not sure. Coach Bo always preaches get better each and every week. Each and
every week we always hear we haven’t played our best football and that there’s
a lot more out there for us to go get even if we play a good game. That’s a
good thing because you understand how much more we could’ve done better and how
much more we can get better. I think that’s just what we go by, the message he
always preaches to us.”
On how the defense gets better as the year goes on
“Everybody just understanding their role and what’s expected of them.
Especially when you have bumps in the road like this year that we’ve had with
UCLA and Ohio State. Taking those situations and learning from them instead of
just seeing them as failure and not being able to move on from them. I think we
all just understand the system more and more each and every week and what the
coaches are trying to do with the game plan and what other teams are throwing
at us. I think guys start to get a grasp on that part of it so I think that’s
how we get better.”
On if Mike Vick hadn’t gotten hurt would the Cowboys have
won
“Without a doubt, did you see the way our defense and special teams were
playing? Without a doubt, we concussed Michael Vick. That was their fourth win.
We’re still in the hunt. The Giants lost and the Cowboys had to come out on top.
The Cowboys did. We’ve got to move forward and execute next week. We could be
in the driver’s seat soon."
