Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations
Nebraska Spring Game Player Quotes
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Memorial Stadium (
Joe Ganz
Senior Quarterback
On the team’s performance
“It went pretty good. The offense played well. The teams were pretty fair. The Red team got out to an early lead with that fumble and never looked back, but the offense played well. We had a couple drops, a couple missed blocking assignments, a couple sacks. But overall it went pretty well.”
On the atmosphere
“It was like a normal game. All the older guys were used to it, but it was something special for the younger guys. It was special for everybody, but for those younger guys who’ve never really played on the field in front of those fans and never seen the
On WR Curenski Gilleylen
“He’s still young. He’s still developing. But he’s really explosive. He’s a big kid. As soon as he starts learning to run routes to get open instead of using his pure speed and athleticism, he’s going to be a real, real weapon for me. Obviously, he caught a deep post today. It’s nice to have somebody like that who can stretch the field vertically.”
On his role during the summer
“Just making sure guys don’t relax in the locker room. We’ve still got a long way to go. We just can’t let up at all. We’ve still got a lot of work we need to do. We can’t think that it’s over now, that we had a good spring and just relax. It’s my job to be a motivator in the locker room and get guys to keep working hard and going toward the goal we need to get accomplished and not relaxing one day.”
Todd Peterson
Senior Wide Receiver
On the difference between the Red team and the White team
“They got the ball on the four-yard line the first play of the game and other than that, they just executed. Obviously it was a lot of help for them to have Joe at the helm. We had two guys that really played well, I thought, in Zac (Lee) and Patrick (Witt). But it’s kind of invaluable to have Joe (Ganz) because he just knows what he’s doing so well.”
On Curenski Gilleylen
“We’ve seen a lot of flashes out of Curenski. Obviously he’s a strong guy. He’s a fast guy, an athlete. We’re expecting big things out of him and I think he’s come to realize that and is starting to expect big things out of himself. We’ve seen that he can be that deep threat like that and he can be a physical runner on the edge when he gets those little bubble screens. We’re going to try and work him in as much as we can and get him touches and see what he can do next fall.”
On how much they got accomplished during the spring
“I think on offense, we got a lot of things in that we wanted to. We took a little slower approach putting things in. As far as defense, just progress. Day one, they were out there and their heads were spinning and they hardly knew where to line up. By the end of it, they’re out there making calls. They’re chattering. They’re flying around to the ball and that was great to see the passion they have on that side of the ball.”
Tyler Wortman
Senior Linebacker
On forcing a fumble on the first play of the game
“It was supposed to be an old-school option play to get the fans pumped up and everything. I kind of messed it up, I guess. I was just supposed to play the quarterback and I got up there and I guess he just didn’t pitch it soon enough, so I swatted at the ball and got a piece of it. I don’t know how happy the coaches are with me about it.”
On how he progressed throughout the spring
“I was really happy with the way the game went today, and just really happy with the way the whole spring went. Coming in, having a new coaching staff and a new defense, you kind of are skeptical at first, but then we really bought into it and I’m looking forward to the fall.”
On how ready the team is to play in a real game
“We’re a ways away. We have a lot of time to get ready for the fall. Just as long as we’re improving every day, then we can be ready and do really well.”
