Head Coach Herm Edwards
Opening Statement
“We are excited about getting back on the grass and the guys have had some time off. There was a lot of energy in practice today, which is good. We will kind of do the same practice again tomorrow and then we’ll get into Wisconsin as the week carries on, but I thought it was very important for us to come back and kind of look at ourselves offensively and defensively. We’re excited about the opportunity to play in a bowl game and to play a quality opponent like Wisconsin, a very well-coached, physical football team, in all three phases of football. It will be a big test for us, but I think our players are excited about having the opportunity to play.
On if anyone has opted out to play
“A couple guys, obviously our two corners, Chase (Lucas) and Jack (Jones), opted out. Rachaad (White) has opted out. Other than that, I wanna say that’s it thus far so, that’s a good thing. We anticipated that, I anticipated that. We had talked before when the season had ended that this could happen and some young guys are going to play now. No different than our last game of the season, we had a bunch of young guys in there. So, that’s kinda a good thing. But, those guys, when you think about those three players, they’ve done a lot to get us in this position. Chase and I had a good talk and I said look ‘I’ve been here for four years and you’ve really helped this program tremendously and I just appreciate what you’ve done for this program and how you’ve helped us all.’ So, it’s all good.”
(Reporter) What about Darien Butler?
“Darien Butler is practicing. He is slotted to play, he should be ready to play.”
On Jayden Daniels returning
“It’s kind of funny that he was going to return, he was never leaving. So, I don’t know why all of this became a story because we sat in my office and laughed. I guess he made an announcement that he’s coming back, but he was never leaving. It’s great we want him to come back and that helps when you have a quarterback of that stature and I think when he looks at his season this year, he wants to do some things a little bit better and we have to help him do that. I like his attitude. I like his mindset right now and it’s always good when you have a veteran quarterback coming back. That’s always a good feeling for the coaches.”
(Reporter) What about Jermayne’s (Lole) decision to come back?
“Yeah, that was anticipated as well. He is one of the better defensive players on our football team and to have him back inside, that helps us a lot. There’s a few more guys when you look at them, there’s a couple other guys that are going to come back, they might not be the big names, Jermayne and all of the sudden Jayden’s on that list but, it’s kind of fun when those guys come up to you and say ‘Coach, I’m coming back’.”
On Daniyel Ngata’s role without Rachaad White and DeaMonte Trayanum
“Yeah, Ngata will get some and we will figure that all out. We will game plan what we need to do, but we anticipated that White would be gone. If Chip (DeaMonte Trayanum) decides to go somewhere, we thank him for everything he’s done for the program and wish him a lot of success.”
(Reporter) Is that still a possibility that he might not leave then?
“Until he’s gone somewhere else, you never know. This portal stuff is interesting, it’s changed college football. There’s about 6,000 kids in the portal as I speak. I know for the last two weeks AP (Antonio Pierce) and myself along with Ryan (Rezac), Matt (Seiler), and JJ (Kilgore), we’ve been locked in that room for about 8-9 hours, early in the morning to the evening, looking at portal guys and mid-year transfers. We’ve collected some good players. It will be interesting when they all get here.”
(Reporter) Do you have an idea on how many you might end up taking from the transfer portal?
“10 or more.”
On what it means to the team when key players are opting out of the bowl game
“I think it’s become a part of it now, you see a lot of these guys opting out not to play in bowl games. When I first got here, we talked about it and some of the guys decided not to. You want them to play but a lot of these guys are going to prepare themselves for the draft and I understand that. It’s a business decision and that’s fine.”
On how important it is to do well getting transfers from the portal since the signing class is small
“It’s good, but I think it’s changed now. The portal has actually hurt high school football because if you think about it… let’s just say if every team goes into the portal and gets five guys, that’s five scholarships that could’ve gone to a high school player. That’s no longer the case. When you look at us, we’re going to have more than five because we’ve lost a lot of seniors and we need certain players for certain positions that have experience and leadership. I think everyone looks at the portal a little bit different. We’re in a spot right now when we look at it and when these guys get here and I want to say out of the 10-14 guys, I think 10 of them will be mid-year guys right now. The portal will be open again once the bowl games end and there will be another set of players that will go in there after spring football, there’s going to be more guys that go into the portal. So you understand that and I think that’s the part of doing business in college football. If you look at us and what we’re trying to get, we need some veterans in certain positions and we have access to those guys and if we can make it work, we’re going to go in that direction.”
(Reporter) So you’re not worried that your high school signing class is going to be smaller than most?
“No, I’m not worried about that. Signing day is always big in college football in the fact how many five star four star…and it all creates a buzz, but I think where we’re at right now, we understand our team. We’re going to sign high school players, make no mistake of that, but there are certain positions where we need veteran guys and we know that and we have to go out and get those guys. We need guys that can come in and play, it’s no different than NFL free agency. We lose some players because of contracts or it expires, you go into free agency and you look for guys. That’s what the portal has become in college football and everybodies dealing with it, you can see it all over the country, it’s amazing how many names go in there. It’s just everyday you go in there and go, ‘What? Another guy?’ and so you have to do your due diligence, find out the guys that fit and will help the program at certain positions, and you have to go after them.”
(Reporter) What positions do you feel an immediate need?
“Always with the lineman, there’s always lineman. You always look for lineman, offensively and defensively. We ended up getting a couple big-time tight ends that we like and there are other positions. Hardest thing about the portal is this: they can’t sign a letter. It’s a handshake and so you have to keep recruiting them until they decide to enroll in the school and that’s when you know you got them. With that being said, you just have to wait, it’s a gentleman's agreement for the most part for a lot of these guys. I don’t want to mention who they are until they enroll in school. In the spring, our team will look a little bit different. It will look a lot different to be quite honest with you. It will be interesting to see.”
On promoting three guys to interim positions and keeping those permanent
“Well, we don’t know. Like I said, we’re still under review so we will see where that heads, but the guys that were put in that position have done a wonderful job. I think this whole staff has done a really nice job. Going through this season, there’s been some bumps in the road, I give the coaching staff a lot of credit, I give the players a lot of credit. There was a lot of noise and it’s not noisy anymore, it’s kind of interesting but the players dealt with it, the coaches dealt with it, the administration dealt with it, I think in a fine manner. We’re heading in a direction now where we are preparing for this bowl game and then high school signings are coming up along with what I call free agency - the portal - it’s a wonderful thing. It’s amazing how many kids you see in there and you shake your head and there’s not 6,000 scholarships. I don’t know where all these guys are going to go. I really don’t and it’s tough. You can find some players that can come in and help you and if we get the guys that we’ve had handshakes with, we’ll be improved.”
(Reporter) Do you have a time frame for when you expect an answer on the review?
“No, I’m just coaching a football team. I don’t worry about that stuff from the beginning, I just coach the team and that’s what we do, we get prepared to play and prepare to play Wisconsin.
On anticipating that everyone that’s in the bowl that has eligibility will return next season
“Yes.”
(Reporter) Guys like Merlin Robertson etc.. who are out here would be included in that?
“Last time I checked. It would be kind of surprising to get a lot of those guys back, which is good. Anytime you get some veteran guys back, they feel like they might not have had the year they wanted and they have the option to come back, which is good.”
On Dohnovan West playing in the bowl
“He’s not, he had surgery on his thumb.”
(Reporter) With the center position, is that Ben Scott?
“Yeah it’s Ben right now.”
(Reporter) What do you think about that?
“I think that’s his natural position. We will see, he’s going to play there and he’s excited about having the opportunity to play there. We will be fine, we will be okay.”
On new players and faces starting and playing and how it affects them competitively
“Look, when you lose starters, there’s a reason the guys are starters because they’re good players. I think everyone’s going to deal with that a little in bowl games and that’s part of it. We’ve dealt with that, this is our third bowl game and every bowl game we’ve lost players. I mean N’keal Harry didn’t play, Eno Benjamin didn’t play, Brandon Aiyuk didn’t play. There’s guys that haven’t played in these bowl games, I mean two of them were first round draft choices and you go ‘they aren’t going to play’ and we get it and they come on Wednesday and they’re with the team and they put their coaching hats on Thursday and they run up and down the sideline and they kept everybody up and it’s all good, we get that part, it’s not a problem.”
On the game and what options Wisconsin has
“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical, and all three phases of it. Well coached, very disciplined, and an outstanding defense. Average is they’re only giving up 16 points a game. You don’t score a lot of points on these guys. They run the football, they have a young back and an outstanding football player, who can run. The quarterback is very good in the fact that he manages the game for them. They do a nice job of defensively not allowing big explosive plays. Hard to run the ball on them, they only give up 60 yards a game against the run. Well coached football team and very physical and it reminds me a little bit of the Michigan State with the physicality of it all in all three phases. We have to get prepared to play a big time football game.
Opening Statement
“We are excited about getting back on the grass and the guys have had some time off. There was a lot of energy in practice today, which is good. We will kind of do the same practice again tomorrow and then we’ll get into Wisconsin as the week carries on, but I thought it was very important for us to come back and kind of look at ourselves offensively and defensively. We’re excited about the opportunity to play in a bowl game and to play a quality opponent like Wisconsin, a very well-coached, physical football team, in all three phases of football. It will be a big test for us, but I think our players are excited about having the opportunity to play.
On if anyone has opted out to play
“A couple guys, obviously our two corners, Chase (Lucas) and Jack (Jones), opted out. Rachaad (White) has opted out. Other than that, I wanna say that’s it thus far so, that’s a good thing. We anticipated that, I anticipated that. We had talked before when the season had ended that this could happen and some young guys are going to play now. No different than our last game of the season, we had a bunch of young guys in there. So, that’s kinda a good thing. But, those guys, when you think about those three players, they’ve done a lot to get us in this position. Chase and I had a good talk and I said look ‘I’ve been here for four years and you’ve really helped this program tremendously and I just appreciate what you’ve done for this program and how you’ve helped us all.’ So, it’s all good.”
(Reporter) What about Darien Butler?
“Darien Butler is practicing. He is slotted to play, he should be ready to play.”
On Jayden Daniels returning
“It’s kind of funny that he was going to return, he was never leaving. So, I don’t know why all of this became a story because we sat in my office and laughed. I guess he made an announcement that he’s coming back, but he was never leaving. It’s great we want him to come back and that helps when you have a quarterback of that stature and I think when he looks at his season this year, he wants to do some things a little bit better and we have to help him do that. I like his attitude. I like his mindset right now and it’s always good when you have a veteran quarterback coming back. That’s always a good feeling for the coaches.”
(Reporter) What about Jermayne’s (Lole) decision to come back?
“Yeah, that was anticipated as well. He is one of the better defensive players on our football team and to have him back inside, that helps us a lot. There’s a few more guys when you look at them, there’s a couple other guys that are going to come back, they might not be the big names, Jermayne and all of the sudden Jayden’s on that list but, it’s kind of fun when those guys come up to you and say ‘Coach, I’m coming back’.”
On Daniyel Ngata’s role without Rachaad White and DeaMonte Trayanum
“Yeah, Ngata will get some and we will figure that all out. We will game plan what we need to do, but we anticipated that White would be gone. If Chip (DeaMonte Trayanum) decides to go somewhere, we thank him for everything he’s done for the program and wish him a lot of success.”
(Reporter) Is that still a possibility that he might not leave then?
“Until he’s gone somewhere else, you never know. This portal stuff is interesting, it’s changed college football. There’s about 6,000 kids in the portal as I speak. I know for the last two weeks AP (Antonio Pierce) and myself along with Ryan (Rezac), Matt (Seiler), and JJ (Kilgore), we’ve been locked in that room for about 8-9 hours, early in the morning to the evening, looking at portal guys and mid-year transfers. We’ve collected some good players. It will be interesting when they all get here.”
(Reporter) Do you have an idea on how many you might end up taking from the transfer portal?
“10 or more.”
On what it means to the team when key players are opting out of the bowl game
“I think it’s become a part of it now, you see a lot of these guys opting out not to play in bowl games. When I first got here, we talked about it and some of the guys decided not to. You want them to play but a lot of these guys are going to prepare themselves for the draft and I understand that. It’s a business decision and that’s fine.”
On how important it is to do well getting transfers from the portal since the signing class is small
“It’s good, but I think it’s changed now. The portal has actually hurt high school football because if you think about it… let’s just say if every team goes into the portal and gets five guys, that’s five scholarships that could’ve gone to a high school player. That’s no longer the case. When you look at us, we’re going to have more than five because we’ve lost a lot of seniors and we need certain players for certain positions that have experience and leadership. I think everyone looks at the portal a little bit different. We’re in a spot right now when we look at it and when these guys get here and I want to say out of the 10-14 guys, I think 10 of them will be mid-year guys right now. The portal will be open again once the bowl games end and there will be another set of players that will go in there after spring football, there’s going to be more guys that go into the portal. So you understand that and I think that’s the part of doing business in college football. If you look at us and what we’re trying to get, we need some veterans in certain positions and we have access to those guys and if we can make it work, we’re going to go in that direction.”
(Reporter) So you’re not worried that your high school signing class is going to be smaller than most?
“No, I’m not worried about that. Signing day is always big in college football in the fact how many five star four star…and it all creates a buzz, but I think where we’re at right now, we understand our team. We’re going to sign high school players, make no mistake of that, but there are certain positions where we need veteran guys and we know that and we have to go out and get those guys. We need guys that can come in and play, it’s no different than NFL free agency. We lose some players because of contracts or it expires, you go into free agency and you look for guys. That’s what the portal has become in college football and everybodies dealing with it, you can see it all over the country, it’s amazing how many names go in there. It’s just everyday you go in there and go, ‘What? Another guy?’ and so you have to do your due diligence, find out the guys that fit and will help the program at certain positions, and you have to go after them.”
(Reporter) What positions do you feel an immediate need?
“Always with the lineman, there’s always lineman. You always look for lineman, offensively and defensively. We ended up getting a couple big-time tight ends that we like and there are other positions. Hardest thing about the portal is this: they can’t sign a letter. It’s a handshake and so you have to keep recruiting them until they decide to enroll in the school and that’s when you know you got them. With that being said, you just have to wait, it’s a gentleman's agreement for the most part for a lot of these guys. I don’t want to mention who they are until they enroll in school. In the spring, our team will look a little bit different. It will look a lot different to be quite honest with you. It will be interesting to see.”
On promoting three guys to interim positions and keeping those permanent
“Well, we don’t know. Like I said, we’re still under review so we will see where that heads, but the guys that were put in that position have done a wonderful job. I think this whole staff has done a really nice job. Going through this season, there’s been some bumps in the road, I give the coaching staff a lot of credit, I give the players a lot of credit. There was a lot of noise and it’s not noisy anymore, it’s kind of interesting but the players dealt with it, the coaches dealt with it, the administration dealt with it, I think in a fine manner. We’re heading in a direction now where we are preparing for this bowl game and then high school signings are coming up along with what I call free agency - the portal - it’s a wonderful thing. It’s amazing how many kids you see in there and you shake your head and there’s not 6,000 scholarships. I don’t know where all these guys are going to go. I really don’t and it’s tough. You can find some players that can come in and help you and if we get the guys that we’ve had handshakes with, we’ll be improved.”
(Reporter) Do you have a time frame for when you expect an answer on the review?
“No, I’m just coaching a football team. I don’t worry about that stuff from the beginning, I just coach the team and that’s what we do, we get prepared to play and prepare to play Wisconsin.
On anticipating that everyone that’s in the bowl that has eligibility will return next season
“Yes.”
(Reporter) Guys like Merlin Robertson etc.. who are out here would be included in that?
“Last time I checked. It would be kind of surprising to get a lot of those guys back, which is good. Anytime you get some veteran guys back, they feel like they might not have had the year they wanted and they have the option to come back, which is good.”
On Dohnovan West playing in the bowl
“He’s not, he had surgery on his thumb.”
(Reporter) With the center position, is that Ben Scott?
“Yeah it’s Ben right now.”
(Reporter) What do you think about that?
“I think that’s his natural position. We will see, he’s going to play there and he’s excited about having the opportunity to play there. We will be fine, we will be okay.”
On new players and faces starting and playing and how it affects them competitively
“Look, when you lose starters, there’s a reason the guys are starters because they’re good players. I think everyone’s going to deal with that a little in bowl games and that’s part of it. We’ve dealt with that, this is our third bowl game and every bowl game we’ve lost players. I mean N’keal Harry didn’t play, Eno Benjamin didn’t play, Brandon Aiyuk didn’t play. There’s guys that haven’t played in these bowl games, I mean two of them were first round draft choices and you go ‘they aren’t going to play’ and we get it and they come on Wednesday and they’re with the team and they put their coaching hats on Thursday and they run up and down the sideline and they kept everybody up and it’s all good, we get that part, it’s not a problem.”
On the game and what options Wisconsin has
“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical, and all three phases of it. Well coached, very disciplined, and an outstanding defense. Average is they’re only giving up 16 points a game. You don’t score a lot of points on these guys. They run the football, they have a young back and an outstanding football player, who can run. The quarterback is very good in the fact that he manages the game for them. They do a nice job of defensively not allowing big explosive plays. Hard to run the ball on them, they only give up 60 yards a game against the run. Well coached football team and very physical and it reminds me a little bit of the Michigan State with the physicality of it all in all three phases. We have to get prepared to play a big time football game.