NIU Football 2022 Postgame Press Conference - Kentucky

which to affect them and we did and then we got to tackle but he's a good quarterback they got great wide receivers um you know obviously they got a big offensive line but uh you know we felt like we we gave ourselves a shot and that's that's all you can ask for what you think of Ethan get dressed in that spot no I like the way he played I mean if you can handle this environment you should be able to handle every other environment the rest of the season if need be um but he's he had a great week of practice uh you know he got out of that uh backup slump uh per se and I thought he really took command of our offense uh we have confidence in him he can make every throw uh and they got some big D lineman that you know I said hey man don't do not hold on to that football you know whatever you got to do get rid of it and he obviously he took a big shot at the end but he got up and came back and responded obviously that fumble was pretty huge there at the end of the first half but were you kind of were you preaching that to you guys yeah we you know we needed we needed to win a turnover margin uh we'd have got one more turnover I think we could have had a better chance to win a game uh we we went into us and if we could be plus two um that would give us a chance uh and obviously we were just plus one uh but you know what I love the fight of our football team um these guys are tough and mentally and physically and hats off to Kentucky I mean great great football team okay questions Eddie Brandon anyone on our Zoom hey coach it's Eddie um uh how do you like what a Lynch came in and uh did for you guys in the situation hold on go ahead Eddie I I was I say how do you like uh what Lynch provided for you guys what did you see out of him uh in the situations where he used him yeah I thought he gave us a nice change up uh you know with the ability that you know people got to defend his ability to run uh you know this was a good uh defensive football team that we we had to mix it up uh and try to keep him off balance uh to have some of you know Effectiveness on offense and I thought he came in and did a nice job handling the situation uh you mentioned you know maybe one more uh turnover and you feel like it would have been a better chance I know CJ had that pass right there how did what did you see on that play and then how did you see him respond uh after that yeah you got to make the play I mean they catch the ones they throw to you uh you make that play you know our offense goes on the field the very next play they they score touchdown uh on a on a on a miscommunication we should have ran the Blitz the other way uh but that that changed the game you know you picked that ball we come out of it with a field goal at worst and that's that's a game changer that's a 10-point swing uh so to win these type of games you have to make those type of plays okay thanks coach Brandon defensively from your team you're able to get five sacks today I know you talked a little bit about the all outputs leading to a little bit of uh coverage issues on the back end but what did you see from your defense maybe from an effort standpoint and then some of the technical stuff you've been talking about yeah no I thought they played well um you know that they gave us a chance uh you know we got to continue to clean up the details of our work and I think that starts uh on the practice field you know you you have to overly communicate that practice uh you know to communicate during the game and I think you know we we had a miscommunication uh which caused the touchdown but those are the things that we have to harp on in practice and and those things can't be acceptable uh with the way we work and so uh you know these guys should believe they're a good football team because they are and this that doesn't that have nothing to do with your record uh and so I got to get them to understand anybody outside of our program is irrelevant from the standpoint of you know they they're going to ride the the roller coaster but we have to stay grounded and believe in one another that we can get the job done uh one man at a time and then Coach you talk about that record one in three not really uh indicative on what type of football team you have what have you seen as far as growth from training camp to the end of non-conference well I think you know obviously you don't get rings uh for non-conference games so you know we had an opportunity to be three on one we're not we are what we are but now you got a chance to play for a championship and it takes a 1-0 mentality for the next eight weeks and that's what we have to have thanks coach all right if there's nothing else for Coach hammock we'll let him go and bring you got one more joke remember you have the defense you know show kind of show out the way he did especially against the run I thought you know some people around here locally kind of thought maybe this would be a chance for UK to kind of struggle with it on the ground maybe a chance for them to kind of use you as an antidote you know how do you you know I thought that was pretty impressive you know to come yeah no I mean yeah we you know I think we got a good defensive line I mean they're big on offensive line uh you know but but they have some things obviously to work on in the Run game just like we do so it's tough you know it's tough tough sledding sometimes uh but they got you know they'll get the running back back uh in a couple weeks or something and and I'm sure they'll get it going but that quarterback is special uh and he can he can do a lot of things so good all right thank you guys we've got Ethan Hampton we'll be next you got the combo zoom and in person so you're kind of looking there and look in here all right Ethan Hampton is here um so we'll go ahead questions from here in the room for him starting off first start of the Season you just kind of nervous going out there it's a big crowd a lot of people but it looked like you handled it pretty well yeah I wouldn't say I was nervous you know your butterflies uh for sure you know any game you play um but it was a great atmosphere to come into a really good team obviously uh you know I couldn't really asked her you know much more as my first start for the season really good um and I'm excited to you know get the weeks going and keep going and uh excited for what's ahead to have the defense help you guys out so much tonight well you guys did it would that help you kind of ease into tonight oh yeah definitely defense played great um you know I know what they're capable of uh you know I see a day in and day out you know they're great defense um you know they play great tonight gave you offensive opportunities uh you know we just didn't finish on some of them uh that's on me we got to get better no finishing drives and you know a few finish drives away and you know we might have won the game and you know that's that's on the offense defense played great um but yeah I'm excited for this team all right anything uh Eddie Brandon for Ethan Ethan this one's for you uh tonight we we're seeing you guys use a little bit of Justin what's that like for you as far as staying in a rhythm when he comes in for a few snaps and you go to the sideline and gotta come right back out yeah it doesn't affect Rhythm um you know Lynch is my guy and you know I'm really excited to see him you know scores first touching as a husky um you know it doesn't really affect me at all uh you know rhythm-wise or anything like that so when I see him come in um you know I know he got a good play called uh he's a great football player and you know whatever we need to help the team win uh you know that week it's I'm down for it so and then we saw Tristan have a Breakout game today uh before you were the starter did you work a lot with Tristan in like scout team and and the compete team in order to uh kind of develop that rapport with him uh yeah I've been I've been working with Tristan a lot um you know ever since I got on campus it's been almost two years now um but he's always kind of been uh in my group and I run through plays uh kind of the twos group so I formed a connection with him uh he's one of my good friends off the field as well um you know I know he's gonna get open I know he's gonna catch the ball I've got most trust in him so if I see him open he's going to get the ball thanks Ethan great job tonight thank you Eddie anything for Ethan actually uh Brandon and Josh covered it appreciate it all right thanks Ethan be careful okay we're joined Now by Devin Lafayette uh custody safety both uh go ahead with questions here Josh uh in the room without Gandhi out there they're not kind of you know just putting a little bit more pressure on young guys and step up how do you you know what was the plan coming out however you guys kind of approaching oh being that we have so much depth we kind of like everybody has to play with practice with the mindset like a starter because you never know that's that's the good thing about our our team you're having too much depth so everybody is learning he's learning to go out there and play so we weren't really worried about having newcomers out there what about you know it's the kind of the game plan coming in tonight let us had a lot of yardage and got some touchdowns but a lot of it the receivers kind of you know just kind of got loose and it's when you're kind of blitzing as much as you guys are kind of just makes things tough how I guess what do you um did it did it work for the most part you think uh yes I feel like we could have did a little bit better there's always room for improvement but honestly I feel like we went out there and played a great follow the defense all right questions uh here um from our Zoom participants Devin this is Brandon uh so this evening you play against an SEC opponent I know you guys don't really look too much into it you guys play them down to the wire how confident are you guys going into conference play as coach talked about a little bit earlier that's all you guys have left for this season um going into conference play we're going to play our our brand of football so we're not going to look at any team differently we're just gonna play our brand of football and then from a performance standpoint I know we talked a little you guys have been talking a little bit about the blitzes but you saw a lot of young guys come out and play pretty well tonight do you have any shout outs you want to make for some of the young players that stepped up um sorry this was his first career start and stuff the uh Jacob family uh Knight and uh them three guys stepped up today proud of them thanks Devon all right any other questions for Devin Lafayette Josh go ahead what was the just toughest thing to not you know what kind of made what do you think made the difference tonight in the game from a defensive percentage um for us we need to communicate more that's what we feel like we lacked tonight um so I'm going to emphasize I'm gonna lead y'all just to get other people to lead emphasize on communication coming up bad practice