Kirk Ferentz previews Iowa football season opener against Illinois State

last Thursday I think you know the guys done a pretty good job during camp and thought the last week went really well saw some sharper execution out there and overall pretty healthy you know Phil Roy is the worst injury we had which try to keep him safe this week but um happy with what we've seen I think we're getting good leadership and pretty consistent on that for most of the year and it's it's been consistent as we've moved forward then the challenge over the weekend and then starting this week is just trans transition into normal Student Life lot more activity and IA City this past week or so and uh our guys are out there with student body now so got to deal with her back in classes and then we've had a spike in heat too so it's you know a couple things going on that way but um um anyway good to be in game week that's that's for sure and uh you I think the team's really excited about having a chance to play in kenik and it's going to be you know first game challenges are always a challenge you've got veteran players who are a little bit more used to it for a lot of the new guys it's going to be a totally new experience you know having fans there and then you know your first game you always there a lot of unknowns with your opponent and I'll talk about that in a little bit here but that's that's kind of where it's at so uh as we look forward moving forward uh in the game here our captains defensively we've got Jay Higgins and Quinn schy offensively You' got Luke Lee and Kade mcer those be our four captains going on for the toss and then transition to Illinois State uh obviously a good program there's six and five last year year um of those five losses I think four of those were by eight points total so played a lot of close games coached back's been there since 09 I've known Brock for quite some time a lot of respect for him as a player back in the 80s when he played a Purdue outstanding player for him there and he's had a great career in coaching uh certainly was a big part of the success Purdue had when when Joe to was the head coach there when we got here they were awfully tough to beat and Brock was a big part of that being the d-coordinator gotten to know over the years outstanding person just a really good football coach and then if you look broader uh a lot of the guys on the staff have experienced that Illinois state so you know they've got an identity it's no big surprise uh it's a veteran staff for the most part and yeah I think they have a good idea what they want to do what they want to accomplish so uh a lot of respect for them that way and then you know football-wise they've got a lot of returners back uh you on both sides of the ball plus special teams are specialist they back for the most part pretty balanced off Ely run pass they get the ball pretty quick so it's hard to get to their quarterback and defensively it's a little bit of a different preparation because they've got a three man front we've been practicing against four basically all Camp so uh some adjustment there and then you know as you might imagine they've got a good pressure package I think we had one of Brock spitzes up on our board for about three years I think it was 02 03 04 um one of those memorable ones so again I'm sure we'll see some things on Sat it be a challenge for us and as I mentioned there's Specialists are back on special teams so uh you know good football team we expect them to be a you know really tough competitive football team like they have been in the past so that's that's what we've got to get ready for here uh just transition real quickly and I'll throw it out for questions but you know just thrilled that the kid Captain program is still in effect I believe this is the 16th year I think it was 09 when they started that and uh it's just a really really good concept a really nice way to honor some special people and uh this week it'll be Carter Schmidt who is from Coralville his grandfather Kent Ellis was actually a captain here in 1980 so a little connection to the program that way and uh Carter had a rare form of leukemia uh early in his life and um you know had a bone marrow transplant right before his first birthday uh you know and has been treated since and looks like he's in great shape he's been pronounced clear and card so really happy about that and he's a very active 8-year-old right now likes throughout his bike and uh very involved in Sports and and the last thing just want to you know pay tribute to Don sucki play played here in 56 and uh don past earlier in this month from Bell Plane played center on the 56 team second team allamerican First Team all big 10 and served as an honor Captain back here in 04 for our Kent State game and just a first class guy so had a really really long productive life and uh you know our feelings to his family certainly that's just a great guy