Kirk Ferentz Press Conference 10/27/26

[0:00] been two years since our last 11 o'clock kickoff at kinnick with that we sent out some information [0:07] over the noon hour if you could help spread the word for fans to allow extra time when they park [0:15] around the stadium on saturday then also the earlier the better as far as entering the gates [0:21] to help prevent kind of you know a log jam there right at the top of the hour at 11 o'clock so i [0:28] know a lot of fans like to enter you know as close as the kickoff as they can but with it being 11 o'clock [0:33] you know we encourage fans to arrive early to avoid those long lines and then also saturday is [0:41] halloween imagine there'll be some fans wanting to attend in a costume there are certain costumes that [0:49] are prohibited at kinnick stadium we did send that out just a couple examples are [0:57] impersonating law enforcement and game officials so just want to help kind of spread the word [1:03] on that just received word from fox obviously big noon kickoff is here their talent will not be [1:13] available for media interviews friday or saturday so sorry about that don't shoot the messenger [1:20] seth wallace will be available for tomorrow's assistant coach zoom 11 10 so coach wallace will [1:29] be there and then lastly we should receive the kickoff time and tv designation for northwestern [1:36] either late saturday night or sunday morning so we'll push that out and make you aware as soon as [1:42] we find out coach thanks matt good afternoon i'm not going to touch that costume stuff uh at all so [1:54] uh just looking back real quickly you know obviously a disappointing outcome on saturday and uh looked at [2:01] the tape sunday and really not many takeaways uh that we didn't touch on saturday obviously turnovers [2:08] punt block uh too many loose balls and then a couple critical mental errors and i don't think [2:13] we tackled extremely well either so uh bottom line is we came up short it's never fun and uh looked at [2:19] it sunday made corrections and now we're pushing forward here turning the page and uh moving on to [2:25] our next game here so captains this week be the same four guys you got montgomery uh you got lee [2:31] and uh lutmer and then uh strangle on the offensive side injury wise uh kamari he's gonna be done for [2:38] the season so unfortunately uh he's he's gonna be uh done we'll uh you know look forward to getting [2:44] him back here but he's got some rehab to go through and uh then uh phillips with lj you know we'll see [2:51] how it goes he got to work a little bit today and that'll probably be day today so we'll see how what [2:55] the week brings there and then uh quarterback wise uh i think is listed we listed brown heklinski and [3:02] plan to start uh brown we'll see how the week goes but right now i plan to start him and [3:06] uh play it by ear from there so that's kind of nothing really changed too dramatically there uh [3:13] looking at wisconsin you know a really good football team come in here five and two three and [3:17] one in the big ten and uh just you know another big rivalry game certainly anytime we get together [3:23] uh it's always pretty pretty intense um and their team that's really you know playing at a very high [3:29] level right now if you look at it had an opening loss to a you know highly ranked football team in [3:33] the opening game uh and i think really probably the big moment for them turning point for their [3:39] season thus far would be going over to uh penn state on the road and they were down not once but [3:45] twice in the second half down by 10 points uh two separate times then came back to win that ball game [3:52] and going into that game penn state was nationally ranked wisconsin wasn't i think everybody's probably [3:56] perception of wisconsin was a little bit different prior to that game uh and the same thing with penn [4:01] state so big big victory for them on the road and i think they've been playing with great confidence [4:06] since that time um you know so that's really what you're looking at and the only other loss they had [4:11] was on the road west coast trip against uh one of the three unbeaten teams in the country right now so [4:16] you know they're playing at a really high level and again i think if you think about people's [4:20] perception of their football team in august compared to what it is right now things have shifted a [4:25] little bit and that's really representative uh i think of college football in general uh they're [4:31] very well coached you know luke's an outstanding coach he was an outstanding coach prior to going [4:35] to wisconsin nothing nothing's changed there and i think a couple things you've seen uh the players [4:40] that they've had that we saw last year the year before really grown and matured and then they've added [4:45] players you know they've been very successful in terms of uh bringing players in from the portal that [4:49] have really been helpful to them and beneficial to what they're doing uh the defensive philosophy [4:55] has not changed at all coach trestle's a outstanding defense coordinator and they've been very consistent [5:00] about what they do and they're just doing at a really high level right now um you know playing very [5:05] very well and then i think offensively uh probably seen a little bit of a shift there the last couple [5:10] of years now and i think they you know not to speak for them i don't coach there but it looks like [5:15] they're really comfortable with what they're doing and uh the way they're playing and they're doing a [5:19] really good job so it's been a good combination and then special teams have been consistent all [5:23] the way through that's something uh coach fickle's really i understand very involved in and uh very [5:29] passionate about and it shows they're they're well coached kind of represent their whole football team [5:33] well coached play hard and very physical in that regard so you know the bottom line is they're just [5:38] playing at a really high level right now we've got a big challenge on our hands uh we need to do our [5:42] best to be ready for that uh kid captain wise we got charlie rasmussen who's a young lady from [5:48] marion uh iowa coming in uh she'll be the captain this week uh years ago she was diagnosed with [5:55] addison's disease which i'm not really familiar with the full disclosure but uh what i'm told is [6:00] one out of four anywhere from one to four uh kids out of a million uh get diagnosed with so it's a very [6:07] rare disease uh has gone through pretty extensive steroid treatments and what have you but uh the good [6:14] news is now she's a really busy active ninth grader and uh active in sports active in cooking also [6:20] enjoys babysitting her cousins i'm told so uh really good to you know have her and her family here [6:26] uh she's also done a podcast to advocate uh or make help uh heighten awareness of the disease so [6:33] you know just doing a lot of good things and she'll be her with her twin sister uh sydney and her family [6:38] saturday so we'll look forward to having them join us and uh it'll be good to be back in kinnick feels [6:43] like it's been a long time since we've been at home and uh be good to be back in kinnick certainly [6:47] get back into a routine and then as matt alluded to we haven't played a home game at 11 o'clock we [6:52] just haven't played many 11 o'clock games so that'll be good too so big task on our hands we'll look [6:57] forward to you know trying to get ready for between now and saturday throw it out for questions david [7:02] eichel hawkins there.com kirk when we got the chance to speak with lj today he used the phrase i've got [7:08] to be better six times in the first like two and a half minutes of talking to him we know that he holds [7:13] himself to a high standard you guys know what he's capable of i guess when a player has that [7:17] mentality how do you kind of help them find that balance of holding themselves accountable but not [7:22] making sure they don't drag themselves down too much especially since he's going to have a larger [7:27] role with kamari out yeah i it's something every player works works through themselves and it's just [7:35] like people in general you know some people are really cognizant what their weaknesses are and how they [7:39] can get better and other people have have no clue sometimes you wish you're one of those people just [7:43] kind of you know glide through life and not uh you know not too many ulcer issues uh but yeah he's [7:48] really conscientious he's been a great great addition to our team just great personality all about the [7:54] team very appreciative i think of his opportunity and um you know we just you know love to get him [7:59] fully healthy hopefully he'll be there by saturday if not push forward but a great young guy and you know [8:05] i think every player's got to work through that and try to find a balance and i think it really gets [8:09] down to all all you can do in sports is all you can do you know best do your best to prepare uh [8:14] physically mentally and then you know you got to go out and perform but uh you can't put too much [8:19] pressure on yourself during competition that's what practice and preparation is all about to get those [8:24] things ironed out during the week so you can play with some freedom and you know really play at your best [8:31] jackson miller with daily island coach wanted to ask you about bryce hawthorne who've really been [8:35] playing well in recent weeks just have you seen his growth since he first transferred here both [8:39] on the field and as a leader as well yeah i talked about you know wisconsin's players they got a lot [8:43] of examples of of guys that have joined their program or uh guys that the two leon linebackers are [8:49] really playing well for those guys and they played uh i think you know part the way through our game [8:55] second half whenever it was they came in uh but they were young guys a year ago and now they're playing [9:00] at a really high level as good as anybody in the conference but i think that's experience that's being in [9:04] the program whether you got recruited there or you've been in the program for you know second [9:08] year makes a big difference typically and uh you know it's certainly the case with bryce you know [9:13] he was a good player last year uh you know played a little catch up with us and trying to you know get [9:17] used to the temple the way we do things and our styles a little bit unique to maybe what he had done [9:22] previously but uh he's just worked at it he's got a great attitude he's always had that works hard [9:28] and you know now he's more confident because he knows he's more capable and uh i think i alluded [9:34] to this saturday and before that you know i think he was playing maybe third you know about a third [9:39] roughly a third of the snaps last year uh and now he's he's playing the majority of the snaps and [9:45] that's that's experience him being a veteran too versus a younger guy so really fun to watch his growth [9:50] and progress and he's he's uh you know we're not as experienced this year as we were last year and [9:55] obviously there's a big leadership for it and he's readily you know grabbed that he is i would [10:00] say the most veteran he and kenny the most veteran guys up front you know we we need that uh with that [10:05] that young group madison with the gazette asking a little bit of a bigger picture question here but [10:11] this is the centennial matchup between iowa and wisconsin didn't know that and i'm just curious [10:20] i'm just curious what how have you seen this this matchup evolve as your time as a head coach and [10:25] yeah and seeing how it's evolved and and kind of transcended despite divisions not existing and [10:31] college football changing and all of that you know i could burn some real clock here if you if you guys [10:35] want uh on this one i'll go back to 81 you know when i got here um i mean it's interesting quite [10:42] frankly we went up there uh two things i remember basically the winner of that game was going to [10:47] position themselves for potentially maybe a rose bowl berth and i'm pretty sure we were the underdogs [10:54] and the other thing i remember well i remember we won so that's one thing i remember and then the [10:57] other thing i remember was uh practiced all week for a bounce pass where you know the old astro turf [11:04] it was like this carpet right here you know you skip it off it throw out to the receiver and we must [11:09] have practiced it 20 times and guess what they ran it and guess what they scored a touchdown on it [11:14] uh pretty sure that's historically accurate uh so anyway but that was 81 and then at the end of my time [11:21] here in the late 80s uh for whatever reason things had really diminished they had some personal [11:26] tragedy coach mclean passed um but anyway at the end of that decade their program was really in dire [11:32] straits and you know historical perspective that's when barry went there barry alvarez went there [11:39] who was first guy i met when i came here in 81 told you i'd burn some clock and uh you know what he did [11:45] in that next uh you know i guess it would be nine years pretty pretty historic and then you know you [11:51] fast forward were the victims uh at the end of that 99 season they clinched the rose bowl ron dain sets [11:57] the record and so they they were at the top of the league they were the ones there was only 11 teams [12:01] back then but imagine that uh but they were setting the bar for everybody everybody was chasing them [12:06] so that that's kind of the perspective but the the commonality is i think for the most part uh at [12:12] least my 30 whatever it is 37 years 36 years it's been a tough contest i didn't realize this was the [12:19] 100th one but boy they've most of them have been really close and tough and competitive and uh that [12:24] that's what i see coming saturday you know another tough contest brad schultz with hawkeye roundtable [12:31] coach how would you evaluate the quarterbacks after looking at the film on sunday i mean you know not good [12:36] enough and uh fair to say about our whole team and the coaching staff you know we just didn't do [12:41] enough to get get the job done um but you know i look at both of them we're still i've been saying [12:47] it consistent we believe in both players you know i think both hank and jeremy are both good young [12:52] people and they're good young quarterbacks and you know neither one are really really experienced [12:56] right now uh but yeah there are some things we could have done better but that that's true in every [13:00] facet a lot of things we could have done better um and that you know coaching too is you know we [13:06] take ownership in that as well probably the most perplexing thing was a loose ball dilemma turnovers [13:12] and loose balls that's just um turnovers sometimes happen you know it's you never accept that but boy [13:18] the loose balls i just can't remember a game where it's been out that much and i can't tell you why [13:22] so that's something we have to get corrected or we'll pay for that on saturday if we don't tyler [13:29] tashman with the des moines register a couple of special teams questions on the block punt um [13:35] i guess what went wrong there and also second game in a row that evan james has put the ball on the [13:40] ground do you guys still feel comfortable with him moving forward or are you going to look at making [13:45] a change there yeah yes and no i'll start backward uh backward first yes and no i mean anytime the ball's [13:50] on the ground you're going to be concerned about it and uh at that position that's first thing you have [13:55] to do is field the ball cleanly that's first and foremost and then if you got it you got [13:59] to secure it uh but fielding the ball is really important at that position whether it you know [14:04] it's fair catch whatever but fielding it cleanly not let the ball roll that's a number one requisite [14:10] there so we'll keep assessing that i think he's a really good young player but he's a young player [14:15] i'd emphasize the young part and we've there's give and take there how long do you go and uh what [14:21] have you and then the pump block as you might imagine was a communication issue you know we were in [14:25] position to uh block it but we had a miscommunication in terms of responsibility and [14:31] uh as a result let a guy run free up the middle and that's it's not good you know it's it's going [14:35] to get you beat and uh just that alone like you know if you get a punt block the i can't quote the [14:41] percentage but i know the percentage of winning becomes a lot more uh difficult uh we get all ai'd i [14:48] guess real quickly and then you do that and turn it over three times forget about it you know it's a [14:53] miracle we're in the game at the end quite frankly nice to code one register tony diaz had more catches [15:00] in the first two games than he's had in the last five so how do you get him back into a more consistent [15:07] level of production yeah i mean we definitely want to get the ball in his hands you know he would do [15:11] whatever we can to do that and set that something we'll have to work on say the same thing about the [15:16] run game or whatever any areas that we're not doing well enough in right now uh we'll have to find a [15:21] way and he's certainly a playmaker so the more he's touching the ball more reese touches the ball and [15:27] kamari dj those are good things for us we'll just have to assess that see what we do moving forward [15:33] hey kirk jack knowlton with the uh gazette we talked with will hubert just about his journey [15:38] uh to becoming a starter what can you kind of say about the progress that guys like him and luke gaffney [15:43] you know have made in their in their time and and how good of an example maybe is that in terms of them [15:48] battling through adversity staying in it for the long haul as you guys try to bounce back from a loss [15:52] this week yeah it uh it's funny you bring that up because i was thinking about that i was looking [15:57] at one of our young defensive linemen right now uh who's a walk-on actually and a pretty good player [16:03] and i'm thinking you know i wonder how he compares to gaffney or hubert you know four years ago five [16:08] years ago and that's just you know something historically we've done really well with guys [16:14] who've walked on here we're pretty selective about who comes in it's you know typically not just an open [16:18] house um but you know we want guys that are serious about it and i remember going to wills high [16:23] school meeting him and his family and his high school coach and just how impressive they all were [16:28] and uh he's done nothing but work hard since he's gotten here i'd say same thing about luke both those [16:32] guys have just you know and we're not the most experienced group up front and i'm trying to think [16:38] of you know think about that again a few minutes ago where we'd be without those two guys two seniors [16:44] that just work hard they should you know provide great leadership through example and they're not game [16:49] experience together but they're playing really well playing hard and giving us a chance to play good [16:54] defense so um there's a lot of little things that go into being good collectively and that's they're [16:59] they're both good examples of that we're i'm thrilled they're here you know really appreciative of that [17:04] and the job they do not not just on the field either it's off the field work habits all that stuff [17:09] they're really just exemplary circling back to the running backs here for a second i remember you [17:15] mentioning a couple weeks ago you guys typically like to go with three running backs [17:18] with molten it's easy now yeah with molten's with molten's departure i mean and you guys had on [17:24] the depth chart um nathan mcneil and brayden jackson with an or there i'm curious how often are we [17:29] potentially going to see brayden jackson and and even nathan mcneil potentially get some carries the rest [17:34] of the year yeah it's it's kind of been interesting um you know whatever it was four weeks ago we had to [17:39] play those guys because we were out of backs then and um they both really stepped up and did a great job [17:45] and and you know we've talked about both of them i think they both are young players they both have [17:49] good potential but it's hard you know it's one one position where again you got one guy playing kind [17:54] of like a quarterback spot so it's um it's hard to get that rotation it's a little bit easier running [17:59] back than quarterback but um yeah pleased with everybody so far and then ultimately it gets down [18:05] to what they do in the game and what you're missing a little bit there is just like i've been saying [18:10] about kamari kamari's playing his best football this year because of the experience confidence [18:15] that you only get by plan you know you got to go out and get beat up sometimes to get [18:18] to gain you know really croak true confidence and so those guys don't have that yet but then sometimes [18:24] i can flip it around say sometimes it's better to you know not know what you don't know too and uh so [18:30] we're not we're anxious to see them go they're going to have to go this this week for sure all three [18:35] of the guys and the nfl j can help great but we have to count on the three guys that are healthy right now [18:41] hey kirk elliott cluff hawkeye insider a couple quarterback questions for you um saw trade and [18:46] bestinger traveled for the first time this season uh what went into that decision and uh how has he [18:51] developed and then the second part looking back at at saturday are you happy with how you operated and [18:57] and moving to hank after heklinski yeah no no second guessing there at all i'll start with that one just [19:04] you know this kind of pertains to the whole quarterback discussion um best the best analogy i can give you i [19:11] remember when i was in the nfl scouting and looking at players and you'd see a player do some things [19:18] you like the player kind of but you know you watch them do some stuff and it's like i don't know you [19:24] know it's just things that you worry about so until you talk to that player uh meet with them and sit [19:29] in a room and ask him to explain some stuff to you uh it's hard to get the full picture and so the [19:35] picture i'm trying to paint is until you really and this let me dig one more sidebar there was no [19:41] pro football focus when i coached in the nfl those six years thank god uh so because now you got an [19:47] expert in every town as i understand i guess we all have pff people analyzing us too which i don't [19:52] read any of that crap but um anyway so you got these people analyzing you or critiquing you and [19:58] and they really don't know what the scheme is the intricacies of the scheme and what you know [20:03] what has to how pieces go together so my where i'm trying to go on this whole thing when i was [20:07] talking to lyman until you get in there and actually give the guy one-on-one and watch film [20:11] with them and find out what you'll you know what he's being taught it's hard to evaluate something [20:16] if you don't know the details of what they're they're being asked to do and they may not like [20:21] what they're doing but they're being asked to do it and you know we all got bosses so that's the way [20:25] it works um so i guess what i'm trying to say is sometimes what seems obvious isn't obvious and then [20:32] it's a little bit more intricate than that so you know i mean we're not just pulling numbers out of [20:36] the air you know pulling rabbits out of our hat we're trying to be as critical as we can [20:40] and as fair as you can too kind of going back to the question about how far do you go or don't go [20:45] uh when a guy's you know maybe making mistakes and that type of thing so [20:49] uh there's no right answers on that you just got to do it by fuel but i guess what i'm trying to say [20:54] here is typically if we do something we usually have a reason for it and it's hopefully well thought [20:59] out and grounded in substance not not to appease the fans or the media but really so when you are with [21:06] that player the next day you can say okay here are a couple things that we we need to get cleaned up [21:11] and this is this is why this isn't good enough and this is what we need to be doing instead [21:16] so it's an ongoing process but you know we're not just like throwing darts or any that kind of stuff [21:20] and let me just sometimes you do go by field and that's as unscientific as it gets but you know [21:26] that's uh gut feelings sometimes playing too you know no different baseball right and we got the [21:32] baseball going on right now and do you keep a pitcher in do you yank them pinch hitter you know [21:36] all that stuff so that's that's a human aspect of sport yeah trading that's a great one too so [21:43] he's a beneficiary basically the new rule we're allowed our rosters are squeezed down to where [21:47] we're like the few the proud the free anymore uh with our practices out there our scout teams are [21:52] just basically decimated uh in the new world but the good thing in the new world you can travel 80 [21:58] instead of whatever it was 74. so we got a little room there and you know he's going to be a player in the [22:02] future we want to get him used to you know just being in the game routine and traveling all those [22:07] types of things so uh that that's a positive that that 74 to 80 because it allows us to travel more [22:13] guys than we used to well i'm not a big fan and taking people that are going to be spectators [22:17] you know i'm not not it's not a field trip either so but for for him i mean it was really i think [22:22] valuable and we'll we'll keep doing that tyler tashman with the des moines register you mentioned [22:28] needing to clean up the loose balls immediately curious as to how you address that is that do [22:34] you do more drills and practice is it a messaging thing is it film what goes into trying to clean [22:40] that up as soon as possible uh two things i would say we do ball security drills very frequently like [22:45] every day and we also do track tackling circuit every day uh so those are things we just you know it's [22:51] part of who we are what we are in terms of practice and emphasis if we're not in full pads and you [22:56] know certain the scale of intensity goes down a little bit but you still want to emphasize it [23:02] and make sure the players are thinking about it and we've pretty much operated that way for 20 plus [23:06] years so to me typically ball security is just it's concentration more than anything else sometimes [23:12] the ball bounce is funny i get that and that's that's a human element again but um you know we've [23:17] never really had issues with it and we haven't done anything i don't think out of the ordinary um that [23:24] people would say wow that's a great idea like it's all pretty basic but it's just as you get sound [23:28] you know players appreciate and understanding uh the value of ball security and then secondly really [23:33] being keeping their concentration where it needs to be and that's where the experience and experience [23:38] can play in a little bit you know you get big picture you're looking where you shouldn't look and [23:43] you know no different than a you know kid taking his eye off a ball and not catching it and [23:47] or you know finishing the catch so a lot of it's concentration i think we just gotta do a better [23:51] job concentrating when it comes to that i can't remember a game you guys seen a lot of football [23:56] i mean i can't remember a game where it came out as much as that it's not funny it wasn't funny at [24:01] all saturday you know you know probably cost us a game or could have caught i mean four what we have [24:06] three turnovers felt like well four because of a block punt yeah i mean so block punts like a turnover [24:12] it is one and so it could have been worse and that's that's scary think about and the score would [24:17] have been a hell of a lot a lot different if that were the case okay thank you guys