| Weis Transcript | ||||
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 Coach Weis met with the media following Thursday’s practice as the team gets ready to take on UConn Saturday. Coach Weis answered questions ranging from the seniors’ last home game to the punting situation.How did the concept of the players talking to the team after practices this week go? “I haven’t been there so you’ll have to ask them. Ask them what the reaction was to the conversation. I know one thing, the attention to detail at practice has been very good. So if that’s the residual effect from these guys talking every day, that’s a good thing.” So it was a good thing? “I’m not there when the conversations are going on, and I don’t let any of my staff stick around, so they’re not there and I think the positive is that the attention to detail has been good.” How has Trevor Robinson looked this week? “He looked a lot better than he did last week and that started right from the first day. On Tuesday of this week, he looked better than any day last week.” How has the punting situation been this week? “Oh, it was wonderful (laughing). It was a thing of beauty. I haven’t talked to Brian (Polian) because we punted again today, but if I had to guess, I think he would start the game off with (Ben) Turk. We punted twice this week. Normally, we punt one good time a week, but we punted again today. I’ll wait until I talk to Brian, but that would be my guess.” How did the kicking go this week? “(Nick) Tausch will be back kicking field goals. (David) Ruffer will handle the kick-offs.” With it being Senior Day, you can’t avoid the emotions, but it seems like the last four years the team has come out in a fog early in the game. How do you prevent this? “You should see them, it’s different from any game the entire year. You try to describe it to people and you try to describe it to them, but until they are actually experiencing it, I think there are so many things that go through their minds. It isn’t like you go through warm-ups and they’re any different, or practice during the week is that much different, but you should see some of these guys. You try to calm them down before the game, but some of them are so wired for sound because they are looking around and you’re just trying to keep them focused. It’s even more dramatic after the game, whether we have won or lost, it really hasn’t affected too much the individual reactions from different guys. I have walked past guys sitting by themselves just bawling their eyes out. It had nothing to do with the game itself, it’s just the finality of the culmination of their career.” Are the emotions different before the game than they are after the game? “I detected more after the game the first year, but was more cognizant of it before the game the second year. Even though you talk about it, until you’ve gone through the experience of actually witnessing both before, during, and after the game, anyone who’s not inside could ever imagine.” How important is it to win these next two games and get things turned around, especially with you being a Notre Dame grad? “I think the most important thing really, as I’m looking at it this week, probably one of my biggest regrets so far in my career is losing to Syracuse last year. Mainly because those seniors walked out of here for the last time with a loss. It was a gut-wrenching feeling that stayed with you for quite some time. I’m not worrying about next week until after we finish this week because this game is so important to our team and me, personally, for those guys. You want that experience to be one where they are taking that lap around the field and high-fiveing the fans and being able to share that with them. You really want to watch that. When the game is over and if we have won, just watch that. Don’t watch anything but those guys and the emotions that they go through when they are going through that lap. That alone is worth the price of admission. It’s really something.” Did you see that when you were a student here? “No, I was up in Row 59 or whatever it was (laughing). We were like, okay the game’s over, let’s get back to the tailgate.” Question could not be heard. “I think they are the same way, though. I think the team is really focused on this game. Next week is its own separate entity because it’s Thanksgiving week and the change of school schedule, practicing early on Thursday morning, the whole schedule is so much different and you’re going on the road. I think the team is just really focused on winning Saturday for the team, number one, but in particular for all those guys who are going to be here for the last time.” How important is it for a team playing ahead in a game? “We’ve had so many games this year that have been nail-biters, I think if you can get to where you are the ones sitting on top, not playing from behind, that would definitely have a positive residual effect. We try to do that every game, believe it or not, that is the goal. But we are going to do even more to try and jump start that this week. Flat starts early in these last games of the year with these seniors, you have to keep on trying to do some things to jump start them because emotionally already you are dealing with some circumstances with the players that you have to get it out of their systems as they settle down in the game.” Are the underclassmen showing a lot of respect for the seniors? “That’s the one message I’ve heard a lot from the younger guys. They don’t want anything of the story to be about them this week. Just let the seniors enjoy their moment. I think they want to help make that moment a happy one.” Can you talk about the evolution of Brian Polian as a coach? “Brian is a very intense football guy. He comes from a football family. Has been around it his whole life. He is well respected by the team and when you’re the special teams coach, other than the head coach, you have more dealings with more players than any other coach because you’re dealing with players on both sides of the ball. You’re picking from all the offensive guys and all the defensive guys as you’re composing those special team units. You can’t take one without the other. You can’t negate how dynamic he has been in recruiting. I know he has been in northeast Ohio some, but he has really gone into one of the hotbeds in southern California and, not only has he drawn players out of there, but he has been competitive on all of the best and that’s tough to do. He’s both hated and respected by all those coaches on the west coast but he doesn’t care. He just goes in there and goes into every school and tries to fight it out with everyone in recruiting. He has really progressed nicely.” Did you know him before you hired him? “No, I know his Dad. When I was looking for some young and energetic guys with heavy recruiting background, and because he had been recruiting coordinator at UCF, and that’s when I brought Rob (Ianello) in. I was looking for as many young guys that were go-getters in recruiting as I could, and we hit it right with him in recruiting because he’s one of the best we’ve got.” I don’t know if there’s any diplomatic way to ask this, but will you be giving any thought to Saturday being your last trip down the tunnel? “Nope, not one bit. That would be very selfish for me to do to start off with. It would be very, very, very selfish for me to be thinking about anyone but those fourth and fifth year players. I promise you, as far as I could ever tell, I don’t think those thoughts would ever enter my mind. That would be purely selfish.” |