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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Post-Game Quotes
11/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
POSTGAME QUOTES
WISCONSIN 41, MINNESOTA 34
November 17, 2007
Minnesota Coach Tim Brewster
Opening statement:
“Kind of like the season has gone, our kids fought their guts out, they played extremely hard and did a lot of things well today. I couldn’t be more proud of them. Sitting here looking at the statistics, we did some really good things, but we didn’t win the football game and that’s what we’re here to do at the University of Minnesota.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our 16 seniors. I couldn’t be more proud of our football team. We’re going to be a much-improved football team next season. The vision and direction of this program is in excellent shape and the potential of where we’re going to go excites me greatly.”
On the perseverance of the team:
“I’ve said all along that this is a great group of kids. They haven’t quit one snap all season long. They fought extremely hard for the state of Minnesota and for each other.”
On the development of young players this season:
“How exciting is all that? I look at those young kids and the experiences that they got this season and how tough it was and how resilient they are as a valuable thing.
“If you look at Eric Decker; Eric is going to be one of the best receivers in the Big Ten in the next couple of years without question, he’s an extremely exciting football player. Adam Weber is going to be really good. There are a bunch of young kids that are going to be really good football players in this program and we are going to add really good football players to what we already have through recruiting.”
On the Ralph Spry touchdown catch off the tipped pass:
“That was great. We were thinking on the sideline that it was about time we caught a break. These kids deserved to have something good happen for them, and even though we didn’t win, I think the kids felt good about that.
“We told the seniors that they can feel that they are a part of any success we’ll have in the future. Those guys are going to take great pride in knowing that they were here at the beginning; that they were here at the start of it.”
On Eric Decker:
“He was amazing. He’s tough, he’s a hard-nosed, physical kid who has made plays all season long. He’s a tremendous leader for our football team. He exemplifies everything that is great about where we want to go with this team. He fits so well with what we want to do. He’s going to be one of the best receivers in America over his last two years here. I tell him all the time that he’s my Ed McCafferey.”
GOPHER PLAYER QUOTES
Safety Dominique Barber
On getting an early lead against Wisconsin
“We played very well in the first half. We played a good game overall, but they executed a little better than we did. Hopefully next year, the program will be able to build off that.
On being the lone senior in the Gophers’ defensive backfield:
“There are three freshmen with me, and although they didn’t have the experience we’d like them to have, they are each going to have great careers.”
Wide receiver Ernie Wheelwright
On the game:
“We played well overall, but we made a few mistakes and you can’t do that against a good team. We had a few mental errors, but since this was a big game we couldn’t afford to do that.”
On the second half back and forth scoring:
“Our motto was that if they go, we’ve got to go. We had to come right back and being that it was a big game, we had to play our hearts out and fight with everything we had.
Quarterback Adam Weber
On the game and the season:
“This week we came in wanting to play for the seniors because we knew it was going to be their last game. Coach Brewster that soon those seniors will be proud of us having been a part of this program. We played hard and we gave it all we had. We never gave up and we kept on fighting.”
On the outlook for the future:
“This is a great group of guys to play football with. We want to have a better season next year and to play in a bowl game.”
Wide receiver Eric Decker
On his day-long battle with Jack Ikegwuonu:
“In a game like this, there’s a lot of emotion and the closer the game was the more heated it got. I respect him and he’s a great player. When you want to win that badly, it shows on the field. At the end of the game, we respect each other and the other players.
On his improvement:
“I strive to get better every time I step on the field and play confident like I did today. I want to be able to put up production that can help us win.”
