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University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Player Quotes from Nov. 3 Press Conference
11/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Selected members of the University of Minnesota football team met with the media during the team's weekly press conference Tuesday. Below are some quotes discussing last week's win over Michigan State and this week's game with Illinois from each of those players:
Duane Bennett
On the Michigan State game:
"It just solidified what we've been doing in practice all year. Just being able to come out and show a live crowd what we do in practice was a great feeling for us. We always knew we had the confidence to go out and play, it was just a matter of time before those guys took advantage of the opportunities. I think it's a great confidence boost for us going into the Illinois game."
On the team's running game:
"There's no particular roles given. Once your number's called, you go out and try to help the team in any way possible."
On this week's game with Illinois:
"They played a great game against Michigan. But for us, it's just going to be all about keeping a level head, staying focused and really sticking in our preparation and really buying into what the coaches have in store for us."
Nick Tow-Arnett
On the Michigan State game:
"I think everybody played really well. It's not like it was just one guy, like Decker's out and one guy stepped up and had a great game. How many different receivers stepped up? The running backs stepped up. It's was great. The O-line played great too. I think we played really well as an offense."
Adam Weber
On last week's game:
"We knew we had a lot of questions to answer with Eric [Decker] being out. Last year, we struggled to produce on offense when he was out. We knew that this was a critical game for the team and for our season and what we want to do when it comes to a bowl game. It was the start to a three-game home stretch, and we knew we had to come out with a lot of fire, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of focus and really put together a game that we could watch on tape and be proud of."
Kim Royston
On being able to move on to the next play after making a mistake:
"Naturally you're going to be thinking, 'Man, I messed up that last play,' and have it stuck in your head. But you just have to have a thick skin and just fight through it."
On playing against Illinois QB Juice Williams:
"We get the full game plan today, but I'm sure that the coaches are going to put together a great game plan and give us a great opportunity to win the game. [Williams] is fast enough to run away from us, and he has a good arm, so hopefully we can make him make some mistakes and take advantage of them."
Garrett Brown
On facing Illinois QB Juice Williams:
"We've seen him (before) and we kind of know his style of play. We want to make sure that we're focusing on that during practice. We need to make sure we can emulate that and keep him in front of us."
