COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA'S ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
JoJo Domann Junior, Outside Linebacker
On if this bye week was set up similarly to the last one “Yeah, it was set up. Coach got our legs back on Friday which we didn’t necessarily do the first bye week. Same stuff, refocused, revamped, and ready to go this week.”
On how the defense will have to adjust moving from Purdue to Wisconsin “I've got to play big, we've all got to play big. We have to push the line of scrimmage back. We've got to get off blocks and make tackles. They have a good running back; they have a good front-seven, so we've just got to play big.”
On the team trusting each other “We do have to trust each other and with trust comes consistent results. Everyone has to consistently do their job day in and day out in practice and then not do anything crazy on Saturday. We are working on that, and we are a work in progress, but we’ve come closer through the adversity we’ve faced this year.”
On how the end of this season will affect next season “I definitely know our guys that are suiting up for their last three games in their Husker uniforms are bringing it, they’re ready. For the younger guys we are trying to build something here and finishing on a high note and propelling this thing into spring ball and next fall is big for us and big for this program. We've got to put our best foot forward and hope for the best.”
On Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor “He’s big, he’s powerful, and he’s slippery. He can slip through these tight gaps that their big O-linemen help create, and then he’s just a workhorse so you have to gang tackle him. You really have to knife him or wrap him up, can’t really hit him on top or take him down with your arms. He’s the full package and we've got to bring it this week.”
On the defensive game plan “Our offense isn’t going to get that many snaps. They've got to make them count, and as a defense we've got to get off the field. When the chains hit third down, we have to get off the field. If we continually let them convert on third downs all the way down the field, it’s going to be a long game.”
On struggling to stop on third downs “I don’t necessarily think it’s third down, I think it’s how we executed on those packages.”
On the go-ahead reverse play ran by Purdue and his role on that play “Yeah, that was tough. Honestly, I was beat up after the game because I thought it was my responsibility, I thought I didn’t do my job. Like we were talking about, everyone has to do their job and I didn’t do mine and we paid the price for it. I was supposed to go to quarterback, and if I would’ve gone to quarterback and strictly just the quarterback, I would’ve seen the reverse and been able to make a play on that. Definitely a learning experience moving forward and definitely got a fire inside of me.”
On what he learned from the mistake on the reverse play “I really just thought back to my thought process the few minutes before the play during the timeout. I really got caught in the moment thinking, ‘We gotta make a stop, we gotta make a stop, we gotta make a stop.’ Instead of thinking ‘I gotta do my job, I gotta do my job, I gotta do my job.’ That thought process right there snipped me and we paid the price for it.”
On his mindset during the reverse “I blacked out. I wanted to make a play, I wanted to make a stop and I didn’t do my job.”
On if he sees this program going the same way Coach Frost sees it “I absolutely see it the same way. We are close. A game is a culmination of who wins each and every play and whoever has the highest score at the end. It’s a planned playout game and every play matters. We are close and our offense is close and our defense is close. We've just got to step up and be convicted to do our jobs. When it’s sunny out and when it’s 10 below and when it’s light outside and when it's cloudy, when our backs are against the wall on the goal line with however many seconds left and they throw the reverse, we have to be convicted to do our jobs and win that play. Once we can do that consistently, those close games are going to start to turn in our favor.”
On his biggest takeaway from the bye week “It was big. A lot of us got our legs back so that’s number one, number two just mentally. It’s not fun to be in that locker room when we’re losing the way we are losing, so I feel like a lot of the players just found a renewed mindset. We are digging deep. This isn’t what we wanted, this isn’t what we hoped for, but it’s our reality so just trying to do our best day in and day out and preparing for this week.”
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