September 22, 2009

University of Illinois press release

Fighting Illini head coach Ron Zook met with the media on Tuesday to talk about this week's game against Ohio State, health of quarterback Juice Williams, winning in Columbus and more in this Tuesday with Zook recap.

Opening Statement "We are out of the preseason. We are jumping into the Big Ten and I think that's a time that everybody is excited about. We will find out what we learned in the preseason. I think everybody understands the importance of the Big Ten schedule and these next eight weeks are what you play for. We are excited about it and looking forward to it. Everybody practiced last night. I think the couple of days we had off was good for everybody and now it's back to work. It starts this Saturday."

On Juice Williams: "He's full go. He was not limited in practice. He's fine."

On Juice Williams' injury: "He's got a strained muscle. Obviously he has to rehab it every day, but I don't foresee it being an issue. He doesn't feel like it's an issue and the trainers don't feel like it's an issue. When he gets out there and starts playing, I don't think he will even remember."

On Martez Wilson: "Martez is scheduled to have surgery on Monday. It will be a couple days, probably an overnight stay in the hospital. Then he will be back out here. The first few days we will be keeping an eye on him, but then he will start to rehab, which is three to seven months. I talked to the doctor myself and the prognosis is good. He will probably be ready in time for spring ball ... I think the good thing, just by the way the doctor spoke, is it is not going to be too long before he's able to get in the weight room and on the treadmill. He's not going to be down long. Obviously, he's got to be careful and that kind of stuff, but he won't be down long. He'll be able to get right back at it."

On the possibility of Martez Wilson redshirting: "With redshirting, you get five years to play four (seasons). Whether that's a medical redshirt or you just don't play that year, it doesn't really matter. A redshirt is a redshirt. When you hear guys getting a sixth year or for a guy to get a medical redshirt for a year, I think 20 percent is the rule. You cannot play more than 20 percent (of the games). This is a slam dunk."

On if Martez Wilson will travel with the team: "As much as we can. We plan on him coming to Columbus with us on Saturday. He was having fun out there watching us coach yesterday. I feel bad for him. Obviously he has worked awful hard and prepared and really taken great strides to become the linebacker we all think and know he is capable of doing. Now we have to wait another year to see it."

On how Martez Wilson is dealing with his injury: "As well as you can take it. Last night I saw Texas lost a linebacker and Ohio State lost an offensive lineman, and it's an unfortunate thing. Football is a game that particularly early in the year, guys have injuries. I don't know if it's any more this year than any other year, but it seems like there are a bunch of guys that are out for the season already this year."

On Juice Williams' drive to win at Ohio State two seasons ago: "I don't look back at that game. I think people try to bring that up, but that's history. That's something that happened in Juice's career. This is a different ball game. What happened then, happened then and obviously Ohio State remembers it, our guys remember it. But every game is different and every year is different. It's going to be important that we go and play the way we are capable of playing ... That game is not going to have anything to do with this week. It's like the great accomplishments their players have had. Sure, you go back and look at them and they are big. But on the same token, I don't think now is the time to go back and reflect on that because I don't think it has anything to do with this week."

On Juice Williams' growth since the 2007 game at Ohio State: "When you have good things happen in tough situations like that, usually there is a confidence growth there. I think Juice in a lot of ways has made the normal progression that you would expect a guy to make in his fourth year. He understands and it is important to him to continue to grow and to continue to get better, as we all have to do."

On how the team goals are still in reach: "That's what I told the team after the Missouri game. I'll be honest with you, I never thought we were going to go 12-0. The first thing out of my mouth after the game was that. That's a game that you learn from. I think it put a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths, but as I told the staff this morning, I feel the same way about this football team as I did five weeks ago. I think we have to go play and we have to go prove that. That's why we play the games and that's why it is fun to be a competitor and compete. These guys will learn from that and bounce back. I think if you go back and look at the ISU game, we got better especially in the first half. There's not a whole lot of things you can change in the first half of that Illinois State game. We have to continue to get better. I think we used last week to continue to get better, and it's important that we continue to get better this week."

On how the linebackers are responding to Martez Wilson's injury: "Good. They understand it's a game. We said it in the first meeting that football is a game of adversity. Life is a game of adversity. I always go back to the things I have learned through the game of football that have helped me so much in life. It gives guys an opportunity to step up. Look at the Chicago Bears. They lose their linebacker and they go and line up against the world champions and win. It's just everyone has to step up a little bit. Evan Frierson, I'm sure he feels bad for Martez no question. But deep down inside he's excited about the opportunity he has as well."

On Evan Frierson: "I think the first time he goes out there, he'll play like a freshman like everyone does. We've said it all camp, if you go back and look at camp last year and it's not his fault, but he did not go through camp. The school was changing, H.D. Woodson was changing, and they were building a new school and it was hard to get the records to the clearing house and so forth. Spring football was really his first start at us coaching him in the system. We said at that time, he is probably just as natural as a linebacker as any of them. He's gotten better and better and continues to improve. We've said it all through camp and in the first two weeks of the season, he's just a guy that continues to get better. Football is a game of reaction. When you are thinking, you slow down. When you react and just let your God-given ability take over it works and he is going to be a fine player."

On the defense Illinois will play: "It depends. They are typical Ohio State. They are going to lineup, play smash mouth, knock you off the ball and try to run it down your throat. They are going to play two backs, one back and no backs. There are going to be times, obviously more than in the past two games, where we are going to want to be in a three linebacker defense."

On Michael Hoomanawanui: "I was talking to him last night at supper and we were talking about where he's come, where he's gone and where his goals are. He has always been a great catcher, always been able to catch the football. But he understands the game so much better now. He's a big, strong guy that works hard. He's a leader. His blocking is getting better and better. A lot of guys come in here and unless they have done it a lot, they don't understand, particularly at tight end, that they have to be able to block. That's the thing, we can move him around and let him do something. He is smart and besides his God-given ability, he is football smart and understands the game. I think it has helped him make the normal transition you would expect a guy to make."

On Michael Hoomanawanui's catching abilities: "The best (tight end) I have ever been around is playing for the Atlanta Falcons now. But he is able to catch the ball, he has soft hands and he knows how to position his body and all those things."

On the running backs: "I think they are all 100 percent and they are all healthy. Reggie (Mitchell) has done a great job with them. They all understand how important they are, they are all going to play and we need them all."

On Justin Green: "Justin just keeps getting better and better. His brother goes to Ohio State, so I'm sure he's going to be excited when he runs out on the field. He just gets better. Everyone keeps asking 'Are you going to redshirt this guy or this guy?' This is really early in the season. This is only our third football game. These guys are going to get better. You don't want to make decisions on a lot of them too early, but Justin keeps getting better and better."

On suspended players Mikel LeShoure and Ashante Williams: "Mikel and Ashante are back on the playing status and I don't foresee any more issues there."

On Ohio State's defense: "Obviously their defensive ends are bulldogs. They run around, they make plays. I think probably the biggest difference between this year's defense and last year's defense is that there may be some names you don't recognize. But I think in terms of what they do and how they play, I think they are second in the league in defense. They are pretty good. Two of the captains are on the defensive side, so there is a lot of leadership over there."

On who will call the defensive signals this week: "We try to put a little more on Ian (Thomas), then we do on Evan (Frierson). We are trying to just let Evan play. When things are signaled in, everyone needs to know the defense and they are just listening for a directional call in most instances. It will be a little bit easier for Ian to make it than Evan."

On Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn being back on the field together: "Hopefully those guys will able to connect and do the things we all know they are capable of doing. I think the good thing is that Juice understands we have another quarterback if God forbid something happens to him, and obviously Rejus the same way. The more weapons you have, the more chances you have to make things happen."

On the mood surrounding the team: "Our coaching staff feels the same way about this football team as we did August 5 when we started. Five years ago, no one cared. Now people care. This is not our football team. This is the University of Illinois football program. Obviously it is our job to make them happy and to make our football team happy. That's what we all want. If people are upset, I don't blame them. There are some things that I am upset about as well. It's our job to make sure we get it corrected."

On Jeff Cumberland: "Guys don't ever get in our dog house. Jeff has done an unbelievable job here, he really has. Not just as a football player but as a person and as a student as well. Jeff is going to play a lot of football, he's going to continue to play. If you remember back last year the same thing kind of happened. He had the foot problem and kind of got off to a slow start. But he's going to be out there, he's going to be playing and making plays. I think it's important that everyone is held accountable. I think as a coaching staff we are held accountable and players are held accountable. The great thing about Jeff Cumberland is that you know that he is going to correct anything that we or he don't feel good about. The players have to be held accountable and it just helps them become better football players."

On how to deal with criticism: "It's part of the profession. Do you like it? No. There are a lot of things I get upset about as well so I can understand why people get upset. That means they care. They are passionate about their football team. It's kind of the society we live in now. Everybody wants to be undefeated. Whether you know anything about football or not, it gives them the opportunity to communicate and be involved with something. You just have to accept that as part of the business."

On who he vents to: "My poor wife for the most part. But luckily, we have a very close knit coaching staff. They want the same things, we all want the same things and are trying to accomplish the same things just like Coach Tressel and his coaching staff are. Sometimes it doesn't work exactly how you want it to work."

On the stretch of three tough games: "They know the schedule, we talked about the schedule on our first meeting- August 5. We know it's going to be a grind and we are going to have to be ready to play. I think at this point in time, everybody knows these games are so important. We have eight Big Ten games. It's going to be critical that we do the best we can in every one of those games. If you begin to think past this first game then they are not focused on the game at hand. We have to concern ourselves with one game. When this game is over we will look at the next game. That's not coach speak. This is going to be a tremendous challenge. It's going to be a great, great opportunity for our guys. They are excited about playing in front of all the people, in a hostile environment against a great football team. We can't be worrying about what is next. There is enough to worry about on Saturday. Every program I have even been around feels the same way. If you get ahead or if they get behind a particular play then usually it's going to jump up and smack you."

On preparing for Terrelle Pryor: "The thing about Terrelle is that he's a hard guy to simulate. First of all he runs really fast and he's really strong and he's big. Nathan Scheelhaase is the guy that provides that a little bit. It's really hard to prepare for a guy like (Pryor) because you don't want to beat your guys up by trying. He'd probably take an offensive lineman if you really wanted to get the guy to the ground. Then you'd try to put him in Justin Green's body speed-wise. You're not going to go stop him. What we have to do is understand that he's going to get hits and we have to contain the best that we can and give up as few big plays as we can."

On the Illinois players from Ohio playing at home: "I think a lot of them are excited about having the opportunity to go home and play in their home state. If they grew up in Ohio they heard about Ohio State. I think anytime you play an opponent, if you're a competitor you love to compete against the best and obviously they're one of the best."