I'll have a said and unsaid once we finish up here. But for now, here are my quick notes from Drinkwitz speaking at Week 9 media day.
"Really proud of our team and how they stuck together"
Shouted out defensive linemen for their play Saturday
"Coach Batoon and the defensive staff deserve a lot of credit"
"Really proud of Mookie Cooper the play he made in the third quarter, Luther Burden and how he responded to the muffed punt"
"Talk about competitive greatness, need to be at your best when it's needed"
"Opportunity to play a top-15 opponent that's only lost at home once in the last 10 years or so"
Offensive line is really big, physical
Quarterback is a dynamic athlete
The biggest thing offensively they've done is designed quarterback runs in the red area
"Really difficult challenge there on the offensive side of the ball"
"Them and Texas A&M is the best defensive lines we've seen so far and probably will see"
"We accept the challenge. This is going to be a challenge for our team not to focus on the reasons we can't, but focus on the reason we can"
"Everyone wants a health update on our guys, I don't have one"
When asked if Brady will be at practice "Define at practice" when asked if he'll participate "I don't know. But he'll be at practice"
"I'm not letting the media at practice so they can't speculate on what Brady is or isn't doing at practice"
(No open practice today)
If it's not a home game, Brady wouldn't have been able to come back. "It's one of the times I'm happy games last 3 and a half hours" Says they wouldn't have been able to get to a hospital to do the MRI immediately.
Very grateful for MU Health Care
Can't create vertical rush lanes while rushing the passer this week
"He's the definition of a dual-threat quarterback"
"We're gonna need blankets" when asked about pass coverage
"We cannot let the deep ball beat us. That's been an issue for us, we've given up way too many deep balls"
"I think we have a lot of confidence in our player's grit and toughness"
"The first thing is we can't play over-analyzing every situation. We can't have too many checks on both sides of the ball."
"We've got to focus on what we can do"
"The thing I've emphasized is, play with zero hesitation, go out and play as fast as you can. If a play is there, go take it."
"We run a lot of the same pass concepts, there's a big difference in the run schemes."
"We've got to do a better job in our A gap identification on pressures. They've got an elite D-line, they always have and I assume they always will with how they recruit."
"I think this may be the best set of linebackers we play this year."
"We're going to try Dan Lanning's approach and play 12, see if we can add extra pressure" avoiding an answer about the game plan for attacking Bama's offensive line
Ryan Williams "Special player, special talent." "I don't know that age is as big of a factor when you have his set of gifts"
"The criticisms, are you going to drop in the polls? None of that matters. It's about winning the game that Saturday. What anyone says to criticize our team, none of that matters"
"I think the one quality this team has that always shows up is a refusal to give in"
"Kalen DeBoar is an elite football coach, arguably the best coach in college football between him and coach Smart"
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