On the point of emphasis for special teams over the bye week

Biggest thing for us was just getting back to the fundamentals and back to the basics, making sure that the day one stuff doesn't go unnoticed, that we go back to it and we continue to harp on fundamentals, harp on pad level, harp on tackling, blocking, and ball security.

On what the biggest thing they worked on with Dominic Zvada during the bye week

So the biggest thing with Dom is we were just trying to keep him in the same rhythm. We don't want to really change his rhythm from where he's at right now. He's had a pretty, he's done a really good job this whole season of kind of just being on pace. And I think we learned from the last bye week, just keep him on the same rhythm that he's been on, kicking on Tuesday, kicking on Thursday, and then again on Saturday. So.

On Zvada's consistency kicking from 50+

Yeah, it's been unbelievable. He's doing something amazing right now that not a lot of kickers in college do. But he just goes out there. He's very calm. He's very confident in himself. And he's very consistent in what he does daily. So, you know, his mental game plays a huge part into it. I think we're not surprised by what he's done just because we got to see him all camp. We got to see him all summer and see how he did. You know, obviously he's showing the world what he can do right now.

On what Zvada's range is

Yeah, I think it just depends on the weather in that sense. Can he hit a 60? We've seen him hit a 60 in practice before. He definitely has that in him. You know, the confidence to put it into a game. If he says he's good, then I think we're all going to go by behind him.

On what the communication is like with Zvada pregame

So it's very just short and simple. He'll do his warmups. He'll work at different points on the field. And then from there, he'll say, I feel good from this line. And then we set a line going to both sides of the stadium, obviously, because the wind direction of all that and weather, that could play a factor. But he will set our line normally at the game. Normally it starts off at 35 and then throughout the game, it could then change.

On how to get Tommy Doman back to basics like last year

Yeah, 100%. I think he took the last two games, he's taken to a better step in that direction of becoming more consistent. Obviously, he's had one punt a game where you wish you'd had back. But at the end of the day, we'll continue to work on those and get better at those. So for him this week, it was just concentrate on his footwork, concentrate on his drop, make sure that all those were just repeatable motions that he's doing. And then obviously as we continue to work, just continue to work his mental game and making sure that he's in that right frame of mind.

On how to handle the mental side of the game as a special teams player

Yeah, I mean, in some way, you're kind of like a baseball player, right? You only get one chance or one opportunity. So good thing I have a good background in that of being in the spotlight of that. And I could share some experiences of failures and successes with them. And I think that's been a good thing that we could talk about those openly with all those guys. And I think they're getting better and better each day with that part of the game.

On what he needs to see from the kickers the last two weeks

We just need to be consistent, right? We need to be consistent. We need to hit clean balls. Obviously weather's probably going to play a factor in these next two weeks, just because of where we're at, right? Up North, and there's going to be some wind, there's going to be some snow, could be rain, could be anything. We just got to be consistent on our fundamentals and what we do and hit the ball cleanly.

On what goes into a punt block

Yeah, so the Minnesota one that you're talking about, that was a bit of both. It was effort and scheme, right? So the kids did a great job of knowing where they're supposed to be, when they're supposed to be there. There's a lot of movement pre-snap for it. And then there's a really good job by all three guys having the mindset that they're going to get the ball. So when they all three came free, one of them is going to get it. But at the end of the day, they did a good job of playing off of one another and understanding where to fit and where to be.

On how to coach up not running into the kicker while blocking a kick

No doubt. And you got to, number one, put the most trustworthy guys on the field. I think for us, the depth chart's a huge deal for us. Of who we're putting on the field, I think makes a difference. And then secondly, that split-second decision, you have to have the right technique. You have to understand where the launch point is, what the kicker does or what the punter does and how to avoid that. Either it's by turning your hips, by getting away from it, or staying same foot or crossing his face.

On the challenges of coaching up rules like what happened with Oregon

No doubt. I mean, Oregon presented a lot of different challenges. They had Mayday or Swinging Gate. They had a bunch of different things. And for us, I think he just got lost in the moment and I got to see that on the sideline to help him out. I mean, that's what we're there for. I got to do a better job of continuing to share those rules and all that with him.

On Jordan Marshall

Oh, he definitely is special. And the great thing about Jordan is he's a better person than his player too. But from a kick returners point of view, he could do everything. He has speed, he has power, he has balance, he has ball security. I mean, he has great vision. So for us, we're excited to get Jordan back and get him back healthy. And then would love to see him the next two games.

On the different ways to use Marshall on special teams

Yeah, I mean, he can play multiple positions. The beauty about him is he's kind of a Swiss army knife for us. Like he can play punt, he can play punt return, he can play kickoff coverage. He could play any unit at any time. So he has the speed, power, balance to do everything that we want. And he's just a great football player overall.

On the younger guys stepping up on special teams

Yeah, no doubt. Jacob Oden, I mean, he's been a guy that he's played in the last three games who's definitely had a big impact. He's played corners, played kickoff returns, played kickoff, made the tackle against Oregon on the kickoff. Did a phenomenal job for us. He's been filling in on some different roles, probably even different roles that he didn't even expect that he would play at this point. But he's done a great job of accepting those roles and making sure that he's doing really well. You know, Micah Kaapana has been practicing great. I'marion Stewart has been practicing great. Those are all guys that have a lot of potential, a lot of ability that we're excited to get on the field here at some point.

On convincing players that special teams is the best path to get recognized early

Yeah, no doubt. I think special team does a lot for your career. Number one, I think it increases your play count just overall. And number two, it could kickstart your career. If you're able to play in open space, all the coaches see that. So they're going to want to play you more on offense or defense. They see your ability to run, to hit, to tackle. Defense coaches love that. Offense coaches see that you can play in space, that you can block, you could run, you could have great ball security. They're going to play you more. So again, getting your jumpstart here on special teams, I mean, I think it's been a great thing. And then we've had a legacy of a lot of good players play special teams for us. So once they leave that legacy, it's easy for the next guys to follow after that.

On going through the math about redshirts on special teams

Right, yeah, 100%. There's some of that to it. Obviously, we'll have a couple of those guys this year that we're going to try to save. But at the end of the day, they're all ready to play at any point. They still practice as if they're going to play. But yeah, it is a Rubik's cube at times to where you're trying to figure out, OK, is he up this week or is he not? And then that's going to affect your game plan as a special teams quarterback.

On making adjustments in the Oregon game

Yeah, we were working some of our different kind of releases that we had. Again, we were going to face a vice on CJ. And they tried to jaw double out to the boundary on Joe. So again, just changing up our release plan, make sure we had a secondary release plan for them. And then Joe did a great job of coming free and then getting body-to-body contact and creating a turnover. CJ beat the vice and was able to recover the turnover. So it was pretty awesome to see them just execute the plan. And they did a phenomenal job of just playing hard with effort. And they're really good players.

On his reaction when big plays turn into a score

It's awesome. I mean, you're just happy for the kids because they put in the work for it. You come up with a plan, but they execute it and they do it great. It's all about them, to be honest. Like if we didn't have those guys out there, we wouldn't have had that play happen. But having those two out there made it happen.

On the challenges Northwestern provides

Yeah, I mean, challenges-wise, obviously, they got three great punt returners. And they got a great kick returner. He does a great job. I think he's leading the Big 10 right now. They're very downhill. They're very fundamentally sound. Again, it's going to be a game where we're two good special teams going against each other. So got to continue to work and get better throughout the week.

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