Everything Jesse Minter said during his pre-Purdue press conference

On Michael Barrett

Mike means everything to us. You're talking about a guy with an unbelievable amount of experience in our program being a sixth-year guy, taking advantage of that extra year. His leadership, his playmaking ability. I think what's really set him apart this year is just the improvements that he's made, there were some specific things to work on and Coach Partridge coming in has done a really good job with him. Really happy for Mike, proud of Mike and really expect him to have a good last month of the year.

On his message to the defense

Just one day at a time. It's a one-track mind to echo Coach Harbaugh's statement, it's a one-track mind. Focus on what we can control, focus on our process, continue to prepare the right way, continue to work really hard and let the results fall where they may.

On what Barrett worked on to get better

I think it's just a lot of things as far as reading things as a linebacker. When you don't play linebacker your whole life or your whole career, to me, it's a full-view position. What I mean by that is there is certain positions where you look in and you only see half the game. Inside linebacker, it's like playing running back, you have to see the whole picture. I think the more you do that, the better you get. You can train your eyes to see pullers and see different run schemes. That's been a huge area that he's improved in. Also, just the ability to make plays. He's a really good blitzer so we've tried to take advantage of that and I think he's also improved his coverage skills as well.

On the bye week helping Kris Jenkins to get healthy

The snap counts I think it's been really predicated off rotation. How the games have gone over the last month. He definitely dealt with, going into our last game, an issue that may have limited just that last game in particular. I do think any time you have a bye week, you have a chance for that to heal up and get healthy. The great thing is the rotation in general. I think our guys are going to be really fresh down the stretch and look forward to having Kris back at full strength.

On Santa Ono's support of the football program

Anytime a leader of a university backs what you're doing, it means a lot to the players, it means a lot to the program. We certainly appreciate his support.

On what makes Purdue effective at playing spoiler

Over time they've done that really, really well. With a new staff, with new schemes, you may or may not put so much stock into how some of those games were played from a strategy standpoint but certainly know their players have that mindset to be able to pull off upsets or whatever you want to call it. I think they're a first-year coaching staff led by Ryan Walters who I have a ton of respect for, particularly as a defensive coach. They are a little bit of an outlier offensively, particularly in the Big Ten West in tempo, spread as much as they throw the ball. They do run it but it's a spread passing team. It's one of the first we've played like that. A lot of people have been slowing the game down on us. Really look forward to it. Going to be a great challenge. They've got some really good players and we gotta be at our best to get the outcome we want.

On working with Chris Partridge

Chris is awesome. Since he came in, just his energy, his consistency, his ability as a teacher. Goes back to being a high school coach and all the things that come along with that. Organizational skills, leadership skills. He's been a huge addition for us. He's done a great job with, particularly, Junior and Mike who played a lot last year. Really diving into their film, here's areas we can improve and actually attacking those things. You're seeing tangible evidence and improvement in those areas.

On whether he's learned from Partridge

I think everybody has their own style, their own personality. You learn from anybody that you come across with that might be new. There's certainly a lot of things that you work with a new person, maybe he relates to a guy, maybe he teaches something, so you're always looking for ways to improve and get better. Once again, welcomed addition to our staff.

On what has happened to make the pass rush successful

I think just our emphasis on it. Coach Elston, his track record sort of speaks to being able to do that. Places he's been, sacks have been really spread out across a lot of guys in his fronts. Multiple tackles, ends. So it's allowed us to play where we know we can get pressure with the interior two, we know we can get pressure with our edges, maybe we've had to blitz less. Particularly six or more, there are times where we send five. The production has been awesome to see because of how hard the guys worked at it and the emphasis we've put on it. Any time you do that, you enjoy seeing the fruits of that labor. Hopefully that continues down the stretch.

On how he's handled the last couple of weeks

It is what it is. I wish we could speak on it but we can't. It's fine. It is what it is. When you're at a job like this, there's going to be good days and bad days. You owe it to the players, you owe it to the coaches, you owe it to the people who are really important to you to do your job at a high level and keep working. That's what I've been able to do, been able to stay focused. If you want the players to stay focused, we've got to stay focused. Trying to be that one-track mind for them and let the chips fall where they may.

On whether he feels extra motivation to prove people wrong

I'm playing motivated without that. I'm motivated for this team to have the best season we can have. Finish the right way, get back to places we have been before and also try to surpass that. Motivation is from within for me.

On whether Will Johnson is picking up where he left off

I think he's right there. I think the plan with him has worked out well to be able to get healthy, for him to be able to work his way. When a guy misses summer training and a lot of training camp, you can't make that up. You can't just go into week two, week three without having done all that and say you're going to be where you were. That's four weeks of training camp, of practicing every day, drills every day. I think as he's been able to make up that time a little bit and get to his five- to six-week progression, I think he's really starting to be the Will we all know. I think he'll be a huge factor for us down the stretch.

On whether he is seeing offenses slowing down to keep Michigan's offense off the field

The Big Ten games for sure we've seen a good amount of huddles. Part of it, we're a good team, our offense scores, we're also a slow-paced offense. The team huddles to really, really try to slow the game down. Try to limit the possessions, try to shorten the game. We've seen a high amount of that. We'll continue to be ready for all various different tempos that teams run. I've certainly seen more of that this year.

On how he combats teams slowing down

Just stick to the process. As you think about calling defense, there's a process. There's down and distance, there's personnel, what you want to know, give the guys the call and let them play fast. We have no problem when teams huddle.

On Joey Velazquez

He's just like a really good Michigan Man. He's there, he's great support for our players. He's done a lot for this athletic department, obviously playing multiple sports. He's from Ohio so he kind of brings that perspective as well. He's just a great teammate, he's a great leader as an older guy. Fired up to have him around and hopefully he gets himself out there and is able to help down the stretch.

On whether there is a particular moment in that Velazquez's leadership stood out

No, I think everybodys leadership style is different. I think when you're an older player, the number one thing you can do is be really consistent because you're always somebody the younger people can look to for how somebody should operate, particularly when things are going well for you or when things aren't going well for you as a player. He's the epitome of, hey, maybe he's not playing as much as he wants but he attacks every single day. He attacks every rep. He's a great teammate, he's always trying to help the younger guys. That, to me, is being a really good leader even though it might not show playing on the field on Saturdays.

On how perception matters for a program to the CFP committee

I'm not going to speak for the committee, I think they said they looked at the resumes and sort of ranked them as they saw fit. To me, that's their job. That's the task they're given to try to put the best four teams out there. I think anything outside of that is speculation, perception, whatever, is really irrelevant to the conversation.

On whether anything TCU did that caught Michigan off guard

That was a long time ago, there were a lot of things that happened in that game that we had better control of than what we played. They outplayed us. They outplayed us that day. We didn't play up to our ability, we lost the game.

On bye week standouts

It's always good to see some of the scholarship guys who are redshirting, you've got guys like Semaj Bridgeman, Hewlett, those type of guys. Sometimes during the year, you're coaching the guys who are playing. They're on the look team or the exchange team, you're not getting a chance to work with them as much. Those weeks are really good because we all get a chance to work with them. See them. Coach gives them a lot of opportunities for those guys to play ball in front of the whole team and make a name for themselves. It's great to see those type of guys get a chance. What you really love to see is that if they're improving as the season goes on. We do it every Monday and then with the bye week, it adds in more opportunity for them. You just like to see those guys continuing to get better, focus on the details. Continue to learn the defense. You never know in this day and age when you're going to need somebody. Particularly with the ability to play a guy for four games. You're always trying to keep those guys improving, keep getting better and I think this program in particular does a great job with that.

On what stats he targets beyond the basic ones

Ball disruption. I think we've done a better job at attacking the ball, taking the ball away. We've had a few more forced fumbles than we had even all of last year. Trying to attack the ball in the interception game. A huge, huge emphasis was after you get an interception, then what happens? Our ability to score with the ball, that is something that you have to practice. You can't just assume somebody intercepts the ball and all the other guys know what to do. It turns into having Coach Jay on defense, it almost turns into a punt return concept. Our ability to do something with the ball once we got it has been a huge area of emphasis as well. I think being disruptive on early downs, the tackle-for-loss game with our style of play was something we wanted to improve. It's really just about trying to keep people from hitting big plays, scoring points and then trying to set our offense up with a short field as much as possible.

On whether he's seeing it on the pick-sixes

A pick-six is really—sometimes it's all 11 that have to react the right way. Got to get the intended receiver blocked, got to get all these guys blocked. I think just the reaction. When you turn on the tape of a team, the reaction of what happens when they get an interception, we were poorly coached at it last year. That's just self-reflection. Now I think we're better coached at it and it's showing up once we do get the ball.

On whether it bothers him that his peers are possibly questioning his body of work

Not going to speak to the speculation of what's happened here. It is what it is. I think I read the same article and some assistants are like, yeah, that's what we've always—not to speculate on the degree. Other people are like, no, that's whatever. It's all speculation. Not going to speak on it. It is what it is at this point.

On whether bad weather changes his playcalling

I think weather is always a factor. I think the Big Ten holistically, over time, and especially this year has almost an old school Big Ten feel to it with what defense is playing well, offense is playing a little bit more conservative. Running the ball more, trying to use more clock. I think that's rooted in, hey, you're in the Big Ten and playing in the Midwest. Getting these November games, you can expect sometimes it's 60 degrees and sunny, sometimes its snow flurries and 35. To use Coach Harbaugh, you gotta be ready to play in any climate, any weather, any situation. I think we'll be ready to do that.

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