Luke Schoonmaker may not have recorded a catch against Ohio State, but his fingerprints were all over Michigan's 297 rushing yards. Whether he was insert blocking and picking up a linebacker or kicking out a defensive end, Schoonmaker helped create wiggle room for Hassan Haskins, and you all know what Hassan Haskins can do with some wiggle room. Schoonmaker answered questions about the tight ends' blocking, Michigan's reduction in turnovers this season, Iowa's defense, moving past Ohio State, and more. For a full transcript of what he said when he met with the media Tuesday night, read on:

On how quickly the team was able to move past the Ohio State game and focus on Iowa

Yeah, I think it was pretty quick. Obviously just the best day of our lives this past weekend but I think we came back in on Monday and we all kind of decided that the job’s not done and that was the common message with everybody. And you can feel it, too, just that hungriness to keep going.

On what it means as an upperclassman to play in a game of this magnitude

It means everything. Yeah, so many of us that have been here have just been working so hard these past years and it means the world to us. We’re off to a great start this week and we’re all so excited.

On what makes Iowa’s defense challenging

I think just they’ve been doing the same thing for years. They’re traditional and those guys work hard at what they do. They’ve had the coach for a while to do it, so they all do their jobs well. That’s what it is.

On whether tight ends should be discussed alongside offensive linemen with regard to run blocking

Absolutely. Every time we come off, every scoring drive we’d all be so excited. We’d sit down together and be scheming up how to do it again. Everybody just having so much fun with each other. We all just came together and did our thing.

On the importance of the tight ends in blocking this year

Yeah, from all of us, we’ve definitely become such a big add-on to that. I think we all just are hard-working guys. It works perfect together.

On the defining moments of this season

I think just being able to overcome adversity at different points this year. I think that’s something that we’ve definitely emphasized and something that we’ve done such a better job at this year and that just has to do with the chemistry that we’ve all built together has been great. I think in those games of adversity--I think back to Nebraska, Penn State--just never batting an eyelash and just coming out on top.

On whether it has sunk in and been discussed that Michigan could play for not just a Big Ten title but a national title

Of course that’s one of our goals that we talked about before the season but no, we haven’t looked that far ahead. We’re really focused on this weekend and like you said, Ohio State was the first one. Now it’s on to the second one for the Big Ten title. That’s what we’re focused on.

On what the offense has done so well to avoid turnovers

I think of course execution and playing together but knowing the purpose of each play, too, and just doing your assignment, pretty much, all 11 guys. Not trying to do someone else’s job but doing your job and doing it to the best of your ability, and we’ve consistently done that this year and that’s been a great thing for our offense.

On whether turnover prevention is coached differently this season

I think just more emphasis on things like that, ball security and stuff like that. Yeah, they’ve coached that pretty well and it’s been great to see.

On how difficult it is to gameplan against this offense

Like you said, there’s so many components that we have to it and so many things that we can do with it, so I’d say it’s definitely a challenge to gameplan when you have so many guys that can do so many things and do it at a high level and just have fun with it.

On the job Josh Gattis has done this season

Yeah, I mean, that relationship’s been so great with us and him this year and just the comfortability with him. We have fun every day in practice, too. We’ll have our times to laugh and joke and then we get down to business. He’s done a great job with us, just keeping our heads in it every week. It’s been a pleasure to play under him and he’s definitely so deserving of that.

On what feels different with the team this season

I think--

Or does it feel different?

It definitely does. There’s a bigger energy. I think that has to do with a lot of the new coaches too and just everyone’s energy. Coach talked about the different groups that are on the team, like the new guys that have come in and done big things and then the guys that have been committed for so long and things are finally working out for us. I think all that put together, there’s just been this energy. And also coming from last year, too, with how that went. This whole year, from the winter to the spring and summer to the season, there’s just been this buildup of energy. We couldn’t wait to play in September and now we’re finally where we’re at now and just at an all-time high.

On whether it’s difficult to think of each game as just the next goal when they have such big implications

Yeah, they’re of course big ones but I think we’re just so excited for them and doing well and at the same time just making sure we all do our jobs. I think we enjoy playing in those big games. We’ve had a few of them this year just in those big environments and yeah, everybody just looks forward to it.

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