Purdue at Minnesota: Hazell and Kill quotes

In addition to the usual Tuesday press conference that Coach Hazell does I was e-mailed the quotes from Minnesota coach Jerry Kill made during his press conference. First up, let's hear what coach Kill has to say:

On Mitch Leidner and his passing:

Well, he threw it a lot during training camp, no question about that. I think people got to understand in throwing the football, we recruited him, he threw the football, that's why we recruited him, had a lot of success. It's different at college. I would tell you the biggest thing I think quarterbacks get judged a lot of times, they say, Man, bad day throwing the ball, didn't do very well. The number one thing in throwing the football is the people up front protecting it.

If he's got a chance to step into his throws, has time to step in there and throw it, he's going to be accurate. The kid can throw the football. If you're throwing off the back foot all the time, got pressure in your face, continue to get hit, that happened at TCU, I don't care who they are, they get uncomfortable. If you can get a quarterback uncomfortable, that's a good thing.

That's the same thing we try to do. We try to get those QBs uncomfortable, get nervous in that pocket. That's why we pressure people. If they get back there and they get comfortable, get in a rhythm, it's going to be a long day.

Some of the things you try to do play‐action wise, things of that nature, you're able to have a better opportunity to protect the quarterback, stay out of third‐and‐long. Most important thing to do is stay out‐of‐third‐and‐long. If you get in third‐and‐long, defensive tackles gear up, know you're going to throw the football. You say, We can run draw. They twist up front, take the draw away from you. If you stay out of third‐and‐long, you can throw the football better.

On playing at 11 am (which Purdue is used to):

It's one of those things where we're controlled by the TV network. We understand that. It's one of those situations where I think for our fans, I get all kinds of emails, Why are we playing at 11:00? What's going on, coach? I can't change that. That's part of TV stuff.

You can look at it a lot of different ways. But for our fans I think it's tough, get up and tailgate at 6:30 in the morning. The atmosphere, them getting there to the game is a little bit challenging for our fans. I feel bad for our fans. There's a lot of people that got night games.

I'd say the only big concern I have, not for us so to speak, but for our fans. That's why I tell the administration they need to start letting them come in Thursday night and enjoy life (laughter). But it is what it is. You just go play.

Now on to coach Hazell, first on facing Minnesota:

They're very patient offensively. I think they do a great job of running the ball and putting two tight ends in the formation, putting another back in the formation. They throw the play-action passes at you. They throw the naked passes at you, and then they're very content with punting the ball and playing great defense. And I think that's been their formula for winning.

I think they all understand what they're good at and where they're going to make their hay with their football team. I think they've done a great job of just doing that.

On David Cobb:

Well, I think the back is a really, really good player. He's got really good balance, he's got great patience. He trusts his offensive line. You see him stay on the hip of the guards a lot of times in the power play. He trusts that the crease is going to happen even before it happens, and then just stay with it. They'll hit you for three, they'll hit you for two and then all of a sudden they hit you for 12. So they're not going to give up on it in no situation.

On the team chemistry in the locker room vs. last year:

I don't think there's any one thing. I think there's a combination of things. I think you got a better leading class, with the seniors, and

I think that they've all made a commitment to each other. I think that's part of it, and I think because we are having a little bit -- it's not nearly the amount of success we're going to have or we'd like to have at this point in time, I think that they feed off of that, and they realize that they can have a lot more success even in the weeks to come here.

On the possibility of Da'Wan Hunte starting:

We're going to look at him the next couple of days and see if he can handle some of the things and probably take the pressure off a couple of those other guys and see how he matches up with Antoine Lewis to the field. We'll play a little bit more field and boundary this weekend.

Maybe into the boundary and Leroy Clark into the boundary. And then you can protect some of those field guys a little bit by the spacing because there's a lot of no-cover zone to the field a lot of times. So we'll take a look at it the next two days and see where we land.

On the Minnesota defense leading the B1G in interceptions:

You know, I don't know how many they got in the -- it was one game they got five turnovers. I can't remember how they got them all, but you know, they're playing a lot of man coverage, and they have a lot of extra help. So you might have a three wideout set playing against man-to-man coverage and there might be three extra defenders that are roaming around. That's where they're getting their interceptions.

Where a lot of teams will play man-to-man coverage and being pressure, so they're on an island. These guys are not on an island.

On B.J. Knauf's injury:

You know, I'm hopeful, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. He's pretty sore. His shoulder is still pretty sore. His head is clearing up a little bit. He had a little bit of concussion symptoms, but he said his head feels pretty good, but he's having trouble right now lifting that shoulder.

On Appleby's development:

I think he's pretty calm. That's the one thing that you like about him. He understands what we're trying to do, and doesn't always do it perfectly, but you know he knows exactly

And I think a lot of guys are feeding off of Austin right now, not only offense, but both sides of the ball, and I think that's why there's so much confidence. You know, when we get down two touchdowns or three touchdowns, I think we still feel like there's a chance that we can do some things and come back, especially when you got a one-hit wonder or one-playwonder like Akeem who can take a simple zone play and take it the distance. When you have those types of players, it always gives you a little bit more boost on the sidelines.

On Ja'Whaun Bentley learning from Sean Robinson:

We will. We talked about it the last two days, and you know, I asked Sean yesterday, would you like to go, because sometimes guys don't want to go. But Sean said absolutely.

And we will room those two together. And you know, Sean's such a great captain, a great teammate, great person that he helps that guy, and he really has a lot of respect for Ja'Whaun as well. He keeps saying, I can't believe how mature Ja'Whaun is as an 18-year-old, as a football player and a person. So he's been really, really good for Ja'Whaun's growth.