Coach Speak(s)! Bucket Week 2019!

After falling to Wisconsin and losing any hope of bowl eligibility it was time for Jeff Brohm to face the music of the press corps. Let’s see what the head honcho had to say shall we?

Final impressions of the senior class:

Well, I think our seniors that have been here, they’ve been through a lot. They’ve overcome a lot, had some good moments. Now it’s time to try to finish off on a good moment against your rival team.

A lot of these guys have seen all the ups and downs they could see. They’ve had a great attitude with it. They’ve done everything we’ve asked, worked extremely hard. I think they’ll be very productive football players and citizens when it’s all said and done. We’d like to try to finish the season strong for them.

On if Moore and Neal are shut down for the year:

I wouldn’t say that fully. Haven’t seen to this point.

This is just a weird question so I’m gonna leave the whole thing untouched.

How have you celebrated with the bucket in the past personally?JEFF BROHM: For me, really our team the last two years, the win has not only meant a lot, but it meant you got to go to a bowl game. A lot riding on it.

It was a great celebration. Those games meant a lot. I don’t know what the record was before, how many we lost before that. It’s always good to win that last game, especially when there’s a lot riding on it. That’s what made the last two seasons very fun, is the season came down to win and you advance or you lose and you go home. We were fortunate the last two years to pull it off.

On moving the Bucket game to Indianapolis:

I’m always open for a game in Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s a great venue, a great place to play for the players and the fans. You never want to lose a home game, but that venue would be great for them or any team we could play.

On the defensive performance against Wisconsin:

We did not play a great game on defense, without question. No, our secondary did not have one of its better games. I think we all have to do a better job, coaches and players, this week, make sure we put our players in the best position to succeed and win.

Our players have to go out there and challenge things and compete to win, as well. I agree with you, I didn’t think that happened as much as it should. We have to improve that and do a better job this week.

This team is going to spread you out, throw it on the perimeter even more so than the last. We have to not give too much cushion, challenge things, be able to make the tackle when the ball is completed or deflected or intercepted.

I do think that needs to be improved on greatly.

On the trick play with Milton Wright throwing a TD:

He’s a very good athlete. The great thing about him is he’s one of the few, since the day he’s got here, he’s made every practice, practices hard, gives great effort. In high school he’s a good athlete, played a little wildcat quarterback. We always let our receivers throw a little bit in practice, see how they throw. He throws it pretty good.

The question and concern was throwing it out to him, was he going to throw it regardless of whether he was open or not. That’s what scared me because I didn’t want an interception. We had to reinforce, Hey, if it’s not open, pump that thing and run it. We had to make sure he fully understood that.

Fortunately it was wide open. Couldn’t happen any better. It was a good throw. Gave him a chance to make the throw. Didn’t overthrow a wide-open guy. We scored a touchdown. That play was a lot of fun.

On David Bell and George Karlaftis:

David and George have been difference makers for us, outstanding players, great talents. They’ve done their part. They provided great leadership by example, how they work, how they come ready to play each and every game, make plays and compete.

We’ve got to get more guys that are able to do that. We have to get more guys that are willing to work hard to do that. We have to get more guys that are willing to bloody their lip every game and play as hard as they can in order to win.

It also goes to off the field. More guys that understand what they think is hard work and what they’re doing is not good enough. We need more. They have to be committed to do more.

When you look at both David Bell and George, but especially George, the guy studies the game all the time. From the first day he got here in January, you see him in the facility all the time working out, doing extra work in the training room, in the weight room, on the turf field, studying film, wanting to perfect his craft. You need more guys to commit to want to do everything in their power to get it done. That’s how you can improve.

We’ve got to get more guys buying into that work ethic.

On the senior day ceremony:

Whether or whether or not certain guys go through Senior Day will not fully determine if they’re coming back or not. There’s certain guys, like the one you mentioned, a few others, that need a little more time to figure out exactly what they want to do.

No, I do not know a final answer to that.