[Fuller]
They didn’t have players take the podium today, so instead I took a little bit of audio from the different scrums around the Towsley Museum and transcribed it for you, dear reader. If you’re wondering why other sites might have certain quotes not seen here or vice versa, keep in mind that I have one recorder and one me to gather audio.
Tyree Kinnel
I jumped in the scrum late but the question seems pretty obvious.
“Who’s the hardest hitter? Chase thinks he’s the biggest hitter, Josh [Metellus] thinks he’s the biggest hitter, I think I’m the biggest hitter. We always have that argument but as long as we’re all getting there at the same time and laying the big hit then it should be fine.”
Do you feel like you did well?
“I felt like I was communicating well with my teammates. I felt I did good. I felt like I got to the ball pretty fast and [was] making all my checks.”
Totally comfortable now guiding all the younger guys back there?
“Yeah, I did feel comfortable. We were all talking after the game about the game and the coaches work us so hard in practice we were like, ‘Man, this is pretty easy.’ Because of the way they work us in practice, we felt really good.”
Did Josh Metellus play well Saturday?
“He did everything well. He was talking to me the whole time. He was making checks as I was making checks. He covered a lot. He covered a lot more than me just because of their offense and I feel like he covered really well. He was on the tight end; there was one time he was covering a receiver and the quarterback checked down and ran it and he got off the block and forced that fumble; that was a good play by him. Any time you come out of coverage and make a tackle like that is good.”
You mentioned speed quite a bit. Has there been more of an emphasis on that this year, on being faster than last year?
“I don’t think they really coach the speed, I think that’s just naturally how we are. I think they want us running for the ball but speed-wise, I think that’s just all of us as a group together trying to get to the ball as fast as we can.”
[After THE JUMP: Nolan Ulizio and Lawrence Marshall]
[Isaiah Hole/247Sports]
Nolan Ulizio
When did you find out you were starting?
“Maybe a week or so before the game. I was competing a lot with some other guys and towards when we got closer to the game they started taking less reps and I started taking more reps and one day after walkthrough coach Drevno came up to me and said I was going to start.”
How do you respond to that? No one really talked much about you though your teammates did in camp.
“Yeah, no one really talked about it but that was one of my biggest goals and I never really gave up on myself and I always thought—I knew I just had to [inaudible] so I just kept pushing.”
What did you do during the offseason to improve and earn the spot?
“I think I transformed my body and gained good weight, and then I think I just picked up on the playbook more and can really execute it more and stuff like that.”
First week video, how would you grade yourself off that?
“I think I did alright. There’s definitely some things I need to improve on: pass protection I need to get better at, run blocking I need to get better at, and just little things I need to improve.”
When you guys are able to run the ball on third-and-long and get first downs, how much more dangerous does that make you?
“Yeah, that for sure makes us more dangerous because then defensively they never really know what’s going to happen because even if it’s third-and-10 there’s a draw and we can run the ball.”
Were there any nerves on Saturday?
“Yeah, there was a good amount of nerves. I think the first series I was a little nervous and then after that I settled down.”
Can you go over your recruitment a little bit? I know you’d been a Connecticut commit, Cincinnati and then what happens when Jim Harbaugh calls?
“Yeah, so I wasn’t really heavily recruited. I was committed to Connecticut and then my high school coach texted me and was like, ‘Michigan’s going to call you.’ I answered the phone and it was coach Harbaugh and he was like, Hey, we want you to come up to Michigan and take a visit. I came up here and pretty much couldn’t say no.”
What do you think he saw in you at that point?
“I think one of the things I do that a lot of the coaches really like is I play physical, so I think that was one of the things. In high school I think playing physical showed up on my tape.”
[Upchurch]
Lawrence Marshall
How much do you look forward to the home opener and running out there and hitting that banner?
“That’s going to be amazing. Can’t wait for that.”
Is there a difference coming home for the first game in front of the home crowd?
“Yeah, of course there’s a difference running out there and touching the banner, seeing everybody, the students, everything. It’s going to be amazing.”
Is there part of you where humanity sinks in and you look at the schedule; you say, Okay, we beat Florida; you look at the next two games and say not smooth sailing but things look pretty good in our favor coming up here?
“I mean, of course not. I feel like I’m a witness to that because I played at Southfield and we looked past one team in the playoffs and they beat us, so I can’t look past no opponent since then.”
A lot of the coaches say they’re rooting for you and hoping things come around for you. How tough was it the past couple seasons where maybe you put in some work and things don’t pan out the way you hoped they would during the season, and then how rewarding is it this season to have a solid start?
“My mom always told me and my family always told me you’ve always got to trust the process and that’s what I did. I trust the process, trust coach Mattison, and now it’s paid off.”
There were so many different questions coming in this year abut the depth of the defensive line. Being part of the second line of guys, is that motivation for you that you have an opportunity?
“There’s always motivation. Yes, it was motivation to get better and like I said before, to get more reps. With coach Mattison, if he trusts you then you’ll play, so I just tried to gain his trust any way I could.”
With that fumble recovery is something where you just track it down, just keep tracking it?
“To be honest, I wanted the sack. I thought I was going to get the sack. As I was moving I thought about diving for him and I’m like ‘I’m don’t think I’m gonna get him so let me just keep running to the ball.’ Running to the ball paid off.”