Illinois Fighting Illini College Football Pregame Quote, 08/23/2021

On the team’s captains:

Those six guys, since the time I arrived to now, have set the tone for the team. To have those six guys leading the charge as our captains is going to be awesome.

On Brandon Peters:

“If you truly sit down and watch him, he has a special arm. He has all of the tools, it just comes down to if he can make the right throws at the right times.

On playbooks:

I don’t want my coordinators to put a playbook in front of me and say ‘This is what we’re running,’ I want to run the playbooks together as a team.

On Nebraska’s Martinez:

Martinez is a very gifted player, very creative. He’s the only 3-time captain in Nebraska history. He’s a staple of their football team. Up front they’re strong, but obviously we just need to make sure we’re playing well, and I’m excited for the opportunity.

On the team’s focus:

One of my mantras is to focus on the next game and get the job done. Just take it one week at a time. The team has been focused on Nebraska since January, but to beat them we have to play ‘Illinois Football.’