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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 24, 2015

Matt Limegrover

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Q. You guys last year (No microphone) injured. Do you gain any confidence from that for this year?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, one of the things is going back and taking a look at that, I felt like at times we did a good job of taking what they gave us. They're a darn good defense, and some of the things is that they don't give you something for very long. They're great at making adjustments, and that's what we were able to go back and take a look at this year.

There were some things that were working for us early against them that kind of dried up. They made some adjustments. So now it's the chess game, being one more year into it. Their defense, Coach Aranda does a great job with them, and they made some adjustments to it. So now we feel like the ball's back in our court to make some counter moves there and do some things. So we've been studying a lot of our game from last year.

Q. Is it that they're doing all three? What makes them so good defensively this year?
COACH LIMEGROVER: You know what? When you play the 3-4, a lot more teams are going to it, but on our schedule we don't see it a whole lot. It's like a defense having to prepare for option. What happens is it's just different. Your combinations up front are different. Who is dropping, who is rushing from a quarterback standpoint, even though on the back end they're going to be pretty much similar to a lot of other people we see, it's who is getting to those spots if they're playing zone coverage.

Really, I think they've just bought into their system. I think they've got players that fit really well, with it being year three. I felt like the first year we went back and watched the game from two years ago. They didn't play much of the 3-4. I don't even think they felt comfortable with how the pieces fit that first year. But you can see each year they play it more and more to where I really think their personnel-wise are fitting really well into what they want to do scheme-wise.

Q. How much does it help you to have Mitch who has seen it, studied now extensively as much as he could probably the last would years?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Any veterans that you have, like I said, I think Tracy would tell you the same thing, as a defensive coach, when you are preparing for something that you don't see every week that your defense doesn't necessarily do to you in practice, what have you, there are always those challenges. So the more guys you have that have been through that and been through it for a couple of years and been able to see it and digest it, the better off you're going to be. Definitely having your trigger man be a guy who has seen that is definitely an advantage for sure.

Q. How much leeway does Mitch have to change a play at the line of scrimmage, and how much success has he had at it?
COACH LIMEGROVER: As the year has gone on, early in the year we wanted to get him comfortable, so there wasn't a whole lot of that going on early in the year. But as with anything, he's gotten more comfortable and just going out there and playing and feels better about the nuances of the offense and feels more confident.

So when that happens, a kid tends to say, hey, give me more. I'm ready to take on more, but there's been a little more each and every week. That's great, because when you really are going at all cylinders offensively, at least in what we do, you'd like to have 70 to 75% of all your snaps be controlled at the line by the quarterback to get you in the best play possible.

Q. Is Brooks a physical runner? Again, he's had a number of big runs. Do you see that part of his game?
COACH LIMEGROVER: No, the physical part is the part that's impressed me the most. We knew he was a kid that had some breakaway speed and had some shiftiness. But our big concern early on was was he going to be physical enough in the Big Ten, ironically enough. As we went through the season -- because it's hard in this day and age with football, it's hard to know how kids are going to tackle in fall camp. How kids are going to handle being tackled because you don't do it nearly as much as you used to. So it really was the good looks we had a chance to see of Shannon as once the season started.

That's why we kind of realized, okay, this is a kid that he was kind of a high school kid. He broke a lot of runs, a lot of long run. He was shifty. But the physical part was a pleasant surprise for us. We knew he was a tough kid, but not as punishing as he'd like to be. Actually Tracy was joking. He had a chance on one run to maybe juke a safety, and he decided he wanted to go right down the middle of him. Tracy said that's good once in a while. But every once in a while you may want to take that shoulder away, get outside, and get a few extra yards. So he's learning. But the physical part has definitely been a really nice surprise for us.

Q. Could you play he and Rodney in the back field at the same time when they're both healthy? Is that an option? Is that something you look at?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, and I tell you one of the things that helps us is they've both got really, really good football IQs. They can do a lot of different things. That helps you from the standpoint of the versatility part. The tough thing is just knowing that they're both going to be healthy or feeling confident that come Saturday those guys are both healthy type of thing. That's what's held us back in something like that.

We have done that in the past at other places when you have two guys, and it really, the great thing about it is neither one of them are afraid to step up and block.

It gets to that point where when those kids want to do that so they're on the field, then you know you've got something good.

Q. Are you thinking, what next?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, yeah. You know what though? It's a great example of when Jonah goes out, I don't have any idea. Some people are saying it's a helmet. Some people are saying it's an injury. Chad Fahning runs in there, and he's a kid that at the beginning of the year, that light wasn't too bright at the end of the tunnel for him being able to play. He was a work team guy, just a guy helping out. But he paid attention, took advantage of whenever I needed somebody, he would step in. Knew exactly what he needed to do, and he went running in there, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't holding my breath.

We're trying in two minute to go down and score, and he's going against a pretty good pass-rusher kid from Illinois. He held his own. I'm proud of him because that shows a kid that even though, like I said, that light wasn't very bright, but he stuck with it, and he stayed with it, and kind of through attrition he was the next man up and jumped in there and did a great job. So I'm proud of him without a doubt.

Q. You guys have had moving pieces on the offensive line since week one, yet you've kind of shored things up in the pass protection, and Brooks has had big games. What do you look to as some of the keys for the success you've had recently?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think you hit the nail on the head. Any time you can have any continuity on the offensive line, I think that goes a long way. One of the things is that we have three fifth-year seniors in there, and all three of those kids love football. I'd be the first one to tell them if they were sitting here, they're not the most talented kids, but they're warriors.

A kid like Foster Bush, he was starting for us at guard last year early in the season and got replaced. You know what? They're college kids. That is a hard thing for a kid to take. He could have gone the other way. He could have said, okay, I'm going to ride out the string. I'm going to kind of do my thing. He hung in there and in some respects he's been our MVP in the O-line because he's kind of brought it all together. Then Jon Christenson, those guys, I was hoping to get them each 40 snaps a game at left guard and trying to get through the year.

We're ending the season with those two playing both guard spots. Every week they look all crippled up on Sunday, but they're giving me everything they've got. By Tuesday and Wednesday, they're feeling better and we get them going again. So the continuity there and the combination of there is a group of kids there that love to play the game of football, and I think that's really made a big difference.

Q. They really shut down your passing game last year. Part of it was how they shut down Max. And your receiving corps were down, lost Drew last year. How far are you now at receiver compared to going into that game last year?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Well, I think the biggest thing is that it has a lot to do with Mitch. As I talked about before and I think Mitch would be the first one to tell you he had that security blanket with Max last year. And really, their defense did a great job of isolating, making sure that wherever Max went, they were going to have somebody kind of like a box of one in basketball and have some people zoned around him. Max was going to get a lot of attention. I think we have more versatility.

I think we do have more weapons. Like you said, Drew's healthy this year and contributing. Obviously, K.J. has really come on. Rashad still is a guy that people are going to have to keep an eye on because he goes out and makes plays. Then our tight end, we're more pass catching threats with our tight ends. Not just Max and a couple guys that block. Nate Wozniak hasn't had the opportunities that Brandon Lingen has.

But he's a better receiver than what we had last year. So I think the comfort level with Mitch now is I can go through my progression, and it doesn't have to be Max or bus. I have a lot of different people. And if I read it through, somebody's going to be open.

I think that makes a huge difference for him. I think he's finally gotten that comfort level, and that's what we've seen in the last four or five weeks.

Q. (No microphone)?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, not necessarily trying to get the ball to him, but knowing that that position now, especially like you said, in the red zone is more a viable part of the offense. I think the mistake we made sometimes is, as coaches, saying hey, Mitch, you've got to go there to that guy. But what we've started to do is, okay, now you've got 6'6", a kid that can really jump over here. You have a really shifty guy that can catch anything you get near him in K.J.

You've got a nice tight end target. Play it out, read it out. But know that your weapons are there. It isn't just one guy or one thing. But having Rashad, I don't know. We'd probably do the same type of thing that we did at the end of the half, but I don't know the comfort level we're going to have throwing a fade to some of the other guys just because we felt like he could go and go up and get a rebound as good as anybody. This kid was an all-state basketball player in Texas, and he had shown it in practice. So that's a nice additional part of the offense that we're able to develop.

Q. How much does it bother you guys haven't gotten the Axe yet?
COACH LIMEGROVER: You know what? It is a big deal. It's a big deal for everybody involved. I was talking to Adam Weber, and he never won it. Now you're starting to go back to before. I think the biggest thing is as coaches we've got to kind of temper between whipping these guys into a frenzy on Tuesday, but also understanding, hey, this is a big deal for a lot of reasons. We've got to be business-like about it.

But there isn't anybody that walks the halls of this building that doesn't walk down the steps down to the second level where we have the murals and everything and sees that Axe and says, man, I want to grab ahold of that thing.

I told the O-line on Saturday after the game we take a group picture after every time we win one of the trophy games, and I still don't have. I have a space open in my den for one of those, for the Axe. Everybody knows and everybody will be ready to go. Those kids will play their tail ends off. They understand.

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