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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 6, 2008

Kevin Koger

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Kevin Koger.

Q. Kevin, did you think it was realistic you'd play this year let alone start?
KEVIN KOGER: When they were recruiting me they said everybody would have the same chance to start and play. So during camp I was getting reps, I was getting a chance to play, so I showed them what I could do.
I finally got my first start last week. I never thought it would happen this early in my career.

Q. In what ways did you progress quickly this year? What area do you feel yourself getting better at?
KEVIN KOGER: I feel my block has really improved since high school. High school I had a good coach, but he didn't really teach me the steps and hand placement. When I got here Coach Magee really helped me with my blocking. It's improved over the past couple months.

Q. Coach was talking about too much soft play. How does that motivate players?
KEVIN KOGER: I really don't think our team is soft. I feel we just have moments where it appears we're soft. So I think we need to have less of those moments and more getting after every play.

Q. What did he say to you yesterday after reviewing the tape and watching the film of that game?
KEVIN KOGER: I mean we just have to execute, really. We're there. I mean, we're getting better every week but not showing. We're executing better every week and we have to show next week we're getting better.

Q. Coach said there is a toughness problem, usually that means tougher days in practice. Players' eyes get a little big when they heard that? Thinking, oh, gee, what is coach thinking?
KEVIN KOGER: I don't think players' eyes are getting bigger. People know. We're physical, but we could be more physical. So I mean, longer and harder practices really doesn't faze us. We've just got to get after it more.

Q. Facing Toledo this weekend, what does that mean for you being a local kid from that town?
KEVIN KOGER: I know a couple people on the team. Some of them were my friends in high school. I played against a couple of them in high school.
So it's a special game, but it is another game. It's Toledo, but it's another team on the schedule, I have to play the same way. I can't play them special, so.

Q. Who are those guys?
KEVIN KOGER: Devon McCreary, a red shirt freshman. Beau Norton, he's a freshman. He was on my Windward team. I remember playing against Morgan Williams, Aaron Opelt, met Danny Noble one time. So a couple people off the top of my head.

Q. You say it's just another game, but when you were getting recruited and signed and everything, did you circle the Toledo date? You had to know they would be playing here?
KEVIN KOGER: Yeah, I noticed. When the schedules came out that Michigan was playing Toledo. It kind of stood out to me because I really didn't know that they were going to play each other. So it kind of surprise med in a way.

Q. Do you have lots of family are they going to be coming up for the game like that?
KEVIN KOGER: Not much family, but more friends than anything. A lot of people have been telling me they'll be up here October 11 to see the game. So we'll find out what happens.

Q. Who are they going to be rooting for?
KEVIN KOGER: I really don't know. Just a good game, hopefully.

Q. Instead of red shirting this year, you've got a chance to play. We talked to you media day, you were still kind of learning the whole thing. How far have you looked at it and when did it start clicking this would be a year you'd get playing time?
KEVIN KOGER: I think the second and third game of the season I started getting more reps and more reps. The team was really competitive, so I had to go out there every day and try to prove myself.
You know, just stuff happened and I got my chance, I did everything I could to keep it.

Q. You would be frustrated as an offensive unit when you looked at the film about the missed opportunities? Was that the case?
KEVIN KOGER: I think frustration is an understatement. We left a lot of plays on the field, lot of yards. We could have executed like I said before, better. We watched the film to see what we could do better. But Illinois is a great team, you have to give them credit.

Q. How much time have you spent studying that playbook? Coach is talking about being ready?
KEVIN KOGER: It's a lot different than high school because there's more plays, they're more complex. So you have to study all the time. Then we're putting new stuff in every week. So you've got to study the new stuff on top of the old stuff so you don't forget the old stuff. So it's been challenging, but I think I've been able to handle it.

Q. Take us back through the moments when you were told you could get in the game and get contact on the first touchdown pass?
KEVIN KOGER: Coach told me to be ready last week. So I was ready on the sideline. Somebody finally told me I was going in, I thought we were trying to play a joke on me.
I asked coach and he told me I was in. I was nervous, but after a couple of plays I felt like just at practice. I calmed down, and Steve threw it to me and I caught it.

Q. What was that like when that sunk in? You were in the end zone, ball in hand. What was that like?
KEVIN KOGER: I didn't even realize I had caught the ball until I was in the end zone. So it was a different feeling. It was a great throw by Steve. So everything we practiced, so, it was different, a lot different.

Q. Pretty disappointing this past weekend when you hadn't caught your second one and you saw the penalty flag on the ground?
KEVIN KOGER: Yeah, I didn't even know it was a penalty until I got to the sidelines. I didn't know it was the penalty was going to until halftime.
It happens. We still scored. Greg Matthews had a great catch in the end zone. So we still had points on the board, so it really didn't bother me that much.

Q. Have you spoken to any of your buddies like Beau or any of them?
KEVIN KOGER: I went home on the bye week and I talked to Beau a little bit. I haven't talked to him a lot. But Devon, I talk to him basically every day, we just joke around about the game. I talk to him mostly every day.

End of FastScripts

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