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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY BOWL: NEBRASKA v SOUTHERN CALIFORNIADecember 26, 2014Barney CottonSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Good morning! We are excited to have a full house for the 2014 Holiday Bowl and finally game day tomorrow. We are looking forward to it. We are thrilled and honored to welcome Nebraska and University of Southern California here to San Diego. We are expecting a great game tomorrow. I would like to introduce Nebraska Coach, Barney Cotton. COACH COTTON: Thank you. First of all, I would like to thank the Holiday Bowl for selecting Nebraska to come here to San Diego and play this year. We're very honored to play a tradition‑rich program like USC coached by Coach Steve Sarkisian here, it's an honor to play them and having Nebraska and USC at the same venue. I've never played against USC as a player or a coach and I'm excited for that opportunity. Really thankful to our staff and players. We've gone through some tough circumstances here I'm sure you are all aware of but the way they have attacked this bowl preparation I couldn't be more proud to be standing up here representing them. Been impressed with the facilities. They gave us Southwestern College as our practice site. What a first‑class, brand new facility, our players have enjoyed practicing there, their locker room, their facilities, everything is top notch and also the Marriott Marquis, you couldn't ask for a better headquarters than to stay at the Marriott Marquis our players and families and coaches have really enjoyed staying there. I would like to thank director Bruce Binkowski and his staff of red volunteers, the hospitality here has been amazing. We couldn't ask for a better opportunity or place to place especially he will with the weather and the city of San Diego especially the hospitality showed by Bruce and his staff. Q. Put it into perspective what Nebraska football has meant to you and your family, the time that you coached your sons, the time that you spent there with Corn Huskers. COACH COTTON: This is my fourth stop through Nebraska in the mid to late '70s I came out of Omaha high school, Burke High School in Omaha, played there and was a GA there in the late '80s, got a chance to coordinate with Bo for Frank So in 2003 and I've had a nice seven year run here and I've been very blessed. Even though it's kind of a sad time, it's coming to an end. I couldn't have been more blessed to be back at Nebraska. My folks still live in Omaha, my wife's folks moved back there during the football season and to be able to coach two of my boys through, you know two, five‑year stints and having a third one get you, three years of him, playing there I've been very, very blessed. Q. How much do you expect Randy Gregory to play in the Holiday Bowl? COACH COTTON: Well, he was out for a considerable amount of time from the Iowa game on but, this last week or so he has been full go and done everything at practice and we expect him to be able to perform well. You know tomorrow? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You sure? COACH COTTON: I hope so! We need him to! We need him too! Q. Have you had a chance to talk to Coach Sarkisian, he took over a squad in a situation similar to what you find yourself in, and have you had a chance to talk with Coach Sarkisian about that? COACH COTTON: We just met briefly at the door here and we talked briefly about it and there is some awkwardness about the situation but when you go through a situation like this and I'm sure he could tell you the same thing. You rely on the staff that you have. The guys I work with I couldn't be more blessed to be going out with those other nine guys that I'm working with and our players the way they have attacked this bowl preparation, couldn't ask for anything more. They have been first‑class, high energy. I hope we play that way tomorrow night. But as far as their bowl preparation and the way they have handled this circumstance, couldn't be more proud of them. Q. Barney, how far has some of your back‑up offensive linemen come in the last three weeks and who do you anticipate starting up at center and then at that right tackle spot and how excited are you to see those guys play? COACH COTTON: The guys that will play right tackle, Givens Price and Matt Finnin, they have both played a considerable amount of time because Sterup our starter is out, this is his second knee surgery he'd gone through, so those guys have seen some playin' time, center is a little bit different when you see those two guys driving around in their electric carts after their knee surgery and ankle dislocation. We plan to play a couple guys there, Paul Thurston will play and we have also moved a back‑up guard, Dylan Utter, to center so we plan to play two centers. Q. How excited are you for those guys to get to play? You know Matt and Paul, some of them didn't get a lot of playing time this year but this is a spotlight opportunity? COACH COTTON: Well it really is ‑‑ the way we practice our two's get darn near the same amount of reps that our one's do. I'm glad that Matt got a chance to play three quarters of a game against Iowa and they have a quality front and Paul hadn't played at all and he went in and played against two inside guys at Iowa, two, physical, quality guys and I think that should bode well. Dylan Utter, I think his toughness will get him through cause he's kind of an unproven junkyard dog, but I would put his toughness up against anybody. Q. Coach, what interaction has Coach Reilly had with you and the program leading up to the bowl game if any so far? COACH COTTON: The first night that he was there and introduced to the team I was waiting for him on the third floor and we spent about a half hour together that night and just had a good conversation. For most of the time he was recruiting but he's been the one coach on the second floor in his office so we bumped into him a number of times on the floor. And him and the four assistants that he brought with him and some of his support staff have been to darn near every Lincoln practice that we had once they got off the road recruiting. So we have had some interaction with him, seems like a good guy and he's been very professional during this transition period. Q. Coach, you have a guy in Randy Gregory who is highly touted and Coach Sark has a guy, Leonard Williams who is expected to be a topic in the upcoming draft if he elects to do so. What are your impressions of him and are there any similarities in him and in watching Gregory? COACH COTTON: I think the biggest thing is they're both pretty darn good football players so they cause you a lot of problems. Randy is a quicker, probably more athletic, speed kinda guy, where Leonard is a very physical‑‑ he looks like a big defensive end, that's the way he plays, but he's also big and strong enough to be a real force inside as well. Of all the people we played this year, and we played against some very good D linemen, we think he's as good as we've seen, big, physical, strong, played hard, very long‑armed, good pass rusher, good run defender. We're going to have to do a good job defending him because he does cause an awful lot of havoc. Q. Barney, what do you think from your linebackers tomorrow? You've got Dave and Trevor, do you anticipate either one of those playing? COACH COTTON: I think that we're going to see what they can do today. They began the week practicing is then we kinda held them out. With Banderas has taken an awful lot of snaps and Zaire Anderson is a good player for us. We're not very deep but we're going to put a bunch of linebackers out there. I'm doubtful those guys will play extensively, hopefully we will get a few snaps out of them but we probably won't be able to determine that until after today's practice. We have a pretty normal practice. Our walk‑throughs are two days before the game so we will get a chance to see them move around today if they will be able to go. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. COACH COTTON: Thank you. It's great to be here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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