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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORDDecember 27, 2015LeShun DanielsPasadena, California Q. Did they take you over to the basketball game the other night? LESHUN DANIELS: No. It was only some people that I think already had tickets prior to coming that went. Q. No one had the hookup for you? LESHUN DANIELS: No. Unfortunately we were trying to see if anybody would sell tickets for cheap. Q. They were like $300? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, no one had any luck. Q. I'm going to guess you're a Disney guy, that you liked the Disney park. LESHUN DANIELS: I mean, I had a great time yesterday. That's for sure. I'm a really big Star Wars fan, so going around looking at that stuff was pretty sweet. Q. Did you see the new movie? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, I did see the new movie. Q. What did you think? LESHUN DANIELS: I liked it. It was a different type of Star Wars. Like it was sort of like the old ones a little bit, but I thought it had like a new modern taste to it, and I thought it was pretty good. Q. What has practice been like so far? LESHUN DANIELS: I mean, it's been intense. Ever since we got back to practicing, we've been going at it. We've been doing plenty of Iowa versus Iowa stuff, competing, helping us get our edge back, stuff like that. As we transition into working towards Stanford, I think the guys have been focused. We've been looking at every practice like, okay, we've got to go out here and we've got to make sure we get our work done and prepare so come January 1st we're ready to go. Q. How has your brother handled this whole year? He was playing a lot and then they've kind of stuck with the same five now. LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah. Q. I'm guessing he understands it, but how has he handled that? LESHUN DANIELS: I think he's handled it pretty good. You know, obviously you'd have much rather played a lot more in the last few games than he has, but I think he's handled it pretty good. He's been focused a lot on just getting himself better, preparing himself if he's got to go in there and preparing himself for the next season. So I think he's handled it pretty good, and he's pretty mature for a guy that young. Q. You guys got to pick your roommate on this trip. Is he your roommate? LESHUN DANIELS: No, he's not my roommate. Q. What's up with that? LESHUN DANIELS: I'll usually let him room with his friends or whatever. If he wanted to be my roommate, I was obviously not going to deny him, but no, I'll let him be with his friends. Q. How have you guys handled this at running back with kind of the separation of carries, and everybody has been a star for a different game? LESHUN DANIELS: You know, I mean, we enjoy it. We've been loving it because obviously we're a close group of guys, but we love to compete. We love to compete, so every day at practice obviously we're trying to outdo each other and stuff like that. But come game time, we're always pulling for each other to do well, and I really think that's what's really helped us be successful because we know when it comes game time whoever is out there making plays, we believe in them, and we're going to be behind them 100 percent. Obviously each game we've had different stars and stuff like that, so I really just think us being close like that really prevents any of us from being selfish and helps us be successful. Q. Tell me about Graham. We don't get to see him or talk to him. What do you see from him? LESHUN DANIELS: He's a confident guy. Every day after practice he always comes over to us, the older running backs, talking about how he's always doing the scout team, just popping off runs and stuff like that. I've seen him work. He's a talented kid, and I really think that in the future years, as long as he can be mature, stuff like that, and grow older and understand what it takes to be a great Iowa football player, I think he'll be fantastic. Q. What are you going to miss most about Canzeri? LESHUN DANIELS: Just the type of guy he is, because obviously he's a great player and he does great things for us as a team, but I mean, he's a great guy off the field, and we do -- we always hang out, stuff like that. Being around him is just fun, so obviously not having him here next year I think is going to hurt us a little bit, but I think it's going to hurt him not being around as a person more than as a football player, and I think that says a lot. Q. Is he just a real high-character guy? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah. Q. It's kind of rubbed off on you guys, the responsibility side? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, because he does everything you would want an Iowa football player to do. He does plenty of community service. He works with youth groups. He does all types of great stuff, and obviously he's just a great person. Q. Have you gotten involved in a lot of that, and what's the most meaningful thing you've done? LESHUN DANIELS: I've done a little bit. He sometimes like invites me whenever he's working with a group of kids or whatever, might have been like three weeks ago. I haven't really done many hospital visits, so we actually went to some kid's birthday party that he knew at this bowling alley and there was like a whole bunch of kids, and it was just fun talking to them. Obviously they wanted pictures and all that good stuff. It's just been -- it's fun whenever he invites you over to do stuff like that. Q. So we're in Hollywood and you like movies. Have you gone out to see a movie? Did you go for the Chinese Theater or anything, Walk of Fame? LESHUN DANIELS: Well, the first night, yeah, we were on Hollywood Boulevard walking through, looking at all the stars and stuff like that on the ground, all the people are out there, stuff like that. I mean, it was obviously different. The people here are obviously much different than what you expect in Iowa and then obviously Ohio. But it's obviously stuff you've got to look at and stuff. Q. Have you had fun? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah. I mean, I've been enjoying myself. Obviously outside of practice, stuff like that, being able to go and do things you would want to do when you're in LA, going to shops, enjoying the scenery and the people, stuff like that. Q. What's it like when the Hawk fans take over like they did in Indiana? They're going to do it here. LESHUN DANIELS: Madness. I mean, I don't know if it was true or not, but how like when the Hawk fans came to Indianapolis, how bars were running out of beer and stuff like that. I mean, it's something else. Obviously that Big Ten Championship Game was wild. That was almost like a home game it felt like, the number of Hawk fans that were there. For them to give us that kind of support is obviously huge for our team. It helps us get through stuff, and we just want to do our best to keep them juiced. Q. Did your dad ever play in a Rose Bowl? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, he did. Q. What has he told you about what this was going to be like? LESHUN DANIELS: It's crazy. He just talked about how he'd do all these events throughout the week leading up to the game, and how when it comes game time it's just a totally different environment, different than anything you expect in the regular season because everything is amplified and you're always playing against another great team and quality opponent, and obviously you're on a national scale and everybody is watching you, so it's a big game. You've just got to make sure that -- he always says you've got to make sure you control your emotions and you just do things that have got you to that point. Q. How much do you lean on him? LESHUN DANIELS: A lot. I mean, we talk -- me and James, we usually talk to him pretty much every day, stuff like that, just talking about just football, school, all types of different things. I mean, obviously he's a big part in my life, so it's good to have him there. Q. Who's going to kill it at the feast thing tonight? LESHUN DANIELS: I'm not even sure. I mean, I don't really know much about what it even is. Q. Is Doyle just going to be standing there watching everybody? LESHUN DANIELS: Probably. I wouldn't be surprised. It'll be fun. Q. (Inaudible.) LESHUN DANIELS: You know, you've just got to go back to the drawing board and look at things that you did successful in previous games. After that game I was disappointed. I was disappointed obviously that we lost, but I was disappointed in my performance. I feel like I could have played better, I could have ran better. After that game I went back and I looked at the film from that game, and then I looked at the film from previous games when I've been successful. So it was just the common denominator, I think I was just rushing things a little bit too much come game time. I feel like I wasn't rushing the hole enough, really being definite in my reads and stuff like that and being more downhill. I felt like I was jump cutting, being too much lateral, which made it easier for them to make tackles on me and stuff like that. As we've gotten into bowl prep, I've just make sure that I'm really just focusing on my reads, inside zones, outside zones, power plays, stuff like that, to make sure that come game time I can be successful how I have been in previous games so I can play better than I did in the Big Ten Championship. Q. Did Coach White yell at you when you started to go lateral, because you can do it. Do you get yelled at it when you do it, because Minnesota you were right, you were pressing the hole and you were downfield and five yards into -- you were almost to the second level four steps into it, which is where I think all running backs want to be, right? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah. He gets on me. He gets on all of us, especially me. I tell him to get on me if I'm doing something wrong, like let me know, don't try and baby it or go around the thing. But yeah, I mean, we both know that I'm much better at running downhill than obviously laterally, so he's like, if you can just stick your foot in the ground and obviously if there's no space for you to run, make space, because you're a strong guy, so you're going to get three, four, five yards if you just put your foot in the ground and get your pads down and go make yards. Yeah, those were some things that he was talking about after the Michigan State game and just me making my reads more defined and stuff like that. You know, I really think it's going to help me obviously in the Rose Bowl and obviously in the future, next year. Q. Do you know what kind of running back you want to be and what kind of running back you are? LESHUN DANIELS: I know -- Q. I know it's a silly question. LESHUN DANIELS: I know that obviously my game is running downhill and stuff like that. I know that when I'm running straight ahead, I know it's a lot harder for people to tackle me obviously then when I'm going lateral. He can make cuts that I've never even seen before. It's unreal. Q. But what you do is similar. 225 pounds is also one thing a running back wants and needs to be, right? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, you want to be a bigger guy to make it tougher for people to tackle you, when you have to run through an arm tackle and stuff like that. I try to use like some of the stuff Akrum does, maybe to get me out of a bad situation, stuff like that. But yeah, I want to be downhill. I want to make my presence felt obviously on a defensive back if they come up and try to tackle me. So that's the kind of back that I want to be at least, and when it comes to making a move in the open field, obviously you want to do that, also. Q. And you felt that this year, I know you did, Minnesota, Illinois State, and then Iowa State before you got hurt, you would have had 120 in that game? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, because I can do it. Obviously throughout the off-season I worked extremely hard to improve to change direction, and obviously that came a little bit, so yeah, I can do that stuff whenever it comes down to it. I like to use it when I can, but for the most part I want to be downhill because I know that with my size and the linear speed that I have, it makes it much more difficult on people to tackle me. Q. What's the funnest thing you've done out here so far? LESHUN DANIELS: Out here? I don't know, I think it's probably a tie between Disneyland and then just walking around on Hollywood Boulevard. Q. What's the weirdest thing you saw on Hollywood Boulevard? LESHUN DANIELS: There was just people like dressed up in costumes and all types of -- there was like Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man, dude from The Hangover with the baby. There was all kinds of weird stuff. It was a weird place. But it was fun to see all that type of stuff around. Q. And you have to go check it out when you're here, right? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah, I mean, it's only right. If you're going to be out here, you might as well go look at that stuff. Q. I read a little bit this year about how Coach Ferentz mentioned your dog and your brother, your youngest brother. Do you remember that? LESHUN DANIELS: Yeah. Mocha is my dog's name, and Ellis is my little brother's name, and those two together are something else. They're always running -- I remember one thing, when Coach Ferentz and Coach Brian Ferentz came to my house way back when before I obviously came here, those two were just running around and causing havoc and stuff like that. Those are two energetic groups of beings. They're something else to be around, but they're great to be around because they give you energy. They give you plenty of energy, so there's never a dull moment around those two. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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