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Coach
Carr
Players
Opening Statement:
"It's been awhile, I want to say to my good friend Henry Thurston over
there in Dexter, Michigan I opened up my mail last week, there's a letter in
there and four one dollar bill's that he was contributing to the University
of Michigan Motts children hospital. I think it's that kind of thing that really
touched my heart…that I know they're hard earned dollars. Many of you
may know Henry was written about (in) a feature article several weeks ago in
the Ann Arbor News. Special man I just want to say thanks. I also want to congratulate
the University of Michigan field hockey team. They won the big ten championship
meet and now head on to the NCAAs. I was handing out candy here, several days
ago, Halloween night. In fact I was hoping some of you would drop by because
I had a little trick for you (laughing). Must have been eight or ten members
of the field hockey team showed up at my door. It was the day after the game
and they came over to say congratulations. Also were getting ready to kick off
this woman's basketball season,…the men as well and I wanted to wish them
the best of luck."
"I also last Friday had an opportunity…. Dr. Paul Geekus and his
wife Sue, Dr. Geekus is a long time faculty member here at the University and
they endowed a fellowship in his father and mother's name, John and Minnie.
and that's a wonderful story…in anatomic pathology here at the University.
What a wonderful thing that was, so I just want to tell them how much he's meant
to the University and of course he's meant alot to alot of people here in Michigan
athletics."
"Last week we had an opportunity to catch up on academics. A lot of our
guys are in mid-terms and they have a chance to get some rest we had a chance
to do a little extra preparation in terms of football… work on the fundamentals
some of those areas we would like to improve on. Our coaches had a chance to
do some recruiting late in the week on Thursday and Friday. I'm really pleased
on where we are from a recruiting standpoint. It's not as large of a class that
we would have preferred to have but I really like where we are. I like the guys
were on that have an interest in Michigan and I look forward to signing them
and coaching them when they get here. "
"I look at this Northwestern team it's very impressive football team.
They play very well together where I think it all begins. They play very hard
on both sides of the football. I think they're a much improved football team
than they were a year ago when we played them. It's an experienced, tough, physical
football team they've been impressive in their wins. They have a lot to play
for. So we are hoping to play our best game this coming Saturday."
On Northwestern spread offense and the differences from other spreads
Michigan has faced:
"I think this team is more than the other two, is a football team that
wants to run the football with their running back. Herron is an outstanding
football player. What I like about Herron is that he can catch the football,
he can protect, and he can run the football with power and when he gets out
he can break the big one. For a guy his size he's a very very impressive football
player. They're unlike Purdue, who can run the football but prefer to throw
the ball first. Michigan State obviously used the quarterback as a tailback.
This team wants to be balanced but I think more than anything else, they want
to run the football then go from there. I think they have the ability to check,
I think probably more than the other two, to take what you give them".
On what the bye week did for them healthwise:
"We had a lot of guys that were in the training room and resting, so
we'll know the results on Saturday. That's when you find out what it did for
you. A lot of guys are playing with a lot of bumps and bruises which is very
typical this time of year."
On if he talks to the team about not getting caught up in the bowl
picture:
"I talk to them about what the things are that will cause us to lose.
What are the things that we need to do to win? Understanding that this time
of year you better be paying attention to those issues. There are distractions
out there every week. It may be that you've got all of the critics telling you
what's wrong, what you aren't doing well, and why you aren't good enough. That's
one problem that you have. If you're winning and things are going very well
then you may have to deal with the other part of the coin here they're telling
you how good you are. Regardless of where you are…it's more fun to deal
with the issues of winning and things going well, but the challenges are no
less difficult."
On if he watched other teams play and whether he paid attention the
ramifications of some of those contests during the bye weak:
"Well, I think the worst thing about having an off week is watching games
because the teams I want to win very seldom win (laughing). So I feel like I've
wasted time there. You know what's out there. You can't afford to spend time
worrying about it, concentrating on it, thinking about it, and talking about.
When you're off and you're watching a game, I think it's only natural. Don't
get me wrong…there's no mind control out there. No one has the ability
to completely shut out the arena in which they're in and all of the things that
are going on. But you better be paying attention to what's important."
On if any he has spoken with any potential fifth year guys about whether
or not they'll come back next year:
"Lets just concentrate on this game. I don't worry about that until after
the season. Then they’ll have a chance to make a decision."
On if he has discussed the future with his back up quarterbacks:
"First of all I would say this about Matt Gutierrez…it would be
hard for me to say how much I admire the way he has handled this whole issue
of coming down with a bad shoulder and having to go through a period there where
he wasn't sure what they were going to do. In the meantime he continued to go
out everyday, go to every meeting, and to be a great help to Chad Henne. A lot
of guys are going to wallow in self-pity and make everybody miserable because
they're miserable. I think it takes a special individual to ignore his own discomfort
and his own unhappiness and continue to support those around him. I mean that
just does not happen. That's uncommon and Matt Gutierrez is uncommon. "
"As far as the future, after this season...it's the same thing as with
those guys that may contemplate doing something else…that's in the future.
What I asked Clayton Richard to do when this injury occurred was…I don't
know how it's going to turn out. What I hope you'll do for this team is compete
everyday as hard as you can…compete and prepare like you're going to be
the starter because you’re one snap away. If you do that you're going
to earn the respect and admiration of every single man in this program. That's
worth more than a lot. Then when it's over you can think about what you want
to do. But if you can put all of those thoughts aside and just concentrate on
being prepared and improving because the alternative is just same type of things
we talked about with Matt Gutierrez. Being the back up quarterback is a hard
duty. I've been there and it's a real challenge mentally and emotionally. I
think Clayton Richard has done a remarkable job of doing that."
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