Kirk Ferentz previews UCLA game

While it won’t be a Rose Bowl game, the Iowa Hawkeyes will be playing in the Rose Bowl on Friday night when they travel to Los Angeles to face the UCLA Bruins. Kirk Ferentz spoke to the media on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming game and the challenge of facing the new Big Ten team, plus he updates Iowa’s injury situation.

KIRK FERENTZ: Appreciate everybody being here. It’s kind of weird, we have three games left. Two of them are short-week games. The schedule is a little bit different than normal. Then you have a bye week on top of it. It’s kind of interesting that way.

Going back to Wisconsin a little bit, and then I’ll talk about UCLA. Really happy to get the win. I thought it was a solid performance by our team in a great environment and the crowd was really good, so appreciate that certainly. I think we had a good week of prep and really did a pretty good job in all three areas. Pleased for Kaleb Johnson to be recognized for his efforts (Big Ten weekly honor) and all the guys that helped make that possible. Really happy about that.

I also want to congratulate Jay Higgins on being a Butkus semifinalist. Jay is, as you well know, a tremendous person, excellent leader, and obviously a good football player. We have a couple really good linebackers in this game, coincidentally.

Looking at the film Sunday, there’s always things to get better at, things that we can get smoother at and clean up a little bit. That’s part of the task this week as well as getting ready for our opponent.

This week, short week for us, and certainly a tough challenge.

Captains, we have Jay Higgins, Quinn Schulte, Luke Lachey and Logan Jones.

Medically, not a lot of updates. Luke I think has a chance. He’s a little bit limited right now, but practicing, and we’ll see how it goes this week. I think he’s close. But we have to plan to go without him, and the guys have stepped in working in his spot have done a nice job, so we’ll see what the week looks like on that front. Cade will not make the game. He will not be ready to go. Hopefully during the bye week we can get him back and running a little bit. Otherwise, pretty much things are status quo.

We see an impressive football team with UCLA. They’re playing well right now. I think there are probably three key things you have to look at when you look at their team right now and their season thus far. In some ways it’s a little bit like when we played Washington, but first and foremost, they have a new staff with a lot of new faces on it, so that’s one thing, and then a fair amount of new players, as well.

Second thing is the schedule that they have played thus far. They started out with an away trip to Hawai’i, which is no piece of cake, played midday out there, then came back, and they played Indiana, LSU, Oregon and Penn State. That’s a pretty steep challenge, four teams in the top 12. Pretty impressive there.

The third thing, you look at what they’ve done the last three games and they really looked like a good football team. Tough loss to Minnesota a couple weeks ago, and then they’ve gone on the road and won twice impressively, at Rutgers and last week at Nebraska.

One thing that jumped out at me in both of the last two games, the home team got one possession in the first quarter. Nebraska had three plays offense first quarter and I think in the Rutgers series I think they had one possession, eight or nine plays. Other than that, that’s all they had the ball.

UCLA went on the road and controlled the ball in the first half in both those games. Did a good job there.

Coach Foster is a UCLA Bruin. He played there and had an outstanding career. He played in the NFL and has spent most of his coaching career back at UCLA and is doing a really good job.

Then it’s kind of a contrast, if you will. Their defensive staff has got a collegiate background. Coordinator has been at UCLA a couple years, but prior to that played up at Washington, coached and played up there, has got a good resume, and they’re doing a good job. Then offensively ,a real pro flavor with Eric Bieniemy, another really good running back coaching the offense, and Juan Castillo is a longtime NFL line coach. His son Greg played for us, and Greg is with the Chiefs now, doing a great job in their personnel college scouting. So a little bit of a pro flavor but a little bit of contrast.

The quarterback is really playing well, doing a great job leading them.

Defensively, they’re extremely active, extremely aggressive, extremely athletic, and I mentioned the linebacker earlier, Carson Schwesinger is a good football player. He can play and you’d better have him accounted for each and every play. Same thing on special teams. He’s an active player, walk-on as I understand it, and I’ll tell you, he’s active. He’s disruptive and good football player, but all those guys go hard to the ball. It’s impressive.

Then their special teams look to be really good in all phases, and they’ve settled in on their specialists. They went back and forth a little bit earlier, but I think they’re in a good place there.

All in all, just a tough football team to play against, and then the last thing, the venue, obviously, is different and unique. I’d compare it to when we went to Wrigley last year, a little bit of a change of pace from what we’re used to, and certainly playing in the Rose Bowl, it’s a very historic venue as all of you know, and it’ll be interesting to be there for an away game in conference play.

Then last thing, our Kid Captain, we’ve got nine year old Nataleigh Mochal. She’s from Oelwein, and she was born prematurely over at the Stead Family Hospital. She was born at one pound, five ounces, if you can imagine, had a few surgeries in the first couple weeks. Her blood system needed some regulation, so they took care of that. Spent four months getting stronger, getting healthier, then has come out and has had a few bumps in the road, but today she’s a really healthy, active fourth grader, and I’m told she’s a real enthusiast for dance, softball, volleyball. Mom’s nickname for her is “Spitfire,” so that gives you a little bit of an idea who she is and what she is. Just, again, a great story and a great example of the work that gets done across the street. Just happy that she’s up and running and doing a great job, and we’ll be honored to be thinking about her this weekend.

With that, I’ll throw it out for questions.

Q. I wanted to ask you about how this week has been condensed and the preparation and how it may be different. Is it any different at all from what you had experienced going to Maryland a few years ago, or is it just, hey, it’s just another hour and 20 minutes in the air and that’s the only difference that you’re running into?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, that’s probably the best comparative really. It’s different, now you’re going West Coast versus East Coast, but we’re probably handling it pretty much the same as we did that trip. We didn’t make a big deal of it. I told the team, when I was at Maine we drove to Rutgers, whatever that was, nine or ten hours, which we split up going down, but coming back it was a straight shot. So this is not exactly a big challenge that way. The weather will probably be a little better, too.

So we’re trying to minimize all that. It’s another away game. It is a short week, and we’ve had, I think, 11 of those since ’15. It just is what it is and it’s kind of part of college football nowadays.

Q. Ethan Garbers I don’t think probably gets enough credit nationally for what he’s been able to do with that offense. The running game hasn’t been there this season. What stands out to you about his game and how he has control of that offense and quite frankly has done whatever he’s wanted to do the past few weeks?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, he has. He’s thrown the ball well, efficiently, and getting it to a lot of different people, including the backs. Doing a good job there. Then the last couple weeks he’s pulled it down and made some big runs, too. If you’re not sound in what you do defensively, he’s not afraid to do that.

I wouldn’t describe him as a run primary quarterback, but he’s a guy who can do that. It’s one more way you can get hurt defensively. In the last two wins those were key plays.

Q. I’m guessing in 1981 if you hadn’t before you realized kind of what the Rose Bowl meant to Iowa, Big Ten. You’re 0 for 3 as a coach there, assistant and head coach. What does this mean to you personally and also just knowing that Iowa hasn’t won inside the Rose Bowl in 66 years?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, we did really well there in the ’50s, right? Really well.

It’s funny you bring that up because after our Washington game I got a very nice text from one of our good players from that team, and he says he still carries a little scar tissue from that day.

I still remember a punt that went about 70 yards. Reggie punted it about 70 yards and we had the offensive line in those days covering the punt, so you can just imagine the visual, the gap between the ball and the wave coming to cover. You talk about bad football.

But the thing I remember about the Rose Bowl, me personally, is had a chance in the two that I was there, four as an assistant, to be involved in game where two of the best coaches in my lifetime were on the other sideline, Don James, Washington, and Coach Donahue with UCLA. I think two of the better coaches certainly in the last, whatever it is, 40 years.

But yeah, we haven’t had a good memory there. I haven’t had one personally. It’s not like we get there that often, but when you do get there, you hope you can have something good come out of it.

The only parallel I can give you, we never won in Pittsburgh when I was in the NFL, my hometown, but at least we were able to change that here, so maybe we can break the streak here hopefully.

Q. You had an opening at offensive line coach a few years ago. What do you remember about what stood out about George during that process and kind of made you feel confident in that hire?

KIRK FERENTZ: First and foremost, anytime we hire anybody, you want to talk to people that really know him and that have worked with him. One of the guys I really have a ton of respect for in this profession actually worked with George at Illinois and basically mentored him. He spoke very highly of George.

Then we had breakfast when he came in and then started talking football, and it was probably five minutes into the conversation where I felt pretty good about things, and then coincidentally Brock Spack told me the exact same thing when Brock hired him at Illinois State. He said, five minutes into the interview, it’s like, this is our guy.

I have a lot of respect for Brock. I have ever since I got back here 26 years ago when he was at Purdue and then certainly at Illinois State.

But you have to get someone who you think is competent at the coaching component of it, but also they have to be people that are going to bring something to our staff, something different, unique, but also be team players. We ask our players to be part of a team, and it’s the same thing with the coaching staff, and I’ve seen it both ways. It’s just good to get guys that are focused on moving the team forward, and George fits all those categories. He’s a good teacher, just a really good human being, great family, and that’s not a requisite, but it’s a sidecar, if you will, and a positive thing.

He’s done a great job, and I know out there he gets maligned a little bit. I guess that’s after the quarterback, after the coordinator, but offensive line coaches catch a lot of crap, too, and it doesn’t seem to faze him. He keeps working and keeps coaching.

Q. I know Xavier had a bit of a rocky start to the season and then bounced back. Had a career game I think it was against Washington. What have you seen from him because he said he’s never really had a season like this. Being a five-star guy I imagine he could do whatever he wanted in high school and it was a bit of a dip to start and now he’s performing really well. What have you seen from him throughout the season?

KIRK FERENTZ: I don’t feel badly for guys that are highly ranked, but I’ll go back 26 years ago when I got here, there was somebody on our roster who was playing okay, but everywhere I’d go people would ask about how so-and-so is doing. When you come in with a lot of notoriety, it’s not always fair, and I don’t think he asked for it. It’s just something that happened. He had a really good career at Southeast Polk, obviously.

But it’s an adjustment coming here just like when you go to the NFL if you’re lucky enough to go there. That’s a big adjustment. There’s a lot to learn.

The unfairness part of it, and you can’t change it, I understand that, and I’m not complaining about it, but it’s sometimes the expectations aren’t realistic to what a player has to do, and there’s a lot to learn, and playing in the back end for us, especially those safety positions, a lot of communication, a lot of things those guys are responsible for. So it’s not easy.

Since he’s been here, I want to say this, and I say this in a positive way. Not that all five-stars have arrogance to them, but you would never know he was five-star or no-star. He’s been the same guy every day since he’s been here, just a humble, hardworking guy, great person, positive attitude, and everything you want in a player.

It’s fun to see guys have success, and Marshal Yanda stood back there last Friday talking to our guys about being molded through failure as a player. He experienced it a lot, and he experienced a lot in the NFL, too, and ends up being an eight-time Pro Bowl player.

But the rest of the story was it didn’t just happen for him. He really had to work his way up through injury, being benched, disappointment, all that stuff, but he just kept working. That’s what you look for with any player.

So I’m happy for all our guys when it starts becoming fun for them.

Q. Zach Ortwerth, what stood out to you about him over these last two years and what was it about him that prepared him for kind of being thrown into the mix both these years with injuries?

KIRK FERENTZ: I can’t say what prepared him for it, but his recruitment is kind of interesting. Gary Kornfeld was the coach down there, has since retired, but Gary was an assistant when I used to recruit down there in the ’80s, so I’ve known him a long time.

He called, I don’t know what year it would have been, maybe 10th grade, 11th grade for Zach and just said here’s a guy you ought to keep an eye on, and he doesn’t call very often, so we appreciated that. We were able to get in early with Zach and our message resonated with he and his family.

I can’t say enough about him, the way he’s stepped in. He just plays. He’s not a 4.4 guy or a 270-pound guy, but he’s a good football player, and he’s mentally tough. He has to be because he played last year as a freshman.

This year he’s all of a sudden now carrying a heavy load and it doesn’t seem to faze him at all. He’s been the same guy since he’s been here, which I think is impressive.

I have to throw in Johnny Pascuzzi and Hayden Large, too, because we’ve got a couple pretty good players out right now, and nobody has talked about it. We’re not making it a big deal, but those guys have really done a good job. That’s what you look for. That’s what you hope you have on a team, when guys are ready to go in there and take advantage of opportunity.

All those guys are doing a good job, but Zach has been really impressive with what he’s done so far.

Q. I know after last week’s game you mentioned that you were a little bit surprised at just how dominant you were in a rivalry like Iowa-Wisconsin but overall with the run game you guys are first in the Big Ten in rushing yards, 10th overall in the country. Are you surprised in a way with how effective this run game has come together over the course of the whole season?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yes and no. The no part would be all those guys. But like the line, I thought we had the potential. I suggested that back in August, that maybe we’re getting close to where we’d like to be, and we haven’t been there. I’ve said that very openly for the last couple years. It’s a long litany of things, and it really doesn’t matter at this point.

But the bottom line is these guys have fought through injury. They’ve fought through the scar tissue that they’ve got. When Yanda talked about being molded by failure, I think all those guys could have put their hand up.

All the stuff that has happened, they just kept pushing, and George kept encouraging them. We’re starting to see them develope some confidence, true confidence in themselves, and they should because they’ve worked hard. So that has helped.

Our tight ends are doing a good job. Our receivers are doing a good job in the blocking game.

I’ll go back to when I was in the NFL, you watch — in those days, it was the Broncos and then pretty soon Kansas City, those teams that ran the ball well. Those receivers were doing a good job blocking.

Then the other component is Kaleb. I think all our backs are running really well right now, but Kaleb has taken clearly another step. We talked about Xavier a little while ago. It’s year three, and just in general terms, that seems to be where guys really start to get traction. I’m fine if they get it sooner than that, but year three is usually kind of an area where guys really start to figure out how to play and how to do things. Not just on the field but also off the field and the little things that make a difference in being successful. Kaleb has been extremely focused and just playing outstanding football right now.

Q. It feels like maybe after that Michigan State game, things could have wobbled and gone the wrong direction, but the last two weeks, 40 points in each game. Have you seen a renewed energy or confidence once things started rolling and got in your favor just a little bit?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, it’s all about learning, and every season — every moment teaches you something typically. The bottom line is the week wasn’t good enough prior to Michigan State in retrospect, and certainly what we did in that game — you’re not going to win a lot of Big Ten games playing the way we played. It is what it is. We own that film. Your film is your resume.

The question is was that one of those nights, was that one of those learning experiences, or is it going to be a tendency or a trend. Everybody has got a choice there.

I give our guys credit. They got back on their feet. I think we were better focused and came up with a win the next week and then came back to work following that and had the right focus and moved forward.

But the season is full of twists and turns. I say it every year, you just never know what they’re going to be or when they’re going to happen. It’s really a matter of how can you navigate through the ups and the downs. The downs are hard, but it’s part of what we do, so you’ve got to be able to deal with it.

Q. We know next to nothing about Jackson Stratton —

KIRK FERENTZ: Do you know his nickname?

Q. No.

KIRK FERENTZ: I’m not going to go there.

Q. Oh, come on.

KIRK FERENTZ: Shaggy. Like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.

Q. You referenced in the postgame Marco got hurt in Monday’s practice, so obviously Jackson didn’t start the week as the No. 2 quarterback. How have you seen him getting thrust into this? How have you seen him adjust to this? Is it better this week now that he’s getting the full two reps, and what would it be like if he got in a game?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, that’s a great question right there. It’s still interesting how guys get here sometimes. I’ve said that about Hayden Large. Tim was out there checking out some quarterbacks back in the spring and stopped by in San Diego and saw Jackson. He had played for Colorado State last year, was there and looking to go somewhere else.

It’s funny how it worked out, but he ended up coming. Had his mom and dad here when we had a luncheon for all the newcomers in August, and great people. None of us envisioned this happening, but he impressed us in camp. He can throw the ball really well.

But then you kind of start getting in game mode and all that kind of stuff, so we really didn’t see him much. I thought he did a really good job last week. End of the week, I think maybe it started — reality dawned on him a little bit, like oh, I could be in there. I think all of us are trying not to think too hard about that right now.

But if he goes in, he’s practiced well this week, he’s really learning, and he’s a very capable thrower. That’s his strength, and we’ll see what happens. But hopefully we just kind of keep the status quo and just keep moving. But he’s done a good job.

Q. As the years go on, we kind of draw parallels to the past from some of the previous teams you’ve coached, and this one to me kind of reminds me of ’08 and especially on the offensive side of the ball because ’07 you had a lot of injuries, Bruggeman taken taking out right at the end of camp, all those things, and really struggling, but then in ’08 it gradually got better and better and the running game was fantastic. Do I see it right, that there’s some sort of level of similarities between the offensive line especially and the growth that they made, and did you draw any kind of — did you look back yourself and kind of see how things progressed as maybe a guide or a lesson or something?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, all the time. To the point earlier about guys coming in ranked, the first thing I think about with those guys is like Dace Richardson, who was highly acclaimed and rightfully so, he was the real deal, and how injuries affected his career. That’s the hard part because there’s not a better young guy than Dace. Tremendous person who’s such a good player. He and Tony Moeaki, same high school. But just had a tough time here with the injury thing, and it’s a shame. So this isn’t always fair, so it’s a hard thing.

But yeah, that line went through a lot of stuff, and then in ’08 we started getting a little confidence and getting things going a little bit and Shonn obviously ran the ball really well. If we can — the point to the players is that there’s parallels thus far, but it’s all about how you finish. That team finished. I think we won six out of seven or something like that and really played well, once we got through that 3-3 span, that 3-3 game deal.

But it takes the right kind of people, and at least our guys are working at it, and we’ll see what happens here in the next couple weeks.

Q. We’ve seen Jaylen Watson get meaningful snaps as a true freshman. What has he done to earn that opportunity so early?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, he’s just done a good job in practice basically, and then the other part is that we’ve had some attrition. Nestor is out with a hamstring, so it opens the door for somebody to jump in there and get an opportunity, and Jaylen has been doing a good job. He had an injury in camp, missed a lot of time in August, so he’s overcome that and impressed — and he’s been on the scout team. He’s been working with the defense a little bit. Now I think he gets a chance to be with the defense.

But it’s all about what he does moving forward. He’s a good prospect. We really like Jaylen.

Q. We talked to Jaziun earlier today and he said that Ladell is like a father to those in the running back room. It just seems like Ladell has kind of fostered a competitive culture but a lot of accountability but a very selfless kind of community in that running back room. How would you describe Ladell’s impact on the room and his coaching style in general?

KIRK FERENTZ: You know, Dan McCartney saw Ladell coaching in high school, and Ladell was doing a camp or a combine up in the Sarasota, that area over there. He lives on the other side of the state or did live on the other side of the state, and Dan watched him in camp, whenever that was, a couple years ago. When he and I talked, he said he reminded him of a young Carl Jackson. For anybody that worked with Carl Jackson as Dan and I did, that’s the highest compliment you can give anybody, any coach, I don’t care about position.

But Carl had a really good way about him. Very direct. He was a great mentor to his players but also very direct. He was demanding of them. But it was always in a good way, a healthy way.

Ladell is not a big talker, but he’s been a big doer throughout his whole career. I don’t think he was a big talker when he was here in school, but he was one of the toughest guys I’ve ever seen. I still tease him about to survive the ’99 season, I think he had over four a carry. I don’t know how he did it. We couldn’t block anybody. So I was teasing him about that. He was like a crash dummy running up in there.

But he had such a good career, and he’s the same guy as a coach and as a professional. He’s got a great family on top of it. He’s just a model guy. He’s doing a really nice job with those guys.

Q. I want to ask about Logan Jones. Just what in your estimation has made him ready for this spot as a captain, a kid who started as a defensive player, got moved over, had to replace Tyler Linderbaum a few years ago and now getting ready to step in as a captain?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, full disclosure, I screwed that up because we didn’t move him until spring. We should have done it in December like we did with Tyler, so I blew that one. Probably set his career back half a year or something like that really.

But all he does is work. He’s a pretty quiet guy. He’s not really outspoken. But he just works. Every day he shows up and he’s gone through some injury issues, shoulder surgery, and that’s not uncommon, unfortunately, in this profession or this game.

But he just shows up and works. He’s respected. Everything he does is first class. He comes from a great family. Mom, sister, just super people.

Ever since he’s shown up here, he’s just the same guy every day. I don’t want to call him Tyler because that’s not a fair comparison. They wear the same number, but there are a lot of parallels in terms of their work habits, their attitude, their demeanor, all those kinds of things. We talked about the safety being a switchboard position. The center is a critical position for communication, just kind of stabilizing things, and he does a really good job with that, too.

Q. I think I know the answer to this question, and I know this isn’t a bowl trip and you are trying to win a game this week.

KIRK FERENTZ: That’s for sure.

Q. But there’s been fans who have been looking forward to this game for quite a while. Some of the players said they’ve never even been west of Nebraska at all. Is there any appeal to playing a game in Los Angeles to you?

KIRK FERENTZ: Not really. I mean, the venue will be cool. It’s kind of like Wrigley; I’ll explain it to you this way. My wife would be the first one to tell you because she still laughs, I got drenched at the Super Bowl when the Bears and Indy played — we got home at 3:00 because we didn’t have a ride lined up coming out — and her response was, ‘Oh, you mean nobody drove you to the game? Nobody gave you a coat when it rained?’ All that kind of stuff. But that’s really kind of our life, and it’s one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in my life is take my daughters on college visits because I get to see the college, not just the stadium.

We get off the bus, we go to the airport, go to a hotel, go to a stadium, get off, play, get back on the bus, airport, and you’re on your way home. We’ll see less of Los Angeles than anybody following the team, that’s for sure. Quite frankly, that’s why we’re going. We’re going to play a game, a tough game against a tough opponent, and we all know we’ve got our work cut out, and this is going to be a tough challenge for us.

Like a lot of things, that’s the tough — hopefully somebody can take some pictures and we’ll look at those during the bye week, hey, that’s cool, all that kind of stuff. I still haven’t seen those mountains — I take it back. We went in ’87, would have been the ’88 Rose Bowl because we played in the Holiday Bowl, stayed out there a day and then we came up as a staff and went and saw USC and Michigan State. So I have seen the Rose Bowl like as a tourist, a fan. It was cool. Now it’s a game. That’s really what it gets down to.