Coordinator corner 'It's a daunting task to try to slow these guys down'
· Yahoo Sports
Sep. 26—Illinois defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck provides perspective from his side of the ball after three games before the Illini face Ohio State on Saturday at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, via beat writer Scott Richey:
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"It's always great to be able to get guys in the game. Everybody works hard. The ability to get guys into college football live action, in an actual game, is both good for the attitude within the group, but also good long term in terms of guys' development. (Freshman linebacker Cameron Thomas) had a really nice play. Broke on a ball that was split out to the flat and went out and caused a fumble. He continues to show some spark."
"Week to week, it doesn't necessarily show up on the stat sheet. In fact, it never does for anybody in football for the most part. Those guys are doing a good job. They're making their share of plays. It's not a position where the ball goes out somewhere else and they're going to make a play. In college football these days with the (run-pass option) game and all the different stuff, there's probably less action there than ever before. But when it does come into that box they're in, you're not going to beat anybody if you can't hold up in there. I think those guys are doing a good job."
"Having (Robert) Edmonson back has helped, but there's a great deal of inexperience there. Even James (Kreutz), a lot of his experience was in the kicking game and not necessarily at linebacker. We don't have a lot of veteran presence there, but they're a smart group. They're urgent about getting things right. I think it's important to them to understand what we're trying to do and what offenses are trying to do to us. I just kind of admire their intellect and preparation. One of the reasons we've been able to succeed to a large part with those guys is they're urgent about wanting to do right and do well."
"A little bit of it is playing a certain number of plays and it's 90 degrees out. That plays into it, too. We've been rotating them for a variety of reasons, but we want to play a number of those guys and keep them fresh. They're all playing the kicking game, too, so there's a lot of running around out there on Saturdays."
"That's the hard part about Ohio State. Everybody knows where No. 4 is on the field. Jeremiah Smith is one of the best players in college football. That's acknowledged by a lot of folks, and I agree with that assessment. He's one of the best players in college football, but the thing about playing Ohio State is they're a very balanced offense. They're well-coached. They run it equally as well as they throw it. They've got a good quarterback that sees things, and they've got a run game that's as good as anybody in the country. You can't just say, 'Oh, we've got to stop Jeremiah Smith.'
"You have to find a way to do your best on him, but if you just tilt the whole game plan toward him ... they're not a one-dimensional team. You've got one of the best players in college football at wide receiver. Then, you've got a great run game, a great front, a great quarterback and great running backs. It's a daunting task to try to slow these guys down."
"I've watched these guys from afar a little bit and then watched in the offseason. He sees things really early in the progression. He sees things really well pre-snap. I don't think he gets enough credit for having as good an arm as he does. He's smart. He finds people. I don't have time to read or listen to much, so I don't know what kind of credit he gets. But he should get a lot of credit for being a really good player."