Mitch Leidner
- The fast, high-scoring first quarters this year have been a result of bringing energy to practice and building up excitement for games. It starts in practice.
- Both mind and body feel good. Foot's held up well.
- Illinois plays a lot of cover one and Tampa 2 on third down situations. Do a good job of disguising things and have good defensive ends.
- Hungry to redeem the Illinois road loss. Motivation won't be an issue.
- Terrible to see Lingen go down. Great person and player. When he played against Indiana State, it was amazing how things opened up more because of his route running. "It's definitely too bad."
- Lingen is probably a better route runner and faster than Maxx when he was here, although Maxx was a more complete player and had better hands.
- Not sure if Rhoda expected Mitch to start or not.
- Wakes up at 6:20 AM for 11:00 games.
- Really helps the team to see Rodney and Shannon be such good friends considering both could be the alpha. "Everyone around that can feed off their relationship."
- Now that it's certain he'll be starting, he gets about twice as many reps as Conor Rhoda in practice.
- Been best year statistically speaking individually, and that's a result of better play. That's a result of him preparing and practicing better this year.
- Focused a lot on the little stuff and fundamentals. Phelps is big on fundamentals.
- Having two backs like Shannon and Rodney causes preparation nightmares for other teams. Have to be aware of both of them, where they're lining up, etc.
- Illinois is a physical team.
- Illinois has great skill players and a good offensive line. Run a lot of formations and personnel sets.
- Defense won't change with Jack Lynn sitting out. "Next man up."
- Post-grad plans could be working with kids or a career in marketing. Has a major in business marketing. Also considered sales but decided he liked marketing better. He also wouldn't mind being involved with kids at a place like Hope Academy, a private Christian school in Minneapolis.
- Haven't seen a lot of Jerry Gibson but he's working hard in practice and making the most of his opportunities.
- When you're the swing guy, you have to switch your stance and steps.
- Takes a lot of time in the film room to be the swing guy. You have to really understand the game, and I take a lot of pride in that.
- Under Miller, we really focus on getting the most power we can out of our steps. Of course, the mental aspect has been the biggest difference under Miller.
- The Cup for must knockdowns is a pretty close race.
- Need to be more focused and clear with calls up front to combat stemming. We've had problems with jumping.
- Other guys have had to step up as leaders with Pirsig out.
- Run blocking has improved since the start of the year.
- Illinois' defensive line gets penetration and plays physical. They have some young talent.
- Every week, we set a goal to get 300 rushing yards.
- Richardson is on the concussion protocol.
- Doesn't know for a fact that Lingen will be out the rest of the season.
- Getting bowl eligible for the first time was special, that happened at Illinois.
- Thinks there's less parity in college football among the power five than a few years ago thanks to recruiting. There's more information out there than there used to be. Kids are being trained better in high school and stronger.
- Done a good job in pass protection this year, haven't given up many sacks.
- With Hardin back, not sure if he'll take Myrick's spot returning kicks, like against Maryland.
- Illinois has good running backs and a good, physical receiver. They've used three quarterbacks so we'll have to find time in practice to prepare for that.
- Didn't comment on whether the players with restraining orders have to come him for support or with questions.
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