Curt Cignetti Week 1 Press Conference | Indiana Football

all right well it's game week finally here so lot of work to be done obviously before we kick off got to have a great week of preparation starting with today uh to put ourselves in the best position uh you know be successful to play our best uh FIU um coach McIntyre does a great job has throughout his entire career extremely dangerous quarterback dual threat kind of guy that uh throws the ball well extends plays um can run and will have to do a great job on him uh they've got a deep stable receivers returning two or three receivers and adding uh more guys from the transfer portal impressed with the running backs uh the guys all return that they played last season experienced in the secondary at safety and Corner uh a leading t returns linebacker Specialists are good kicker Long Snapper punter return people so you know it'll be a challenge and uh we'll have to play well and uh you know want to see us play fast and physical and cut out some of the you know mistakes we made in the first two scrimmages penalties misassignments things of that nature but also play smart disciplined and poised um so there's a fine line there uh but we do want to attack uh be that kind of team and we'll have to play well JMU any of the ones you guys had there and how is he kind of developed um as a leader um Tyson lton was telling us he kind of brought the group together after the first scrimmage um and and really you know kind of lit a fire under them how what have you seen from him in the locker room kind of getting the guys together yeah he probably reminds me of Cole Johnson who we had for two seasons is uh his last year with us he had tremendous year at about 41 touchdown passes four interceptions through for over 4,000 yards um they're both uh more pocket guys but still can uh gain positive yards with their legs really smart he he's played a lot of football uh respected by his teammates uh um he's not a real raw raw guy on the field which is fine uh you know you lead kind of by example and how you do on the field but uh he's got the respect of all his teammates Kurt I guess um just your philosophy as much as anything else on how you handle freshman that you might want to see get some snaps where you maybe set the bar for guys that you don't worry about the red shirt where you maybe set the bar for guys where you think let's give him a couple games and kind of see where he gets to just how you kind of handle basically the question of whether a guy's going to red shirt whether he's going to play and retain it or whether you just sort of throw it off well the best guys play really um and we're we're a veteran team even though we got a lot of new guys we got a lot of seniors on this football team so I wouldn't anticipate seeing many freshman out there uh that doesn't mean you might not see one or two but it's all based on uh you know who can help us be successful who's ready to play winning football so um and things change every week so right now going into the first game I don't see many freshman have a very significant role in this game hey coach um obviously after Nick kidw went down you guys have had a competition there at o line not just because of him but overall just kind of with you know not even names but just where you guys at with that competition how do you feel about the Five Guys right now that look like they may be the starters I feel good and like I said uh previous uh right now you're looking at Drew Evans Bray Lynch and Tyler Stevens uh you know three guys for two spots and they all can snap also so uh and you know we'll see who we chart out there uh for the first series Kurt uh you mentioned fiu's quarterback Keon Jenkins uh what do you feel like what do you feel like is the biggest thing that causes trouble and what is the biggest thing that you can cause trouble for him on Saturday yeah well you know he's an extremely capable passer but when he gets out of the pocket he does a really nice job of extending plays and even though he's a really good athlete that can tuck it and run and gain a lot of yards you know he's going to look to throw first and does a nice job of finding people when he extends plays and you know we got to win up front you know our defensive line and we got to put pressure on him and keep in the quarter keep him in the pocket and uh not give him much time to throw we got we got to get to him you know and uh we need a game from our D line yeah Kurt how with with this first game of the season how much do you kind of see this as an opportunity to set the tone for what this era of Indiana football will look like I don't look at at it that way uh this is the opponent I'm spending every second of my day uh with a sense of urgency trying to help put us in the best position to be as good as we can be and that's how we look at things as coaches I think across the country coach we know that you're a process oriented guy I'm curious what the process looks like now that it's a game week you're away from Fall Camp how do the meetings go when does Preparation start for next week's opponent all all things like that yeah well you know all eyes are on this opponent and today and you know typical in season I was up at 4:00 A.M and in the office before 5: and uh you know we'll we'll have a light practice tonight and then tomorrow is uh first and second down and Punt and punt return and then Wednesday is third down and Thursday's red area and goal line two minute and uh you know we the mornings and afternoons are spent preparing for those situations and we put it all together back hey coach yeah uh Omar Cooper been mentioned as guy potential breakout guy to use the generic phrase um those of us saw him a lot in high school saw the potential that was there what are things he needs to do this season to go from potential to make a few plays here and there to be maybe the breakout guy who really can be consistently an impact guy for you guys I think he's just has to take what he's done on the practice field and take it onto the game field which I'm confident he will and can yeah I I want to say was I think we had Shanahan in here a few weeks ago we had Walker we had lton who each mentioned this winning mindset that you have what kind of shaped you know your specific mindset and you know again for a team that's when I want to say nine games the last three years how have you maybe approached trying to um you know add that here in the culture here well I think that's well documented at this point but you know we came in and changed the roster uh and then you got to change the way people think uh the mindset the culture the identity of your football team and I think we've made progress but you really can't measure till you play and then uh every week uh you know um chapter one of a 13-page book so um I'm excited to see us play we do have a lot of work to do uh before we kick it off and um I'm confident in this team uh you guys have a few uh cornerbacks down um do do you feel like you have a a good grasp of the kind of rotation going into the season opener we really don't have a few down um we've got we had one miss some practice time in Fall camp and he's mending very quickly so we anticipate being close to full strength you've been a part of multiple rebuilds and reboots going into this week I know you'll know a lot more after you play but how do you feel about your offense now as comparative to other places where you've gone into that first game I I feel good about our offense uh we have a lot of veteran players we have a veteran quarterback and um you I think we have a chance to be good offense and defense and special teams and you know but as a coach you you've always got concerns too I've never had a team I didn't have concerns about something um so um but my focus right now is on preparing these guys and help them uh be as successful as possible Saturday and you know feel good about the pieces we have in place talked before about how small the margin of error is once the season starts what aspects through fall Camp have you seen Less in that margin and what parts you think this week really need some work well I think we were more consistent in practice as Camp went on um you know we weren't an up and down team um we still have to more consistently get everybody doing what they're supposed to do uh assignment wise technique wise but but part of that is the challenge of Camp too because you install everything so the plate is very heavy now uh you get into the first game and that plate will lighten up a little bit and you want to free free them up from thinking too much so they can play fast and let their ability take over