Luke Fickell Week 1 Press Conference | Wisconsin Football

um obviously a lot to be excited about uh let's just you know we could start uh you obviously T Tes Monday night but tomorrow night we open up volleyball got top 10 matchup with volleyball so wishing them luck against Louisville um that would be tomorrow night and uh a lot of other things within the athletic department that are really exciting too right I mean obviously season tickets um you know our our you know fundraising for our indoor so there's a lot of internal excitement for uh for the start of what we call our season um so I get that out of the way quick just to make sure that everybody kind of understands there's a lot more going on than just uh what's going to happen on the 30th um but for us I think that uh this is the longest week of the year within your entire season so within the entire program right I mean every whether it's offseason whether it's Spring football that week one buildup is the longest week of the year and I think our kids would probably say the same thing right you go through fall Camp uh then you kind of switch gears a little bit as we came back to campus and you're not still not into game mode and then you all of a sudden go into game mode and you do it a few days early just trying to make a break between fall camp and things like that um and then this week becomes incredibly incredibly long today's a Monday which we'll have a Wednesday practice so try to figure all that stuff out um as you try to build your routine School hasn't begun so that's what I mean by for our kids you know for our coaches it's always week one is a long week when school's not in it's even a longer week um so Friday can't get here fast enough but there's still a lot of work to be done and I think for us that's kind of the the key right is is week one in college football is different than any other sport I think out there why because we have no real preseason game we have no scrimmage right it's probably the only sport out there the high level sport that you don't have some idea some type of scrimmage some type of competition with another group that you can you know get a little bit of a better idea of where you are and how you do things and how you handle things so you know this is the my I think my 24th year somewhere right around there in college coaching and and I don't know that it's going to change and it hasn't changed so You' think that well coach you ought to be used to this by now you know but I don't know that you do get used to that each and every year week one is so unique as we saw even in week zero last week there's a lot of unknowns um not just because they're college football kids because they're 18 to 22 year olds but also because of those other things we talked about no no opportunity to scrimmage whether it's in the spring in Fall you know as many turnovers and and and uh you know transfers and things like that that a lot of programs have so um that week one is there's a lot of buildup to it and uh you know we're getting close uh we're excited about that but you know we we've still got some work to do before we get to the 30th I had never really thought about this before for the scrimmage thing um you have a voice in this in this sport did have you made a passionate player what are the cons against it I I don't know I think that obviously there's a lot of change in in college football there's a lot of change coming in our landscape so I think that it could bring about some some different opportunities right and and like I said it's been 24 years You' think you'd get used to that but that's what makes week one so uniquely different right there's nothing in the spring uh there's nothing in the fall um and then you get thrown into now you know they may look at it and say well you know now that there's a 12 team playoff not that every game doesn't matter but there's a little bit of a difference you know to even your first few weeks but I would Envision as we move forward in in this landscape that uh hopefully we can find a way whether it's something in the spring or something in the in Fall Camp to you know simulate maybe what they do at at the next level but again it's really hard to spend a whole lot of time and voice a whole lot of opinions on things like that when you know we've got a lot of work to do ourselves so I try to stay off of rules committees I try to stay off of some of those other committees just from the nature of you know dealing with 120 guys here um that's the most important thing talking about changes your coach the addition of the tablets and the intercom and the headph or in the helmet how does that impact things for you guys and if I'm not mistaken you guys can take it a little bit farther with the tablets than they can at the professional level yeah I think the professional level all they have is still pictures I don't how how far deep that gets to is there's 100 still pictures on each play maybe they can kind of make it look like it's a it's an actual play um we had it in the bowl game so we got an opportunity to kind of see what that uh was like a little bit in the bowl game um recognize some things we got to do better from from spending a game with that and then haven't had a whole lot of time we had one kind of mock game where we had the opportunity to to bring in all the technology um in one setting so it's definitely different I think that uh you've got have a plan for it whether it's the headset whether it's the technology but I also think that it can it can be overwhelming too so we got to try to figure out what that balance is each kid can handle some things a little bit different right do you need to watch every single play do you need to be you know evaluating yourself on every single snap I think that's probably not going to be the best thing for everybody but it does give us an opportunity to make sure we're using it in the best way how can it be advantag for us in our program and our kids um in particular on game day and I think we you know obviously we feel really good about the plan of where we are are and how we're going to use it um but there'll obviously be some things that can adapt and adjust um as we get rolling coach um do you have an update on on James Thompson and you know how long he might be out what's the status no it it doesn't look like James is probably going to make it um I don't know that we'll have him for the year um so you know there's a lot of things that are still we got to wait and see right I mean um I don't know if it's a four to five month thing um he he had surgery I think last last week uh you we really haven't really talked about it but um you know it's it's a it's a big loss it's tough you know a guy in his senior year that has been through so many things and has meant so much to us I mean obviously over his time here but even in this off season you know and our ability to continue to grow and do the things we want to do and you know kind of really you know put guys in leadership roles and he's done an unbelievable job and fired up and ready to go and uh you know the unfortunate thing happens and uh now he'll be in a little bit of a different Ro for us this year I don't know that we'll have a chance to get him back Luke you mentioned that the 12 team playoff and the way things are changing this year I know you have experience in a four team field you know how hard that is in what ways do you think a 12 team field changes things for a program like Wisconsin as you go into a season in this new er I don't know that you look at it Ain different um you know if you you go you're guaranteed to be in if you put yourself in that four four team selection uh but I do think that in the long run what it's going to do it's going to make know the season the length of the season the the later games in the year become you know I not say that they're not important but more important in the eyes of everybody around college football and I think that's what will create a greater excitement even about where college football is right I mean sometimes late in the year they're all looking for what's well we only have so many matchups this week and well there's so many more games that are going to have an impact on what those 12 teams look like that I think it's a great thing for college football I think it's a great thing for the programs you know because if something does happen early in the year you're not out of things and uh again in year one we'll all see how that all works you know how does it really balance out as we move forward where to you know where do those championship teams go or how do the the aqs Go I mean there's a lot of things that need to be you know probably ironed out and and will be ironed out in the next probably year or two with with all of that but I think what it does is a whole it makes college football better it gives you opportunities to play games like we got on week three where you're not overly worried about hey this is the whole season because you're playing a a week three game against a top five opponent you know and all that puts us on the outside because you know if you're not undefeated then you're not going to have a chance and so I think in the long run it does a lot more for college football I think it does a lot more and just the landscape of keeping kids involved and maybe not opting out and things like that because they all want an opportunity to not only play in the playoffs but play for championships and you know as we've gotten smaller and Tighter and college football you know not saying the Bowls have gone away CU they haven't but the you know the importance sometimes of the bowls and what has made college football I think so great um you know to have successes at the end of the year and to have those opportunities I think we're we're opening up a new Avenue where uh we're going to give a lot more opportunities for for a lot of different teams and and uh it'll be better for college football in the long run just wondering what you've seen from chz during this preseason offseason just what and what says for him to come back after all the injuries he's kind of dealt with over the years yeah that's the thing I mean injuries are injuries and and how people deal with him are are really key and critical and chz has had his right he's had his ups and he's had his downs and um he's had this really tough moments and you know for us more than anything obviously we love chz and we want him to have an incredible season we want him to have you know all the things that he expected and expects the thing about it is building that confidence from coming back from a lot of those injuries and I can say this that he's in a much different place from what I've known even from last year and I mean that because in Spring football we went live with chz and it wasn't something that maybe we thought we were going to do and I think it started to build his confidence when all of a sudden he was able to go live and get that feel back and then in Fall camp we went live with him again in there and have the true ability to you know kind of test yourself and see where you are and I really do believe I've seen you know he's had a great attitude he's worked his tail off in everything that we've done but that confidence level of truly carrying the football truly making plays truly taking care of it um when you do some of those things we did in Fall camp and let him go in live situations I think it's really kind of helped build his confidence you know not just in his leg but in in all things that uh that tends to get taken away sometimes when when you go through as many tough injuries as he has so I'm excited to see him play I'm excited for him to you know kind of let loose again and uh I really do think that his confidence level and stuff is in a really good place you've said previously what you look for in a quarterback leader and winner I'm curious how you evaluate it beyond the scoreboard and Beyond the leadership stuff are there metrics you look at in terms of what makes a quarterback what means he had a good day or a good season well it's hard good days can be up and down and then that's all a part of it I think the the day after sometimes not good days is really a great evaluating stick um evaluation you know kind of meter to see hey how do they handle those things cuz it's going to happen whether it's in in a series or in a game um and the consistency to me is what has to be in your quarterback position and whatever that means whatever that looks like I think that's why it was a little bit more critical for us to so to speak name not not name publicly always the the starting quarterback early on but I think it was really important for us to kind of put those guys in the situation that we thought it was going to be earlier on um to see how they were going to be able to handle see how their leadership's abilities were were grow see how that relationship amongst you know Tyler and and Braden how that flourishes too once all of a sudden some things are you know kind of labeled right whether it's a one and a two or a 1 a and a 1B um so that part of that position is so critical and like I said where we are right now is a really good spot I think both those guys have done an unbelievable job you have seen a difference in Tyler um since that time and I mean that even not as ups and down not as even as emotional but truly being a little bit more vocal local standing in front of that group a little bit more um and then you've seen brayen Braden kind of flourish a little bit too you know obviously disappointed you know when all of a sudden you kind of name Tyler as a starter but not at a point where he didn't still become a really healthy competition within that room and a relationship where they can help each other out so um I think on both sides of it you kind of look at to say okay what does this look like right this position is so special and so unique that no matter what you do you You' got to have a guy in leadership positions at that spot and uh I think they've done a really good job now obviously come Friday night starts to be the the the other test and the ultimate test to what they do um but they do understand that there's a lot of other people around them and and I do feel like they they understand and know that you know it's not just on them Luke what would you say are the biggest differences from where Joe Brunner is at in his game from start of last season toight now well it was hard cuz last season Joe didn't get a whole lot of opportunities you know he was a guy that you definitely noticed whether he was a starter or not last year um in my mind always had the makeup of what you were looking for as an offensive lineman in the you know in the in the toughness department and the the physicality department and the way he played the game and the energy and the emotion he played with it was just unfortunate that he didn't get a whole lot of opportunities right not many years you could ever say that you're starting five play the entire season without you know having an injury until obviously Jack rolled his ankle in the bowl game um but I've I was impressed I was impressed that you know even the difficult times he had to go through when he wasn't getting the opportunity to play that you still saw the the things that you want to see from a from an offensive lineman right and and his grit and his toughness um and then obviously with the opportunity starting in the spring um and all the way through fall Camp I think he he's you know he's a guy that went on the play hard board and that's not a that's not an easy thing right because at that position in particular you're going to be on some ISO cams and we're going to evaluate every single step of uh of what it is that you do on on a daily basis and um so I think he he brings a little something different to the rest of that crew and I don't mean just the youth behind him um but a little bit of an edge as well