Best of What Each Coach Said During Big Ten Football Media Days, Day 2

On the second day of Big Ten Football Media Days, seven head football coaches spoke at the podium. We give you a breakdown of each coach's best quotes to the media about the upcoming 2022 season.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Big Ten Football Media Days Day Two kicked off on Wednesday morning at Lucas Oil Stadium and featured the remaining seven Big Ten head coaches.

Media was granted the opportunity to ask the coaches questions regarding their upcoming seasons in one big press conference and then in smaller conferences following the break.

Below, we chose the key parts of each coach's 15-minute podium press conference.

Jeff Brohm — Purdue

-On a strong season impacting the program

BROHM: "Anytime you win, it's going to help a lot of things. We found a way to not only win football games, but we had some big wins. It showed our team, recruits, so to speak, our fans, that we had the ability to play at a really good level if we do things correctly.

I think that's exciting. You want to try to match that intensity and ability to play each and every week. We haven't gotten there by any means. I do think that we've got a hungry group. We're looking forward to trying to make strides this year and improve upon that win total, but it's going to be a challenge.

-On Aidan O'Connell

BROHM: "Aidan has done a great job. It's unfortunate his head coach didn't start him at the beginning of the year, but we were able to figure that out. He's really earned his spot from day one. He continues to work hard every single day. He's become a great leader. We were able to figure that out.

He's really earned his spot from day one. He continues to work hard every single day. He's become a great leader that all of his teammates respect. He's a man of great faith. He gives us everything he has. He understands what his strengths are. He understands what his weaknesses are.

I do think the last half of the season he did play at an elite level. He helped us win a lot of good football games. He put up some big numbers. He threw for a lot of yards. He did it against a lot of really good football teams. He's a very accurate passer. He has great poise and presence in the pocket. He doesn't get rattled. He understands our system."

Jeff Brohm speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

Bret Bielema — Illinois

-On playing a non-conference game before Indiana

BIELEMA: "I think through 14 years as head coach, I definitely would say a coaching cliche that is true, you guys call it coach speak, you see a huge amount of improvement in players that have never played the game from Week 1 to Week 2.

That's kind of why I was lobbying, when the original schedule was set up, we actually were opening up at Wisconsin. So the driving force, it ended up being Indiana now, but was a Big Ten road game. I thought if we could play one game at home, get our feet under us, and get a week zero in, and Josh, our admin, got it done.

I would tell you Indiana, huge respect for Coach and what he's developed and what he's built there two years removed from a very, very special season. I know they've had all spring, all summer, all fall camp to work on the Fighting Illini, and it's a quick turnaround. It's a Friday night game.

We've got a little prep on Indiana. They've made some transition, as you know, in the coordinator position. But a tremendous challenge for us, regardless of the scenario, and to have them be Week 1, a Big Ten game on the road is going to be a tremendous challenge."

-On what Bielema learned in year one of coaching Illinois

BIELEMA: "I think that to have experienced last year, the 5-7, to get back into college football, I think I have a better perspective of what our team can do and what they can't do. 

 Also just some moments we lived through together. We opened up week zero a year ago against Nebraska. We were fortunate enough to win that game. I think a lot of not only our players, people in the community, like everybody, thought, 'oh, this is easy.' This is just going to happen. Then next week UTSA put a knot on our head.

Then to come full circle and win on the road at Penn State, at Minnesota, I think I learned a lot about the things I feel are important. We talk a lot about tough, smart, dependable. That's our DNA. That's what we're made of. It's easy to regurgitate that. A lot of teams use it as a catchphrase, but it's a really hard thing to live. It's a hard thing to do.

I think the DNA of our football team headed into this season, I know better, and I believe they feel it, they understand it. They definitely can regurgitate it, but I think they understand and know what it means. Your DNA is part of who you are. It's unique to you, and no one else has it. As a football team, we have to have those same things.

The way we played at the end of the year, to come full circle and win a game against Nebraska on the front end, to beat Northwestern, a team we have great respect for, at the end of the year, really tells me the growth we have in that first season."

Bret Bielema speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

Mel Tucker — Michigan State

-On transfer running backs Jalen Berger and Jarek Broussard

TUCKER: "Berger came us to midyear. We got him in January. He's a very talented young man, very talented. He really bought in right away to our culture and what we're all about. He's really started to bond with his teammates, and he's really opened up.

So we've gotten to know him over these past several months, and he is a very versatile guy. He's an excellent runner, and he's excellent in terms of receiving the ball out of the backfield. He's a competitor, and I'm glad we got him.

Jarek Broussard, he played for us at Colorado when I was there. Tremendous, tremendous back. Also excellent ball skills, can catch the ball out of the backfield. Super hyper-competitive. We got him this summer, and he's a guy that can do a lot of things.

Those two guys were obviously portal guys for us that made our team better and made our running back room more competitive."

-On using Kenneth Walker III to sell the program for players looking at Michigan State

TUCKER: "We just tell a story. He came to us. I'm not sure how many people knew about him nationally. He saw an opportunity to come to Michigan State and get better. His goal was to play in the National Football League and play against great competition.

He came in, and he went to work. He did a great job in the weight room in the winter, and it continued on through spring ball, and he showed up every single day and improved as a football player. Obviously he walked in the door extremely talented, and he raised the level of competition, not just in the running back room, but on the entire football team, and he was extremely productive.

Then he got what he wanted. He was able to help us win a lot of football games. He was a tremendous leader, a great teammate. Now he's moved on to the National Football League, and he's going to have a great career there. It's a great story, and that resonates with players."

Mel Tucker speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

Greg Schiano — Rutgers

-On Big Ten teams with Australian punters

SCHIANO: "It is a unique skill set these young men have to be able to — so many of them played the Australian rules football where they can move and at a moment's notice drop it and punt it. What a get out of jail free card that can be when you have to protect against these great athletes in the Big Ten Conference.

So I know this. I said it earlier, but I really have so much respect for Adam (Korsak), the way he approaches his craft and the way that he leads on our football team. That's not an ordinary thing for a punter on a football team to be respected and looked up to like he is on our team. I'm just grateful we've got one more year with him."

-On the quarterback competition

SCHIANO: "We do, we have a quarterback competition, but you mentioned Noah (Vedral). Noah is the ultimate competitor. He is an awesome guy to have on our team. He wants to be a coach and is going to be a great coach. So any of you coaches that are listening to this, I would highly recommend getting him on your staff when he's done playing. We're going to try.

But Noah is competing really hard. He's a monster in the off-season program. Gavin Wimsatt is another guy that is competing for the job, and then Evan Simon.

I'd say all three of those guys go into training camp — Noah, as you mentioned, has two years' worth of starts under his belt. So certainly an advantage for him with experience.

But I think the one thing I've learned over the years is, when you have good players, you've got to let them compete, and it's got to sort itself out. If it doesn't sort itself out by Game 1, then we'll play more than one guy. If it does, then we'll play one guy and we'll have another guy ready to go and a third if he had some issues."

Greg Schiano speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

James Franklin — Penn State

-On the team's depth

FRANKLIN: "One of the things that probably stands out about our team right now is I love our overall depth. I think our overall depth is as good as it's been in a number of years. I think a couple of the things that have factored into that is obviously we had a very well-regarded recruiting class coming in, a combination of some transfer student-athletes, not a lot, and a junior college player. 

Kind of going through our roster, you look at the quarterback position, obviously returning an experienced player at the quarterback position, a starter, a guy who's been a captain for three years. But this year our depth at the quarterback position with four quarterbacks that we feel very, very strong about. We feel great about the competition in that room.

I put our tight end room up against any other program in the country. Feel great about that room. Same thing with our running back room.

O-line is the group that we come and talk about every single year, and I tell you this is going to be the year for the next step at that position. I'm not going to do that this year. I'm going to let them prove that to you on the field, but I've been very, very pleased with that unit and the depth that we have created.

Wide receiver, obviously losing a young man like Jahan Dotson as a first-round draft choice is obviously impactful. But again, our two deep and our three starters I feel like have a chance to be as good, if not better, and our three starters we're going to put on the field.

Feel very good on the offensive side of the ball with what we're able to do, with our offensive coordinator, Mike Yurcich, being year two for him.

On the defensive side of the ball, it starts up front. We feel very good about our defensive line. We've got a young man representing us today in PJ Mustipher, and another guy that's obviously been in the program and been in the program for five years, using the COVID year, and excited about what he's going to be able to do in leading our front. That's a position of strength for us not only at defensive tackle but also at defensive end.

Linebacker is the question, right? I'll get that question throughout the day. We feel really good about our two outside linebacker positions. At the middle linebacker position, we're going to have a competition that will go deep into camp to see who is going to lead our defense.

Then in the secondary, we feel like we've got a chance. This has been kind of a year-to-year routine. We've done a great job in the secondary in recruiting and developing. I feel like that has a chance to be a strength for us."

James Franklin speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

Paul Chryst — Wisconsin

-On the new offensive coordinator 

CHRYST: "I'm really excited about Bobby Engram having a chance to be with us and for me to get back and coach with him. Had a chance to coach a couple of years with Bobby, and just a tremendous amount of respect.

I think one thing that I always feel is important when you add a coach is you kind of think about your players. That's where I'm most excited, for our players to be around Bobby. The timing was right for really both of us, but for Bobby to come. I think that with Bobby we're a better team.

So I think it does give me a chance to maybe do some different things. You can't spend enough time with your players. You can't spend enough time with all the things that truly matter. So hopefully I can continue to do the best I can in those areas but also don't want to — certainly not looking to get away from the football part of it, but I'm really excited for our players with Bobby here.

-On Keeanu Benton and Nick Herbig

CHRYST: "In Keeanu and Nick, you've got two guys that have played a lot of football and played good football for us. What I love about them both is tremendous leaders, not just for our defense, but for our team.

We've been fortunate. We've played really good defense. I'm grateful. I think we've got a heck of a defensive staff. Certainly a lot of people know about Jim Leonhard, but I think our coaches, we've got a really, really good staff. What makes them good is they know our players and they get to know our players.

We're going to have some names this year like Keeanu and Nick that have played, and we'll have some new faces with some new names. But I think that it's a great starting point when you've got — just today with Nu and Nick here, you've got some guys that didn't come but you feel good about and did a lot. With the addition of some other players and with the staff, we've got work to do, but I feel confident in that group.

Paul Chryst speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

Ryan Day — Ohio State

-On C.J. Stroud 

DAY: "C.J. has always had very good leadership skills. He's always had a voice. Once you go on the field and you show credibility that you can do it, you walk a little differently, and guys look at you through a different lens. I think that's been the case.

I think, when you're young and you go into a season and you haven't played, you're just trying to figure out a way to complete that first pass, get that first win, and you're so focused on your job and maybe the offense.

This off-season he's done a great job of taking a bunch of guys on defense over to his house. He's cooked for them. He's really approached it like a coach, and that's what leaders do, and that's what really good quarterbacks do. For a third year player to take that kind of approach has been great to see.

-On expectations of the defense

DAY: "First we have to play winning football, and that starts with stopping the run. I think that this off-season has been excellent in terms of them installing the defense, in terms of schematics. I think our new staff has done an excellent job, Jim with the linebackers, Perry with the safeties, Tim with the corners, and obviously Larry up front.

They come back with a lot of experience, almost the entire defense back, and really almost the entire Rose Bowl team is back from last year, so that's exciting. So we have a bit more experience there, so that part's good.

But new scheme, new coaches, all of those things are new. I think going up against them in the spring and seeing what's happened this summer and now into the preseason, it's been exciting to watch. There's just an aggressiveness about them.

But in terms of expectations, yeah, we expect a top ten defense. That's what we want. When we've played our best football, it's because we played really good defense, and we've been balanced and played complementary football.

We want to obviously stop the run to begin with and then go from there, but we expect a top 10 defense.

Ryan Day speaks at Big Ten Football Media Days / Sports Illustrated Indiana

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