Iowa met with the media on Tuesday, here’s the best from what players said.

By Jordan Hansen
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Each week, the Iowa football team meets with the media on Tuesday to talk about anything and everything. The Hawkeyes are coming off a huge win over Wisconsin and get Illinois at home this week.

Here’s what Iowa players had to say.

C.J. Beathard, quarterback

Beathard’s dad is a songwriter and the Iowa quarterback has met Taylor Swift: “I’ve been around her a couple times at a few different things, she probably wouldn’t remember me.”

On the offense: “There were times on Saturday where we had the opportunity to make plays and we didn’t.”

On injured wide receiver Tevaun Smith: “It’s unfortunate, but we know Jerminic (Smith, no relation) is a talented guy. The more reps I get with him, the better off we’ll be.”

Deep throws: “It all depends on the look the defense is giving me, I could put balls in better places and part of that is on me.”

Drew Ott, defensive end

Swarming to the ball: “We’re trying to get all 11 hats to the ball and make sure the ball carrier is down and can’t get any further.”

On not giving up any rushing touchdowns, “We don’t want to give up any touchdowns. We don’t really talk about it too much.”

Greg Mabin, cornerback

On playing to and through the whistle: “We definitely have been stressing that — play to the whistle and maybe a few seconds afterwards.”

On physicality: “We definitely want to be the most physical team every time we go out there. So that’s definitely one our goals as a defense and as a team in general.”

On Illinois: “It’s a completely different team than last year, we have a lot of respect for them and we’re not going to take them lightly in any way, shape, or form.”

Jordan Canzeri, running back

On scoring 10 points, “We don’t want to put as much pressure on our defense as we did against Wisconsin. It’s awesome what our defense did last week and win the game for us.”

On winning: “There’s going to be some games where the special teams wins it, some games where the offense will produce more and some where the defense has to shut the other offense down. That’s why team unity is so important.”

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