Check out what Iowa football players had to say Tuesday.
By Jordan Hansen
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Each week, the Iowa football team meets on Tuesday with the media to discuss anything and everything relating to the Iowa football team.
This week, the Hawkeyes, who remain undefeated, will head to Nebraska for a matchup with a team fighting for bowl eligibility. The Cornhuskers and budding rivalry between the two schools dominated most of the discussion.
C.J. Beathard, quarterback
On outside attention: “We’ve done a pretty good job all year long of tuning that outside noise out and not letting it get to us. There’s been numerous opportunities for us to get off track and listen to all that, but we’ve done a good job of staying focused.”
Beathard hasn’t shaved his goatee all season, and yes, it is superstition: “I started at the beginning of the season, and I’ve had no reason to cut it.”
Drew Ott, defensive end
One of the big newsbits from the day was Ott saying he’s applied for a medical redshirt: “I think there could be a chance, hopefully. There’s a couple rules in there, I passed a couple of them, so we have to appeal it.”
He also had his thoughts on practice versus being injured, “It’s a little easier than practicing every day, it’s kind of a little vacation. I never liked crutching around too much.”
On the exercises he can do: “Leg extensions, hip bridges, stuff like that. Just trying to get all the swelling out of it and get my quads strong.”
On coming back: “I’ll take whatever happens, but I don’t think it would be too bad if I came back.”
Desmond King, cornerback
On Nebraska: “We expect a hard, tough battle out of these guys. For them to have to get bowl-eligible and come through us, they’re going to come at us with all their force. It’s going to be a hard game.”
On Jordan Westercamp, one of Nebraska’s best receivers: “He’s a great receiver, he has great hands, and he’s real, real quick. He’s a big threat against us.”
King and the rest of the secondary feel they’ll have to be physical: “One way our coaches always say to defeat a wide receiver is to put him on the ground. We have to be physical with their receivers and not let them off the line.”
Matt VandeBerg, wide receiver
Last game of the regular season: “We want to make sure we’re finishing this thing out right and not make it any bigger than what it is.”
VandeBerg, who grew up in South Dakota, doesn’t think for a second he thought about going to Nebraska: “They never recruited me, they never talked to me; growing up, I was not a fan. I was never associated with Nebraska.”