RB Kaleb Johnson
Feeling in the locker room…
“It hurts. We will have to move forward with another game to play and keep our heads up. We have to stay as a team. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes, I think this is where the learning comes for us. We’ve got to move forward.”
DT Noah Shannon
Why defense struggled early…
“They hit us big maybe 75 yards or more. And then they had another one. Staying with what Coach Parker says: alignment, keys, responsibility. I feel like we weren’t there on all three phases so that’s how they got those two big plays and turned them into touchdowns.”
Missed opportunity…
“Definitely. I feel like throughout the week we practiced with great intensity. We just didn’t make enough plays to come out victorious.”
Flat start as a team…?
“I feel like we always talk about next man in mentality, but seeing one of our guys down on the field like that… I’m not sure how to say it. At the end of the day, it pushed us harder to fight for him and get [DeJean’s] back. I feel like we needed to create a spark play and we ended up doing that, we brought the game back within seven. We fought. Our effort and intensity were definitely there. Just needed to start it a little earlier.
LB Jack Campbell
On emotions as a senior…
“We tried to focus on it as another game, the Heroes Game which is a huge game for us. Hat’s off to them, they came ready to play. But it was emotional running out onto that field for the last time. Everything that this program has done for me, and those guys in that locker room, it means a lot. It hurts. No one is going to hang their heads. We’re going to keep going. We’ve got one more as a group, together. There is not much more to it. I’m proud to be a Hawkeye and always will be. We got outplayed today. Hats off to them. I’m just thankful for all the people along the way.”
On missing a second trip to Indy…
“It would have meant a lot. Obviously, an opportunity to go to Indianapolis is huge. We’re going to keep pushing and focus on the next one. We will all look at ourselves and reflect to see how we can change. I feel like it all starts with me. I need to do a better job of making sure everyone, including myself, is ready to go from the first snap.”
On senior day…
“Running out of that tunnel, it means the world to me. My mom being there. My stepdad and stepmom, especially my dad and my grandma. They’ve seen things in me that I sometimes never even saw in myself. So, getting to share a moment out there with them, it meant the world to me. I’m truly blessed to be raised by four incredible people.”
On one more game…
“The opportunity to throw the tigerhawk on the side of your head and put that jersey on, that is something that every kid should try to seize. Right now, my main focus is pushing forward. We have another game, and we are all looking forward to that. It will be a reflection, but right now we are going to push forward and keep our heads up.”
TE Luke Lachey
On emotions after game…
“It’s tough. We never want to lose to Nebraska in the Heroes Game, so it’s hard. The seniors played really tough. They are a great group of guys, and we are disappointed we could not get it done for them.”
On 1st half woes…
“We just have to get out to a faster start. Penalties killed us and we turned the ball over. Next play is always our mentality. It just didn’t work out tonight.”
QB Alex Padilla
On subbing in…
“Not a whole lot of thinking goes into it. Spencer [Petras] couldn’t go in the rest of the way. I just tried to go in and do my job as best as I can. Put my helmet on. Get in there as one of eleven members… Not too different from what I’ve done before.”
On the senior class…
“One of the most memorable senior classes I think we’ve ever had here. Coach mentioned it before the game, that coming out of that Ohio State game it all looked very grim, but the senior leadership that we had is some of the best we’ve ever seen. Guys like Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta, Kaevon [Merryweather], guys like that kind of willed us to get back on our feet and have a goal that we wanted to win five. We were really close to doing that. I credit that to the senior leadership that we had.”
On mistakes…
“We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to. Turnovers are killer against Big Ten teams. If you are down in the turnover margin, you are probably not going to win the game. We gave ourselves a chance at the end, but another turnover killed us. Just didn’t execute well enough. I thought our guys fought really hard. Credit to my teammates, they played their hearts out. I thought all of us played our hearts out. Just came up short.”
On the loss…
“[The emotions] are about as you would expect. It’s pretty disappointing. We had a goal coming out of the Ohio State game that we wanted to win five. We won four and had an opportunity to do that today. Just didn’t play well enough. Turned the ball over. Can’t do that against teams in the Big Ten or else you know you are not going to win the game.”
LB Seth Benson
On the senior class…
“The things I am going to remember the most are the guys I came in with. I think of guys like Dallas Craddieth, Matt Fagan and guys that just continue to fight. That’s what I am going to miss the most, getting up with each other and going to lift, getting some refuel sandwiches and sitting down at the table before meetings. Win, lose or draw, I am going to miss those moments the most. I am just grateful that we have another chance to go play and get a couple more months with these guys. I think that is what I am going to miss most. Hanging out with the guys, and guys that finished the race, as Coach Ferentz will say. We stayed here five years, and we gave it our all. We would do it again. It just means a lot to us being able to play here. Just going to miss those moments and hanging out with those guys.”
On Senior Day emotions…
“I try to keep calm throughout the game, throughout seasons. You can’t get too high or too low. Do your job and go about it that way. That’s what I try to do. Obviously, it’s emotional playing my last game at Kinnick. There are so many special moments here, so many special people here. Special fans here. Obviously, I wish that I could just hang out with these guys forever, but things come to an end. We have got one more, so very happy for that.
On giving up big plays…
“We talk about limiting big plays, and they made a couple of those today. Obviously, those change games.”
On the loss…
“It’s tough, this being our last time playing at Kinnick. You know, I thought we continued to fight. We had guys out there, like Logan [Klemp] didn’t know he was going to be out there today, comes up with a huge play stripping that guy. People who were in there, they fought. We fought until the end. You never know what is going to happen, where the ball is going to bounce. I am just proud of the way we fought.”
