Quotes: Everything IU football’s Tyler Morris, Mario Landino and Nico Radicic said on Wednesday

• Alex Bozich

• 29m ago

 

IU football wide receiver Tyler Morris, defensive lineman Mario Landino and kicker Nico Radicic addressed the media on Wednesday morning in Bloomington.

Here’s everything Morris, Landino and Radicic had to say in their press conferences:

Tyler Morris

On getting injured last season and the road to recovery:

“It definitely was tough, kind of just after just getting here being hurt so fast. But in my mind, I did it before in high school. So I kind of knew like, all right, I’ve done it before. I can do it again. And it’s just, I already know the process. So I just, in my mind, I was just preparing for this year.

“And just with everything I did as far as recovery and working out and just trying to learn and all that. I just wanted to be as prepared for this year as I could. And I would say it took about, I mean, probably nine months until I was feeling back, just able to run routes and all that.”

On learning when he was out last season and his improvement as a player:

“Yeah, I mean, I think it helped me learn the offense for sure. I think it can be a little difficult at times just coming in first year and not understanding exactly, just the offense, just learning something new and just being able to sit back and then being able to talk to guys like Elijah (Sarratt) and EJ (Williams) and Coop (Omar Cooper Jr.) and just see how they see things.

“And just being able to sit back and kind of see how a game week goes, but not necessarily have the pressure of having to make sure I’m going out and getting it right, it just made things easier for me. I feel like this year just being able to go into it, kind of understanding the flow of everything and it not being exactly my first time.”

On his mentality as a punt returner:

“I mean, punt return is one of those things where you’re kind of just back there by yourself and you kind of understand that you need to make the play, you need to catch the ball first. But then again, it’s fun just understanding that you know the ball is coming to you and you get an opportunity to make the play.”

On what he’s looking to accomplish this season from a receiving standpoint and how he got work done during his injury:

“Yeah, I mean, when I was hurt, I was definitely still on the jugs machine, like doing stationary stuff. Got a lot of that in just since I wasn’t able to be out there running routes with the guys. But even after practice, a lot of people get on the jugs and I would try to make sure that I was in that rotation.

“And then just myself as a receiver, I just want to, I wanted to improve on everything, routes, blocking, catching, everything. Just wanted to be an all-around receiver and just kind of want to go out this year and show just different parts of my game.”

On whether he’s anxious to get back onto the field and managing not trying to do too much:

“Yeah, I’m definitely just excited for the season to start. It’s been so long since I actually played in a game. But, I mean, I think it’s kind of one of those things where I’m kind of just more so, like, grateful just to be able to even to go out and play. And I’m just really looking forward to the season.”

On making an impact last season despite not being able to play:

“Yeah, I mean, I think for me, not being able to really be out there a lot during practice and not being able to be out there during games, I still wanted to be involved in some way.

“The way I saw it was kind of trying to talk to the young guys for the most part because just being around, I understood the older guys, they understood how it goes. But talking to some of the freshmen coming up, just trying to build a relationship with them and guys that I knew would be around this year.

“I just wanted to talk to them, kind of tell them how I see things and just get them really ready for next year because I knew that was a group of guys I would be going into the season with.”

On whether he took anything away from the way Omar Cooper Jr. commanded the slot and the way he played:

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, every time we were just watching film, I was really focused on him just because that’s my position and he was just … just talking to him just about like what coverages he’s seeing and what he’s thinking with coverages and certain concepts and just what he’s expecting. I definitely tried to kind of latch onto that a little bit and try to take some of those things from his game, bring them to mine.”

On his relationship with Josh Hoover:

“I think we have a good relationship. I mean, every day just being in here his locker, quarterbacks sit right across from us, so it’s always just normal conversations in the locker room but then also just on the field, just talking to each other, seeing, letting each other know what we’re seeing and I’m letting him know if I was open on a concept just to let him know I’m there. And he’s telling me how he expects me to run things and just, I think it’s definitely grown since he’s been here and I’m excited to see it move forward this season.”

Mario Landino

On his excitement about the defensive line and how good it can be:

“I’m pretty excited, we have a lot of guys that came back from last year. And the possibility, I know with (Stephen) Daley and Kellan (Wyatt), we’re hoping to get them back as well. But it’s just a good mesh of men that came together, and we’re still putting things together.

“But it’s a nice way to see what the future can be, as long as we put in the right work and right effort towards the season.”

On a guy on the defense who impressed with his development in the offseason:

“I’d say Blake Smith, he’s a younger guy. And when I was younger, I had a guy like Carp (James Carpenter) that kind of showed me the pathway. And I’m trying to be that guy towards Blake.

“I think he’s made great strides as a freshman and definitely better than I was as a freshman.”

On what Blake has shown in terms of his development:

“Yeah, he’s flashed in ways where he showed twitch, intelligence, things like that. But there’s also little freshman things and mistakes that always come up and things that we need to work on. And he’s not a complete player yet. I’m not a complete player. But that’s what we strive to be is complete players. And he’s done a good job.”

On his evolution as a player and the role of Pat Kuntz in his development:

“For me personally, it’s just preparation. I think as a freshman, it’s harder to be prepared because you’re still trying to learn the playbook. But as I’ve been in the system for a while and to go to Coach Kuntz, he’s done an amazing job just coaching me the scheme, the techniques that we need to learn to know to be a successful player. And I think being in this scheme for three years now, I can understand more. And it’s not just like ‘the plays are like this.’ And now you’re just thinking about what’s next, what’s the formation? What blocks am I gonna be seeing? And things like that. Coach Kuntz does an amazing job teaching us that.”

On what the spring was like following the national championship and if there was anything different about the team:

“Yeah, I think we did a good job shutting out the noise because we knew that last year didn’t affect how this year goes. It’s a different D-line, different transfers.

“We still need to mesh together. It’s just like the same thing on repeat. Getting new guys, teaching them, trying to get better ourselves and just going forward because it’s a new season and there’s new teams, there’s new situations, there’s new opportunities. So it’s just completely different than it was last year. And that’s how we kinda look at it.”

On his relationship with Tyrique Tucker:

“Tyrique I have played together for this third year now. And I think from freshman year to this year, I’ve seen a lot of growth in him and a lot of growth in myself. And I think that we’ve learned to play better together and we kinda know what each other are doing.

“And it helps us play on the field way better. And the chemistry that we’ve built throughout the time has really been successful for us both.”

On the guys who have really impacted him in terms of learning the position:

Yeah, positionally, I think Mikail Kamara, James Carpenter. Obviously, CJ West was a leader. But I mean, those three guys and then obviously, you got Aiden Fisher, more of the leader roles and stuff like that.

“But I think those three guys have really shown me the pathway, how to build confidence, how to be a better player and how to learn the system. And it’s helped me out so far.”

On how he would describe the way he wants to play this year:

“Yeah, individually, I just wanna be more consistent. I think being more consistent in the run, in the pass and throughout the year will be beneficial to myself. I think as a D-line, we just need to come together, mesh together, learn the plays, know how each other work and know each position because Coach (Bryant) Haines demands that we know multiple positions and that’s something that needs to show up this year.”

Nico Radicic

On whether his focus changed on what he worked on in the spring to the fall:

“I wouldn’t say so, I think what I did in the spring kind of carried into the fall and it’s gotten better.”

On how he would explain what makes Grant Cain so good at preparing the special teams in different areas:

“Yeah, I think Coach Cain and Coach Mack (Ryan McInerney) are elite at their job. The amount of time that they spend upstairs scheming about punt or kickoff, it’s crazy to me how many kickoff formations we have. And punt, he has an answer for every single scenario. So seeing that in meetings, I start to realize how elite he is at his job.”

On getting recognition from preseason watch lists and if it changes his mentality at all:

“Yeah, it doesn’t change at all. It’s a preseason watch list. It’s based on what I did last year and last year doesn’t matter to me. So I’m looking forward to this season.”

On why kickers are so good now in college football in terms of accuracy and distance:

“It’s a great question. I see the same thing. Young guys are hitting balls from 65 (yard) in high school. I don’t know. I think the training is getting better. There’s a lot of people that are getting involved in kicking and special teams. And yeah, it’s just about making kicks be consistent, and that’s all.”

On Paddy McAteer:

“Huge leg, great guy, big leg on kickoff. I hope that it’s gonna be 100% touchback rate for him. Yeah, just a huge leg, huge leg guy.”

On whether he expects to be the guy taking longer field goal attempts this season:

“Yeah, 1,000 percent, it’s something that I’ve worked on ever since I got here after surgery. I’d say I’m pretty comfortable right now, anywhere on the other side of the 50 yard line. So at the end of the day, it’s the big boss’s decision upstairs who’s gonna take those. And obviously, I hope it’s my name called, but I think I’ve done a lot to be the name called.”

On saying he wants to become the most accurate kicker in college football history and if he visualizes that happening and how it plays out in his mind:

“No, I said it before, it’s one kick at a time. So I’m focused on the first action point of field goal in game one. And after that, I’ll be focusing on the second kick after that, after it’s done.”

On how routine oriented he is:

“Yeah, very. I have a constant routine with treatment. So when I go to class, take care of class, I come here and I do the same thing treatment-wise every single day, down to the T.

“Go to meetings and then when I go out to the field for warmups, down to the T again, warming up, kicking. So everything I do is pretty consistent.”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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