Pat Fitzgerald Week 1 press conference notes

Football is in the air as Pat Fitzgerald took the podium for his season-opening weekly press conference. Here’s what he had to say about Western Michigan, Trevor Siemian and much, much more:

Pat Fitzgerald

• Fitzgerald is “very impressed watching Western Michigan on video.” He added the Broncos, “Have playmakers everywhere. They’re very well-coached.”
• Fitzgerald is 9-1 in season openers. “We’ve been in some barn-burners to start the year. We try to do a great job peaking on Saturday.” He added the transition from camp to game week is key.
• Fitzgerald on Corey Davis, one of the nation’s top receivers: “We saw Corey as a freshman. He was a great player. He was an instant-impact player when he got there, and now to see his progression is very impressive. He’s a complete wide receiver.”
• The team found out about Siemian during practice. “His goal wasn’t to be the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos. His goal was to win a championship for the Denver Broncos, so this was the next step... He’s just gotta go out and be Trevor.”
• Fitzgerald was high on PJ Fleck’s squad. “Western presents a lot of problems schematically that you’ve got to be prepared for.”
• Cameron Green has officially moved to superback, a position he has always had the size for. “Cam’s done a great job. We’re looking forward to seeing how things progress for him. He’s a big young player. He’s a redshirt freshman and he’s had to really work hard to stay in skinny jeans so I told him now he doesn’t have to worry about that any more.”
• Fitzgerald said the two-deep is not the be-all end-all. “Guys have done a really good job of working their tails off to improve, and that’s all that we ask.”
• Fitzgerald says Matt Alviti is as healthy as he’s ever been, which has been encouraging. “Without question Matt had the best camp of his career.”
• Fitzgerald is not too concerned about having to play Montre Hartage at corner on opening weekend against a pretty powerful offense. “I wish I was our basketball team. I saw our non-conference schedule. That would be cool. That would be awesome,” he said with a laugh.
• NOTE: Dave Eanet will be joined by Dan Persa and Jeff Budzein on WGN, a program spokesperson announced.

Players

Videos courtesy of Northwestern Athletics