Frank Clark, Jake Ryan, and Joe Kerridge

Joe, you’re obviously part of the offensive group. Did you notice anything different about Shane in the huddles after he took that hit and through the rest of the game when you talked to him?

JK: “With Shane, I was on the sideline. I was focused in trying to pay attention to the game. I really didn’t have any communication with Shane throughout that part of the end of the game, so I wasn’t aware of any of the symptoms or anything like that.”

Have you noticed anything, seeing him around the building the last two days, that’s been unusual?

JK: “No. I haven’t seen him in the building, but that’s a question for coach Hoke.”

This is a question for Frank and Jake. Does the team get together after a loss like that and the fallout from it and has there been a team meeting? Does there need to be? Do you guys talk about it, and what do you do going forward?

JR: “I think just us as leaders need to bring guys up and get people’s heads up. After a loss like that that’s what you need to do, and we came in and we did what we needed to do. We got our film in, we got our practice in, and it’s just about keeping guys up and keeping guys focused.”

This is for any one of you. I’m wondering how much communication there is between yourself and maybe coach Hoke on the sideline when you see someone get injured or if you see something happen; if you can go up to him and say something or what that’s like on the sideline.

FC: “I feel like really that’s out of our power. If someone gets injured or things aren’t going in our favor, that’s our coach’s power. He controls everything at the end of the day, [and] we just follow the rules.”

Then if you have an injury, say, on the field, how much of a say do you have in getting back on the field? Are you able to simply tell them, ‘I’m fine’?

FC: “We play football. It’s a difference between being injured and being hurt. Anybody can play hurt, but not many people can play injured. But if you want to play football, if you want to go back on that field as a player he’s going to allow you to go back on that field if it’s not too bad.”

[More after THE JUMP]

I just wanted to clarify. Have you had a players-only meeting since Saturday’s game?

FC: “I mean, no, not really. The expectations are very clear. It’s not rocket science. When you lose, you lose and it’s very obvious why you lose, but the expectations are very clear. We know what we have to do to get better as a team and as a defense particularly. But like I said, it’s not rocket science. It’s not hard to figure out why you lost. We missed too many tackles as a defense. We gave up too many big plays, and when you do that you’re going to lose games.”

You guys have talked about the goal still [being] intact, but do you start shrinking the vision, maybe looking game to game now at this point?

JR: “It is going to be tougher but we can’t do that. We have to stay focused on what our goal is. Like I said before, it’s keeping those guys positive, keeping those guys in the right state of mind and lifting guys up and taking those necessary steps forward to improve each day.”

How difficult is it for you guys to have all this focus off the game of football as far as the media’s concerned? Does that hurt you in terms of [as] a team or your approach to the next game?

JR: “Wait, say that again. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand.”

The fact that there’s so much focus off of the game of football right now because of the Shane Morris controversy-

JR: “There’s no focus off the game of football right now at all. It’s just going in, working, getting the film in, treatment if it’s necessary and we’re just going to go every single day like we’ve got to play. We’ve got Rutgers next, and we’re taking those necessary steps forward to improve.”

For Frank and Jake, do you feel it necessary when you’re out and about to defend Brady Hoke to other people? Do you guys talk about that because his job is under so much scrutiny?

FC: “No. I’d defend coach Hoke from the get-go. That’s been my coach. That’s the only coach I’ve known since I’ve been in college and I believe coach Hoke is a great guy. His job being under scrutiny, that’s just what the people see. No one really controls that but the people in the program. As far as coach Hoke, we’re all behind him. We’re not giving up on coach Hoke. We don’t see him going anywhere no time soon, and as long as he’s still here for us we’re going to still come in and work for that man.”

For any of you: what did you see from Devin in terms of handling being taken out of the starting role and then coming back in and kind of just all the things going on with him right now? How is he dealing with all that?

JK: “He’s been a leader on and off the field, through practice, everything. He’s handled it really well. You don’t see any difference in what he’s doing being first or second. He’s been putting in the hard work and doing everything that he can to either help Shane or help himself to progress for this season, for this team.

Brady’s mentioned that sometimes he thinks it can be good for a guy to get away from the game and watch. How was he on the sidelines?

JK: “He was a leader on the sideline, for sure. He was coming to people if someone were to make a mistake on offense, he’d come up and tell you and let you know. He’d talk to us, get us going, things like that. When he couldn’t be on the field he was being a leader off the field.”