The Quickest Slant: KF news conference

Hello.

When coaches get their deals figured out and cushioned, the team often comes out with a little extra smoke.

I remember Kirk Ferentz finally signing his first deal with Iowa after 18 or so months, give or take, in October 2000. That week, the Hawkeyes went out to Penn State and started putting the plywood up on brilliant three-year run.

Congratulations go out to Minnesota coach Jerry Kill, who signed a seven-year deal today that will make him Gophers head coach through 2017.

"It's a great vote of confidence," Kill said.

Not saying it'll work out that way, but who knows.

Here's a summary of Kirk Ferentz's 10 minutes on the Big Ten teleconference:

Happy for Marvin. Set a career mark that's significant. Moved past two great players. Moved from QB in '08. Worked hard, happy on a personal level. Plenty to work on locally. Challenge going to Minny.

What impresses you about Minny -- The intensity level they're playing at. They're playing hard and have been all season long. Expect tough ballgame Saturday.

Offense -- Still working through somethings we have to get better at there (O-line). Marvin leading receivers. Marcus Coker improving every week. Vandenberg, nice job leading football team.

AJ Derby question -- He did really well. Ran down on a couple kickoffs. Used technique he's never worked on and made the play. Some natural ability to play defense. Real task ahead of him learning technique and the defense. Very unselfish. -- Success with guys moving positions -- Nature of our recruiting, we can't always get guys who are obvious choices at their positions. We thought AJD and Marv would have position flexibility when we recruited them. Not all have worked out.

I asked about Keenan -- We'll know at the end of the week. We probably have 8 to 10 guys that we're going to have to be really careful with this week. Guys like James Morris, who played but is not 100 percent, and others who are behind him and Keenan is probably in that group. We'll just have to see how the week goes.

With A.J. Derby's move, is that a reflection of what you have seen from Jake Rudock or is it more about your linebacker situation? -- It's probably both. We think Jake is a good prospect, but that being said, he hasn't been here that long or played a snap yet, but we like what we've seen from him at this stage. More pressing is our situation at linebacker. Ever since Angerer and Edds graduated, it seems like we've been a player short. We've had some good players, but it seems like we can't keep them on the field and we're right back in that situation this year.

Here we go.

Nardo, Hitchens, Nielsen a chance. Eight to 10 are being watch closely this week.

Haven't won on the road yet.

Keenan: Tender ankle, see how the week goes with all these guys.

Problem on road: We didn't play well and they did (on Minny '10).

Coker YPC creeping. Decisive and confident. Expectations skewed, but camp injuries bigger dent than people know.

Will see Derby at LB? Doubt it. Nice job avoiding blocker last week, now the real work begins. Crash course in special teams.

Rudock have a say? Like what we've seen. Don't know much about QB after James.

McCall, cleared medically. Big diff between medical and being able to really play. No hard cutting yet on that ankle.

If you see any material from today about running to get or running from trophies, that's my idea.