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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

Q&A with IU football cornerback Tim Bennett

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IU football is set to open its 2014 campaign noon Saturday at Memorial Stadium against Indiana State.

In advance of the week’s game, IDS football reporter Sam Beishuizen caught up with senior cornerback Tim Bennett to talk about opening a new season.

Bennett, a Columbus, Ga. native, moved from safety to become IU’s starting cornerback last season. He led the nation with 20 pass breakups and 21 passes defended.

Q It’s game week for you guys with kickoff coming Saturday. What’s the excitement level going into the weekend?

A I’m really excited for this week.

For months and months starting in January, the new coaches came in. We got the system. We lift. We do all this stuff.

But this moment right here? We’ve been waiting for this moment. We’ve been waiting for this Saturday so we can get it started.

Q You’re a senior now, do you still feel the excitement of opening weekend? Do you get any nerves or jitters?

A Oh definitely. I feel like if you don’t get butterflies, you really don’t love the game. I love this game.

I was thinking about it last night that this is my last first game here. I get butterflies every time I step on the practice field.

Q You led the nation with 20 pass break-ups last season. What do you have for an encore? How do you build on that?

A Turn some of those into picks, pretty much. That’s how you build on that.

You know, last year was my first year at corner so I just have to continue to improve on getting better at my corner position.

Q I saw last Wednesday that IU Coach Kevin Wilson went on a slip-n-slide. It looked like he started with a pretty big thud. How would you rate his performance?

A It started off rocky, but by the end of it he kind of got it. The second one was better.

He did it twice, but everybody was kind of thudding on there. But that was my first time going on a slip-n-slide myself.

Q Wait, you’d never gone on a slip-n-slide before?

A Never in my life. It was a fun experience.

Q Last one I have for you, but why should people be excited about this IU defense and this team this year?

A We’ve just got a new attitude. We have a renewed confidence in this defense.

With confidence, you could have a pretty good defense and we just need to build on that each week. That’s why you should be excited for this.

Attitude over on the defensive side is a lot better than it was in years past. We’re ready to go.

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