This is Ryan Gregg again. I'm sorry for the delay in posts, but my schedule has been rather hectic.
Making my way through the many different tables at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, I obviously made time to stop and talk with Austin Starr. Here are some of his most quotable moments.
On losing masterful long snapper Tim Bugg:
"He is an unbelievable long snapper and I wish him the best in the NFL, but losing him -- his younger brother Brandon has some fantastic talent as well. And going into this season what excites me is that we aren't going to skip a beat. Brandon Bugg can be as good as brother and he is on his way. I'm excited for our field goal unit. We have a great snapper and my holder, Dustin Hass, is truly underrated."The kicker usually gets the blame or the credit but whenever I get the credit I always like to give to the holder and snapper, because they are under appreciated."
"Absolutely (I knew I was going to make the kick). Whenever I go out for a field goal I expect to make it, and when I don't I am very surprised. But I don't sulk in the moment. Obviously I am upset, but I'm only upset for a split second," he said as he snapped his fingers. "And then everyone is telling me to, 'Forget about that last kick and move on, because we are going to need you.'""It was everything I could have wanted, and we got out to an early lead and it was fantastic. But then they came back and I missed a field goal, and they might have scored two touchdowns after that and I just felt terrible.
"I felt like I allowed the momentum to be shifted in their favor, but I didn't hold that as a verdict."
"When I go out there I like to do a dry kick and get a feel for it, and that timeout allowed me to do one or two more and it made me more comfortable."
"There was no other outcome for that game other than IU to come out on top, because of everything we played for."
"I welcome that opportunity. I grew up in Indiana so I know the rivalry and I would love to do that again."I live 45 minutes from West Lafayette so a lot of my home town fans will be there and I wouldn't want anything more than a fantastic game for one of the greatest rivalries in college football, and it's absolutely renewed now."
