Michigan State QB Andrew Maxwell Talks About His Growth as a QB

Q. How do you take what happened at the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl? Did it take some time to process it? A: …specific time frame? As soon as you just kind of

Q. How do you take what happened at the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl? Did it take some time to process it?

A: …specific time frame? As soon as you just kind of accept what happened... But the bottom line is, you take my personal situation out of it, you look at it as a team, we won the football game. That was our goal. We wanted to finish the season winning some games in a row, win two bowl games in a row. We did that. So I think when you look back on it that’s the biggest thing you can take from it. But that’s when you realize that there is nothing promised in this game. Things don’t always go as you planned. But that’s something that as a player and as a quarterback you have to accept and deal with, and learn how to play with that.

Q: Do you really understand that level, because it’s a whole other level. Do you realize the difference?

A: Well yeah, certainly. When something like that happens and it becomes a reality very fast, that’s when you really realize the real meaning of earn, never given. Because we’re trying to put our best 11 players on the field. It doesn’t matter who they are. Coach D has said from day one he does not care who plays, he wants the best 11 players out there. With 2 minutes to go in the bowl game our best 11 players consisted of Connor playing quarterback. And it turned out and it worked and we went down and kicked the field goal and won the game. That was a great learning experience for me. It was a great lesson that you gotta work and earn everything you get here.

Q: For you, a year ago, just the dynamic in terms of your own confidence coming in, your own humility, in terms of what you learned. How different a person and quarterback are you?

A: Well, I think I learned a lot last year. A year of experience really does a lot for you. Especially a year when a lot of things didn’t quite go our way. A year when we were put into a lot of adverse and tight situations. Things you really can’t duplicate in practice, you can’t do it in camp, you can’t do it in spring ball. So you go a whole year and you start 13 games and get put into in all those situations, it gives you the confidence, it gives you that experience that you learn and you can take from that. So now I can carry myself with a little more confidence. I’ve been there, I’ve learned from that, and next time I face that situation I feel little more confident that I’m doing things better for us.

Q: Was it harder than you thought last year? You think of yourself right now, you’re doing what you thought?

A: It was hard. But at the same time, going into the year, I really didn’t know what to expect. Because it’s kind of hard to really put yourself in those situations, really put yourself in a starter’s shoes until you’ve actually been there. So it was more difficult than I expected maybe just because I didn’t really know what to expect.