Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker met with the media on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee to discuss facing Missouri in the Music City Bowl on Monday.

Here is the press conference transcript:

PHIL PARKER: Thank you everybody for coming, and I appreciate it. I know some of you guys that had to travel here to cover us. I really appreciate you guys doing that. I heard a couple of stories already, but I would really like to thank the bowl committee here that selected us. It’s nice to be down here in Nashville. It seems like I’ve been here many times over the years, whether it’s a convention or whether it’s a football game.

It’s really been a good week. We just finished practice. Our last one was today. It looked like the kids were polished. Really happy for them.

We have a lot of seniors that — we have seven seniors that are going out, and this is going to be their last time together to play. We’re looking for a good outcome for this.

Obviously through the years, this year we had some up and downs during the season, and I like the way the guys responded. There was a point in the season there where it could have went the other way, and coming back and getting eight wins is very significant.

I think to win nine in college football nowadays with all the things that go on and how things are moving around in college football, but we’re looking forward. It’s going to be a tough matchup for us. They’re a good football team. They’re well-coached, and it’s going to be a challenge for us. We have some guys out; we have some guys out.

Looking forward to any questions you guys might have.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You mentioned seven seniors. What have you seen from some of the younger guys as you prepare for this bowl game that have stepped up and your thoughts on some of their performances?

PHIL PARKER: One thing about it is we have eight guys coming back, and a lot of these guys you’ve been seeing them, but it was a great opportunity to get a guy like Lutmer some reps and Koen to get some reps and see them grow as a guy that’s the upcoming guy that’s going to be on the field a lot next year.

Then the linebacker group, we have a lot of young guys in the linebacker group that was getting a lot of work. You go back for this whole month of how many reps you can take and then wait for spring ball to come and see their growth, which has really been important for us as a program that’s a developing program.

We have to make sure that you keep your guys in our building and make sure they’re all on the same page. I think they’re all working hard, and I think this is a good event to send these seniors out on a good game tomorrow, Monday.

Q. Phil, I wanted to ask you about Nick Jackson. So much is made about the transfer portal these days, and this guy comes into your program and seems to really fit right in and gives you two years of a strong production. Can you talk about maybe the impact that he’s had on your program and maybe somebody with similar qualities you would like to maybe bring in in the portal sometime soon?

PHIL PARKER: Well, right now, I tell you, Nick, when we first recruited him and going down and visited with him, which was kind of awkward going to visit guys that are at a different school, but it was a unique situation, and he was just the right fit for us.

He matched our guys. He came in and blended in with our guys. He learned a lot of football, and he became a good leader in that aspect of it. Jay helped him along the whole way.

I think Coach Wallace does a good job with those guys, and they’re really like coaches on the field. So it’s really excellent.

But, you know, right now I don’t know if we’re going to go out there and experiment in the portal to try to bring in another linebacker. I think we have a good group of guys right now that we’re working with. You have to be very careful that you bring in the right guy into your program and don’t want to disturb the locker room.

I think that’s the most important thing right now in college football. As you can see, it’s definitely different. I think it changes, and you can see the quality sometimes might be slipping a little bit just for the lack of guys being together.