“Thanks for coming. We have our two non-padded [practices] out of the way, now we have our two with shoulder pads, defense as well as offense. We have some really good players whose attitudes are tremendous. We were not pleased with yesterday’s practice. We’re taking it one practice at a time. We’ve always done that just not quite with the same intensity as we have with this fall camp.”
On the expectations with so many defensive players coming back:
“We gave up a lot of yards last year. Relatively, I guess it’s not that much, but I just think we all know we could do much better. Scoring [is] one thing our defense did very well. The National Championship game was a perfect example. We gave up some yards within the first half, but then we stopped. So our goal is to give a little bit more [and] not [be] so much [of a] ‘Bend-but-don’t-break’ defense. I love the coaches. We have four coordinator-type coaches in the meeting room every day. I think that that unit can be really good, but it depends on who we’re playing. If you look on our schedule, you’ll see some really good offenses. I think they can be the best defense we’ve had in the past three years.”
On if his job is getting easier as head coach:
“I like my job a little better. Pat Dooley [of the Gainesville Sun] wrote a good article that came from my heart that was about comfort level and how the games go. With my boss, the University of Florida, with the players who we’ve all recruited now and we know their families and who they are – in that respect it’s night and day. The comfort level of knowing where you live and that your family’s going to take care of you. That’s off the charts. With that comes the ridiculous expectations that we always have to deal with. I like my job a lot better than I did when I first got here. If your question is if it’s easier the better players you have, I guess it is. Our job is to win games; the better your players are the more you win games.”
On if the team has reached a perpetual re-load point:
“I don’t know about perpetual re-load. That’s a pretty strong statement. We have a pretty good team coming back, and I can see the depth coming up through the ranks. But there’s health, there’s eligibility, there are all these things that we have to work to maintain. If we can stay healthy and do things the right way, we could have a good football team coming up in the next few years. If you look at the offensive line and the defensive line, you can see the depth that we didn’t have before around here. Justin Trattou could sprain his foot at practice and there is another guy ready to jump in his place. This year, we are going to see a pretty big exit and we are going to lose some really valuable players. Last year, we only lost a small number of those kinds of players. We will find out even more next year as we keep going.”
On if he worries with the expectations of coming off National Championship:
“Absolutely, the expectations worry me, but people’s expectations are not the pride of the program. The pride of the program is our players.”
On his increased notoriety as a head coach:
“I’ll never forget my first year at Bowling Green in 2001, and I flipped through the pre-season magazines and there was Bowling Green ranked 110th in the nation. We went to Media Day, and I would sit there for a while and no one was too interested. Do I miss those days? Sometimes. I’m very humbled by where we are at now but it really makes you think.”
On going undefeated:
“I’m hoping you don’t hear them talk about it very much. I think sometimes what happens is that these young guys get baited into making comments like that. That is certainly not one of our goals. Absolutely not. Our goal is to get to Atlanta, and that’s it.”
On believing the players’ commitment to leadership:
“I think that there are two ways to believe in something. One is to witness it and the other is to have faith in it. I’ve witnessed the leadership on this team. I saw it in the fourth quarter against Alabama. So what makes me think those kids can lead this team? I’ve seen it. I experienced halftime at the National Championship game, where I saw a lot of things that you guys didn’t see. That was behind-the-scenes leadership. I saw Brandon Spikes today at practice, so I’ve witnessed it. I’ve seen young guys like Justin Trattou, Joe Haden and Major Wright take their leadership to the next level this summer. I have faith that many of them will do it and I’ve witnessed it in some other players. Those young juniors that are coming up are ready to be great players and great people.”
On if the season would be a failure without a National Championship title:
“At this point, I can’t say it would. I don’t know about injuries and I don’t yet know everything about this team. I think I have an idea, but it’s early yet. I can’t answer that right now, but I can tell you that I have extremely high expectations of this team.”
On QB John Brantley and his potential:
“Johnny Brantley did very well at practice today. At this point in time, he will play meaningful minutes in games. He is starting to earn that right. Unless he starts to hit reverse on the practice field, in which case we would back off. Johnny has to be ready to go and he’s starting to really impress people.”
On the learning experience of winning the National Championship in 2006:
“I learned a lot following that one. But that was an entirely different team with an entirely different makeup. I think that it’s just so completely different. We learned a lot of lessons that year about coaching. I did find a big difference in the offseason following the championship. It was just completely crazy around here after the 2006 win. We lost focus, and I take a lot of blame for that. With all these things going on and staff members doing different things, we just tried to keep it very basic this time around. Just keeping people focused on what they need to be doing and not all those other things that come with a National Championship win. If I could do 2007 again, I would. But so far I’m very pleased with our approach in 2009.”
( by www.gatorzone.com)
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