Rich Brooks Quotes

"Vanderbilt and us are in probably the toughest six-team division (SEC East) in college football. It makes it very difficult to have a breakthrough year. Stanford, by and large, doesn't have as large a hill to climb."

"We wanted to sign two quarterbacks last year and didn't. Since I've been here, we didn't have choices at quarterback. Now we have choices ... I'm excited to have a quarterback roster that looks like an SEC quarterback roster, instead of one semi-experienced guy and a freshman, then a bunch of walk-ons."

"I can't deal in speculation, ... That's out of my control. All I can do is try to make sure we have a better football team. I think we will be improved. As to how that translates into wins, I don't know."

"The defense continues to fly around and be physical, but you've got to be able to score when you have the ball like that."

"He played a great football game. He tackled, he covered. He played his heart out. I would like more of them (opposing players) not to get to him, particularly in the running game, but it is good when he's flying around and getting to the ball. Not only did he tackle, but he put hits on people and was a very physical corner. We need that."

"We can't have a quarterback fumble the ball three times and expect to beat anybody. You don't fumble a football, that's the bottom line. But I'm going to give him a lot of credit for making some great throws too, doing some great things."

"We have to show a marked improvement in the next two weeks, in my opinion, throwing the football."

"Roger made plays all fall camp and has earned the opportunity,"

"I think it gives both schools an opportunity to go out and play someone different."

"Running backs take a beating because the guys chasing them are bigger, stronger and faster than at any time in the history of the game. I'd love to have a guy you can hand the ball 25 times a game and he'd always get 100 yards, but that's not an easy thing these days."

"It's great to have Aaron back in school. During his absence he's gained strength and weight (now weighs 298 pounds). He will bring intense competition to the left tackle position during spring practice."

"I'm going to see the draw play in my dreams for the next three weeks, ... Everybody in the stadium knew it was coming, and we still couldn't stop it."

"At Oregon, we were on the quarter system and didn't start school until September, so we'd play three games before school started. One year, I lost a game at Ohio State and went back to two-a-days the next week. You can't do that anymore. You used to be able to outwork somebody in preparing for a game, but now everybody's limited to the same amount of time."

"I can coach football. My coaches can coach football,"

"The last six years I was there we were a very good football team and since then they have only had one losing season,"

"That was a different football team than this year mentally,"

"I still feel very good about our team. I still think we're going to be a much-improved football team, ... We can talk about it all we want. Now we have to go out and prove it."

"He really did halfway decent for a guy with three days of practice. Based on our health at that position, I would expect Eric's snaps to go up this week."

"I've had other guys try to influence recruits, but never as demonstratively as Micah. He didn't want to be the only top recruit ... he wanted to get us some help down here."

"It would be nice to see John step up, ... This is a great opportunity for him. If he's ever going to do it, this is a chance for him to rise to the occasion."