Rich Brooks Quotes

"We need to see how adversity is dealt with as a team. I hope they have the resolve to roll up their sleeves and get it done."

"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."

"We are thrilled to get a guy like Will, who has a strong arm and outstanding athletic ability. For a quarterback to graduate early and come in for winter conditioning and spring practice is a huge advantage."

"I think Ravi has the ability to come out and help us. We'll see what happens."

"He has the ability to come out and help us. We had to sell him. He's an athlete, he's got size."

"Maurice gives us an option as a big back with athletic ability who also has good receiving skills. His basketball success in high school indicates his great athletic ability."

"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."

"He's a program guy. He's our 'Rudy.' I'm just thrilled he got the opportunity to experience something like that in an SEC football game."

"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."

"Make no mistake about it -- it's a very serious competition and a close one."

"This is the best competition we've had since I've been here. We just need a guy who will make plays in crunch time."

"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."

"At this point, am I concerned? You bet I am. Am I totally alarmed and shaken and (losing) confidence in him? Absolutely not."

"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."

"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 coach football. My coaches can coach football,"

"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 tried to talk him out of (quitting football). He did some real good things and I think he would have done well on the football field."

"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."

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