(On Vanderbilt’s defense)
“They were very tough on us last year. We’re very concerned about them. They’re much like Mississippi State. We’re hoping that having those two games back-to-back this year with the open week in front of them is going to help us some. We’re hoping very much that we can go out there and be calm, recognize the fronts and give Tim the protection he needs to take care of business.”
“They’re younger obviously. They lost a lot of seniors. But, it’s still the same scheme and they’re still giving people problems. They’ll mix zone in with man. They’ll show you a lot of different fronts. It’s very similar to what we saw against Mississippi State.”
“I think our team is going to be consistent. I think they’re going to be business-like, because that’s what they do every week. We’ve never talked about rankings in our meetings. We had a goal to beat a ranked opponent on the road. That’s the closest we’ve come to talking about rankings. This is an SEC game and it’s the most important game we’ll play this week.”
(On Tim Couch’s finger)
“They’re going to splint Tim’s finger for a couple of days and make sure nothing hits it or bumps it to make it worse. They’ll continue treatment and hopefully he’ll be able to go in a couple of days.”
(On Tim Couch winning the Heisman trophy)
“If they gave me a vote, he obviously would get first place. If it truly goes to the best football player in the nation, and if you define the best football player in the nation as someone who is so good that he makes the rest of the people around him rise to the occasion, he has to be one of the top candidates. Because look at where Kentucky was and look at where we are now, and look at who we play.”
“This group has been great since spring practice. We’ve had a really good feeling about these guys since then. It’s one of those things you have to earn. We talked about it in January when they came back. You talk about consistent effort and how close they were last year. But, then you have to look at who’s going to class every day, who’s showing up for workouts on time, who behaves off the field, who stays focused when it gets rough in the weight room or practice. This group passes all those tests.”
(On the Vanderbilt offense)
“They brought in a new offensive coordinator who’s a very fine coach. I’ve known him for awhile and he does a great job. It really has changed their offense. I know they’ve struggled a lot on offense, but they’ve got a lot of young players. l think that speaks to that side of the ball. Defensively, it’s the same scheme, but younger players. You can tell that in the middle of the season, they began to jell and they’ve become a better team. They always feel like they can beat us. We know it’s going to be a tough ballgame.”
(On Garry Davis and James Whalen)
“Garry Davis may be the best guy we have at playing the ball in the air. First of all, he’s got a great vertical jump and he really plays the ball in the air well. He has really worked hard the last couple of years. Last fall is when he really started to come on. This past spring we moved him and James Whalen in several positions. This year, we put both of them in a spot and just let them play and they’ve both had excellent seasons.”
