Aug. 9, 2001
HEAD COACH GUY MORRISS
On two quarterbacks: “I think we’re fortunate to have two guys competing for the position. As for the flow, I don’t think it will interrupt anything. Many people make a big deal out of that but as an individual player, you go out and play as hard as you can and you don’t worry about who’s taking the snap, handing the ball off. You just have to get your job done no matter who lines up behind center.”
On QB situation: “Same as it has been all summer. The guys have had the competition going since spring. They will start tomorrow with it still going on but someone has to take the first snap and that will be Jared (Lorenzen) as he is the previous starter. Hopefully one of these guys will emerge and make it a clear-cut favorite and the decision will be made by the performance on the football field.”
On strengths/weakness of QBs Jared Lorenzen and Shane Boyd: “Jared obviously has a stronger arm than Shane and his biggest plus is that he started 11 ball games last year. That experience is extremely valuable. The fact that Jared is getting his weight down very close to where we want it will make him more mobile and we’d like to put more of that in our offense.”
On Shane Boyd: “Shane is an intelligent young man, fiercely competitive and extremely mobile, which fits our offense and he may be the better guy at that. The thing that hurts Shane is that he hasn’t played, he hasn’t been on the field when the bullets are flying and that makes a huge difference. I’ve seen a lot great practice players and we just don’t know how he will react out there when it counts.”
On Boyd’s chance of starting/lack of experience: “If he clearly wins the job he will start. I think we’re trying to make this decision for what is the best for the future of this football team and at some point every player has to make his first start. I can’t tell these guys that there is a competition to be won on the field and not award it to him if he plays better than the other. We’ll lose credibility as coaches if we do that.”
On assistant coaches: “I believe you have to lean on your assistants heavily. It doesn’t matter if I’m a first-year head coach or been a head coach for 30 years, there’s not anybody who knows everything and all the answers about running a football team. They’re hired for their professional football opinions and if that’s what you’re paying them for, you have to give them the opportunity to give it to you. I tell them not to tell me what you think I want to hear.”
On new assistant staff: “Obviously when you put in a new staff there is a little period of coming together. Here that has been very minimal as our staff enjoys being together, everyone gets along and there are no cliques in this group. It’s been nice the way we have come together and our kids will feed off of this positive chemistry of our staff.”
On decision to move staff and players to dorm: “When I was playing I used to love to go to camp. It was an isolated type of environment. We want our kids to be concentrating on nothing but intense football. This way we have them all together and it forces them to be together. It forces them to get to know each other, we can have a watch on them, what they eat, when they go to bed, when they wake up. We took the cell phones and the car keys as well, they are willing to do what it takes to be a winning football team.
On tragedies in football this year: “We’ve had our medical staff at the health care center come over and talk to our training staff and so that they were on the same page and updated on the latest knowledge available on those areas. We’re encouraging our kids to drink a lot of fluids. We’ve got to push them to get in shape and be game ready but at the same time you have to walk a line where you need to be sensitive to the player’s health.”
On overcoming attitude of 2-9 season in 2000: “We’ve overcome it, this is a new staff, what’s happened in the past is history and we can’t change it. My staff and I talk to our kids daily about this and the only thing we can control is our effort and our mental outlook on preparing ourselves for September 1. I think we as a staff have bridged that gap with our players. We are teaching them commitment and a passion for the game.”
On strengths as a coach: “Probably the way I deal with players, they respect me, respect my honesty. I tell the players if you aren’t ready for the answer you better not ask the question because I’m going to give you a straight answer. I’d rather be told the truth than to deal with the opposite.”
On special teams: “Definitely an area we needed to improve and that’s why coach (Mark) Nelson is here. He has free reigns over any position player on both sides of the ball and that’s a different philosophy. It’s important to have the best players on the field at all times especially when you’re exchanging that much real estate on special teams.”
On defense: “If we stay healthy and our corners hold up, we can be a good defensive ball club. I told them I don’t only expect them to be good but they have to be good. It doesn’t do us any good to put up 40 and give up 45, bottom line is winning and we can’t win if we are not committed to the defensive side of the ball.”
On offense: “We were a one-dimensional offense and you can’t do that in this conference or any for that matter. We had one or two running plays and didn’t even run them and that made us easy to prepare for. We’ll get down in a three-point stance and step up the running game. We aren’t going to be afraid to pound the ball, especially in the red zone where we struggled last year.”
On schedule/playing Louisville: “It’s a tough schedule but if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. I’m glad that the strength of schedule is figured into the BCS ratings, it’s very important. As far as playing Louisville, as a coach, I’d rather play them at the end of the season, it would be a better matchup as both teams will have played the season as opposed to the first game of the year. Either way, I like playing them and it’s good for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
