Sept. 16, 2002
On Middle Tennessee…
“They’re a good football team. Our kids saw them play Alabama when we were waiting to play Louisville that weekend. They probably should have won that ball game. They played really well against Tennessee. I know they’re defense held up pretty well. They have great athletes and can really run. I think they’ll come in here believing they can beat us. And I think they have nothing to lose. So we’ll have to be focused and ready to play.”
On Middle Tennessee improving between their Alabama and Tennessee games…
“Yeah, they improved. They looked pretty impressive to me against Alabama. But they got better. No doubt.”
On Dewayne Robertson and Jeremy Caudill…
“I think the thing that’s helped Dewayne is the fact that Jeremy has been playing really well. Jeremy saw more double-teams from Indiana than he did in the previous two games. That freed up Dewayne a little bit for some one-on-one situations and he spent a lot of time in Indiana’s backfield. He had good pressure up the field and was disrupting plays from time to time. His overall production was better because he didn’t have two people blocking him all night long. That’s a good situation for us. Both of those guys are playing really well so the other team has to make a choice on who to double and who to single up.”
On Artose Pinner’s 10 receptions against Indiana…
“That was just a situation that we wanted to take advantage of. We know he has great hands and can catch the ball. We probably need to do more of that with him.”
On pass protection versus run blocking…
“Our offensive linemen now can do both pretty well. When I first got here (in 1997), they were really good run blockers, but we struggled for a while teaching them how to pass protect. We inherited a team that was pretty much an exclusively running team. We are a bit more balanced now.”
On Quentus Cumby…
“He hasn’t really been too much of a surprise. We all knew Quentus was a great athlete. We were waiting for him to step up do the things we knew he could do. He’s really started to blossom. I think he’s feeling a little more comfortable in the system and understanding how the scheme works.”
On Pinner leading the SEC in rushing…
“I didn’t know exactly how good our running game could be. But it doesn’t surprise me at all. Artose is that kind of a back. I knew he was pretty darn good.”
On talking Pinner out of quitting last year…
“After I got the job, five minutes into it he came into my office to quit. He was not happy and felt like his talents weren’t being used. I tried to explain to him that we were going to run the football and balance our offense and he was going to be the man. I got down on my knees and begged him to stay. He took pity on me and decided to stick around.”
On the decision to get 20-25 carries a game from Pinner…
“I knew in my mind that we were going to feature Artose Pinner and give him the ball that many times because he’s a talented young man who can carry that kind of load. He’s durable, he’s not a fumbler, he’s got speed – he’s really a complete back.”
On why he’s better now than a couple years ago…
“The difference is not Artose. The difference is that we’re putting the ball in his hands. We’re finding a way to get him the football and he’s making the most of it.”
On being positive when coaching…
“That’s just the way myself and the coaches coach. We’re extremely positive with our kids. We have to make them feel very good about themselves and get them to play at their peak. That process is to be as positive to the kid as you can. I don’t think anyone responds to negative-style coaching anymore. We recognize that these are good athletes, they can be playmakers, build their confidence and be positive with them. Those kind of kids respond.”
UK PLAYERS
RB Artose Pinner
On meeting with Coach Morriss before last season…
“I told Coach Morriss I couldn’t be the lead blocker anymore. He was very straightforward with me. He told me that we were going to run the ball more. At first I figured it would be two or three more times a game. This is more than I ever thought, but I love it.”
On the offense’s balance…
“It used to be that a team could drop four linebackers and take us out of our [passing] game. Now, we have a balanced attack and people have to honor the run and the pass.”
On performing for the coaching staff…
“When you have a staff like this that believes in you, it makes you more motivated to succeed. Last year we were all upset because we knew we had a great coaching staff and we just weren’t putting up the numbers we should have. This year, the [upperclassmen] are especially excited to be producing.”
WR Aaron Boone
On the offensive system…
“It means fewer catches, but it also means more wide-open catches. And I think that’s due to Artose Pinner. People can’t ignore him whether he’s running or catching out of the backfield and that means better coverage situations for all the receivers.”
On the defense’s big play…
“Around Kentucky, it used to be that the offense would go out and try to run up the score while the defense just held on and tried to save the win. Now, the defense is making the plays to win the game. It’s nice to have some of the pressure off of the offense.”
LB Morris Lane
On not filling gaps properly…
“We had a couple of plays where we made some mental mistakes. Some of our guys didn’t get to where they were supposed to be and that led to successful runs for Indiana. Not taking anything away from them as they have a good running game, but we made some mistakes and we got it corrected.”
On responsibilities in defensive coordinator John Goodner’s scheme…
“The natural instinct is to fly to the ball, but within the scheme, everybody has their responsibilities. You really have to discipline yourself to do what you are supposed to within the system.”
On MTSU’s RB Dwone Hicks…
“I haven’t seen a lot of film but the guy is crafty. He’s one of those playmakers that when he has the ball in his hands, he’s explosive and he can do something with it. It’s a great opportunity for our defense to play against a guy that’s a Heisman Trophy candidate.”
On shoulder injury…
“I had a stinger. It happened toward the end of the second quarter, but I was back after halftime.”
On Coach Goodner and his relationship with defensive players…
“As far as X’s and O’s and strategy, he knows what he’s doing but it’s beyond that. Coach Goodner is great guy, and when you have a good person that players are playing for, listening to, and going to meetings with every day, we as players want to reciprocate what he’s doing. He’s going to come in every day and be the same guy and give 100 percent. It’s motivating to play for him – his work ethic is outstanding.”
On Coach Goodner’s system…
“Anything that is different is kind of tough at the beginning. Right now everyone is comfortable, everybody knows what they’re doing and they have a good understanding of what the guys beside them are doing. That gives us a comfort zone out there.”
DE Vincent Burns
On the rest of the defensive line…
“Having Dewayne (Robertson), Jeremy (Caudill) and Ellery (Moore) at the tackles makes it a lot easier for Otis (Grigsby) and myself to do our jobs. Those guys are all real good players and they command a lot of attention from the opposing line. We have a good time playing together as a group and it makes it even more fun to play when you get to play with good players.”
On playing Middle Tennessee State this weekend…
“They’re a good team. They have quality athletes at all positions. I’ve played against some of their guys before and I know how good they are, so it will be a tough, hard-fought game for us.”
CB Leonard Burress
On not looking ahead to Florida…
“We know that we can’t afford to do that. We know how good a team Middle Tennessee has, so we can’t look past them at all. We’ll be ready to play against them and that’s the only thing we can focus on right now.”
On changes from last year to this year…
“The overall attitude of the whole team has changed. We’ve all gained a great deal of confidence and we truly believe that we can compete with anybody that’s on our schedule. The coaching staff has really given us a great deal of confidence to compete.”
OT Sylvester Miller
On the defense…
“The defense has really helped us this season. As an offense we know that we don’t have to score a whole lot of points every game to win. The defense has really stepped up and gotten some confidence, so they can hold the opposing team to fewer points and take some pressure off the offense.”
On blocking for Artose Pinner…
“Artose is the kind of guy that you love to block for because he can break the big run. He gives the offensive line confidence because we know that if we can get a block for him he can hit the hole and break a big run. Artose is a great back.”
