Sept. 23, 2002
Head Coach Guy Morriss
On the 4-0 start…
“To tell you the truth, when you know a group of young men like we know our kids, it’s not a big surprise to us. Our kids expected to be 4-0 at this time heading down to Florida. That’s the mentality we have.”
On improving every week…
“We have some things that we have to clean up, some things we have to address and get better. My expectation of this team is that we still have our best football in front of us. We continue to grow and get better each week. With this bunch, we put the tape on, they see it and realize it. If we can just keep improving each week moving forward, who knows how good we can be. In yesterday’s workout, where everyone goes out and limbers up and sweats, there’s already a different attitude then there had been the last four weeks. I think that our kids honestly believe that they can go down there (Florida) and win that football game.”
On Artose Pinner and Jared Lorenzen…
“They both played well. Artose is playing as well as any back in the country right now. The better he plays, the easier it makes the job for Jared. Having both of them play well gives us the balance we’re looking for. We’re not a one-dimensional team. At their positions, they’re key guys who have to come through for you and make plays. And right now they’re both making plays.”
On the challenges the defense faces…
“Florida has great receivers and a tremendous quarterback. We will try to do the same things we’ve done the last four weeks: put heat on the quarterback and try to take him out of his rhythm as much as we can. One thing we can do better is communicating in the secondary. Our alignment has to be better. We were misaligned a couple times and we gave up big plays the other night. Things like that we can get corrected but it’s a great challenge and our kids are looking forward to it. It’s a measuring stick to where we are, how far we’ve come and where we’re headed.”
UK PLAYERS
Tommy Cook – Wide Receiver
On his feelings toward Coach Morriss’ contract extension…
“As a team we had no idea that was going to happen today, so I was shocked and excited when I heard about it. When that announcement was made I was grinning from ear to ear. There is a lot of pressure on any coach, and I think Coach Morriss has answered any questions people had about him. He definitely deserves this.”
On the emotions going into the Florida game…
“Our confidence is high heading into this game. We know Florida is a tough place to play. Any time you play in the SEC it’s going to be tough, but the great thing about it is that anyone can win on any given day. We’re motivated and excited to be going to play at Florida.”
Quentus Cumby – Free Safety
On team attitude before Coach Morriss…
“Coach Morriss has instilled the confidence in us that we can play with anyone. In the past, I felt like it really wasn’t about winning as much as it was statistics and entertaining people. Where winning might have been lower on the list in the past, it’s all we think about now under Coach Morriss.”
On Coach Morriss’ contract extension…
“We love Coach Morriss and we love playing for him. We’re winning games, he’s happy and we’re happy.”
On Coach Morriss’ leadership…
“He makes us believe in our abilities and we believe in his system. We believe in our coaching staff and we believe in each other. We all work as a unit for the same goal – to win football games. That’s all we’re about is winning football games. Nothing else matters but the win.”
Chase Harp – Tight End
On Coach Morriss’ contract extension…
“It’s a good deal for everyone. This should help recruiting, it solidifies the coaching staff for a while. I think it might help them coach – make the coaches feel more comfortable. All positions have quality coaches. Players can’t look good unless they have good coaches. And the same is true the other way.”
On the Florida game…
“We’ll have to play our best down there. We’ll need a really good game to beat Florida. We can beat them, though, I don’t think anybody here is questioning that. It’ll take our best effort.”
On the reaction to this decision…
“Everyone is excited. [The administration] sees the improvements the same that we do – they see the hard work we’ve put into this and it’s paying off. We still have to play the rest of the way out – this is a nice token, but we still have to keep up the hard work for this staff and our team.”
Ronnie Riley – Linebacker
On Coach Guy Morriss contract extension…
“It’s great. I was surprised and I’m so happy for him. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy and a better group of people. That’s what is great about our coaching staff, they are tremendous people as well as great coaches.”
On being 4-0 going into Gainesville…
“I think we finished the first chapter of the season and now we begin another one this weekend. We won our non-conference games and what this chapter has done has allowed us to have confidence going into Gainesville. We’re using our first four games as a confidence builder and a stepping stone.”
On approach to Florida game…
“We should approach this game the same way – one game at a time. We’ve had success with that. We approach every opponent the same way, just going all out for that game. Practices are getting harder as the season goes on and normally it’s the other way around. But our season gets harder now and I think that’s the right way. It goes along with our physical and mental preparation for the game.”
Nick Seitze – Center
On the motivation for going to Florida…
“The opportunity to play in the SEC against the best talent in the country and to be nationally televised is every player’s dream. The coaching staff doesn’t need to motivate us for this game because this scenario is motivation enough.”
On the challenge of playing Florida…
“We’re confident heading into this game. We know how big a challenge is in front of us, but we feel we have the talent and the work ethic to compete against Florida. Everyone is looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to show that we’re a good football team, too.”
