Every high school player not being recruited by a major Division I program in the Pac-10, this gives them a reason to look at Davis. It's a great academic institution. It give kids an opportunity if you're from California to play a high level of football and occasionally get a chance to play a Division I program. |
He's so confident in what he knows. He now has better than 20 games under his belt. You can't put a price on that, can't measure that experience. He's seen it. He's reacted to it. He's not surprised by it. That's a real calming element in the offense. |
I thought it was going to be a factor. I knew they had a good kicking game. I thought if we could get momentum early. … They haven't scored a lot of points this year, to get an early score, I thought psychologically would have been good for us. |
It has all the ingredients. |
It has been a lot of fun preparing for the game. This is one everybody has been looking forward to for a long time. There's a lot excitement around here. |
It's not a burden you want the current players to carry. We know what we're trying to do. We made our decision. By most accounts, we're playing one of the toughest I-AA schedules in the country and we're playing with a half deck of cards because we're at half of the scholarships and loaded with lots of young players. |
It's tough, trying to figure out how fast they are and how strong they are compared to people that we've played. There will be a feeling out process in the first quarter, for sure. |
It's unfortunate the stadium is not going to be ready, but that's nobody's fault. After a while you learn to roll with the tide. |
Scoring on that first possession was key because of the emotion that goes into this game. |
That's always been the nature of the teams in the league. They've earned it, every one of those teams have earned any rankings they might have, because those are three very good defensive football teams. |
The intent is to teach, implement new schemes, try new techniques and come out of the spring feeling as though you have a better idea of what your talent level is like. It's fun from a coaching perspective because you don't have the pressure of a game to prepare for. You can really analyze what you're doing. |
The kids' attitude is awesome. I like this group. I think they have some aspirations to do some great things. |
They were a great football team. We had to pull out all the stops in that game. |
We had the wind at our back. We didn't have to march 70 or 80 yards. We could have gotten the ball to midfield or the 40 and had a chance. |
We have to (get better). We didn't run the ball particularly well. We had to rely too much on the pass. That has been a focal point for us in camp. With the level we're playing at, you have to be able to run the ball. |