Monday, August 25, 2003“We are tired of looking at each other. We’re ready to play. We’ve had a good preseason camp and now we’re ready to play in one of the best college atmospheres around. They have great fans and that place will be rocking and I think our players are looking forward to this challenge. I’m glad it’s a big ball game because that’s the way we treat them all. There is no question that we’ve worked hard.”
“I’m pleased with where we are for the moment. I wish our offensive line had more time to practice together. Our biggest concern is that we have had someone different in there almost every week. I think that it is important that they work together. Nothing can take the place of them working together. The good side of it is that all of our guys have played except for Brandon Cox, but he was here in the spring. That’s something we hope helps us.”
On the QB situation-
“Jerry Babb is our starting quarterback and I want to be able to play Eric (Rekieta) during the game. I’m not going to say that it will be some definitive time. I’m really not a proponent of playing two quarterbacks, but I had a feeling this situation may come up. I’ve been pleased with where Jerry (Babb) is. Eric started out a little rusty, which is understandable being that he missed spring practice, but he began to get a better feel for things in the last four or five practices. Jerry is our starting quarterback. He and the players know that, but I do feel that Eric brings a lot to the table. I think he needs to be able to play some. Eric and Jerry understand what we are doing. It’s not because anyone’s been playing poorly. Both of them deserve a chance. The biggest thing for us is our players needing to know who our leader will be.”
On SC’s Defense-
“South Carolina implemented a new defense that has made it a little hard to prepare for being that you’re not exactly sure of what they are going to do and you don’t have any film to make you feel like you know. They were a 3-3 defense last year, completely different than what they’re doing now. We do know that they switched to the 4-3 defense and we’ll have to rely on our background and what we’ve seen other teams who run the same system do in order to prepare our offense. The key there is to prepare them for two or three looks and familiarize ourselves with blocking schemes and pass protection, and then we adjust at the game.”
On SC’s offense-
“They’ve been changing offensively themselves. When Coach Holtz is running the offense its one thing and when Skip is running it he does another. I’m sure they’ll have some new wrinkles for us as we do them.”
On his South Carolina homecoming-
“No one knew who I was; I was a nobody when I played for Clemson. When I went there (Columbia, SC) to coach, the fact that I played for Clemson never was an issue. But, the rivalry is big in that state. South Carolina has a lot of great fans and I have a lot of great friends and family there. It’s amazing all the people that are calling me for tickets. Some are South Carolina fans, but they’re (SC fans) not getting any from me. I’m excited about going home to South Carolina. I grew up there. My brother lives in Columbia. My wife is from Columbia and a lot of her family still lives there, but on Saturday, they’ll be rooting for the Ragin Cajuns.”
On this year’s season opener-
“I think we’re better prepared for this year’s opener as compared to last season. That’s probably the biggest difference to me. Our players are better prepared. As coaches, I feel like we are better prepared. I feel better about our football team. I think anything can happen on any given day. I’ve always believed that.
On the mental aspect of the game-
“It’s something that you do every day. We talk about working to win and thinking about winning. Now that we have a better feel for our players, we want to talk about winning and doing things the right way in order to win. The word ‘win’ has come up a lot more in this preseason with both coaches and players.”
Source: LOUISIANA SI
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Offensive line main concern
