Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow Press Conference
Monday, September 14, 2009 | Football
Watch Urban Meyer Press Conference
Head Coach Urban Meyer
On this week:
“Obviously, we look forward to playing this game at home. We're going to ask our fans to wear blue. Just getting anxious to play the first SEC game in the greatest stadium in college football in front of the best fans. We're ready to go, and we're going to have a good week.”
On getting calls about Riley Cooper's NFL prospects:
“Not yet. We will, absolutely. He could be an NFL receiver in a heartbeat. Last year, we had two who I think are both starting. Billy [Gonzales] has done a good job of developing them. Obviously, they have to be blessed. My man Coop could play in the NFL, no question about it.”
On defensive starters:
“It's good that we have co-starters. On defense you need that. We have a really good defense and can rotate players. It's a good issue to have. We have the ability to put three good safeties and four good defensive ends on the field. There are creative ways. That's a good issue to have.”
Preparing for rivalry games:
“The reason I love rivalry games is because I'm a football fan. I love watching the other rivalry games on TV. I'm a big fan of it. It was really thrust upon me to have three rivals here. I've never had to do that. At Utah, we had BYU. At Bowling Green, you had Toledo. You kind of let it all rip and do some nutty things and get a smile on their face. But here you've got to be careful. The minute you say LSU isn't a rival you, you've got to watch what's gone on the past few years. I think it's more the SEC, as opposed to one particular team or two. I'm a big fan of it. Our coaching staff and our players, they love SEC competition. They love playing in the SEC.”
On Tennessee's game plan:
“It's no secret what they're going to do. They have two good backs. They are going to come out and try to pound us and come after us running the ball. That's where a guy like Lawrence Marsh who hasn't played yet is going to be key. I don't believe they are going to come out and wing it all over the place trying to win the game. We have to be prepared. We have good cover guys, but we have to stop the run. If it starts to be a downhill game, then we have a problem. We can't allow that.”
Watch Tim Tebow Press Conference
Senior QB Tim Tebow
On this year's defense:
“We have the utmost confidence in our defense. It's not a bad deal to get two first downs and then a punt. We play a field position game. We follow the 'Plan to Win,' which is play great defense, win the turnover game, score in the red zone and win the kicking game. It's not just get more yards than the other team. How do we do that? We get first downs. We don't turn the ball over, and we don't force things or put our defense in bad situations.”
On his expectations for Saturday:
“The thing I'm most looking forward to is the bus ride in, right before the Gator Walk. To see the fans walking in the streets, all the way down to Museum, is so cool and exciting to see that. It really gets your adrenaline pumping and everything goes from there.”
On the Tennessee rivalry:
“It means a lot. It's been a big game ever since I was little, watching [Peyton] Manning, [Danny] Wuerffel, and all of those guys play in this game and how big of a game it was and how much that affected the momentum for the rest of their season. Since I've been here it's been big. It's an intense rivalry. People go out there and play extremely hard. It's one of the most physical games we'll play all year. It's definitely a game I look forward to playing and can give you that much more momentum and confidence when playing the rest of the season.”
On why the team has had success against rivals:
“Coach Meyer. Hard work. Recruiting good guys who buy into the program and for us to play like a band of brothers one game at a time.”
