UF Baseball Quotes From Opening Day Of Practice
Friday, January 28, 2011 | Baseball
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan, senior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.), sophomore Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.), sophomore Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) and junior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) of the Gator baseball team met with the media on Friday prior to their first practice of the 2011 campaign.
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan:
“They came back in shape over the Christmas holidays and from a lifting standpoint our strength coach (Paul Chandler) was pleased when they came back. From a pitching standpoint, the arms are in good shape and we're ready to scrimmage today. It hadn't been much of a rush to get their arms in shape, they all came back in shape and they are ready to go.”
On building on last year's success: “As a coach, you can give a player a lot. You can coach a lot of different ways and give them a lot of different things to improve upon but the one thing a coach cannot give a player is experience. Hopefully, we can build on last year and learn from our pluses and minuses and hopefully we can go a step further.”
On the Gators' pitching rotation: “Very rarely do you ever get your whole weekend rotation back. Usually the (Major League Baseball) Draft or graduation takes care of that because sometimes it takes a few years for guys to develop into a weekend starter. To have all three guys back and to add some really talented freshmen and some other guys that have improved as well is great. We've got some depth and that should hopefully be one of our strengths.”
On junior left-hander Alex Panteliodis: “He's always been a strike thrower and has always been competitive. He came from a very good high school program at Alonso and has improved. He's improved from his first year and second year and obviously this year we're looking at bigger and better things from him. He looks sharp and his off-speed stuff looks a little bit better.”
On sophomores Cody Dent and Kamm Washington: “Both have looked very good, Kamm is 100 percent now after his hamstring injury last year and he's come back looking strong and running well again. I think Cody played really well this summer and I think it was important for him to get some valuable at bats. He looks really good, much improved from a year ago.”
On junior Preston Tucker's new position in right field: “We've had a whole fall to work on it so he's done a really good job. You never know until the actual games start but he's looked sharp out there. Brian Johnson has looked good at first and with (Austin) Maddox, his body has changed. He dedicated himself in the off-season to get better defensively at third base and he's done great so far.”
Junior right fielder Preston Tucker:
On the freshmen: “Basically, it just comes down to talent. I think every year we bring in more talent and the new guys are working just as hard as they always have. With the freshmen we have coming in, especially the pitching, hopefully they are going to step up and do a heck of a job in the first couple games going into the SEC series.”
On UF's experience: “It's always good to have experience. I think we have so much depth to where we can put in guys that have been there. Guys with experience are sure going to help us when we need a guy to step up in a clutch situation.”
On playing right field: “I've started there since day one in the fall. I haven't played one inning at first base since the fall workouts started and I think I'm doing as well as I can out there. I'm putting in the work and taking the time to take reps out there so I feel just as comfortable as I would at first base. I've been out there working and even after the break before practice I've been taking a couple fly balls a day so I feel pretty comfortable.”
Senior second baseman Josh Adams:
On having a fresh start: “It's a new year, new things can happen. I've been working hard in fall and getting back to where I was. It's just one of those things, I had a bad junior year but I can't dwell on it. Now, I've got to move forward and it's always nice to have a fresh start. You get over it for awhile and then you just come to the field one day and say 'let's just do it the right way' so fresh starts are nice.”
On this year's goals: “I always want to improve on the game but it's just one thing with the team. We want to win in Omaha and that's the goal so for me that's my individual goal. You improve every day of course and it's more of team thing.”
On game mentality: “Frustration, you go from at bat to at bat and strike out the next at bat and you're like 'what am I going to do now?' It's just going in every at bat, a different mentality and trying to do something productive. It's always mental, it's mental with everybody. Everybody has the tools to play the game, it's just whether mentally you can handle it.”
Sophomore shortstop Nolan Fontana:
On his starting position: “It doesn't really change the way I work day-in and day-out though. Regardless of knowing if you have a spot or not, I feel like the only way to go about it is bust your tail day-in and day-out and good things will happen.”
On being more aggressive this season: “I want to be more aggressive and that is how the coaches want me to be. At certain times just knowing the situation and being patient and being aggressive will depend on the situation. I was a little too patient last year, I'll try to be more aggressive this year.”
On team leadership roles: “We had several of us that were blessed enough to get that award (Freshman All-America.) But, there are several guys that have stepped into leadership roles and it's a big part of getting as far as we want to get. Myself, Josh (Adams), Tuck (Preston Tucker) and Brian Johnson have definitely throughout the fall and the past few weeks stepped up into leadership roles.”
On advice to the freshmen: “We've told the freshmen that the game is going to pick up and it's going to be a little bit faster. Slowing it down by yourself and telling yourself to slow down is going to be a big part of the game and being successful.”
Sophomore pitcher/first baseman Brian Johnson:
On being a member of Team USA last summer: “That was a great experience playing with the best college players in the country. It was awesome, a great experience. I learned a lot of stuff from the players that I was playing with and it was a great experience to have. I got to take batting practice for the most part and had about three or four at bats but came out of the bullpen and had one start. The one thing I learned was that I got a lot of help with my change-up from (UCLA's) Gerrit Cole so that helped.”
On playing first base: “I was a little rusty getting out there first but seem to have the hang of it now. I'm taking a lot of ground balls every day with Austin (Maddox) so the more reps I can get the better I am going to be at it. I played there in high school and I love doing it, but it was just a little different because balls are coming at you a little harder than they were in high school.”
On the bullpen: “Our whole bullpen is pretty stacked, it's a great feeling. Once you go to Omaha, everyone expects you to go back. You just don't go back, you have to keep working hard and make sure you stay focused.”
