Spring Game Player Quotes
Joe Donnelly
On his improvement as a tight end this spring:
"I'm more of a receiving tight end, but to be complete you still have to block and that was the big challenge for me this spring, and for Lenny (Cusumano) and myself to prove we can be blocking tight ends.
On the loss of last year's seniors and the emergence of new players at key positions:
"We graduated so many great seniors. Our offensive line was our bread and butter last year. They were the nucleus of our team. When you graduate four seniors on the offensive line, you have to kick it up elsewhere. In a sense, we have to pick it up as upper classmen."
David Tyree
On being named one of the five captains for the 2002 season:
"Being a contributer for four years and a part of this program, it is just great to have that feeling that my teammates and the coaches have that respect and they want to pay me back and feel that I am a leader. I can’t even explain it right now. It is a wonderful feeling, though.
On the difference between last year’s team and this year’s team:
"This year’s team is a more aggressive team (than last year). We have a more vocal team. We definetly have the right guys, players that have been here five years and a four-year starter in Clifton Smith who is doing a tremendous job leading the way for the 2002 football season. It is going to be exciting.
On this year’s crop of wide receivers:
"We have a talented bunch. Right now we are short in numbers but we are high in talent. We have three guys returning in me, Johnnie (Morant), and Jamel (Riddle)."
R.J. Anderson:
On the effect of playing in a simulated game as opposed to running drills in practice:
"We have been competitive all spring so it is just another practice to me. We just had to put on the orange and blue today. It was cool."
On what the offense has to improve on before the start of the season:
"We need to be more consistent. We can’t have three and outs. We can’t have breakdowns. We can’t have five good plays and then two bad plays. We need to be more consistent."
On the play of the offensive line this spring and their progression into the season:
"I think we did a great job this spring gaining confidence and experience. We just need to get that game experience right now."
