I tell our players a lot about some of those guys. I don't know if they realize the tradition. Maybe if they see it in the paper, it will mean a lot more to them.

We all came here because we wanted to be part of this program. It's about tradition, about the players who have been here.

I don't know where these guys fit in our team, ... but they're all very hardworking, very serious players, very angry-type players -- with talent.

He's a great person. You guys have been around him for the last little while and you realize how much of a gentleman he is and how respectful of the game he is.

Some players ... they're better unprepared, maybe. Just go out there and wing it. That's how he is.

We realize our offense got a lot of guys back, and we've done a lot of things to improve our defense. We were 8-8 last year. We need to step up from there. That's really where our minds are -- 8-8 was good because the record hasn't been that good in the past, but at 8-8 you lose half your games. That's nothing to write home about, nothing to be proud of. We're definitely expecting to take drastic steps from last year into this year.