Freshmen Quotations | Page 4

We're going to be a very young football team. We're bringing in over 40 freshmen which I think is a good thing. We have very good football players that are here now and that we'll count on to play. It will be exciting to see how fast they learn and how they jell as a team.

We saw some good hitters. They really hit the ball hard, but a lot of them were older. We started four freshmen and three sophomores. We're young, but we have a lot of potential. It just remains to be seen how far these girls can come along.

We revealed our youth a little bit tonight. This was the first time all season our freshmen became a bit timid and passive, and we tightened up those last two to three minutes. But you have to give them credit, they made some big plays to give us some breathing room.

You have to recognize that they've got a lot of young kids out there. They're playing freshmen and they lost great players. People don't realize the number of great players they lost. I think probably they're a good team, but they're not the same team as they were last year.

We should be in the top three or four in the conference, definitely the top five. The freshmen class last year was very, very good. I?m not worried.

We should be better prepared this time around. We've got 21 freshmen that have played two-thirds of a Division I hockey season. They're more accustomed with the pace of the game and the ebb and flow of the game.

We're disappointed. What it presents now is a challenge for someone to take over. We have to ask our freshmen not to play like freshmen.

We are very excited to continue Freshmen with Top Cow,? Green said. ?After the great response to the first mini-series, we've been looking forward to telling another chapter of this story. And believe me-you have no idea what's coming. It's awesome!

We had positive results from our freshmen to our seniors. We are pleased with the team outcome, and our performances were strong.

Brendan has always been a heavyweight, but he was a small heavyweight. We started the program with freshmen and sophomores, with no upperclassmen and we were going out and wrestling a varsity schedule. We've been wrestling a varsity schedule for three seasons.

Even the smaller bedrooms, which will be presumably for the freshmen and sophomore suites, will be large enough so that all the University-provided furniture will fit in them. The junior/senior bedrooms will be large enough so that you can put all the University-provided furniture on the floor with bunked beds and still have a living room to have social furniture in.

Everybody helped out. We had guys come off the bench and play well. Our freshmen played well and that was good to see.

At one point or another this upcoming weekend, you may see four true freshman in there at one time. They're good freshmen that I have to play out there to get their feet wet, but there's been some growing pains as you can expect.

Did I think starting the season that I'd have three freshmen starting? No. ... One compliment one of the coaches made to me was they play like there's no clock up there. They just go 100 percent all the time. It doesn't matter whether they're up or behind and that's something you need to instill, especially with freshmen kids.

Did I see anything positive? No. We have freshmen and that monster showed its head tonight. But I don't think we are as bad as the score says.

Elliot had a nice game for us. Our young guys continue to improve. Those are the kind of contributions we're going to need from our freshmen as we near the tournament. Robert had another nice floor game for us with several assists, too.

I've been saying this a lot lately, but our freshmen were terrific today for us. I would have liked to put some more runs on the board, but we'll take two conference wins any way we can get them. We got great pitching and played very good defensively and as a coach, that's what you're looking for. The hitting will come.

I've never had three freshmen starting at any time. We send 'em out there, but we can't have great expectations. You do the best you can, and that's how it is.

The whole team has really stepped up their game this fall. I'm expecting great things from everyone -- even the freshmen are expected to come in and make an impact.

The scores may not be indicating it, but we are coming together and playing better. We've already seen tons of improvement. We're asking a lot of our sophomores and freshmen to play on the varsity level, but hopefully, they'll see what good volleyball is and what it takes to get there.

I've never seen an 18-year-old kid do it night in and night out regardless of the circumstance, regardless of the venue. Kids get sick, they have tests, they have distractions, they have a bad night. There are a million things that happen to freshmen along the course of the season.

It was tough and it's been hard all season long. I have a very young team with a bunch of freshmen and I'm hoping next year will be even better.

It was absolutely a great year. With the shallow bench, with just one senior and six freshmen on the bench ? it was a tremendous year. To do what we did in those three games were enormous. It was a great year.

The team has looked pretty good. Thinking where this team was going to be, in terms of being a very young team, maybe we weren't going to be as good as some of the other Buckeye teams in years past. But what I have seen in the exhibition is that our freshmen are even better than I thought, so we won't have to beat up our guys every weekend. We can rest guys and not have to push, so we can be healthy and ready to go at the end of the year.

The success that he's already had, there's not a lot of freshmen that can do that and be counted on on the weekend. It's different to pitch on Tuesday than it is to pitch on the weekend where there's more pressure involved and more at stake and better competition. To do what he's done so far is pretty impressive.

The Spanish classes are always closed because they are full of freshmen and sophomores.

The thing with these guys is that they've all been there before. They were all freshmen and sophomores when we were down at state two years ago. That's what's been the most important thing for them. They all know what needs to be done to get to that point.

The thing with these guys is that theyve all been there before, ... They were all freshmen and sophomores when we were down at state two years ago. Thats whats been the most important thing for them. They all know what needs to be done to get to that point.

The thing that helps with (Taylor) is that she's played AAU ball, so she's not one of those raw freshmen coming in. She's 6-foot and athletic and she's learned to block shots well. She's had to be rushed into the flow, but she's what we lacked last year when we had to put (5-8 senior) Ashley Hood in the post.

So that excludes those students who are within a 50 mile radius of Madison County and it also excludes anyone who is not a new freshman. That language was new freshmen, not all freshmen and not returning students.

Sometimes you've got to step up and compete and that's what we did today. A lot of freshmen stepped up.

Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture in that situation. He didn't get a chance to see some of the true freshmen and how uncomfortable they look when they first get out here. He's a prideful kid, and it wasn't coming along as quickly as he thought.

Probably one or two freshmen will get the chance to play for us this year.

Our slower quarters had to do with ... trying to move in freshmen and less-experienced players.

Our defense kicked in. I had several freshmen in there, and I was happy how we pressed. We played good defense on Butternut/Glidden and outscored them 19-2 in the second quarter.

People forget that we are predominantly an all-freshman team. When Jack Parker or Dennis Wolff's freshmen get tired they can fall back on their older players. I don't have a strong reliance on upperclassmen.

Of our 49 boys, 17 are freshmen, so we're still teaching some of the guys this isn't middle school anymore. Some of the freshmen are helping in relays and others are challenging in open events. Six or seven will make an immediate impact. We're talking about kids that maybe lost one meet in seventh and eighth grade, so they're good athletes.

Somebody needs to check her birth certificate, but she is a very mature young lady. It's not just basketball. She had a 4.0 grade point average in her first semester. Most freshmen don't do that. She's very even keel. She doesn't get too high or too low.

Defensively, we made a couple of silly mistakes. Those were two easy runs we gave them early, but those were a couple of freshmen out there and conditions were tough.

Defense let us down again. They've been like that all year. We've been averaging five errors a game, and the five errors hurt us. A lot of my players were sophomores. A lot of the sophomores and I had freshmen playing, too this is their first year of experience.

Coach Sue found a mission statement that we wrote as freshmen and it was pretty cool looking back on what it said. It was about committing to Florida State and making a difference during our four years here. It is cool to look back and see that we were the ones that really wanted to take Florida State to the next level and to see that what we wrote, we actually followed through with.

As a team we are feeling very confident in our returning group. Our four freshmen coming in bring a lot, adding into a team that's had one of the best performances we have ever had. We return all of our outfielders and pitchers and have added in some great talent. I think we have put a mix together that will be very exciting and dynamic to watch.

As Coach has been stressing, our freshmen are only freshmen in name. They're very mature, smart people. It's actually been an easy transition playing with them.

As a captain me, Sean and Chris had been on the team since we were freshmen so we knew the role we had to play as leaders on the team. If things were down, we had to pull the rest of the team out of the troubles. Knowing we had been there for four years we were used to the practices, going to the tournament and the difference between playing against rivals.

At some of the positions we have on our team, some of these freshmen are going to have to play, and we rely on them to learn and gather information and come out here and fight through being a college football player and be able to play in the first game. It takes a lot.

As I've been saying all along, they have to play a little older. Each guy is going to have to mature just a little quicker. Sophomores need to play like juniors and juniors need to play like seniors. And freshmen need to play like second-semester freshmen early on.

That's what we teach all freshmen -- that investors and workers and everyone else in an economy respond in an important way to incentives, including tax incentives.

That's what we're trying to tell them (that they're are playing very hard). They're freshmen and sophomores playing against juniors and seniors. I do think the effort is there and they are coming along. They are doing a lot of good things now that they weren't doing at the beginning of the year.

That's high for a freshman. Usually, freshmen are going to be in the bottom third.

You're talking about a kid who's mature beyond her years. It's her toughness mentally and her ability to perform under pressure situations, including pressure free throws. She does things that a lot of freshmen just don't do.

You're playing a varsity schedule, so even though you might be freshmen and sophomores you've got to act like a varsity.

You never know when your freshmen come in how hard they're going work, how they're going to adjust to bigger, quicker players. His work ethic was something I thought was really good and it's far surpassed even what I thought. He's a phenomenally gifted kid who wants to get better, who treats every play like the last and you don't find many freshmen who do it like that.

This is a situation that we've never been in before, starting freshmen and sophomores, and we're going to learn from it. We'll get better.

This is the deepest recruiting class that the Big 12 has ever had, top to bottom. These freshmen can play.

This is the best group of freshmen that have come into Berwick in a decade. I am hoping for promise out of them in the future.

This is our third year, and the future looks bright. We have a talented group of freshmen this year and some of them will make an impact at the varsity level this year.

This gives us a chance for our freshmen who are learning to run. We see a lot of things here and we have a lot of things to talk about when it's done.

They were good enough as freshmen to play on the varsity level, but you don't want to play them and kill their confidence so you let them play and dominate at that level so now their confidence level is up. Coming into this level they were unafraid.

This group was freshmen when I took over and they peaked as seniors. They were best friends almost the entire way, and they weren't selfish. They didn't care who got the recognition as long as they won.

They're two freshmen but they're out on the floor closing out a game. It just shows the confidence that he's got (in them).

They're the type of kids that set the stage. These freshmen we have now, all they talk about is Sally and Sarah, Sally and Sarah, and the only thing they talk about in terms of basketball is how hard they play. They've set the stage high and, hopefully, we'll be able to keep that.

They've got a number of young players. We have a bunch of young players as well, so there's probably going to be more freshmen on the floor than we've had in the last number of years playing in this game.

They've been your typical freshmen real up and down. When we brought them in we knew they could shoot. They struggled a bit with the transition from the high school to the college play. They've been up and down. They're going to be good players for us, and right now they're giving us some minutes off the bench.

They're young and sometimes (mistakes are) going to happen. They're both freshmen and that's hard in our league. But they're both good pitchers.

They understand how you have to play and how things work and who to listen to. We've all been through it. The seniors have been through it more than anyone. They've struggled and they've been a great team so they know what it takes to be successful and the freshmen realize that.

A lot of freshmen don't get to play. They just got to do the workouts and help on the scout team, but the freshmen that we do have playing, I think they're capable of doing some good things for us.

All of our freshmen have been so great for us this year. They're all playing like veterans out there for us this year, and that's what we need.

A lot of the freshmen stepped up and I was really glad to see that. We kept pressing the issue and it's the second time this season we've scored on a set piece, which is something we work hard on.

A lot of the freshmen have surprised us this year. They could pick us up both on offense and defense.

A lot of those guys did play towards the end of the season but freshmen make freshmen mistakes.

They know so much about the other teams. They don't know anything about themselves, about where they fit in. I talked to them about it a little bit yesterday. I said the freshmen were going to be sick of hearing about this team from me because what they did in this regular season was incredible ... But I don't think they realize where they fit.

They have a lot of pressure on them being freshmen and handling the ball as much as they do. They do a good job and their teammates have done a good job to show them what it takes to be good leaders.

They do a great job on the outlet. Those freshmen are really the key to what they do. Nearly half of their points occurred off transition.

They did what you expect freshmen to do. They needed some confidence. They needed something good to happen but it didn't,

They are a whole different team, ... with Brodie running the show than they were a year ago. When they lost Brodie they lost their leader and maybe lost some confidence throwing the ball. But obviously this year they've opened their offense up. They are taking their shots deep. Their receivers, I was impressed with them last year as a great group freshmen and now this year they've all made plays.

You don't want to look ahead to next year, but the freshmen that are coming in, the hype is there. And they're good players.

There weren't that many freshmen in the league this year, but he had better numbers than the other guys who were nominated. And when ever we called on (Waters), he came in and did the job for us.

There were a lot of people saying a lot of bad things when I came in, like 'Why are you going there?' and 'I feel sorry for you, Joe doesn't know how to coach,' but I did my research. I think the group of freshmen that came in, we were mature enough that we wouldn't be looked upon as freshmen.

There is no way we win this match (earlier in the season). We're playing with three freshmen which is rare for (college tennis), and it's taken them a while to gel as a team.

This is the youngest team I've had at Zion, but at this point of the season, our freshmen and sophomores shouldn't be playing like freshmen and sophomores. We can't use that as an excuse.

They probably exceeded my expectations. The freshmen had a good squad of eighth-graders last year (16-4 overall). They were an athletic group of girls and I was feeling good before the season started, but you never know. I didn't know about the competition.

They?re an outstanding team. I have a lot of respect for them. Shoot, they won 24 games. ... That freshmen class has grown up and done big things.

They really gel well together. The best part of a freshmen team is that they are all freshmen. They're in class together. They play well together because they get along well.

They're ready. They've played 13 games. They're not freshmen anymore. That'll be the nucleus of our defense next year, those guys and myself playing linebacker. It's good for them to get the exposure and the experience they need.

They're playing so well that we don't think of them as freshmen or sophomores. They're not scared at all. Maybe it's from playing in big games, but they come into big games and shoot the ball.

They're friends of my brother Braden from Pope John. I've known them since they were all freshmen there.

They're not freshmen out there. They've really played wonderful. I take my hat off to them.

They're maturing. Last year it was a lot of freshmen in the field, and we've worked hard on defense. We'll continue to work hard on defense. They've got confidence in themselves now, and they're confident they can make plays.

Asking that is tantamount to quizzing college freshmen on the nature of 'truth': it will beget answers as varied as the faces in the classroom,

Aaron was the loudest voice in the weight room this summer. He challenged guys, encouraged them and was a great role model for all the freshmen and young guys who were in there.

A bright future for Florida State, I'll tell you that. It's our job as seniors to keep those guys composed and ready to play. I can't tell you how awesome that is. We haven't had freshmen like that in a long time come in and contribute right away.

It's asking a lot of these freshmen to be asked to step up and play in a varsity game, but we have a lot of confidence in their ability.

It's a situation where we're very confident in both these young ladies because we trust them. We don't really consider them freshmen because they've shown that they can play, that they can play at a high level, and they certainly made a contribution in our success this season.

It's a unique mix. I think the freshmen can learn a lot from the seniors. We've got quite a bit of talent on the front end.

It wasn't so much one game or one turning point. It's losing 11 seniors last year. We had 13 new faces. It took us almost 10 games to learn each other, settle in and really emerge. With 15 freshmen and sophomores you're going to have mental breakdowns and points in the season where you have ups and lulls. That's what we were going through.

It was good start to the season. Last year VCU beat us rather easily, but we ran as a team today and we had some freshmen and sophomores step up. We stayed close and worked together, that's what we need to do to be successful.

It was fun to see the freshmen have good performances, and hopefully we can see that again this weekend.

It was really hard. I didn't even know the freshmen until December, because I never trained with them. ... My only other option was to do (student teaching) in the spring. There was no way I could do it during the season.

It was really frustrating because I think the freshmen particularly could have gained so, so much. For example, I think Tyler and Michael did. But the rest of them didn't gain nearly as much as they could have because of the health situation.

It was awesome having her, especially because she's a true point guard. She (Taylor) can drive, she can create and she was only a freshman. A lot of freshmen come to the varsity level very timid, but that was something you never really saw with her.