Kyle Brady Quotations

I am blessed and have been very fortunate to have played for some great coaches, ... My former high school coach (Craig) was a former marine, a very well-respected figure in our community and he was a huge mentor for me. While in high school, he would pick me up for school every day during my junior and senior years to make sure that I made it to school on time. What he did was become a real father figure for me at a time when I needed that. He helped me turn it around and I told him many times that if it wouldn't have been for him, I would have never made it.

Guys talk about it. They say I wonder what the deal is. The media has created a certain hype and you'd think that would spur (fans) to come out for the season-opener.

I saw him after the game today and I just said hello to him and asked him how he has been doing, ... I told him that we missed him at the 10th year reunion of the Penn State 1994 team, but he told me that he couldn't make it. With five kids, I guess that keeps him pretty busy. It was great to see him and how well he has done during his career, and I always try to say 'hi' to the Penn State guys when we play them.

The 1994 season at Penn State was just a fabulous experience, ... We knew we had outstanding talent, but we also had a bunch of guys who were very focused, knew what they wanted and understood what it would take to get the job done and we went out and did it against some outstanding teams. When you see a bunch of young men coming together like that for a common goal, it is very satisfying.

To put an excess amount of hope in the temperature to win the game does not really say much about how you feel about your team's chances to win,

Two different things happened: We came out and executed real well from the start and they basically gave up and started looking ahead.

As a professional football player, I have quite a bit of time in the off-season to pursue other goals, ... I would drive by this little airport every day on the way to work and see these planes coming in and landing. I looked at it and said to myself, 'Hey, I think I can do that.'

It's about time. It's been too long, and memories can fade after a lot of shots to the head, too. I'm sure it'll feel even better once it starts to sink in after a couple days.

It's a great opportunity. Obviously, there's going to be some adversity up there as far as playing at their stadium against the reigning world champions and all the other things that will be spoken about all week long. It's a great opportunity for us to show what kind of team we think we are.

Things change from one coach to another and from one system to another and we had a lot of success (14-2) on the field, ... Sometimes when you have the whole team succeeding, everything clicks and things go well. In 2000, Mark Brunell had a lot of confidence in me as a receiver and he just started looking my way. Jimmy Smith went down in a couple of games and he (Brunell) just started spraying it to me. I think those couple of games kind of changed the perception that I could do a little more to help the team than just being a blocking tight end. It was very satisfying to me and nice to have that type of opportunity because my goal at all levels was to be a good all-around player.

I'm finally starting to come along. I'm glad about that. Still trying to work hard and learn the little things, you know? You still can always get better at something.

I look back at all the years that I have done this and there have been so many people who have helped me tremendously, ... I know that if it wouldn't have been for them, I wouldn't have made it. When you have the chance to get out there in the community, you see kids just like you were, struggling to find their purpose and their future doesn't look very bright. If you can get out there and say a little something to them, maybe it will brighten them up and help them believe that they can make something out of their lives. It is pretty satisfying.

I qualified for sub-sections last year, but then I got sick and didn't get to wrestle. That has motivated me for this year. I'm curious to see how far I get.

But I do know that just physiologically, when a team comes to Florida, you're hotter than you've been all training camp because you haven't been practicing in that type of weather consistently.