Mickey Andrews Quotations

We're still having too many breakdowns - getting people out of position. Too many penalties. They don't do anything if we don't give them four penalties in the first half.

We have quite a bit to do on defense.

But we're still having too many penalties and getting too many people out of position.

Because they are older, more mature players, they're playing with a little more reckless abandon. It's all about getting 11 people swarming to the ball, gang tackling. We're doing a lot better job of that this year, a lot more like were accustomed to.

How you handle adversity is extremely important. Our problem during this process has been we have not had the total depth that we've had in a lot of years past.

He was faced almost with an impossibility. He had that much to do.

He'll be better because he'll understand the other position. Plus it's helped depth.

I think the biggest thing is that we have to replace a bunch of starters. We've lost 14 players. Up front, we lose two who will be playing in the pros next year. We lost four really good players at linebacker.

Our goal is always to hold the other team to 15 points or less. To hold them to three is really unbelievable.

Playing hard and playing dumb is two different things.

Myron ought to be getting ready for the junior-senior prom, but he's out here trying to become a better football player. And he has done that.

It doesn't fall on one player taking his place. You have to draw from all the other guys, and they have to step their play up a little bit, too. That is how we overcome it.

We played pretty much a four-man front for years around here and we played against people with a four-man front. ... If you get good enough playing a three-man front we don't care what they play against in practice.

We got to force plays. Normally when a big play occurs ... it's a case of whipping a guy on-one. Be in a position to win and you just can't let them win on the big ones.

We used to be pretty good on the goal line. But somewhere along the line, we've lost it. They wanted to get in more than we wanted to keep them out.

We came down to have a good time. We came down to work and we came down to win a football game and that's why we're here. Did it affect our players and our coaches? Sure it did. You don't just take someone out of your family and it not bother you. Will it keep us from moving forward? No. It just made it a little more difficult.

We would have had a hard time beating (season-opening opponent) Miami today.

We're not playing hard enough, we're not playing mean enough, and we're not finishing plays. We're just way too nice. We would have won the Mister Friendly contest out there.

When we turned that thing over to them that last day, it was the best senior day and the best response out of underclassmen when the seniors were conducting the drills. We just need more younger guys (as leaders). You don't need just seniors to lead.

Weights, running, overall conditioning everything. Not just because he had to, but because he really and truly wanted to do whatever it took to make himself better. He understood, you know? Some guys get it and some guys don't.

You got to be a winner, and bring coaches and players that winning is important too, and want to do their best. I think another thing is that coach (Bowden) has hobbies (and) priorities that are set and he has ways to keep himself from burning out. I don't think his competitive spirit has dropped any.

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 have faced adversity all year. How you handle adversity is extremely important. Our problem is that we have not had the total depth that we have had in years past. What it presents now is a challenge for someone else to step in and take over.

Did it affect our players and our coaches? Sure, it did. You don't just take someone out of your family and have it not bother you. Will it keep us from moving forward? No.

There's no doubt about it that it means a lot for all of us.

(Rolle) has a passion to become a great player, at least he has demonstrated that.

Coach Bowden gave a statement on that. The only thing I'll say is that we're disappointed. What it presents now is a challenge for someone else to step in and take over.

This group for what we need might be as good a defensive group that we've brought in. They are guys with good character, strong kids who want to be a part of a championship and that's what we're going to help them accomplish.

There's a void there right now. But we've got some potential.

It tells me he has a lot of courage. It was more important to him that he worked. He couldn't have hurt it any worse.

Being separated from the football team made him realize that this is pretty important. Thank goodness for him and his teammates that he got it done.

I don't know how he could have played much better. He has proven why he is an All-American. He is certainly the best second team All-ACC player that I've seen. He has played super all year giving us a stabilizing, veteran presence in the middle of a young defensive line.

He really made a lot of progress as well.

You can prevent penalties -- just don't do anything. We could go out there today and I promise you play 60 minutes and never get a penalty. But we aren't going to be any good on defense either.

A lot of times mistakes are what help you become a better player because you become mentally tougher in that situation when you face it again.

You've got to have passion to play football. We had it on the goal line. But we didn't play like that all the time on the field.