Charlie Coe Quotations

We're beating the bushes and doing everything we can. We've got a junior college lineman coming in (this week) that we'd really like to get. If he likes what he sees, maybe he'll sign.

We knew we were going to get better. We had to. We have too much talent not to. Were we expecting to turn it around so quick? No. And I don't think we did. I think we progressed with each game and got better each week. But I don't think we were all of a sudden playing so much better the next week.

We need to make sure we've got the guys out there who want it the most.

Last year, when these receivers would catch passes, they would take them the distance. This year, we stopped them. That was the difference in the ballgame. When we had the opportunity to make a tackle, we made it.

McKinley has been doing some good things. But there's still a lot of work to be done. That's the way it is with all of these guys.

One of our focuses with the high school players was recruiting local and in-state kids. We lost a lot of our local players after last season and wanted to build those numbers back up. That helps generate a lot of interest in the community.

I would be shocked to see him fall past the fourth round. From the people I've talked to, I'm thinking there's a good chance he could be taken in the third round. A lot of that fourth- and fifth-round talk started after his combine work when some people still had some questions about him. But since then, he's held a lot of workouts for different teams and answered a lot of those questions. He's been moving up.

I don't have anyone in mind that I want to call. I'm just going to go through the resumes and make some calls and find the right guy. One thing I know for sure is that I've got to get an experienced offensive line coach in here to take over and stay consistent in that area. But I don't have anyone in mind for it.

I feel good about these guys. I think all of them can come in and help up right away. That was our reasoning for going after these guys -- we needed experience. And these guys provide some quality, college-level, game experience.

Getting off to a good start like that was big. Whenever you play a team like Southern, getting out front quick is a big key.

From talking to these (coaches), they like what they're seeing. I think right now that he's second-day, probably a fourth-round guy. I don't know how much he can move up from there because of the talent above him. I don't think he could slip much farther than that, though.

We're probably not going to name anyone the starter coming out of spring, but I'd say he'll be the likely starter. These other guys we have are so young and just don't have the experience Engram does. You can see it in the way he carries himself on the field and with the way he controls the team when he's on the field.

He'll be a player for us. He's a young guy, so we'll have to get him in here and see how he does. But with our situation, he'll have a shot.

I think we've done pretty well. I feel like we've got a lot of the kinds of players we went after. We've got some good athletes in here.

I think it was a high blood pressure thing. We took him over there and he was being checked out, but his blood pressure was way up.

Like I've said before, we had to get some experienced players in here and that's why you see all the transfer JUCO players. We needed warm bodies, so to speak, and we got them. We really believe these guys can come in here and help us out right away.

I think he's really beginning to catch a lot of eyes out there. He's just a little raw right now, because he's never had an experienced quarterbacks coach work with him. But you don't get the kind of interest he is if teams aren't liking what they see and what they hear about him. He's obviously impressed the scouts, and the teams are sending coaches to check him out.

That was as good as the offense has looked since I can remember. That was just about perfect.

That's what he can do. That's what he brings. He's very quick and he has great vision running the ball.

I was pleased. We got the guys we knew were coming and didn't lose anybody at the last minute. I think we're all pretty excited about this group.

I wasn't pleased with the way we played in the second half. It seemed like we just got complacent. You can't do that in this conference. We won the game and everybody's happy, but if you do that against Southern or Grambling, they'll be back in the ballgame on you.

You just can't win in this game without a good signal caller. I like Engram. He brings a lot to the table. Now, we'll have a long way to go during spring and fall practice, but we've got a guy with experience back there now. That means a lot.

We wanted to make it a little more interesting. We won't use a lot of the starters out there for long. We'll let them get a few snaps in and pull them out. We want to make sure everybody gets a chance to play and we don't have any serious injuries. That's why we split it up like we did.

With the transfers and JUCO kids and if all these guys who have made commitments end up signing, that'll do it for our numbers. I think we'll have just a little room to do some things after the spring, but not much.

We're lacking in the size department. Big linemen are at a premium right now. We went after several guys during this last recruiting season, but all of the ones with decent size were snapped up by Division I schools. There just weren't that many to be had. I guess everybody is facing the same problem.

We're really young up front. We need a back who has some playing experience. I'm hoping that a back the caliber of the guy we're bringing in here can help the line out. A lot of times, a good back will make up for some problems along the line.

We've got the (National) Coaches Convention coming up. All of these guys are going to that, and you never know what's going to happen during that thing. A lot of job opportunities spring up during those meetings. I just want to wait until after that to see what I'm dealing with.

You can tell by watching him that he's a lot more seasoned and has a lot more poise than the other guys. He has a little more confidence in what he's doing right now even though he's only been here a short time.

We've got a long way to go. We've got a lot of young guys out here who are still trying to get the feel for things.

This was a big win for this team. This will do a lot for the confidence of these guys. A whole lot.

We're going to be expecting that every play of every series in every game. We know they can do it now. So, we're going to demand it from them.

There's just too much going on right now to try to do that. I'll wait and see what I've got and go through some resumes at that time.

Bacon is a really good-looking kid who can do a lot of nice things. There's a lot of good about Powell. He's got a frame that could allow him to play a couple of different positions. And everybody knows Tiger James. He was looked at by a couple of different schools.

That was a big key for us. That drive was what we've been looking for out of our line. We were able to move the ball down the field, control the clock and maintain control of the game. Without it, we're probably looking at another shootout.

It's just a stinger, I believe. I don't think it's anything serious. We just didn't want to take any chances with him so we kept him out.

It was a struggle. There were some positives out here, but for the most part, we're still trying to get guys comfortable.

It's going to be probably after this week. We've got signing day this week, and I don't want to do this stuff then. I'll get these guys in here sometime late this week or next week, and we'll get everything wrapped up.

It won't at all be an accurate gauge of what people will see next season. We want to have a good afternoon, not get anybody hurt and give these young guys a chance to play. But it won't be an indication of anything, really.

That's concerning to me. We held out a couple of scholarships and we're going to wait until the end of the next semester to see what happens. You know, when these kids go through the spring, some of them don't like their situations and some of them won't make it because of grades. Hopefully, we can pick up one or two guys that way. We sure need to.

I lashed them pretty good. I'm just so tired of it. There's nothing more we can do as coaches. It's up to these guys to play up to their capabilities.

I knew it was going to happen. You could just feel it coming on. You could just tell that we weren't taking this team as serious as we should've been. I can't put my finger on why I feel that way, but you could just tell.

I'm pleased with how far we've come. I'm not happy with where we are. I think we need to get better. As a coach, you're never completely happy. You want that perfection. You know you're probably not going to get it, but you want it. And I want it out of our guys.

I'm pleased. That's what I'll say. I'm not happy, but I'm pleased. Given where we started, we've made good strides. I'm certainly proud of that. These guys have put in a lot of work and it's paying off.

I'm waiting to her from her to make sure everything is OK. I'm sure it is, but it's still a little worrisome.

I don't think either of them are serious. They may just be fatigue more than anything. We'll have to get back and look at it, but neither looked very serious.