John Stocco Quotations

Last year, you could really hear him on the other side of the ball. He was shouting a lot and telling guys what to do. This year, he's a little bit more quiet. He's just kind of observing everything.

Obviously, I like having O.D. out there, ... He's a heck of a player for us. A couple of those routes we knew were going to be good in the red zone.

I didn't have flashbacks, ... I just knew I was getting down this time.

He got the guys in and out (of the huddle). He kept the offense moving down the field. I thought he did a really good job for us today.

He's a guy that I think the sky is the limit for him. He's strong, he's fast and he just needs to get reps and get some confidence going and get to the point where he knows what he's doing inside and out so he can cut it loose. But hopefully he can get healed up and get ready to go.

He's a little out there. I love the guy, though.

He's done great things at the University of Wisconsin and we just want to send him off in the right way. He's tried to prepare us like it's any other game, but it is a big deal to the players. We want to thank him for everything he has done for us and the best way for us to do that is to play our best game and leave it on the field.

He wanted us to stay focused on the game and our opponents. But it's something all the players were aware of and we wanted to play well and thank him for everything he has done for us.

He just has everything you want as an offensive lineman. It's great having him out there.

Joe pulled around and just absolutely crushed the corner. I felt bad for that guy because Joe is just a monster.

I think it's a good step. We know what kind of playmakers we have with our receivers and backs. You've got to make teams pay if they want to bring everyone up for the run.

I think it's a good step, ... We know what kind of playmakers we have with our receivers and backs. You've got to make teams pay if they want to bring everyone up for the run.

I think today was a big learning day for us. Being the first day, we want to get used to the drills and everything that we're doing. Offensively, we're not changing a whole lot of what we're doing, but we got a lot of new terminology, and I thought guys handled it well.

I was a little surprised by the call, but it was unbelievable.

Part of it is the weather. It's always dreary when we're there.

That's the lesson in football and in life and everything you do. You can't give up.

We were getting tons and tons and tons of reps, ... to where it almost seemed...

Whereas this summer, we'd line up receivers and run the same route over and over and over and over. And then, we'd switch to the next route and run it over and over.

We practiced a lot and sometimes it really got long, but today it paid off. I've got a lot of talent around me and I just try to get guys the ball.

The past couple of years, we had opportunities to win both games and we just let it get by us. That's something we obviously don't want to do this year.

We always want to have success running the football here, and that's something we want to continue to do. We know that's important.

We wanted to be on. We just wanted to thank him for everything he's done, not just this year, but since he's been here. This is coach's day. It just feels great to send him out of here like this.

Bernie is a great leader. He's a really vocal guy and really intense and you can see that in the huddle. You know he's going to go out there and lay it on the line for you, and you've got to do the same for him.

Sometimes down in the red zone, he is the guy that I am going to look to because he can make some big plays for us, ... And he just did a great job of getting open and catching the ball when he has the opportunity to.

Coach is so classy that he never even talked about this being his last game. We wanted this game to be a way to thank coach for all that he's done for this school. This is coach's day.

A lot of people didn't expect too much from us after that. You've just got to laugh at how far we've come now.

It's all about developing that trust, so I know that I can take my drop and pitch it and they're coming out of their break and going to get it. It's like anything else, it's getting reps and reps and doing it over and over until it gets...

This is coach's day. It just feels great to send him out of here like this.

That's a play that ... we haven't really run that much. I thought they'd all be dropping deep and there'd be a big hole over the middle. He made a nice play on it. I tried to keep it low, a safe throw, but he made a play on it.

The fact we're going to have so many young guys, especially receivers, I want to be right with my reads, even more so this year. I want to put more responsibility on myself to make the right reads and make sure the ball is going in the right place.

But, in past summers, when we'd go 7-on-7, I'd drop back, make a read and throw to one receiver,

He's such a competitor, ... and he's a perfectionist.

I don't read the papers anymore. I stopped early last season. I don't need to deal with that. The only opinions I need to worry about are from the guys who are watching me day in and day out.

I didn't see it coming at all, to tell you the truth. As far as how everything went last year, everything was normal. He had a lot of other responsibilities, but nothing changed in terms of when he was around, him dealing with us. Nothing changed, so I had no reason to expect this.

But you never realize really what it's like until you're actually out there in the spotlight,

Gave me a little kiss. It's just a shot to my head. I'm all right, though. I probably should have slid on that one.

I completely thought we would go down and score. Just a mistake on my part. I was trying to hit Jonathan over the middle, and their guy made a nice play.

All I know is our competition is going to get better in a hurry.