Rubin Carter Quotations

We still won't be great risk-takers. That is something that I am going to mandate for myself. We have to do a great job of evaluating potential recruits. It's also our role as coaches to motivate and let them know what they need to do to graduate.

We want to see the things that the players have learned. They should have a good understanding of what we are trying to do by now.

This really helps our program move forward. The loss of 28 scholarships would have been athletic suicide. We never would have been able to survive that.

Certainly Chris is ready to go and at least start the next game for us. We also have to get Josh Driscoll ready to go depending on where Chester is.

But we did have a conversation or two about advantages and disadvantages.

I have mandated to our staff to get out and meet coaches. They need to see our logo. They need to know that we are out doing extensive evaluations on their players academically and athletically. FAMU will be visible.

He's had an outstanding year and he is definitely one of our leaders. He's a hard worker that pays attention to detail.

He's conscientious, and he understands that we depend on him to show leadership and do the things we have to do on that side of the ball. Chris has shown his ability not only as a football player, but being able to persevere through some really difficult times. He's shown that if you have a great attitude and mental strength you'll be able to go through that and progress.

Having gone through an entire season and being able to evaluate the entire staff, I felt the need to go in another direction with some of my staff. It's not the most opportune time to make this change with recruiting coming up, but it was a necessary move.

He (Chester) showed his ability to scramble and make plays on the run. Those are his assets. He throws the ball well on the run. He made some good decisions out there.

It is a challenge. I spoke about things being uncomfortable sometimes. It's not always going to be a situation where it's going to be convenient for you.

I think we blanketed the state pretty well. We were able to get some players we think can help us.

I think there would be great support for a game here, and I know it would generate a lot of revenue here in Tampa.

Koonce brought a little bit of spirit and veracity out there at practice. It was good to have him back out there.

Regardless of where you have been in the past, you have to go out and compete, give your best effort and don't quit. I only see a tremendous upside based on what I've been through with this program so far.

We were able address some of our glaring needs - at quarterback, the offensive line and in every aspect of our defense. We had some of our running back prospects commit to other schools, but we have others that we are looking at.

We have to stop the madness. That was the first thing I said. It's not just MEAC schools. We've got schools in Alabama and Georgia that have made a feast out of Florida players. There is no reason why those players can't stay here if they chose to do so. That's one of the things we are really trying to emphasize - keeping our kids in the state.

We had to send out a young player who is not very experienced.

We wanted to make sure we were securing both lines, offensively and defensively.

Usually when a new coach comes in you have wholesale changes to the staff. Because of the late start that didn't happen, but you always want to have people that you are familiar with.

We had to open them up a little bit and let the receivers take a little more control ... let Chris use his natural talent and throw the football.

We'll find out this weekend because Howard has an excellent defense that's ranked nationally. They bring a lot of pressure (and) blitzes so I think this may end up being the determining game as to who will emerge as quarterback for us.

We wanted to give people a chance to come out and prove that they can come from high school and play at this level.

When you lose guys like that, you have to find a way to replace them.

We were playing against a great football team, a team I knew was very athletic on both sides of the ball. But I didn't know how athletic.

We lost a lot of key players. We lost a lot of people that helped us be successful last year.

We got outplayed. Flat out. They came very aggressive with the front four, and we flat out did not block them the way we should have. They created timing problems for our offense.

We are going to have to be able to get off our blocks and tackle well. They are a very good opponent. They don't quit, and they play hard.

At this point it is hard to tell how good we will be, but we will really be able to tell once everyone gets the pads on and we head into training camp. We still need to understand the schemes a little better, but we will be OK if they stay enthusiastic and energetic like they were today.

Normally, we like to get a year ahead on recruiting and evaluating talent. But even in the time we had, we were very thorough in looking at each player academically and character wise, along with his athletic abilities.

As a team, you have to have balance. We went out and recruited positions of need. We had to replace some quarterbacks - that was a position of need.

This is a storied program. You look at the history, you look at the players who played here, the players who coached here. There's a lot of history here, and there's a lot of pride for this university. One of the reasons I wanted to be here was because of the alumni.

This is one of the games that you live for. The stands will be packed. I would think the players would want to excel in a game like this.

They showed a lot of energy, enthusiasm and hustle. We really didn't move the ball well on offense. We have players that have been out this spring that we think we will have on offense in the fall.

It (Saturday's game) was very positive for Chris. I think it helped him to be on the sideline and watch Josh.

I told (Pompey) it's best for him not to go out there and have a setback. He's a good player and a tremendous leader for us. He will play more football and with that (artificial turf) surface out there I didn't want him to re-injure the (right) toe.

It's a little bit difficult because they are in transition right now. They are learning how to do things. They are learning about our work ethic and pace of our practices.

It was not a very good day for us. I thought we played mediocre. We did not come out with a lot of intensity and gave away some easy scores.

No, it was not explained to me. I was just told to pull them out and that is what I did.

Their record is not indicative of what kind of team they are. Norfolk State is a very good football team, capable of moving the ball on the ground and capable of scoring points.

I just want his mobility. How well can he move around. We want to make sure he can have pressure on the leg and run. We want to give him limited reps in practice and see how he responds.

Initially we were worried because we didn't think the weather would clear up. It eventually cleared up enough so that we would have decent footing out here.

I know we still have some hurdles to cross. You just don't know what they're going to be.

I'm looking for him to make good decisions. I think that's the key for Albert. We have to make sure he is doing that on every play. We want to make sure he is developing his ability to read defenses and use the check system.

In our recruiting, we were able to establish and in some cases, re-establish contact with high schools around the state and area. We had a chance to evaluate a lot of good, first-rate talent and we are about 90 percent complete with our signing, despite getting such a late start.

Certainly the position has to be earned and this is the first phase. The evaluation process starts now.

He played low and stayed low. The way they double-teamed him showed the highest level of respect.

For some positions that is exactly what it is. They have to show that they have the toughness as well as the ability to compete at a high level. I'm expecting the players to come out on Saturday and show exactly what they have.

The key for us is to ride the wave of success we had in our last game against our rival. There are a lot of positives about Florida A&M and our program. We are trying to build some relationships with some coaches and let people know that Florida A&M is here.

Men without dignity are like clowns without an audience, pathetic and lost

Bitterness only consumes the vessel that contains it.

The strategies of offense and defense are very similar between chess and football. Chess really brought closeness to the team back in those days.

Hatred and bitterness and anger only consume the vessel that contains them. It doesn't hurt another soul.

To live in a world where truth matters and justice, however late, really happens, that world would be heaven enough for us all.