Bruce Gradkowski Quotations

I feel good about all of the workouts I've had. I've done well. Now it's a waiting game. I hear anywhere from the second to fourth round or the third through fifth round. I feel like I'll go in the third round, on the first day, but we'll see.

I think it ends the season right. Our careers here at Toledo as seniors, it is icing on the cake. This is our championship and it feels great.

Our goal tonight was to come out fast and strong, and we did that. Our offense wanted to set the tempo tonight, because the defense did it last week.

We're all the same, ... Carmen had a 72-yard touchdown in the Big 33 game. I'm not surprised by that. He's another guy a lot of teams didn't take a chance on. I'm excited for him. I know Joe will be fine at Pitt and my brother is coming up. We've got a pretty strong group.

Toledo is known for what we've done in the past. That's great, but it won't help us win any games.

When I went there it wasn't like I knew who came out of where, ... I wasn't into the draft stuff. I wasn't really paying attention to it. But now looking at it, it really is a league for quarterbacks. They keep coming out like Leftwich and Rotherlisberger and Frye. It's a QB league.

You hear about all the great quarterbacks who have come out of Western Pennsylvania. That's always been in the back of my mind. One day I hope to be mentioned with all of those guys. But right now I'm just looking for my opportunity, working for my chance.

Our defense has been tremendous. They come out and play so hard. Our offensive line has been great, too. Look at our running game. You win up front.

Ball State loves playing Toledo. But the game is about leadership and all of our captains were on the travel squad two years ago when we played there. We remember and we've taken it upon ourselves to make sure our team is ready this time.

The whole family has the underdog mentality, ... We're going to work hard to get the job done. We're disciplined. We're going to know what to do. We might not be the fastest, strongest or the biggest, but we get the job done. That's it. It's in the blood.

It makes it tougher playing at a Single-A or Double-A school because the perception coaches have of it, ... You have to keep your faith and know you can play at this level. From the experience I've had, coaches should look past that.

It's definitely cool to be mentioned with those guys.

It takes me by surprise that after everything I've been through, it's worked out this well at Toledo, ... I don't think it matters where you came from. If you can play, you can play. Sometimes, it's harder coming from a smaller school, but if you have the talent, coaches are going to find you.

If my completion percentage is over 70 per cent again that would be nice. If it isn't, but we're in that championship game again at the end of the year, it's fine by me.

I hear my name mentioned with his and that just doesn't seem right,

But I'd like to think I had a little to do with it, ... I'd say a good system makes a quarterback look good. But I hope that a good quarterback makes the system work even better. I think I'm coachable and the system has done nothing but help.

Charlie gave me his number and said he was there if I needed anything.

I call it the bionic hand, ... I tell people I can zing it even better now. It feels great. I have no problems with it.

You can't shut yourself off from hearing it, ... I've heard everything from late first round to fifth or sixth. I really can't think about that now. All I can think about now is having a good year. This is my senior year. In my senior year of high school I had no offers. So it doesn't make a difference to me what anyone says about me now. I have to go out and play hard and prove myself once again. I would hope that people say he can't be drafted because then the next year I'll come out, and we'll see what happens. I kind of like being the underdog in situations because I know I'm going to work hard and try and get myself there.