Phillip Fulmer Quotations

There is no question that we're not where we need to be on offense. But I think we can get there.

We're going to miss him in the locker room as a leader. I know Jason. He'll be around and part of what we're trying to do.

Last year was kind of our turn to get one of those, I guess.

Obviously if they're sending people out of Louisiana, I don't know why we would be going in, ... Our president (John Peterson) will not allow that to happen, I'm sure the conference office will be on the same page and (Athletic Director) Mike Hamilton is certainly on the same page.

Rick is our quarterback right now, and unless there's a reason to change we won't change. Obviously, Rick has brought consistency and calmness to our offense.

Rick certainly seems in command right now. Erik seems to be pressing a bit out there. When you grade the film and look at all the cut-ups and all the breakdowns of all the drills, the two guys are equal.

On the penalties, you have to hope you have better control. The late hits on the quarterback were close. You want your guys to be aggressive.

I would have not thought that would have been the way it would have been. I still think we have extremely good big-play potential.

I don't know that we have been as dynamic offensively as I thought we would to this point.

I don't believe it's been an ability thing or an effort thing, ... We've played some good teams and found a way to screw it up in some special-teams situations and offensively not to be near what we thought.

I am concerned about this weather that's apparently coming in, but that's not something we can do anything about today.

He won the game, basically. It's hard to believe from a punter, but the guy's been incredible, not just with the length of the kicks but the direction of his kicks. Your jaw drops as to how well he kicks it.

We're obviously chasing now, but you really don't have any choice if you want to have a chance to go and compete in a very hostile environment.

I thought Erik had a good game except for the two sacks. I've been pleased with Jonathan Crompton for him to get into the huddle and verbalize the way he does and with his ability to throw with arm strength. That's been impressive.

I think we've got as good a group there as we've had in some time as a whole.

Our kids are going to handle it, ... We're ready to go play Saturday night if that's what we do.

I was really happy, and I'm almost hesitant to say this, because every time I brag on him, he goes the other way, but Jon Wade just played really impressive (Monday) night,

Most of our questions are about second-team positions so ... you can continue to compete for those. The one or two that are first-team positions, yeah, we'd like to have those settled.

You keep waiting for that to happen, for Chris Hannon to come out of the pack, for Robert Meachem to come out of the pack. I hope they're all good.

We have a lot of work to do when we go back home.  It's a tough loss, but it's not the end of the season.

Unless you've been around somebody that's had one of those serious neck injuries, you just don't know how devastating it can be.

When we put the whole thing together, we've got a pretty good chance to be a pretty good football team.

We have made every effort to help Daniel work through some issues, ... Unfortunately, we have decided its in everyones best interest to go our separate ways.

We think they both can win for us, and that's the way we'll continue to go until we see otherwise,

We will not put our athletes at risk at all.

Britton has got to prove he's a big-time kicker.

Don't drop balls, don't get penalties or don't fumble, I guess. Those are pretty much the answers.

Especially early, I thought we were really sharp. Executed fairly well. Didn't have a whole bunch of mistakes. A few. I thought Erik had a really good game, except the two sacks. He didn't need to have either one of those. He could have thrown the ball away a bit sooner. We need to continue to work with him in those areas.

Florida did a good job getting what they needed to get done,

Randy, in an unselfish gesture, has asked to step aside at the end of the season,

At times we've looked good. At times we're not very good.

They split the reps (in practice). We have two quarterbacks. Whoever runs out there first will be first.

It's exciting for Peyton and for our program and our fans and administration and everybody concerned to have this chance to honor one of our greats from the past. To be a part of the ceremony is really special.

It's a tough loss, but it's not the end of the season.

It's tough on him. He looks like he's going to be a really good player and he's just a fabulous young man. It's just a shame but it's in the clearinghouse's hands. They say they have a lot of backed up cases and things to do.

It's very difficult to replace one of the best players on your team regardless of who you are and regardless of what level you are. He's a great person and he's been a great leader. We'll miss him on defense, his energy and enthusiasm and miss him on special teams where he's been a real factor for us.

That's one of those freaky things. I don't know how to talk about that. We just take (them) each one at a time. You don't even think about those other than the personnel that's back or the scheme you saw before.

It was good we had an extra week of practice. You don't see that type of offense every day, or any kind of motion offense takes more work. They've (the defense) certainly taken the challenge. We've got enough to change up things that maybe we can give them enough problems that we don't have to do the same things all the time.

I learned a lot last year about myself, and about even these last five months, of handling this whole scenario.

I'm sure he's kept every note he's ever taken, and he was a very good note taker. We usually have two or three guys signaling in plays so nobody gets a bead on what we're doing, but this could be a distraction if we're not careful.

In my 13 years, I've not had a season like this. I have never had anything that was easily handed to me and this (season) is not easy. We'll make whatever tough decisions need to be made ... personnel looks that need to be made. We're going to get this thing back on track.

I'm hopeful that with time we'll get that big-play potential that I thought we had at the beginning. I know we have it. We're just not getting it just yet.

If you look at the history of the school and what they've done in a short period of time, it's quite amazing, ... It's a scary team.

I guess it will be real important. Going back to my early days that was a big deal. You put your stamp on a team, on a program.

But I believe those other guys will come out of the pack.

Hindsight is 20-20, and I was trying to be fair to all concerned, ... Rick had played really well for us. It's not working out. What degree it's caused some of the issues versus man-to-man (coverage) and some of those things, I can't put a percentage on that. It's one of the things that we can do something about.

He's probably going to have to go home,

If I could sprinkle magic dust on it, heck, I'd fix it.

This is a group of very, very prideful men as a staff that we're talking about that loves the program, loves the kids and has worked extremely hard. We just, offensively, haven't been able to get it done quite like we would have liked to have gotten it done.

The emotional roller coaster and the need to win is so intense that for the wives, who have no control over what happens on the field, there are times when you want to burst into tears, ... You don't have time to celebrate, and you don't have time to lick your wounds. We win together and we lose together.

The clearinghouse issue hasn't been cleared up. It may be cleared up in two days, five days, six months, I don't know. If it's just a couple of days he could come right back, but if it's too long he'll have to wait and come in January.

The field was covered, ... Apparently it drains off really well like ours does. If it's a little muddy, it's muddy on both sides.

All the positions are not where we need them to be yet and, certainly, getting some of the injured guys back will help us. But I like the way our guys go about their business on both sides.