Tim Lappano Quotations

We're still going to be stubborn about that.

We wanted to throw the ball down the field today.

I don't think it's fair to say he took a step back. I don't think he did. We put him in a tough situation in that two-minute drill with about seven minutes left. The game was clearly out of hand then and to put him in that was hard.

He'd see the pass rush and just start running around. I told him we weren't doing that anymore.

He needs to understand that playing quarterback in this system takes a lot of work and a lot of film study.

I think it all started this summer with him. This was the first time he stayed here. He worked hard, worked hard on his routes. He has clearly improved his route-running.

I think the biggest thing we have to do at that position is become consistent. We saw flashes at that position last year and I thought Rankin showed flashes, but we weren't consistent. We need to be consistent and we aren't physical enough still.

I think everyone knows who the general is right now.

Other than that, he made some good throws. He missed a couple, but when you are throwing the ball more down the field vertically like we did today, those are harder to make. You're not going to make every one.

Johnny had a really good winter, and I've told him what he has to do to be the starter. I told Isaiah he needs to be consistent to get us to where we want to go, and that's a bowl game.

Until he commits himself to really learning the system, it'll be tough for him. He's still one of the best athletes on this football team. He has to understand that playing quarterback in this system takes a lot of work, a lot of film study.

You can't do that. You just can't let people see you sweat.

We saw some stuff in film that allowed us to get him out on the edge more. He presents so many problems for defenses because they have do decide, 'Are you going to let him get the edge and run?' or 'Are you going to come up and let something happen over the top of you?' So he gave us a lot of that today and it was really a nice weapon for us.

There would be a learning curve for him. He's never played, so the speed of the game would be different. To be fair, it would probably take two or three games to adjust to that. It's not really worth it.

It's not like he's just been sitting around. I'm not worried about the rust, but what I am concerned with is that our reps are very limited in the next couple days, and it's going to be hard for him to get a lot.

The No. 1 thing you have to do against USC is win the battle of the clock. You've got to keep their offense off the field. That's the best defense there is. Nobody's stopped these guys; I don't know if anybody will. The thing you have to do is limit how many touches they get.

It's not as if he's been sitting around. The thing I am most concerned with is, it will be hard for him to get a lot of reps. But he'll have to get enough so that he's ready in case there's an emergency.

Everybody knows who the general is right now. It's hard on your offense when guys are really not sure who is the leader, who is going to take us down the field. They know that Isaiah can do all that now.

I'm not going to say that anybody's going to run the ball down their throat. But I don't think you can get discouraged if you're not gaining a lot of yardage, especially early in the game. You can't just throw against them, you've got to stick to running it. But what happens is you get behind so fast. When you look at that clock and that scoreboard and it's 35-0, it's kind of hard to say you have to keep handing the ball off.

I'm really pleased with him right now. Because we can win games with him, and it's nice right now knowing that if something were to happen with Isaiah that you have a guy who can come in and play.

I hope he takes it because there's nobody better for that job than Dennis Erickson. He's the one who established that program. If anyone can get it going again, it's Dennis Erickson.

His biggest problem was he just missed some throws. Just flat missed them. There were some touchdowns he just overthrew. We can't do that. When we get guys running free down the seam, we've got to hit those.

His game is improved, so he probably feels more confident in that.

He's that Washington stereotype tight end, that's what he's going to be.

He's one of those guys that changed his body in the weight room.

He picked up some receivers on his second and third progression, which I haven't see him do for a while. He's growing, he's doing some good things. He's not just forcing the football all over the place.

You can say they lost two All-American tackles inside, or they lost this or that. The guys USC replaces with are just future All-Americans who haven't had to play yet. They're still fast, still physical, still play with great intensity.