Steve Spurrier Guys Quotations

We felt like Blake is much better prepared mentally, physically. He's had an excellent summer working out, and it's clear to all of us here that he's our best guy to go out there. So when it's obvious, we've named him the starter. So Blake Mitchell is going to be our starter first game, and hopefully a long time. We'll go from there. Back-ups we don't know yet, we're trying a lot of guys right there. But Blake's earned it and he's our starter.

Sidney Rice and Blake and all those guys had some super performances, ... Sidney, you know they're trying to stop him. He's close to unstoppable. Everybody's stoppable but he's some player. Little Kenny McKinley made a bunch of key catches all over the place. It was a fun game. This was big for our football program and the University of South Carolina. Hopefully we can gain some confidence and build on it, and not let it get to us.

Certainly, Blake has improved. He has certainly learned what's going on, and he should play much, much better this year. I hope we have some coaches around here so our guys improve from one year to the next.

To finish second in the SEC East is a wonderful season for our team. Obviously, we were not picked that high. To qualify for a bowl game, that was our big goal for our team. We felt it was achievable and realistic and our guys went out and won seven games to go to the bowl game.

He's a big target and catches everything. As a quarterback, those are the guys you like. He's got a chance to help us win big around here and has a chance to break some records because we're going to be firing.

Hopefully, we can get some things going to help emphasize the point that here's how we expect you to play and if you don't, the other guys are going to play, even if they're not as talented,

We look for each player to play his assignment and make a play or two. We're going to practice everybody about the same amount - mostly the younger guys, the guys who haven't played much, which is about the whole team. We're going to try to improve, try to get better.

Our plan will be about like everyone else's - not try to let him run all over the place. Our players know what they have to do. They have to contain. You don't just run straight at a quarterback who looks like him. Hopefully, our guys will get off blocks and sort of corral him.

Some guys commit early. Some like to visit through January and commit. That's where we are.

It doesn't matter what I say right now until we play the games. People will write one way or another. That's fair. Opinions are all fair. But until we go play, who knows what's going to happen? But certainly I like the challenge. The opportunity. I like being in Washington, D.C., also. I like being amongst those critics up there, the guys who've never seen our teams play. Several of them are the experts in what's going to happen, but that's okay.

We've got some building to do. You guys know football as well as I do,

We divided them as evenly as we could. We obviously have a few guys that have to play for both teams. They'll be on the Green team. It'll be the Garnet, Black and Green guys and they'll play for both teams.

We played well at times both offensively and defensively. But in the whole realm of 60 minutes we didn't play good enough to beat Missouri. It seems like they played faster than our guys did. Give them credit, they kicked our tails.

We don't need a lot of cookies on Thursday afternoon before games. No, my background as a coach, we've never liked showering the guys with a lot of praise before the game. I don't know how that helps.

We're not in the upper echelon by any means. We've got to scrape and claw for any victories we can get. I think our guys know we've got to play well. We don't have to play perfectly, but we need to play well to beat these guys.

We just feel like we need probably our most experienced guys at tackle right now.

We're going to try to practice everybody the same amount, but mostly the younger guys. Guys that haven't played much, which is about the whole team.

So six guys got letters, two have been renewed. They stayed here, remained quiet, didn't burn any bridges and did what they were supposed to do. As it turned out, we ended up not renewing four.

Anybody wants to come out, we appreciate it. We like to have some people in the stands when our guys are playing. We're going to keep score, offense against defense. The loser has to run. So it's going to be a score-keeping day.

Daccus should give us some toughness running the ball that we didn't have last week, ... Our team right now is looking for some tough guys who love to compete and maybe hate losing. Daccus is a tough guy, and he'll add a lot to our offense blocking, running the ball and maybe challenging our offensive linemen to get their butts going, things like that. We're glad to have him back.

If our fans felt like booing, I would have said they had a good reason to. To me, you only boo if the guys are not playing with effort, (and if the) coaches don't look like they know what they were doing. We were all in that category. The fans will not hurt my feelings if we perform like that again and (they) boo.

I guess you guys have to be a coach to understand. Once you spend a year with your guys, that's your team. That's just your team. I try to live in the present.

He's still got a little ways to go, but he's got a chance. He's checking off and picking his guys out better. He should be close to really playing very well this year.

Certainly (they are) a well-coached bunch of guys, and they all play very hard. You don't see those guys loafing around and dodging tackles. They play all out.

Hopefully our guys will represent themselves, our university and our team in an all-out-effort performance this week.

Hopefully our crowd will be here. We have a lot of recruits coming and it's always good to have 25,000-30,000 at the Spring Game. That would be a nice crowd. Turn out and support our guys and our players can put on a performance as if they know what they're doing.

He's an excellent athlete with his ability to run, just like the Texas quarterback, Vince Young. You hope to try to make him throw the ball and not beat you running. We're going to try to contain him and try to cover their guys and try to get pressure on him.

I don't want to praise our guys too much for beating this team. Had a few good plays here and there. Still a long way off.

You check my track record what we did with guys who got in serious trouble and embarrassed our university.

Their athletes look faster, quicker than in the past, ... Certainly, (they're) a well-coached bunch of guys and they all play hard. You don't see guys loafing around and dodging tackles. They play all out. We've got to play our best to beat these guys this week.

The first key is pass protection -- giving the quarterback enough time. After that, it's getting guys open. The QB has to know where the receivers are going, how the defenses cover them. You need a smart guy who will make smart decisions 95 percent of the time.