From Larry Vaught --
Question: Since Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said at ACC Media Days that his top goal was always beating Kentucky, what is your top goal each year?
Stoops: “Is that Louisville game important? Of course, it is important. It is extremely important, but the 11 games before that are as every bit as important. We play in a big man’s league that I have to give full concentration to and if you don’t, it will be a long day. We better gain on the SEC and believe me, if we gain on the SEC, we’ll gain on Louisville.”
Question: What about the strength of the inside linebackers?
Stoops: “We are getting much better. Josh Forrest is a guy who is a ton better. Ryan Flannigan was a first-year junior college player and had a great spring. I think with those two guys we will be much improved. We have not played good enough at that position. I expect to see great improvement there.”
Question: What all goes into recruiting?
Stoops: “We recruit these guys for years. They come on campus and spend time. It is not just one thing. Each prospect we concentrate on building relationships with everybody involved in that decision and you never know who that decision maker will be all the time. General consensus would be moms, but there are other people involved and I think our staff has done an exceptional job of getting to know everybody involved with that athlete. That takes a lot of work and time.”
Question: What about walk-on receiver Charles Walker, who played some last year?
Stoops: “He has done a great job. Great kid, great work ethic. I had knee surgery in offseason so we were in there doing rehab at the same time and we would have little competitions on who would do better. I would call him soft for motivation. Really a good relationship with him. He will be a player for us. He played on special teams as a freshman and that means we respect him and he has some ability. He is working his way into the receiving corps. He is a factor and will be a football player for us.”
Question: How do you feel about freshmen C.J. Conrad and Darryl Long at tight ends?
Stoops: “C.J. has won the job so far and we will see if he can maintain that. He has done a great job. He is exactly what we have been looking for. He can run, he can block. Obviously he will get more physical as the years go on. He is a great pass catcher right now. He is tough. He does everything right. He is a great player and great kid. Very mature beyond his years.
“Darryl is getting much more physical. Redshirted him and he is a big, rangy guy that will hopefully continue to develop into blocker. He has done some great things receiving as well and between the two of them we have a future.”
Question: How will the SEC schedule be?
Stoops: “It’s a cakewalk. Actually, that’s interesting because I have been in all these national discussions about how powerful the league is or is not. The thing about the league is that you know how hard our staff has worked to recruit players and develop players we have here and that’s our job to make our babies the best we can be. We work relentlessly around the clock in all areas of their lives to make them better becasue we firmly believe that better people make better players. We are working hard to develop them, we are getting better.
“Now does that equate to 10 wins. Everybody in this league is doing the same thing. If you are not, then they make a (coaching) change and go forward. It is just a no-nonsense league. It’s a bottom line league and that’s what we want and what makes it great and why it is so challenging to build a program from bottom to top. You have that chip on your shoulder every day and that mentality to make a difference.
“There are tremendous resources in the league invested to make all programs better. That is what this league is about. It’s about recruiting the very best players across the country and everybody does that and develops those players.”
Question: How is the team speed overall?
Stoops: “It is much better. We have tracking devices in our sports science program and that’s getting big in college football and pro football. The bottom line is we have tangible evidence of how fast guys are running. I believe we have 33 guys over 19 miles an hour which is significantly higher than when we got here and had two or three. We are getting faster and stronger. With that comes mental toughness, and that’s the big thing. Toughness is so broad and is just not picking a fight. It’s are you going to get up early, eat right, go to bed early, go to tutors, go to class, live right. That is toughness. Getting on the field and wanting to fight somebody is not toughness. To me, that is weakness.”
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