Opening statement: "I've said repeatedly about this football team, this a fun team to be around and it'll be interesting to see how this team plays. There's a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of passion and we got a little bit of a jump with practice on Saturday and Sunday, which we do every year around this time."
On Tony Temple: "Tony Temple is the starting tailback. He's done a great job. All those players are different from a year ago, they were all young players last year. Right now Tony's the No. 1 tailback."
On Murray State: "I think it's obviously a great opportunity (to play Murray State). As I mentioned earlier today, they will play well, they're a good football team. My biggest concern is to obviously study them and study their speed. More so, I'm more concerned about my players playing their best game. That's kind of what our focus is."
On Chase Coffman and Martin Rucker: "They're big athletes; I'd like to think there aren't two better tight ends than them. There have been a lot of questions during camp about playing both those guys at the same time. There are two things to take into consideration about playing them at the same time. One, the size of the athletes, and when you get into space a lot of times it creates physical mismatches. What happens out there, you can't expect them to run like that like a 200 pound wide receiver, they can't do it. If you do it, you tear them down. Taking that into consideration, also we led the nation last year in number of plays offensively; we have to decide how often we want these guys on the field at the same time."
On playing consistently throughout the season: "To be good, you have to bring that `A' game every week, every single week. That's maturity, that's player preparation, all those things."
On the feeling of waiting for the first game...
"The fans, the players, the coaches and anyone else involved in the program is really looking to starting off right."
On the differences from last year compared to this year...
"We're ready to play. We've been going through so many phases of the offense, and we just want to get on the field to play football and start off strong."
On the feeling of the first start
"It's just a regular football game, but it's a big game because it's the next game. I have to go out there and not show them nerves, but go out there and play like I've been doing the past two months."
On filling Brad Smith's spikes...
"I really don't mind it. Anyone being compared to Brad Smith would love it. I love him, but bring it on. It is good, but I just can't wait for Saturday."
On what to expect from the offensive line...
"Everybody has that question mark around the offensive line, but you look at it now and we have more experience than we've had for a long time. We have four returning starters and then you have Monte (Wyrick) coming in with a lot of game time experience."
On the change of responsibility between Chase Daniel and Brad Smith...
"Oh yes, now with Chase (Daniel) back there that adds a little more responsibility on our end by creating better pocket protection for him. He just isn't as great a scrambler as Brad (Smith) was. With Brad it was very unpredictable most of the time, but Chase is a lot more comfortable in the pocket. The big thing is keeping on our blocks and knowing where Chase is, instead of Brad running all over the place."
On having two tight ends on the field simultaneously...
"Well, (Martin) "T" Rucker is a great player and it will open up lots of things for our offense. Hopefully, it will switch some things up with two tight ends."
On what was seen from the defensive on the field... "They have a lot of returnees. Everyone has been working so hard during spring ball and in the summer. All of them really got a lot stronger than they were."
On the differences from last year's squad compared to this one...
"We know the importance of every game. We were always playing one game short during the Big 12 last year. So, when coach says this game is the most important game it means that you need to win this game and worry about anything else later on. It doesn't matter what division we're playing."
On being a family oriented team...
"We changed our "team covenant" to the "family covenant." That's just one example of how we're trying to be more family oriented by treating each other like brothers instead of teammates. It's all just about the rules and regulations we have in our program."
On the change in the defensive line...
"With two speedy ends and two bulky guys in the middle that's a big plus. If we just execute our plays and do what we're supposed to do then there will be nowhere to run the ball. As far as the passing game, that could be easily shut down too."