George O’Leary opened up the press conference:
"We start off in a couple of weeks, we start practicing August 4th. Obviously there is a lot of excitement; I think the last piece of the puzzle was the stadium on campus. It’s good to have that venue on campus now."
"I’m looking forward to the season, we obviously have to replace some key players that either went to the league or graduated. I think getting into the fifth season is where recruiting takes place and hopefully we can replace people that have graduated and move on and stay consistent. I think it’ very hard to win conference championships. I think it’s hard to keep winning them. Again, I think we’re looking forward to it, I know a lot of our players have been back on campus for a while now for summer school and have been working hard to get ready for the season."
Q: What difficulties are there in following up a conference championship?
A: What paper are you for? I’m not having any dialogue with your paper until you make corrections to erroneous statements have been written.
Q: Can you expand on that statement?
A: It's that right now I'm at the point under advisement not to have any dialogue with the Orlando Sentinel until basically some things that have been written have been corrected.
Q: What was written?
A: No, that’s all I’ll say about that.
Q: How is your team doing in the wake of Ereck Plancher’s death?
A: I think we’re moving on. Obviously, it’s a great tragedy. I think the main thing was that I felt sure that the players were alright, and the coaching staff. I think the big thing is that basically players are moving on with their lives and we’ve had a lot of meetings regarding this stuff and I think they understand they understand that we have to go on and play our season and don’t forget Ereck.
Q: Has there been any closure yet in regards to Plancher’s death?
A: I’m waiting for the medical reports to come out, which haven’t come out yet, which wil bring some closure to the situation.
Q: Are you going to have a decal on your player’s helmets to remember Ereck?
A: Yeah, honoring Ereck, which is something that I think we should do and will do. In the spring game, we had a batter’s box with his initials to honor him. I think it’s something the team wanted to do and I wanted to do.
Q: How will you replace Kevin Smith?
A: I don’t know if you can replace Kevin. Whether it’s UCF or any school you are at, when you’re a consensus All-American as a running back, it makes it very difficult. I’ll go back to what I’ve done most times, I’ll have two or three running backs that can go out there and do what they need to get done. Again, we’ll see which one we set in on as far as the running back. I see a bunch of running backs playing early. We’ll see who’s going to be the guy we can count on for all three downs, not specialty downs.
Q: What impact did Kevin’s season have exposure wise?
A: Well I think there is no question when you have a consensus All-American, and Kevin obviously had that honor, that’s a lot of exposure across the country as far as T.V. They kept track of him statistically when he was going for some of the records, so there is no question that Kevin had a lot to do with putting UCF on the map with his success last season.
Q: What south Florida players will have an impact on your team?
A: When I look at the football team, probably about 65% of the team is from Florida. Again, you have nine starters returning on defense, the secondary is all intact. There are a lot of Florida players starting on offense and defense. Again, we will always recruit the state of Florida very hard.
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Q: Thoughts on competing with more experience Florida schools and gaining respect.
A: I think the stadium has helped, but I think what we still need to improve on, and obviously it takes time to get done, is tradition. That’s pretty much what you fight right now, I think what helps that out is that you continue to win. I think the thing is when you’re only in Division-1 football since 1997, so you don’t have that history or tradition that some older schools have, and that plays a big in the fan base, the monetary value, the alumni. That’s where we’re at, which basically is going to continue to improve as we continue to win, and basically the key factor in this is the stadium, and to get people back on campus. You get students who graduated back on campus and that’s a big improvement as far as enthusiasm in the fan base and the students help.
Q: What about the Texas game?
A: That was great game and we had a couple of fumbles. It’s still a loss now, the next day it was a loss. I think that was a great opening game, and I always like playing strong out of conference games, I think you got play that if you want to get any recognition throughout the country. The big thing is win your conference and get ready to play, but you always should play very competitive non-conference games, I think that’s where you get the power ratings from and I think that’s what teams are finding out is that they got to play people to get recognition and you have to do well in your own conference.
Q: Thoughts on Joe Burnett
A: Joe has been a four-year starter for us and right from his freshman year on he’s been a pre-season All-American, he made the freshman team right after coming in and an All-American punt returner. Again, he’s done nothing to dispel that I think. He’s going into his fourth year and again is a special teams player Pre-Season C-USA punt returner, he’s just a great athlete and has a great knack for the ball. He’s had a heck of a career so far.
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Q: Thoughts on Cory Hogue and Mike Buxton
A: Cory has started for two years already, so I expect him to be a guy who will be a mainstay on defense. He’s started at linebacker for a couple of years there. Mike Buxton is now a tackle that basically this is a year he should see some playing time. He’s 6’7", 6’8" guy about 320 lbs, his biggest thing is just growing into the game, I think he’s finally come into his age right about now.
Q: What’s the status of Johnell Neal?
A: What happened with Johnell Neal is that he graduated, his mom flew up for the graduation and he went home (Louisiana) for a little bit. While he was home, he was ambushed and shot four times. I flew into Louisiana and saw him. He’s been back on campus since about two weeks after it, he’s going to summer school and he’s working, condition and weight lifting most of the time right now, he should be ready to go full till in August when we start.
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Q: What are your thoughts about the unprecedented amount of verbal commitments you have received so far?
A: Nine verbals you mean? If they all hold up I think we’re ahead of where we’ve been no questions in last year’s recruiting. I think the biggest change has been the stadium and having the ability to get the kids on campus. Because facility wise, we do have as nice as anybody’s facilities, as far as when kids do come to see what’s going on. I think the big thing though is that kids are making earlier and earlier decisions as far as what to do or where to go, and that’s why I’m such a strong advocate of bringing back the early signing period. Recruiting has changed immensely in the past 10 years when kids didn’t make early decisions as much as they do now.
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Q: What contributes to those early signings?
A: I think internet, I think media exposure. I think it’s being driven by that, kids are more aware of what’s going on on the college scene. They know what schools are looking at them, what schools are trying to recruit. It doesn’t make sense right now to have all of these commitments. Then the key factor is really money. You still spend the same amount to actively recruit "verbals" as you do with someone who isn’t a verbal. So to me, I like the fact that we used to have an early signing period, which would really get those kids done and committed and no you pretty much expect to recruit the rest of the class that needs to be recruited. I think it would work out better that way, but there’s a lot of different thoughts on that.
Q: Is there a date you’d prefer for the early signing period?
A: I would say around the same time as the Junior College Signing day. Sometime in the middle December, because right now most kids visit during the season, a lot come up game weekends, and that still gives you three weekends in December or the last week of November to get kids on campus, especially for a guy who early committed already, they probably would have been there already and I just think it would open up a lot of doors and would also make kids keep a commitment and you wouldn’t have to worry about visiting them every week and flying off to see them. Financially I would think it would be a great thing.
Q: Are you still a sleeping Giant?
A: I think we’re getting better, but the big thing is we need to continue to win, that’s what the name of the game is. It’s not one year then down again, you have to keep climbing and that’s what programs do, they reload. It’s not rebuilding year after year, and that’s why recruiting is such a lifeline. You have to bring great recruiting classes in each year in order to compete each year.
Q: What are your thoughts on the fan turnout last year?
A: I thought it was outstanding, I really do. The fan base, the student body really did an outstanding job getting behind the football team and getting on campus. The university athletic department made a great game day situation with tailgating and I think people thoroughly enjoyed themselves, plus it helps when you pretty much can win all the games at home, except for one, and I think that helps.
Q: What’s the offense like with a new QB and RB?
A: I think everybody talks about Kyle Israel, and then remember some of the bad things that happened, but Kyle Israel won 10 games last year as a quarterback in Division-1, I though he did a great job. Anytime you take a Division-1 quarterback and win 10 games, that is a great season. We have a couple of guys coming up on the rise like Michael Greco and Joe Weatherford that I think have the ability to maybe to do the same thing. I think we’ll find that out real quick in the early part of the season. Running back, I don’t think you replace a Kevin with anyone person, so we’ll do running back by committee. Pretty much the rest of the positions are taken already with people that are there or that are coming back. Those are the two key areas, running back and quarterback, that I will be looking at real hard pre-season.
Q: Will you rotate quarterbacks?
A: I don’t like the double-quarterback system. I think once you’ve made a decision on your quarterback that should be your guy, chemistry wise, leadership, that’s the way I look at it. Now if he’s not getting it done, you have to make a change but I don’t believe in that ‘I’ll play this quarterback this half, this one next half, second half,’ I just don’t think you get can get continuity as a football team like that. Even though they may be the same, they are never the same in the huddle; the way they talk, the way they act, I think you try protect your football team because that’s the coach on the field. They have to listen to one voice and that’s who they have to have their confidence in. And the second quarterback needs to come in and win a game or sustain a win if he has to. That’s what I look at, I’ve never liked to play two unless you’re forced to do it. The first guy gets the job, the second guy is what he is, the backup.
Brendan Sonnone is a senior writer for InsideKnights.com, covering the UCF Knights for Scout.com. Feel free to contact him -HERE- with questions or comments.
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