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Notes From Rich Rodriguez's Press Conference

Opening statement:
  • "No one is more excited in the country to start coaching football than I am."
  • Lots of experiences, drama in the last two years. Fun to watch the team grow up with year three now here.
  • "We have some questions, certainly, on both sides of the ball."
  • Defense needs to player better.
  • Lots of guys coming back; team has much more experience now than it has in the past two years.
  • Proud that the team has stayed focused despite all of the distractions.
Answers to questions:
  • Wide open competition at quarterback.
  • Should be able to tell who has progressed since the spring in the first few weeks of practice.
  • "May take a couple games before somebody clearly separates themselves (at quarterback)."
  • Craig Roh is close to 240-250 pounds.
  • Mark Moundros is the starting fullback, but he has also brought a lot to the linebacker position and will compete for a middle linebacker spot this fall.
  • Asked about who has had a good summer, Rodriguez responded that he doesn't know a lot about what goes on in the summer. Clearly a little bit of a joke about one of the NCAA violations of monitoring things too closely in the offseason.
  • Seniors were at his house last week and are excited for the season.
  • All of the outside stuff has brought the team closer together.
  • "Our fans have been terrific."
  • "Fans have been overwhelmingly positive."
  • "Nobody wants to win more than the coaches and players."
  • "I think it's exciting to have a championship game."
  • There's pros and cons to championship games, but the Big Ten is so strong right now that it's in a very good spot.
  • "Don't have a preference on how they split divisions."
  • Wants to keep rivalries intact when divisions are created.
  • The Big Ten understands rivalries and can figure out how to keep them going.
  • "When we get better, we'll compete better."
  • Going back to the Michigan State game last year, Rodriguez wouldn't change his decision to play for overtime instead of going for two and the win.
  • "We feel really good about Cam Gordon and his role in the secondary."