Al Groh Quotes (175 Quotes)

He's got his pads on. You can call that what you want. He's done a little bit, but as I've said before, not to dodge the question, but until it really looks like he's going to play in a game, it's just a distraction from what we're trying to do.

I think it's essential that internally or leadership-wise, I think it's essential that we have discipline within our organization that guarantees that things are done the right way and not just to chase talent for talent's sake. That's how you put a team together, and so that's what we're doing.

We could just as easily lose a player in the fall as we can right now. This is an opportunity for us to build a little background for some of the things that could possibly happen during the course of a real season.

A great majority of the runs came off of about two or three different plays and we tried four or five solutions to them. In the long run, no matter what the call or the adjustment was, too many guys got blocked. You've got to beat blocks. If you don't beat blocks, you are going to give up some yardage.

Our last message at halftime was something that we had said early in training camp. We just reminded the players that battles are not won by digging in. If you dig in, you just become a target. Battles are won by attacking. The players did a very good job of that, and they can be proud of themselves.

We thought that three were protection sacks and, with maybe three or four in there, had the ball been gotten rid of, the sack would not have occurred.

With the point totals Minnesota has had, it's obvious they've scored against everybody. We can't afford to have equal shots at scoring and not score. Every time we get a chance to put points on the board, we need to make sure we do.

The only statistic we look at on defense is points allowed, and on defense we allowed 12 points. That's a pretty darn good night.

If you like to watch linebackers and you don't care that they might be hitting your guys in a couple of days, he's fun to watch.

We were hoping it would be a game-time decision last week.

Kai has been through two years of playing in a lot of games, he's been to all the stadiums, he's played all the teams, he knows what's out there in front of him, he knows what needs to be done. He's a mature player now and he knows what it takes to be a really, really good player.

He practiced well yesterday, ... If he progresses the way that he has and continues to move on, then there's a real good chance of it.

Andrew gets open, and when the quarterbacks see him, they fire the ball to him. Ogletree has a little bit of that ability. Both of them have some of the better skills that we have. Both of them had one of those days today where they had plays of significance and plays that they could have made.

Well, we don't have (the minors), ... There's a lot of catching up here to do with Ahmad's game, the things that he hasn't done since Aug. 5 to improve and polish his game. So, we're solving a need as well as trying to get him some action, you know, get him a little time there.

There are a number of offices that have interest in the circumstance. Look, I want to make perfectly clear I'm not condoning or justifying any action, other than to say that the thing has to be viewed relative to other circumstances that did not receive national television exposure.

Sometimes it's a little challenging to understand what was on the minds of some of the players. Between the two state schools, there's been a lot of positive things going on with the football programs here. I have to wonder, why players would have to look so far elsewhere to find what they're looking for

He's earning our confidence, and he certainly earned more of it today.

It's kind of gone back and forth a little bit. As the wear and strain of training camp goes on, there have been real good days for him, and there have been other days when he hasn't been quite as comfortable with circumstances.

It gave us consistent difficulty, ... and really brought Syracuse back into the game. Obviously, we'd like to play those plays better.

We go from day to day. When he's game ready, he's going to play. I'm really being honest when I say months ago I made plans to go on without him. When he comes back it's going to be like picking up a free agent at midseason.

That's a very positive thing for Boston College, too. I'd like to be able to say the same things about our circumstances every year, but in this particular case, because they have all shown themselves to be effective, it really doesn't make a great deal of difference who plays.

Chris has really had a pretty positive day every day out there. I guess you could say he's had a real good average on a lot more at-bats than before.

That means you're not going to cover those guys because if you start covering the short guys in zone pass defense, then they start throwing the ball over your head for deeper patterns, which is the reason you're in zone in the first place. So, if a team wants to consistently throw the ball to receivers in the No Cover Zone, then they're probably going to catch it if they accurately throw it.

He's doing a nice job. It sounds like an over-simplification, but people who know him will understand that he's just being Vic. He's doing well because he's Vic Hall. Whether it's academics or holding on field goals for the first time, or playing on the corner, he's got a real good sense of competition.

To a large extent, his dreams and aspirations of his college career are going to be packed into one season, and from a team standpoint, it's going to be important that we get a real big season out of him. He's going to be one of the featured performers this year, and is going to have to make things happen when he gets the ball.

Last week, we didn't really care what anybody said about us, ... We don't really care this week. We know what we have to do this week to keep it going. What we care about is winning and losing, and staying together as a team, and trying to play the kind of sound, solid, tough, aggressive football that we like to think is our trademark.

Marques was pretty spectacular out there today. He can just pick up the team and carry us. That scramble at the end was just a tremendous play.

If he's 1-for-30 and we win, he's happy. That's the great thing about him. He's played for his team at whatever position he's been needed and played with as much heart and unselfishness as anybody.

I must have been the only person in the stadium who wasn't watching the multiple replays, ... In one of the conversations I had with the ACC over the weekend, it was clarified for me that all replays be shown one time.

One of the Walsh tenets that he says repeatedly in his book, is that in his offense 50 percent of all the passing yardage should come on yards after the catch. So, if that's what you're banking on, if there's not much yards after catch, then you have a lot of short throws, a lot of catches for minimal yardage that don't amount to a great deal of production.

He actually took control in the early minutes of the first day that we tried him there. He knew the calls. He was very confident. He had been hearing the calls for two years.

This is obviously not the same circumstance as they have going in Philadelphia. They spent far too much time talking about a player Terrell Owens who wasn't even involved with the team. We're going to avoid making that mistake.

What we know now is the same thing we knew last night. He's got a sprained foot.

This has given those promising young players an opportunity for some more turns that we're hoping will bring them along a little faster.

I learned a lot from a lot of different coaches, some of whom I've never met, ... Bud Grant of the Minnesota Vikings once said, 'Never make a personnel decision until you have to.'

Brad crossed the line and for that he must take accountability, ... We have talked in detail and he has assured me that his actions on the play at issue were a result of over-aggressiveness and over-exuberance to block a challenging opponent and without malice. His intent was to take the player to the ground, not to inflict injury. In any case, we regret that the incident occurred and apologize to Mathias.

They're going to make it sticky on you for awhile. You can't get discouraged. You've got to keep grinding. I was pleased with that.

We preached all week for our guys to be prepared to go the long haul. We knew this game would be decided well into the game, late in the game. That helped see us through a tough start.

I guess we could say that we still consider him a part of the football family and we're glad to see him. Just because he's in a little bit of difficulty, we haven't separated ourselves from him.

I really hesitate to say it because he hasn't played a game yet, but he's really looking like what we're looking for there. For what he's had to learn and do in a short period of time here, he's been impressive. I would expect that he's going to be a good player this year and increasingly better in the future.

It's been a real good progression in the last eight or nine months for him. He knows that if he wants to play more football, this is his last chance to show that he's worthy. He knows he has to make the most of it.

We regret that the incident occurred and apologize to Mathias. We prize and promote sportsmanship, discipline and accountability and are all concerned that Brad did not handle himself in line with what we expect of a Virginia football player.

There were a number of times when we were able to stop multiple completions, ... We were able to force the quarterback to move within the pocket, and that seemed to affect his accuracy.

I give it less thought than anybody else, ... because I'm really being honest when I say that months ago I made plans to go on without him. When he comes back, it's going to be like picking up a free agent at midseason. We'll try to get him oriented into the system, and obviously it'll help provide something that we didn't have the day before.

When you play at home, it's loud, too. You have to deal with noise at each particular place.

The thing Brick showed in Mobile is that when there's competition, he shows up. He was well-appreciated for the fact that he was the highest-rated player in years to show up and play.

We had emphasized all week long that it was everybody's job in this game to find a way to win. What we put into it is for moments like this -- the satisfaction from accomplishment.

I wouldn't say count him in, but I wouldn't say count him out either. He's got a great attitude about it. His doctors are very positive about it. It will be some time before we can make a final determination.

In games like this, if your guy makes a play, you win. If their guy makes a play, they win. You've got to step up and make those type of plays. That fell into the category of finding a way to win.

In all fairness to Tony, he's started for quite some time at cornerback, ... We weren't going to move him to a position where he wasn't going to be a starter.