UTAH STATE FOOTBALL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES - 08-29-11 Add Comment    Aug 29, 2011

Utah State head coach Gary Andersen, senior linebacker Bobby Wagner and junior running back Robert Turbin address the media at Mondays press conference.

USU HEAD COACH GARY ANDERSEN: 

ON CAMP ENDING AND ENTERING AUBURN WEEK: 

Overall, camp is in the books. It was a quality camp; it was a long camp, really, three full weeks of camp. The last few days we were able to give the time and the opportunity for the young men to get used to practice. We are doing things just a little bit different this year as far as their weekly schedule, we are meeting in the mornings and practicing in the afternoon. Instead of coming in and practicing and meeting at the same time. We should be used to it. We should have an easy adjustment into game week as far as their preparation. Today will count as a Tuesday practice as will tomorrow in being a Tuesday practice for us. Then a normal Wednesday and then an early morning practice Thursday morning before we prepare to fly out to the Auburn game. That is where we sit.

Overall, a lot of competition on this team. I would sit back and say as a result of this first game, there are going to be 15-20 brand new faces that have never taken a Division I snap, get snaps in this game which is great for us. I think it shows that we are moving in the right direction. In a recruiting standpoint we are getting youth on the field and we have created competition at a number of spots on the football team. That will be interesting to see how that all plays out, where we sit, how we are going to execute, how good of a football team this is at this point. We will find that out here in the next three or four weeks where we become very clear of what are strengths are, what our weaknesses are and areas to improve. I am proud of the way the kids have worked and we are excited to get this season started, obviously against a quality opponent.

Auburn is a tremendous environment, a tremendous opportunity. Basically it will be a day that the kids should never forget. If you go walk into this football game and not have a smile on your face then really, you are playing the wrong sport. Competitors are going to love the challenge that we have in front of us, without a doubt. It will be an exciting time for these kids to get in and play the National Champions and they still are the National Champions until somebody takes that away from them. We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. They are going to be a very gifted team. If I sit back, and there is a lot of talk about them and the number of new people that they have, which is true. They are going to be very gifted, very talented, very well-coached young men that are going to be on the field. You sit back and watch the tape of our opponent for the last few years, if I am going to sit down and break down the biggest differences, just watching the SEC tape, the speed, the size is very, very impressive. I know that Auburn is going to look the part. I have talked to as many people as I possibly can, to communicate with them to see exactly where Auburn sits and they have said that they have recruited very, very well. They expect them to be a very good team. Yes they have some new faces but I am sure they are quality pieces to the puzzle in the SEC as they move forward.

The environment that we are walking into is going to be, probably from what I understand, one of the best in the country. We are excited to walk into that environment, 90,000 people is what I believe they have there on a tradition. What you have to do in the first game is walk in and take care of the Aggies. Its not about anything else. All of us walking in to the stadium together, putting our best performance in and seeing exactly where it sits. I expect this football team to execute. I expect them to handle the situations very, very well, in an extremely adverse environment and we will be in some of those adverse environments as the year goes on. So, it will be a great learning experience and what we dont handle well, we will work to handle well and what we do handle well we will continue to emphasize in practice and continue to focus on that.

ON THE WEATHER UTAH HAS HAD TO PREPARE FOR SOUTHERN CONDITIONS:

I agree. The question is the humidity. Last couple of days, the humidity when I have looked and what I have been told has been close, but I believe we are going to hop up to 75 or 80 percent humidity, whatever it may be, very quickly. It has been hot here. We have put them in the hot environments, we have put them on the turf. The kids have handled it well. How the kids handle themselves and hydrate themselves over the next week as we progress through game week here is very, very important. I expect it to be hot; I expect it to be humid and I would hope that the weather would not be a factor. We are going to play a number of young men in this game and that is just factual. We will play a lot of players. We will take a large group with us on the airplane because we have the opportunity to take a large group on the airplane with. Where we sit, we need to put a lot of young men on this football field and see how they react so we can prepare ourselves for the rest of the season. Also, to give us the best opportunity to compete in this game at a high level.

ON BARRETT TROTTER, AUBURN QUARTERBACK:

Yeah we looked at as many of the young men as we possibly can, but they have all the way from offensive linemen and we have tried to find snaps that the kids have played in, in the past. The quarterback situation for them is much like ours, I would say, regardless of who plays. I would not be surpr

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