Press conference quotes, Jim Leavitt and Team

[Brad]

Courtesy GuUSFBulls

Jim Leavitt

(General comments)

"I appreciate you being here today. I thought the guys played well last week. We did a good job. Certainly I thought a lot of guys did some good things."

"West Virginia is an awfully good football team. You all know that. They wouldn’t be ranked fifth in the country if they weren’t good in every way. Special teams - they're very strong, I know everyone wants to talk about their offense and defense. They are certainly well coached, and they have a lot of tremendous athletes. They play with a lot of confidence."

"Coach McCarney has done a great job for us. I've known him for a long time. He's a good person, who cares a lot and works hard. I've known him since 1989, which has been a while. Nothing he has done has surprised me. I wouldn’t have tried to hire him if I didn’t think he was a great coach. He's just tremendous in every way."

(On students camping out)

"Yeah, that was pretty neat. I went over there a little bit. I had shorts and t-shirt on looking at film last night walked through the grass in bare feet a little bit. They were a lot of fun; they were really fun. Kind of neat!"

(On sellout crowd)

"Am I surprised that we're getting a sellout crowd? No, I thought the day would come some day. That doesn’t surprise me, when, what, how, where. I'm not concerned with all of that. It doesn’t surprise me at all."

(On taking advantage of opportunities)

"You have got to take advantage. Every play is that big. You have got to play. Everybody is going to play with emotion."

(On having former coaches on W.V. staff)

"They know our program, they know our players. Our guys are going to be excited. When the ball snaps, things just happen."

(On West Virginia getting revenge)

"We're going to play hard. They beat us two years ago, then we beat them last year. We just have to play."

(On players getting too excited)

"I think those things can happen. We really treat things the same, we always have."

(On distractions)

"There are distractions. There's always distractions. There have been in every game that we've played. Our guys are pretty mature about those things, hopefully they'll handle it well.”

(On playing big conference games)

"This is our third year. It is the longest we've ever been in a conference. Think about it, it’s the first time we've ever been in a conference for three years. Third year. That’s never happened. Some teams have been in a conference for I don’t know how long, maybe 80 years."

(On the challenge West Virginia presents)

"Probably all of us see the same thing. Great speed, they run well, they know what they're doing, they play with confidence. They have got a lot of weapons on offense. The defense plays well. The quarterback is as good as it is. He's up for the Heisman. The running back, he's up for the Heisman too."

(On staying at USF for success)

"I don’t know I haven't thought about it. I've always said that I love living here, being close to my family and I'm fortunate that South Florida has allowed me to stay here."

(On starting the program)

"I was real concerned with making sure we had a washer and dryer, and getting that drain big enough. I worried about using our coaches’ cars to keep the lights on our players. I want our players to realize that every day is really important. It is special to be and to live here and to go to school and interact with people. It’s really big. You know I can’t speak for my players, they're going to do whatever they think is best. I’m just trying not to confuse myself."

(On staying focused)

"I think it's important to stay focused and stay on the task at hand because you really can't do a lot about the other stuff."

(On Steve Slaton)

"He's very good. He runs very hard and very strong. We've got to tackle well, that’s real important and you have got to have people running."

(On Pat White)

"He can run, throw and he's smart. It’s a good system that fits his abilities. I think he and Matt are different though."

(On the defense playing well)

"Friday night there's no doubt about it, they're going to get tested in a big way."

(Reflecting on program)

"As I sit back and reflect about all the things that happen. Sometimes I reflect in the summer and I sit back and walk where the trailers were and I say hey we got a facility now. We've taken steps. We now have a locker room. We have a weight room. We have offices and we have meeting rooms. We didn’t always have those things when we were a few years old. When we get that dining hall, it'll be great."

Richard Clebert

(On how important it is for the defensive line to play the way it has the past three games)

“You can ask anybody on the front four, we all give praises to (Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line) Coach McCarney because he is such a great coach. Like I told you earlier, he has a really bad problem of having a short term memory. You can have 20 plays that are positive and are sacks but you can get one wrong play he can go off on you. And I really like that from him. Coach McCarney expects nothing but the best out of us and nothing less, and that’s the way it should be. I think that’s why we’ve gotten off to such a good start.”

(On George Selvie getting a lot of the sacks and attention)

“I’m excited because they do know that I’m the strongest guy on the field so I’m always getting double-teamed every single play, even though they did give Selvie one of my sacks last week, but I’m excited and happy for him because Selvie works so hard. Twenty-four (hours), seven (days a week). You see the way he plays in a game, that’s the way he is all the time. He also pushes me so I can’t wait until teams start double-teaming him so I can get up on the sacks.”

(On the game against West Virginia two years ago)

“Well last year I remember that all of our practices were like we had to focus and be disciplined. The thing is that somebody would think that (West Virginia QB) Pat White would have the ball and someone would get nosey and go for him and break for 80 (yards). We learned from our mistakes (from two years ago) and we can’t do that. It’s not really a statistical game. It’s just playing your part and helping the whole defense out and getting a W (win). That’s the goal for us.”

(On what brought him to USF)

“Out of high school I had a lot of scholarship offers, I could have gone to a lot of places, but I chose to come here. Coach Leavitt made a lot of promises and they have been promises that have come true. He told me before I left here that we would have sell out crowds, have people out there waiting (to buy tickets). I’m just so excited that I got to see it before I graduated.”

(On the focus of the team since getting their first national ranking)

“The focus has been great. You can tell in the guys the difference in the attitudes from what it has been in the past. The focus is not on George (Selvie) getting eight sacks and having someone getting upset. It’s not really like that. I’m so excited for him. I want him to get 12 and 13. It’s just a team effort. As long as we’re winning, we just want to win. That’s all it is. Regardless of who’s getting it, it’s just a team effort.”

(On whether the team philosophy is from the players or Coach Leavitt )

“Coach Leavitt is just a great coach. He recruits a lot of character. He won’t really just recruit talent, he’ll recruit more character. That’s his focus, and you can see that in a lot of people and a lot of our teammates. They just work hard all of the time. And when we come here he polishes it (the talent) up and makes us better players. It’s all Coach Leavitt and the way he recruits.”

(On what the fans camping out (for tickets) last night meant to the players)

“We love the fans. You could see in that North Carolina game during that third down, you can see us on film talking, just excited about the whole situation. I love that feeling. That’s my favorite part of the field (right in front of the student section), being right there. We love the fans, we love the attention.”

(On whether the defense is doing anything different this year than last year)

“Not really. Coach McCarney has a lot to do with the success of the offensive line. Coach McCarney doesn’t want anything but wins, that’s all he wants. He doesn’t want anything less from you. If George (Selvie) would had one bad play he would go off on him like he was nothing, and that’s how he is. We’re so afraid to mess up, so we go hard 100 percent. That’s the way I like it and that’s the way it is supposed to be.”

Matt Grothe

(General comments)

"We know their offense is good and we know they are going to have long drives once in awhile. It is going to be matter of not getting our heads down and playing good football.”

(On potential atmosphere of sold out stadium)

"I don’t know because I have never played in front of a sold out crowd here. I don’t know what to expect.  I know it is going to be loud after last week when North Carolina’s quarterback looked spastic trying to get the play off.  That was with only 38,000, I can’t imagine how loud it will be with 65,000.”

(On remaining focused)

“I think being excited is going to help us. Going into the Auburn game everyone was excited and I think we played even better because of that.  We had a good tempo throughout practice all week.”

(On the influence of winning in Morgantown last year)

“For them, I am assuming they will come down here looking for revenge. For us, we already know we can beat them and that gives us confidence.  Now it is just a matter of playing well and having fun.”

(On any keys to last year’s win)

“Our speed and we had a lot of big plays. I think that could be big factor this year.  Now that we have an improved running game this year, I think our offense will be even more of a challenge for their defense.”

George Selvie

(On Coach Dan McCarney helping him to improve)

“Coach McCarney is a different kind of coach. He pushes us to the max and if we mess up he’s going to get on us. Some people say that I don’t get it as bad as other players do, but I think I do because when I do mess up he really gets on me. He treats everyone the same. He a businessman. On the field he’s a business man, but he’s the nicest guy off the field.”

(On the challenge of playing against West Virginia QB Pat White and what makes him so talented)

"(Pat) White is like a running back at quarterback. He’s going to run the ball; we know he’s going to run the ball, that’s their game, their scheme, to have the quarterback run. They have a lot of speed and they have the addition of Noel Devine at wide receiver and running back so we’re just going to have to play relentless defense to try to stop theses guys.”

(On last year’s big play against West Virginia where he scored USF’s first touchdown of the game and what it did for his confidence)

“It really did a lot for our confidence. They were No. 7 in the nation then, it was the last game of the season and they were possibly heading to a BCS (Bowl Championship Series) game, so we knew then that we could play against any team in the nation.”

(On the importance of the defensive line containing the West Virginia offense – and Pat White – and not getting pushed up the field )

“That’s really important because if we leave one hole open, (Steve) Slaton is a real good running back and he’s going to try to take that hole and try to hit his head on the goal post. So we just have to play our assignments and make sure we do everything right and play fundamental football.”

(On what makes this game different knowing that former USF offensive coordinator Rod Smith and former USF offensive line coach Greg Frey – both West Virginia assistants –  are facing USF knowing the defense)

"That’s real tough finding out that they were going to West Virginia to go coach but we’re still going to play our defense. Coach Frey, I played for Coach Frey he coached me so I know how he is, he’s going to coach to the best of his ability. He might know some of our plays but he has to stop us first.”

(On the differences in schemes from this year to last year)

“Not much has changed, we just keep playing hard. We just have to win and we have to play relentless football. This is a big year for us, we’ve played some great game already this season this is just going to be another one.”

(On what it means to him helping to build the program to what it has turned into today)

“It’s really big. They say that we are building tradition right now even though we already have some guys who have built tradition in the past when they went 9-2 one season. Guys like Terrence Royal before I came here. They helped us and taught us that this program is about working hard, so that’s what we have learned. Now we’re building, winning, beating ranked teams, getting ranked and building onto tradition that has already been built. I hope 10 years from now they will be No. 1 in the country and I will be sitting in the stands watching South Florida play football.”

(On why he came to USF)

“I got recruited by D-II (Division II schools) and South Florida was my only D-I (Division I) offer, I wanted to play D-I football, so I came to South Florida.”

[BullBacker]

Catch 47 will be re-airing Jim Leavitt's press conference at 1pm today. It is normally live on Tue. but due to having a Fri. game it was held yesterday, he pretty much just addresses the WV game.

[gobulls83]

George Selvie

(On why he came to USF)

“I got recruited by D-II (Division II schools) and South Florida was my only D-I (Division I) offer, I wanted to play D-I football, so I came to South Florida.â€Â

I bet there are many coaches kicking themselves over THAT decision. That's amazing. I'm shocked every time I hear it.

[mulheap]

Courtesy GuUSFBulls

Matt Grothe

(On potential atmosphere of sold out stadium)

"I don’t know because I have never played in front of a sold out crowd here. I don’t know what to expect.  I know it is going to be loud after last week when North Carolina’s quarterback looked spastic trying to get the play off.  That was with only 38,000, I can’t imagine how loud it will be with 65,000.â€Â

hahahahahahaha!  "looked spastic"!?!?!  I love it!

[KB]

George Selvie

(On why he came to USF)

“I got recruited by D-II (Division II schools) and South Florida was my only D-I (Division I) offer, I wanted to play D-I football, so I came to South Florida.â€Â

I bet there are many coaches kicking themselves over THAT decision. That's amazing. I'm shocked every time I hear it.

Sign of a good recruiter.  It's easy to chase the kids everyone is chasing.  Plus, he was a center in high school.