Aug. 8, 2007
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State player quotes from SDSU's yearly football media day at the Aztec Athletics Center on the campus of San Diego State University.
SDSU Quarterback Kevin O'Connell
On the upcoming season:
"I think it's a matter of guys that came from winning high school programs and winning all their lives and they came here and four years later, we kind of had our bumps along the road, but with that winning attitude and hard work, it's on nobody but us. It's not on the coaches, we'd like to think it is on us as players to go out there and change the way people think about us. I feel that we've earned the right to feel that we should be competitive in every football game that we play."
On the motivation of being a senior:
"It's been five years coming for this season and you would like to think that your senior year kind of culminates and everything you've learned and all your experiences elevate your play that much more. As a quarterback, you have to take control. When you have guys who are putting in so much time and effort, and so much of their heart and soul, as somebody who is in a leadership position, you feel that, thrive off of it and you just want to be that much better."
On entering the season as the starting quarterback:
"It's going to be hard not having Kevin (Craft) around. It was a blast having him here and it was always that competitive situation whether it was with him or Darren (Mougey) or Matt (Dlugolecki) in the past. That competitiveness is what makes the quarterback position so unique. It is such a leadership position and you pretty much have to earn the respect of your teammates. I think all that we've talked about with us stepping our mentality up a notch, it speaks for itself. My logic for this season is that my competition is not with anybody behind me, it's not with anybody that I've competed with in the past, it's not about winning the job and being satisfied with that, it's about winning football games."
On being picked eighth in the MWC preseason poll:
"I've been asked this question a couple times before and my whole feeling is when we were in Las Vegas for the preseason conference media day, I didn't see them handing any trophies out. I didn't see TCU walking around with the Mountain West trophy. I would like to think that whoever was picked ahead of us comes in thinking they're playing against the eighth-ranked team, but they're going to see a different football team. We'd like to portray that throughout fall camp to our fans and we're going to get 12 opportunities to convince people otherwise. That's what is so great about college football, wherever you're picked it doesn't matter, we get to play all of those teams that were picked ahead of us."
SDSU Defensive Lineman Nick Osborn
On his attitude toward the upcoming season:
"I could tell you right now that my attitude toward this season is way different than it's ever been before because of the leadership position that I've been put in as a senior. My attitude has changed because I've looked at seasons in the past and I've been watching film of old games, and I honestly get mad because we've been up on these teams at halftime and then losing them in the second half. Things have to change and with the guys that we have coming back this year; we have the experience to finish those games."
On the change the program has seen in the off-season:
"Things have changed in the weight room and on the field with conditioning in the summer, so there's a sense of urgency right away instead of late in training camp. As soon as last season was over we (felt) things needed to change. We needed to get everyone in the weight room and there had to be 100% participation on this team. So that's the thing that has changed, we have more people involved who have that sense of urgency."
On how the transition of a new coaching staff coming into last year: "Coach Long came from Oklahoma, a program that was doing really well. The year he came here they were in the Holiday Bowl and they were a really successful program. They had guys like Jason White going on to win the Heisman. There were so many accolades that were built up when he came into this program. It basically overshadowed the fact that we were transitioning to a new program with new coaches."
SDSU Wide Receiver Chaz Schilens
On the impact of having stability at the quarterback position on the passing game:
"It will just be more comfortable. Like everyone knows when you have the same quarterback, you're used to seeing the same ball and same timing. It was probably more difficult than people thought it was last year with all of the changing, so it will be a good thing for us. We'll be stable and we'll have that good base and have the same quarterback throughout the year, hopefully."
SDSU Linebacker Russell Allen
On the upcoming season:
"I just feel great going into this season. We've had such a better off-season from day one up until now and all of it has really helped us get ready for the upcoming season, so my attitude is completely different as far as the way I feel about our team going in. We've had much better commitment and participation and I really think it is going to pay off for us."
On the change the program has seen in the off-season:
"I wouldn't say there's been a lack of effort in the past, but guys are just getting fed up with the way things have been going and we're not going to settle for it anymore. Now we know what it takes to win and we've done our best to get ourselves ready for that and so this year has been a lot different because of that. I think the problem in the past has been that the urgency is there, but it fizzled out as the off-season went on because it is a long process getting ready from the first day after a long season to the first day of the next season. I think that this year the biggest change was that we were able to keep that intensity and that desire to get better throughout the whole off-season."
On having a year of experience with the coaching staff:
"You want to have a sense of being comfortable with everything going on so you can take the field at 100 percent mentally and physically. This year we know exactly what to expect everyday like in the off-season we knew exactly when we had running or when we had lifting. Everything is just more comfortable."
On being picked eighth in the MWC preseason poll:
"Those things happen. We had a rough season last year and to be honest I don't really worry about it at this point. It's on us to go out there and prove otherwise."