Michigan Head Coach Brady Hoke News Conference Comments
December 31, 2012
Opening statement:
“We’ve had a great week down here; the hospitality and everything that goes with the bowl game. We really think our kids had great work and great focus and at the same time enjoyed everything that the Outback Bowl does for the teams. With that being said, I think both coach (Spurrier) and I both are ready to play a football game though, maybe not us two play, but our kids are ready to go play a football game. We’re looking forward to it. We’ve had a great stay down here in the Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater area.”
On Michigan’s plan at quarterback:
“It’s how we ended the year. Devin (Gardner) will be the starting quarterback and Denard will play some quarterback. How we finished the year and the last three ballgames is how we’ll play it out.”
On the hype behind an SEC/Big 10 match-up:
“I think the media makes more of it than we do because coaches are coaching the team. We’re both proud of our conferences, but at the same time, there’s going to be 11 guys on the field for South Carolina, 11 guys on the field for Michigan, and they’re going to go compete.”
On the challenge of getting a team ready for a bowl game:
“You have goals, championship and things you aspire to do. For players, the opportunity to play one more game, one more time, and be able to come to Florida. We’ve got some guys on our football team that have never been to Florida. It’s been a nice little experience for them. But at the end of the day it’s about competing to win. For us to talk so much and believe so much in our senior class, it’s try to Send them out the right way.”
On the work punter Matt Wile has put in leading up to the Outback Bowl:
“He’s one step away or one kick away from being the punter. So he’s punted all preseason camp and through the practices and all that.”
On Denard Robinson not complaining about losing the starting role at quarterback:
“It tells you that, number one, he cares about his teammates, cares about Michigan. He’s always been that way in my experience with him. He’s always been about his teammates and the affection he has for them and doing whatever it takes to help us to be successful as a team.”
On what young players have accomplished in practice leading up to the Outback Bowl:
“I think especially early, in the preparation and everything, there are some guys we worked with a little bit, rested some of the older guys to a certain degree. I think there’s a bunch of those defensive lineman and offensive linemen that have done some really good work. Jehu Chesson at wideout I think has done a really nice job. We’re playing a lot of that class also. When you look at us, up front on both sides of the ball is where we’ve made the biggest, hopefully, gains in recruiting and everything that we’re trying to establish and build as a foundation for our program. We gave those guys a lot of work early.”
On the experience of playing top teams:
“I think experience in anything always helps. When you look at preparation, look how we played offensively the last game of the year. We didn’t play very well, especially in the second half. I think experience is important, but every game is different, every team is different. We’re going to have our hands full tomorrow, so we’ll find out.”
