Q. There's a lot of expectations for your team. What are your expectations for this team?
Urban Meyer: I want to get through these next two weeks. We go real hard for a week, then they have a week off and we start camp. I don't look much past that.
Expectation as far as the season, our goals are always the same as it was in 2005, as it is in 2009, and that is we want to do everything we can to get to Atlanta. That's our whole reason we wake up every morning to try to achieve that goal.
Q. Would you talk about during this off season, I know you intended to make it the most difficult that Florida has ever had. Are you satisfied they did have that?
Urban Meyer: Coach Marotti turns over the team to me on August 6th. You can usually tell once we get started in training camp what kind of off season they've had. We've had good ones, not so good ones. According to our players and strength coach, this has been one of the best, if not the best.
Q. With so much depth, how have you kept everyone happy so far?
Urban Meyer: I think we've really promoted the competition and we've promoted team first. Great things happen when you have an unselfish team. Last year's was arguably the most unselfish I've been a part of. They got to wear a championship ring, compete in the SEC championship game. That's what we have going for us right now. I really believe our guys love it at Florida. More importantly, I really believe they care for each other. It's a good situation right now in that locker room, in the weight room, and when they're together. The only way to get it done is with great leadership on our team and our staff does a heck of a job.
Q. What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge for Dan Mullen to successfully install that offense at MSU?
Urban Meyer: It's a complicated offense, thrown around a little bit our first season in 2005. However, it's all when you say 'that offense,' people get tired of you saying it, it's all based on personnel. I'm not familiar with his personnel. You're going to see whatever variation, whether it be a Chris Leak style of offense, whether it be a Tim Tebow, Alex Smith, or Josh Harris style of offense. It's all personnel based. If you have very good players, it's going to be a good offense. If his players aren't very good, it will struggle.
Q. With or without Riley Cooper, what is your assessment of the wide receivers right now? How big a concern is that, since you lost a couple of good guys?
Urban Meyer: I think Louis Murphy was one of the most undervalued players in America last year. He happened to be on the same offense with Tebow and Harvin. That's No. 1 on the hit parade, as far as who is going to occupy that position. No. 2 will be who will occupy Percy's position. Deonte Thompson, Carl Moore, David Nelson, Andre Debose, I could go on., there's a group of players, Frankie Hammond. I just don't know. We did not answer it in the spring.
Q. I asked Nick Saban earlier regarding last year's SEC championship game. The momentum shifted in the fourth quarter. Alabama dominated you throughout the third quarter. You were able to flip it. Saban's answer was that Tim did a fantastic job. Talk about that momentum shift, what happened there, how that carried you forward not just the fourth quarter by Miami and Oklahoma.
Urban Meyer: I've been involved in football for quite a while, that was arguably the finest football game. You evaluate the way I do, you evaluate football and how hard the teams are playing, not how many yards a kid passes for or how many rushing yards. Are both teams absolutely spilling it? It's easy to evaluate. Watch the punt team, kickoff return team. Two football teams that were very well prepared. It was an unbelievable football game.
Tim made some throws in there where guys were fairly well covered. That's how you win championships. Then Tim and our defense worked together, and the offense. We held Alabama to one yard in that fourth quarter. You can say it was Tim, but there's a lot of guys on defense that had something to do with that, as well.
Q. You've talked in the past, using the baseball analogy, of your team being strong down the middle. Is this team typical of that again this year?
Urban Meyer: Oh, yeah. Last year we had one of the best middles in America in Major Wright, Ahmad Black, the safeties of Will Hill. I would definitely agree with that. We're very confident, very comfortable with who we have in the middle of our defense right now.
QB Tim Tebow
Q. It would have been easy for you to walk away with two national championships and a Heisman Trophy. You're in the spotlight every day. Why don't you walk away, start over, be okay with that?
Tim Tebow: I definitely didn't look at it like that. I look at it as I'm blessed to come back to the University of Florida for my senior year. When I was deciding to go or to stay, there are a lot of things that crossed my mind. You know, but I think the important things that I looked at were number one, was the opportunity that I had to have an influence in the state of Florida and around the South, for the U.S. for that matter.
We got a call, two days or something after the national championship game. That call told us that since the national championship game, the verse that was under my eyes was Googled 94 million times. That just kind of showed me, wow, the impact. I could wear something under my eyes and millions of people were going to Google it.
I really had a platform. I wanted to take advantage of that for one more year, be a good role model for the kids that look up to me, set an example for them. That was kind of my number one goal as far as coming back, and also to be loyal to Coach Meyer, to my teammates who have done so much for me. I wanted to come back and finish this thing strong for them.
Q. Coach Meyer talked about the goal for the season being winning the SEC championship again. Winning the two national championships in the last three years, do you feel the expectations have been raised above that? After you lost to Ole Miss, you famously said you wanted to go undefeated. Is the bar raised here? Are you trying to go undefeated?
Tim Tebow: As far as our goal, yes, our goal is to win the SEC championship. That's our ultimate goal. We feel like if we're the champions of the best conference in college football, then we should have the opportunity to play for it all.
You know, do we want to be undefeated? Absolutely. I'm not gonna say that we want to lose a game. Every time we step on the field, we want to win that game very badly. We're not going to be disappointed or heartbroken if we have a loss and we still win the national championship.
Q. When you made the speech after the Ole Miss game, did you think it would become what it has become now? What do you think of all the hype about it, having the plaque up on the stadium?
Tim Tebow: I didn't think it would become what it became. I wasn't even thinking about that too much after the game. I just know I was upset, heartbroken. I wanted to let them know ultimately that something good was going to come out of this. They were going to see a different team, a different player, there was going to be positive that coming out of something that was so negative. That was my ultimate goal with what I said. But I didn't think it would have this much hype, no.
Q. Speaking of Dan Mullen, what are you going to miss most about him, and what makes you think he can be successful at MSU?
TIM TEBOW: I think he'll be successful because he wants to be, and he's going to strive to be. Those people are going to create an environment that will make people want to succeed. They'll will themselves to win some games. That will be exciting to watch him using his enthusiasm, his passion, how much he wants it, to get those players excited, the university excited, and the state excited about Mississippi State football.
LB Ryan Stamper
On the offseason:
"Coming into the season ranked No. 1, the whole team realizes we want to work every day. Our coaches do a great job keeping our heads level and focusing on our goal to win the Southeastern Conference Championship. Our off-season has been very tough for us. Our coaches are not treating us as a national championship team. Our mind-set is to work hard and get back to where we left off last year."
On the hype and expectations:
"With the success we have had, two national championship teams, we know how to win and know that believing in the hype is not a way to win a national championship. We have to be focused on every team, every game and not be complacent. With the leadership returning this season, we know we can win."
On playing with Tim Tebow:
"There is no man like Tim Tebow. With everything he goes through, I do not know how he handles all the pressure and media attention. Tim is a great teammate. He really cares about everyone and makes sure everyone stays on top of everything. He is our leader and we all look up to him."
On potentially winning a third BCS Championship:
"We are focused on winning the SEC Championship. I'd be lying if I said the national championship hasn't crossed my mind; but we know if we win the SEC our chances to play for the national championship are much higher."
On the 2007 LSU game:
"Even though we lost [versus LSU in 2007] it was a great game. We fought really hard. I recall a fourth-and-one when Hester ran the ball. I made the hit on him, but he still got the first down. If I would have brought a little more to that hit, the game would have been over, but they got the first down. I'm looking forward to this year's game at LSU. They have a great fan base, they are very rowdy, and create a great atmosphere to play in."
You can find the full Florida Gators press conference transcript by following this link.
SEC Football
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