MIKE SHULA NEWS CONFERENCE QUOTES

HEAD COACH MIKE SHULA

Opening Comments:

“Just to go along with what Mike (Leach) said, we too are excited to be here. It has been a nice journey for our football team. We’ve had our seniors, a lot of them that have been three-year starters, have been through a lot. For these guys to end up here at the Cotton Bowl knowing again the reputation of the Cotton Bowl has (is special). We would like to thank the Cotton Bowl for their hospitality this week. It has been great. We just want to be able to represent our university and our conference well. We know going against Texas Tech, we are going to have to be at our best. Hopefully we will be at our best.”

On preparations for Texas Tech offense and how much fun Alabama’s scout team offense has had simulating their offensive system in practice:

“I don’t know how much fun (it has been)? There is no way to simulate what they do by any means. You just try to give them the best look that you can with our scout team offense. We have tried to spend a little more time going against ourselves, our first teams going against each other. Not necessarily scheme wise, but just to keep up with the speed of the game so to speak.

“We were asked the question yesterday, how do you get prepared when you are facing something that is so different. It is hard to. Other than you just keep watching as much tape as you can and practice as many things as you can. We have had the opportunity to get ready a little bit more so than any other game. Hopefully that will help us.

“It is going to be an early start and these guys are fast starters as it is anyway. So we are going to have to get ourselves ready to go. We need to get a good night’s sleep and get up early and just do the things that we have done to get ourselves here. We have to make sure we are a disciplined football team. We just have to try to find a way to slow them down a little bit. You know they are going to move the ball and they are going to score. We can’t necessarily panic. Again, we just have to do the things that we do best.”

On the intensity of bowl practices and preparations this week as compared to in past years and reaction to an Alabama player’s quote that the players are not having much fun because they are practicing so much:

“We did a little bit different last year. We’ve actually practiced less. I don’t know who that young man was, he may not been on the team or bowl trip last year. We’ve actually practiced less this year. We felt like we had to get more time when we got off the road recruiting in preparation as coaches. We felt like if we did that then our players they would be better prepared. We tried to keep it pretty much like a normal week. We just had a few extra days of practice. Our schedule has been we have been working in the morning. We have spent a little more time in the afternoon enjoying a lot of the things the Cotton Bowl has provided for us.”

On ways head coaching experience has helped you as opposed to when you first took the Alabama job:

“Like anything else, I think with experience you get better. I have things to draw from. How I did things last year, for example, in our bowl preparations. You are more comfortable in what you are doing and the people that you are doing it with. Hopefully because all of those things in the learning process that we are all better. The measure is obviously the scoreboard at the end of the game. I know our coaches, for example, feel better about the preparation this year going in rather than last year. Obviously when you get to the bowl site there are a lot of things going on. We wanted to get as much done as we could ahead of the game.

“I think as the head coach you have to look at each and every week. The first game you coached in your career to now and how you can help this football team continue to improve and how you can continue to improve. Whether it is managing people, personnel decisions, doing things differently in practice, with meetings and doing things differently with staff. I think the main thing is making sure that you have everyone on the same page. And making sure that these kids that you are asking to do a lot for the university are hearing the same thing from each and every (person), whether it is the head coach, assistant coach, trainer, strength coach or academic adviser, on doing things right and doing things the way that Alabama and our university would want you to represent them.”

On seniors Brodie Croyle and Matt Miller:

“Brodie (Croyle) has had such a great career. It has been well documented. When we first got in here he was a sophomore. He was our starter. He got hurt in the very first game making a tackle and saving a touchdown when one of our running backs fumbled. He played the whole year with a bad shoulder and he never said a word. He never complained. Then the next year he goes and gets off to a good start and unfortunately gets hurt early in the season. He had to rehab all off-season. I think that is where a lot of our players gained a lot more respect for Brodie. He worked hard. He was a leader throughout the off-season for our football team. You are just happy as a head coach to see this guy have some success.

“He has a lot of tools. He has a real good arm. He has a good feel for the position. I think one of the best things he has that you like in a quarterback is that when the game is played he sees things and is very calm. He is competitive, but he is real good to talk to. That is one of the important things that you like to see from your quarterback when he comes over in between plays during a timeout, that he is not caught up in anything else other than focusing on the next play.

“Matt Miller has been another senior that has been used in a lot of ways. He is our holder. He is one of our wide receivers and he plays on other special teams. He is on kickoff coverage and kickoff return. He has been a leader in practice. He gets guys going with some energy in practice. He helped us, literally, win the Ole Miss game. On the last drive, he was catching passes on a two-minute drive and then he was our holder for the game-winning kick.”

On as a former quarterback whether he would have liked to run Texas Tech’s offensive system:

“I would probably be about third or fourth team with his group. I couldn’t throw it that well. I do a good job of handing it off in the Alabama system. One of my biggest completions was a shovel pass to Bobby Humphrey. I don’t think I could quite make it.

“Their offense is exciting to watch, no doubt. You talk to a lot of people about it, they tell you when it gets going, as much as you’ve prepared, it is even different than what you think. Watching the highlights during the course of the week, and there have been a lot of highlights that we have seen at some of the functions, those guys have a lot of fun. As most offenses, it all revolves around the quarterback. Their guy (Cody Hodges) does a good job and makes good decisions. He moves around and buys time. He can run with it. Again, it is one more added dimension to what they do.”