More From The Huntsville Times
Sports Columnist Mark McCarter
What SEC coaches didn't say is much more interesting
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Huntsville Times
The Southeastern Conference football coaches held a teleconference Monday, reviewing spring practice.
Here's what some of them said.
And what they didn't say.
Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer: "It's hard to argue with that (academic reform) is not a good thing. I don't know of a coach anywhere that doesn't want to graduate their players.''
What he didn't say: "Academic reform? Have you seen what's happened to this league lately? All of us need to worry more about getting players paroled, not graduated. And if we get any more guys busted for smoking pot in this league, Cheech & Chong will be named co-commissioners.''
Ole Miss' Ed Orgeron: "We are really pleased. I thought our offense made tremendous strides, especially at the quarterback position.''
What he didn't say: "Who am I kidding? I just left USC and Matt Leinhart. Compared to him, our guys couldn't hit sand if they fell off a camel.''
Auburn's Tommy Tuberville: "It's not ever good to lose four first-round draft picks. ... It was fun to watch and fun to be around them, but you have to start over.''
What he didn't say: "On draft day, I cried like the audience at "Terms of Endearment.'' I feel like I just got dumped by Teri Hatcher, and she took all the furniture and the dog.''
Florida's Urban Meyer: "What you look for is an attitude and resistance when you are a new coach, but there wasn't any.''
What he didn't say: "So far, nobody has come up with http://www.fireurbanmeyer.com. So far.''
South Carolina's Steve Spurrier: "We got off to a very good start and we had very good weather.''
What he didn't say: "I squeezed in 18 holes eight times during spring practice.''
Alabama's Mike Shula: "(Brodie Croyle) looks good right now. He could have gone through all the spring drills, but I didn't want to take a chance on him getting hit. We don't need Brodie 100 percent for spring. We need him 100 percent for fall practice.''
What he didn't say: "But it is getting a bit uncomfortable for Brodie, walking around campus in that suit of bubble-wrap we created for him.''
Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom: "Most of (recent player defections) have been disciplinary reasons ... our philosophy wasn't what they wanted to do. These guys weren't actually recruited to be a part of this philosophy.''
What he didn't say: "What was Jackie Sherrill running here? Club Med?''
Kentucky's Rich Brooks: "I think the low point has been our deep snapping. We had a player coming back who did a good job last season, and he had a non-productive spring.''
What he didn't say: "You laugh, but I'm serious about this deep-snapping deal.
"As much as we're gonna have to punt, we better have somebody get the ball back there.''
Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson: "We were very pleased with spring drills. We were very pleased with several facets of our game.''
What he didn't say: "Our deep snapper is a heck of a lot better than Kentucky's.''
Contact Mark McCarter at markcolumn@aol.com
