Sept. 17, 2008
UCF Football Press Conference Audio
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfatheltics.com) - Tuesday afternoon, UCF head coach George O'Leary met with the press to discuss the Knights' upcoming road game at Boston College. The game is slated for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Alumni Stadium, and it will also air nationally on ESPNU.
During O'Leary's Tuesday press conference, he addressed several topics including the status of the running backs, Michael Greco's progression and a break down of the Boston College offense and defense.
To listen to the full press conference, All-Access subcribers can click on the link above.
On non-conference opponents...
"I have always said it from the get-go that I try to schedule up for non-conference opponents. I think the big thing is that there are no moral victories in football. You go out and you have to win. The players understand that it is the third (game of the) season, and it is a big non-conference game against a very good opponent."
On running back rotation...
"It all depends on the players that week. We are rolling three in there this week. It depends on Tim Salem. The kid that is running the best right now is (Ronnie) Weaver, and Brandon Davis is having a good week. You are likely to see all four of them, but you will definitely see two in there."
On Michael Greco...
"You always look at it from the first game to the second game, and I think that Michael progressed. Is he where you want him to be at? No, but like every other quarterback you see you are going to see some good plays and you are also going to see some mistakes. The big thing is that I did see him make a lot of progress as far as his vision, and his confidence in delivering the ball. We have to protect him a little bit better in some situations. Hopefully each week it will be a steady improvement. He is really a true freshman playing. He hasn't played in two years, and I look at him as a true freshman with a lot on his plate. Hopefully the third game he will continue to progress."
On Boston College defense...
"They have seven guys back up front. I know they lost their defensive end to a broken ankle. They have two guys inside that are very good football players and their linebackers are too. We are going to have to go into the game and take what the defense gives us. That has pretty much been our philosophy on offense, and what we have to do is get bigger plays in the passing game. We have guys running free, and we need to hit them. That is where we need to progress."
On Boston College quarterback Chris Crane and the offense...
"He is a big kid who is a senior and has experience. He has good arm strength. They are always going to be a team that wants to run the ball, and a pretty big play action team. The thing they have added this year is the option. He probably runs much faster than (Matt) Ryan did, and they utilize that in some of their attack now."
On wide receiver Richard Jackson...
"Richard gives me more depth out there. I have been happy with the progress of the receivers. They probably did the same thing as the quarterback as far as evaluation. He has pretty good ball concentration. He is a pretty quick studier, and is in the depth chart right now. He is getting enough reps with the ones and twos."
On playing away games...
"The only thing different is crowd noise. We have enough upper classmen that travel. It should be a good experience for them to get to go into the great city of Boston. I have been to BC many times. I think it should be a whale of a game. It is finally playing in the afternoon at one o'clock, which I appreciate because it gets us back here sometime Saturday night."