Sept. 15, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - On Tuesday afternoon, UCF held its weekly press conference to discuss Saturday's contest against Buffalo at Bright House Networks Stadium.
During the press conference, head coach George O'Leary spoke about what he has seen from Buffalo, the success of the special teams and quarterbacks Brett Hodges and Rob Calabrese, among other topics.
On quarterbacks Brett Hodges and Rob Calabrese:
"Hodges won that job. I think we gave Rob an opportunity to see if he could perform in the second game. I just wish he'd take the practice to the field and he just doesn't seem to do that yet. He is a kid that when I spoke to him he understood why the change was made and it was something that had to be done."
On Hodges' demeanor:
"He'll put you to sleep. He's the opposite of Rob. He's very poised and not in a rush. That's a major plus in a quarterback because many times he'll hit the second or third receiver. That's what I look at. He doesn't get flustered very much at all. He has a very calm demeanor and thinks things through before he gives you an answer."
On the Buffalo offense:
"When you watch them on film, I think they're an aggressive offense. They run a lot of different stuff... you know a lot of spread. They got some good skilled athletes receiver wise, and their quarterback's been productive, a lefty. But we got to go out and play on defense and pretty much don't give up many big chunk plays in the game. I think that's how it they have been scoring, chunk plays."
On true freshman CB Josh Robinson who led UCF with 10 tackles at Southern Miss:
"I think he's a player that's been getting better each week. He has excellent speed. I don't think he has enough vision out there. He has to continue to work on that, but I think he has good ball skills. He the one thing that I was hesitant about after the first game was tackling but he went out and really improved in that area. He defended the pass very well. I've been pleased with him. We have seven or eight guys we use there and normally we don't get into who starts until Wednesday but I would think he'd have a heck of a shot considering the game he played last week.
On WR Kamar Aiken:
"We're trying to get it in his hands but a lot of people are rolling coverage to him. We have tried to get it to the open receiver based on the coverage. There are plays in every package where you feature certain kids. He has his. His thing is consistency. He made a couple of good plays the other night and that needs to continue."
On success of UCF's special teams unit this season:
"I think the kids take a lot of pride and spend a lot of time in meetings with that, and spend a lot of time on the field. We have some kids that when they get the ball in their hands they can do something with it, on both sides. We return decent and we recover very well. That hasn't been a problem in the first two games as far as creating field position; in fact it helps us with field position."