"Jeb [team President Whatley] gave me total control when I signed up for this season. He did mention something about the AMI loving the taste of failure, but I didn't take it personally. I know he expects results, and I think we're in a good position to meet his expectations."

"We've got 20 players on this year's roster that weren't here last year. That's a huge turnover. We ended up keeping or trading every single player we drafted. That's been a great boost for our team. We've made some big trades. We'll miss Hector DiNardo and George Little. But we feel we've been able to fill those holes with quality performers, and also upgrade our offense. We can attack any part of the field, using any of 5 players. It's hard to plan a defense against that kind of diversity. And we gained a lot of strength. A lot. We added two offensive players who can score and bring huge bodies, Jed [tight end Wooden] and Newt [fullback Newnan]. We added two huge lineman, and moved Perry Walters over to his natural position at tackle. The left side of our line is like a moutain range, and the right side moves very well."

"Overall, we have 9 new starters. It's hard to be very specific because we are using a lot of different players, but that will be our strength. On offense we've add a new halfback, a new fullback, a new tight end, and two new lineman. Defenses will feel their presence long before they feel the punishing blows from their shoulders and knees. One of our favorite plays in camp was to run Newt on a fly pattern wide. It's fun to watch him drag a cornerback or safety down the field, into the end zone. Jed runs a deep middle slant with the same result. Richard Johnson [linebacker] started kidding around about 'saddling up Jed' after he was dragged into the end zone a few times."

"Garin Mersereau has been seeing a lot of time. He's a big presence on the offensive line. That makes 12 new players who are really contributing. We signed two of our defensive starters as free agents, that was a big help in getting some personnel who can make plays."

"On defense, we have two new lineman, Nevin Carlson and Jonathan Higgs. Higgs has been a great find for us, he left us very deep on the defensive line. Teams just don't run the middle against us. They get tired of looking for their helmets after the play. We've added Richard Johnson as a rushing specialist in a linebacking group that was already very solid. And we drafted Keith Sims to fill the hole left by George Little. We effectively traded George, who was the Pro Bowl MVP, for Keith and Ralph Marshall [also a cornerback]. We loved watching George play, but we feel we've made our team much stronger with the deal. That makes four new starters on defense. "

"It hasn't been easy to get the defensive group working together. We've tried a lot of different looks and packages to make stops. We're giving Wyatt Cushman [rookie safety] and Webster Cassell [rookie cornerback] a lot of time, too, along with Sean Smith [nose tackle], whom we got from Duluth in the deal for Hector, and our whole linebacking group, Guy [Rocker], Chuck [Wilkinson] and Emorald Gray, have been making stops, too. They've been great on passing downs."

"Adding this new talent has given us some depth, too. We have a great second fullback in Joe Waxley, three good tight ends, and plenty of depth on the defensive line and with linebackers. We're very happy with the direction this team is taking. We've made a lot of changes, some of them major trades like George and Hector, but we feel we've put together a much better team on both sides of the ball."

"And we'll be fun to wach, too. Lots of big plays on offense, and lots of turnovers on defense. We've still got to work on our turnovers, and our time of possession. Our defense spends too much time on the field. But it's not so bad when they are playing with a 14 point lead. You won't hear them complaining about it much."