fishypete
FinHeaven Elite
On how long it took him to get over not winning the Heisman: Just that night. I went and hung out with my uncles and family members. Reggie Bush is a phenomenal athlete. The sky is the limit for him on the next level. I wasn’t disappointed that he won I was disappointed that I couldn’t bring it home to my school, my teammates and my family. I won the Davey O’Brien, the Maxwell Award and the Cingular Player of the Year, you can’t win them all. Just to be a candidate for the Heisman was great. There are so many athletes in the NCAA that could have been on that stand, Brady Quinn of Notre Dame and Drew Olsen of UCLA, there are a lot of guys who could have been there. Just to be there and enjoying the experience you can’t get a better experience than that.
On proving himself after finishing second to Reggie Bush for the Heisman: I don't need to do that. This is not the Vince Young show; this is The University of Texas show. We all have to put in work. I believe that if we take care of business, take care of the ball and work together as a team that will take care of itself.
I thought you'd like to read these also;
On working with Vince on pairing his physical and mental abilities: With most players, the physical things that you ask them to do like the weight room or throwing, they are willing to do for hours. It just exhausts them. They understand how important that is. They can actually see that, and you can visually see that as they run and work out. That is easy to see. The mental part is not as easy because it is not as evident as that. I think Vince's bigger commitment to the film room after his sophomore year shows in how many things he does before the ball is even snapped, which helps him make quicker decisions once the ball is snapped. Doing those things allows him to be so much more involved with the wide receivers and much more able to make changes at the line of scrimmage according to what they are doing. It is paying huge dividends for him. But there are still more steps. He's not quite there yet, but he is closer. Vince's desire to be a great quarterback has let it happen.
On improving as an offensive coordinator: I think as a coach, you teach every player differently. One time, early in Chris Simms' career, I really jumped on him for a decision he made in practice. As we were leaving the field, I made it a point to go up to him and be soothing. He said, "Coach, don't worry about it. My dad played for Bill Parcells. I expect this." That told me right off the bat that Chris could handle coaching like that; it was fine with him. Not everybody responds well to that style of coaching. I don't coach Vince that way. With him, there is much more discussion about the game. He responds much better to that. I have had to learn to adjust to each player's learning style in order to get through to them as individuals.
On Vince Young as a leader for the Longhorns: In my opinion, he's always been a great leader. But for everyone, there is always room for improvement. You could tell throughout last season that he was progressing as a leader and gaining more confidence as time went on. He really started to take charge, and that is important for a quarterback. We believe in him when we are down or in the hole to lead us back. He never shows discouragement or frustration, and that trickles down to the rest of the team. Seeing him being calm in a situation like that helps us stay calm and focused.
On Vince Young's second-place Heisman finish as a motivating factor: Vince is one of those guys who is always motivated, no matter what. That might have a little bit to do with it, but this game itself is the motivator. That is the case with anybody. If you are not motivated to play for the National Championship, then I don't think you should be playing football. Vince would play his game either way.
On Vince Young and Matt Leinart comparisons: Each guys is different; each one has his own individual talent. Obviously, Leinart is a great passer and has great pocket presence. That's what he brings to the game. Vince is a great passer and has great pocket presence as well, but each guy brings different qualities to their teams. To say that one guy is a threat to the other is not fair.
OG Will Allen
On Vince Young's motivating leadership: He has this ability to play around and keep guys relaxed. That helps our team focus so much. He does it every day. Vince will always be cracking jokes before the game, keeping guys loose, and reminding everyone that all they need to do is play to the best of their ability. When we go out to the field, he is always the first one telling everybody, "Hey, let's get ready. Get your game face on." He just has that ability to turn it on, where it takes some people a few days to do that, which would make it hard to get ready to play. That ability to keep guys relaxed, but also focused and ready at the same time is really a unique attribute.
On his most memorable huddle experience with Vince: During the game against OU this year, at the end of the second half, we came up to the line and had to call a timeout. They were calling out the actual play we were going to run and the protection. We told him that we needed to think about that; they were going to bring a blitz or something. He said, "We are going to score, no matter what." On that play, he hit Billy [Pittman] down the sideline on a 60-yard pass. That is the kind of attitude he has, to score every play. The rest of the offense has taken on that attitude as well.
WR Billy Pittman
On quarterback Vince Young: Vince is always keeping everybody loose., keeping everybody dancing. He just makes sure we're relaxed. It helped me a lot, especially not playing for two years. I remember being in the locker room before the game and being nervous and shaky, but then when you get out there with him he loosened me up.
RB Selvin Young , On Vince Young: Vince and I are roommates. I am glad that if we could have anybody as the face of our program it should be Vince. He's handled it well. He's a humble person as well as talented. It's fun to watch someone speak for our team and back it up.
Rose Bowl player quotes
TEXAS PLAYER QUOTES
QB Vince Young
On the end of the game: I was hoping those guys would score a field goal and go into overtime so we could keep playing. But I am so happy with the results and seeing my coaches, teammates, and the fans so happy.
On the fourth quarter comeback: We've been down in the end all year and it's all about focus and poise and to not worry because in the end, it's all about heart. We just went out there and performed.
On his future plans: Me and my family have to sit down and make the best decision for everyone. I'll sit down with my Mom and we will talk about it.
On Reggie Bush: Reggie Bush is a phenomenal athlete and all hats off to him. He is such a great character and a great guy all around. He stopped talking to the media after the game and came to our locker room to shake hands.
On the season: We didn't get respect from the media all year and we just worked hard to prove that we deserved to be there.
On the game: Everybody showed so much heart on both sides of the ball. I said all week that it would come down to the last play of the game and it did.
They say when your friends say something good about you...it could just being nice....so lets hear what USC had to say about Vince Young;
USC PLAYER QUOTES
S Darnell Bing
On trying to stop Vince Young: It's one of the hardest things possible...We tried to stop them as far as passing. We weren't expecting him to run as much. He takes the ball in his own hands...He's a big guy, a shifter with speed.
DE Frostee Rucker
On Vince Young: He's a beast, man. He did his thing. They did an excellent job getting to his passes. This was a great game that's going down in history.
QB Matt Leinart On Vince Young: He's so big and strong. It's tough to prepare for that and stop that.
TB Reggie Bush On his Heisman award and if it affected Vince Young: He's a playmaker. That's what he did. Big time players step up in big time games.
Pete Carroll called Vince Young, said it was the most dominating performance he's seen by a single player, gave credit to the entire Texas team but said Vince Young, actually called him an extraordinary football player. You see him every day. How good is good?
COACH MACK BROWN: I think he's one of the great players to ever play college football. I said that last year, if he comes back next year, which we think he will, he'll have a great shot to win the Heisman. I thought he was the best player of any team this year because Reggie was a great player on a team with a lot of other guys that didn't touch the ball. Reggie didn't touch the ball as much as a guy like Vince does, so the most valuable player for our team and I thought that showed up in the Maxwell and the Davey O'Brien Award, but I do feel like the performance that Vince had in this game last year and the performance he had tonight separates him from a lot of people, and now he's 30 and 2 and two most valuable player trophies from the Rose Bowl, a National Championship trophy, a Conference Championship trophy. Not only is he a special player, he's a special leader and a special person.
Pete, what can anybody do to stop anybody with that kind of talent?
COACH PETE CARROLL: It's very difficult. I'm on the record telling you guys how hard it is to stop the quarterback. He is a difficult quarterback to face, because he's so fast. It's not that he's scrambling. He's a fast guy and he's big. He probably made us miss a dozen passes tonight and we slipped right off the guy. He threw the ball quite well again. A great 1st half. I don't know what his numbers were the 2nd half. A great 1st half. He took what we gave him. He is a heck of a football player.
Q. In all the situations you've been in, have you ever been in a situation where you felt you couldn't stop a guy if you had to go 80 plus yards to stop?
COACH PETE CARROLL: I played with Dan Marino for years. I felt that way a lot of times.
On proving himself after finishing second to Reggie Bush for the Heisman: I don't need to do that. This is not the Vince Young show; this is The University of Texas show. We all have to put in work. I believe that if we take care of business, take care of the ball and work together as a team that will take care of itself.
I thought you'd like to read these also;
On working with Vince on pairing his physical and mental abilities: With most players, the physical things that you ask them to do like the weight room or throwing, they are willing to do for hours. It just exhausts them. They understand how important that is. They can actually see that, and you can visually see that as they run and work out. That is easy to see. The mental part is not as easy because it is not as evident as that. I think Vince's bigger commitment to the film room after his sophomore year shows in how many things he does before the ball is even snapped, which helps him make quicker decisions once the ball is snapped. Doing those things allows him to be so much more involved with the wide receivers and much more able to make changes at the line of scrimmage according to what they are doing. It is paying huge dividends for him. But there are still more steps. He's not quite there yet, but he is closer. Vince's desire to be a great quarterback has let it happen.
On improving as an offensive coordinator: I think as a coach, you teach every player differently. One time, early in Chris Simms' career, I really jumped on him for a decision he made in practice. As we were leaving the field, I made it a point to go up to him and be soothing. He said, "Coach, don't worry about it. My dad played for Bill Parcells. I expect this." That told me right off the bat that Chris could handle coaching like that; it was fine with him. Not everybody responds well to that style of coaching. I don't coach Vince that way. With him, there is much more discussion about the game. He responds much better to that. I have had to learn to adjust to each player's learning style in order to get through to them as individuals.
On Vince Young as a leader for the Longhorns: In my opinion, he's always been a great leader. But for everyone, there is always room for improvement. You could tell throughout last season that he was progressing as a leader and gaining more confidence as time went on. He really started to take charge, and that is important for a quarterback. We believe in him when we are down or in the hole to lead us back. He never shows discouragement or frustration, and that trickles down to the rest of the team. Seeing him being calm in a situation like that helps us stay calm and focused.
On Vince Young's second-place Heisman finish as a motivating factor: Vince is one of those guys who is always motivated, no matter what. That might have a little bit to do with it, but this game itself is the motivator. That is the case with anybody. If you are not motivated to play for the National Championship, then I don't think you should be playing football. Vince would play his game either way.
On Vince Young and Matt Leinart comparisons: Each guys is different; each one has his own individual talent. Obviously, Leinart is a great passer and has great pocket presence. That's what he brings to the game. Vince is a great passer and has great pocket presence as well, but each guy brings different qualities to their teams. To say that one guy is a threat to the other is not fair.
OG Will Allen
On Vince Young's motivating leadership: He has this ability to play around and keep guys relaxed. That helps our team focus so much. He does it every day. Vince will always be cracking jokes before the game, keeping guys loose, and reminding everyone that all they need to do is play to the best of their ability. When we go out to the field, he is always the first one telling everybody, "Hey, let's get ready. Get your game face on." He just has that ability to turn it on, where it takes some people a few days to do that, which would make it hard to get ready to play. That ability to keep guys relaxed, but also focused and ready at the same time is really a unique attribute.
On his most memorable huddle experience with Vince: During the game against OU this year, at the end of the second half, we came up to the line and had to call a timeout. They were calling out the actual play we were going to run and the protection. We told him that we needed to think about that; they were going to bring a blitz or something. He said, "We are going to score, no matter what." On that play, he hit Billy [Pittman] down the sideline on a 60-yard pass. That is the kind of attitude he has, to score every play. The rest of the offense has taken on that attitude as well.
WR Billy Pittman
On quarterback Vince Young: Vince is always keeping everybody loose., keeping everybody dancing. He just makes sure we're relaxed. It helped me a lot, especially not playing for two years. I remember being in the locker room before the game and being nervous and shaky, but then when you get out there with him he loosened me up.
RB Selvin Young , On Vince Young: Vince and I are roommates. I am glad that if we could have anybody as the face of our program it should be Vince. He's handled it well. He's a humble person as well as talented. It's fun to watch someone speak for our team and back it up.
Rose Bowl player quotes
TEXAS PLAYER QUOTES
QB Vince Young
On the end of the game: I was hoping those guys would score a field goal and go into overtime so we could keep playing. But I am so happy with the results and seeing my coaches, teammates, and the fans so happy.
On the fourth quarter comeback: We've been down in the end all year and it's all about focus and poise and to not worry because in the end, it's all about heart. We just went out there and performed.
On his future plans: Me and my family have to sit down and make the best decision for everyone. I'll sit down with my Mom and we will talk about it.
On Reggie Bush: Reggie Bush is a phenomenal athlete and all hats off to him. He is such a great character and a great guy all around. He stopped talking to the media after the game and came to our locker room to shake hands.
On the season: We didn't get respect from the media all year and we just worked hard to prove that we deserved to be there.
On the game: Everybody showed so much heart on both sides of the ball. I said all week that it would come down to the last play of the game and it did.
They say when your friends say something good about you...it could just being nice....so lets hear what USC had to say about Vince Young;
USC PLAYER QUOTES
S Darnell Bing
On trying to stop Vince Young: It's one of the hardest things possible...We tried to stop them as far as passing. We weren't expecting him to run as much. He takes the ball in his own hands...He's a big guy, a shifter with speed.
DE Frostee Rucker
On Vince Young: He's a beast, man. He did his thing. They did an excellent job getting to his passes. This was a great game that's going down in history.
QB Matt Leinart On Vince Young: He's so big and strong. It's tough to prepare for that and stop that.
TB Reggie Bush On his Heisman award and if it affected Vince Young: He's a playmaker. That's what he did. Big time players step up in big time games.
Pete Carroll called Vince Young, said it was the most dominating performance he's seen by a single player, gave credit to the entire Texas team but said Vince Young, actually called him an extraordinary football player. You see him every day. How good is good?
COACH MACK BROWN: I think he's one of the great players to ever play college football. I said that last year, if he comes back next year, which we think he will, he'll have a great shot to win the Heisman. I thought he was the best player of any team this year because Reggie was a great player on a team with a lot of other guys that didn't touch the ball. Reggie didn't touch the ball as much as a guy like Vince does, so the most valuable player for our team and I thought that showed up in the Maxwell and the Davey O'Brien Award, but I do feel like the performance that Vince had in this game last year and the performance he had tonight separates him from a lot of people, and now he's 30 and 2 and two most valuable player trophies from the Rose Bowl, a National Championship trophy, a Conference Championship trophy. Not only is he a special player, he's a special leader and a special person.
Pete, what can anybody do to stop anybody with that kind of talent?
COACH PETE CARROLL: It's very difficult. I'm on the record telling you guys how hard it is to stop the quarterback. He is a difficult quarterback to face, because he's so fast. It's not that he's scrambling. He's a fast guy and he's big. He probably made us miss a dozen passes tonight and we slipped right off the guy. He threw the ball quite well again. A great 1st half. I don't know what his numbers were the 2nd half. A great 1st half. He took what we gave him. He is a heck of a football player.
Q. In all the situations you've been in, have you ever been in a situation where you felt you couldn't stop a guy if you had to go 80 plus yards to stop?
COACH PETE CARROLL: I played with Dan Marino for years. I felt that way a lot of times.
