HOOVER - The mass of people moved as one. The cameramen walked backward, cameras rolling. In the middle of them all was Bobby Petrino. His face was bathed in light and he looked distinctly uncomfortable.
Petrino knew before he was named Arkansas coach about football in the Southeastern Conference from the 2002 season when he was offensive coordinator at Auburn. But he’d not experienced Media Days until Friday.
On his first try, he told a story that tells a lot about who he is and why he has been successful.
“My father came to me one spring when I was 14 years old and said, ‘Son, you're not playing baseball this year,’” Petrino said. “I looked at him, I said, ‘I'm not?’ He said, ‘No, you're going to have to work. I'm going to be able to take care of your sisters, but you're going to have to earn your own way. So you're working tomorrow morning at 10 flipping burgers at A & W.’
"So I took my first job, 1976. I remember it because the Olympics were on that year. We used to put the old black and white in there and watch the great Olympic boxing team we had. Then each summer, each spring and summer, that's what I did was work. I had some great jobs. I delivered produce. I ran the dock at a dairy. The last year he made me take out the milk truck, so I was a milkman for a year.”
“I feel great about it,” Petrino said. “The fact that my father always told me, ‘Reach for the top of the rainbow. You know you can be as good as you want to be. You can do anything you want in the United States of America.’ And I think that's really what you see, is that I've got the opportunity now to coach in what I believe is the best conference in the country, and I'm very proud of that.”
Bosley on blocking
Auburn offensive line coach Hugh Nall has names for successful blocks. Auburn center Jason Bosley was asked what was his favorite.
"Well, the cockroach is where you cut somebody,” Bosley said. “Pancakes are great because you just whoop them, and the rodeo is where you lock down on pass protection. I like the cockroach the best because they don't see it coming. It’s fun.”
Brooks brags on Wildcats
Kentucky coach Rich Brooks says his program has turned the corner. Others might be skeptical, but he’s convinced.
“When I got to Kentucky, the first year we had one player that could run under 4.5,” Brooks said. “Last year we had 17. We have the first and second fastest players that I've ever hand timed in Derrick Locke and Alfonso Smith. We have more speed. We have more talent. We have players that are capable of playing at Florida and Georgia and Tennessee.
“I think that we've closed the gap on the talent level, which is the most significant difference in Kentucky football now versus four or five years ago.”
Defensive end Jeremy Jarmon says he and his teammates hear the questions from doubters, and it serves to motivate them more.
"It's easy for us to see that people doubt us,” Jarmon said. “People read the magazines and tell us that we're always picked fifth or sixth in the SEC East. I tell people it's easy to put on the University of Kentucky uniform week in and week out, because you know that there are people that doubt you."
Spurrier looks for turnaround
After his try at the NFL went sour and he sat out a year, Steve Spurrier went to South Carolina before the 2005 season, he said at the time, because he wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before and win a championship for the Gamecocks.
Instead, he’s gone 7-5, 7-5 and 6-6. He is on the bad end of a five-game losing streak.
But Spurrier insists the ingredients are there for a turnaround.“We've got ball players,” Spurrier said. “We absolutely have no excuses about ball players. We need to coach better, and they got to play like good players. If we get that happening, maybe those close losses will turn into victories, because to win the conference, everybody has to win their close games, as we know. It's not like the old days where you could roll up 40 or 50 to 10 on people. I don't see anybody doing that much anymore. Everybody's too good."
