AUBURN - Quotes of interest from the Auburn football program. ...
OT LEE ZIEMBA ON HC GENE CHIZIK’S RESPONSE TO S ZAC ETHERIDGE’S INJURY: “Oh, man. I’m really happy that Coach Chizik is still making him feel part of this team, even though his season is done. It says a lot about Coach Chizik. He brought Zac’s family in and is really making them feel cared for and making sure everything is all right. It says a lot for that man. I’m real happy to be part of his program.”
DE ANTONIO COLEMAN ON EHTHERIDGE ATTENDING TEAM MEETING: “It’s real big. A lot of the players were worried. I think it was real special. The guys got to shake his hand and see he was in great spirits.”
OC GUS MALZAHN ON SHORT-YARDAGE FAILURES: “There’s a lot of different things. The bottom line is we have to be better in that situation. We have a solid line with solid backs. We have to get that done. And fourth down also. We will be working extremely hard, and that is a point of emphasis this week in practice.”
MALZAHN ON FRESHMAN QB TYRIK ROLLISON: “I think any competitor, at first when they’re not getting to play and are used to playing, hits a little bit of a lull. Probably the last three or four weeks he has really come on. You can tell he is mentally into it. He’s starting to develop and do the things he needs to do to get better.”
MALZAHN ON FRESHMAN QB CLINT MOSLEY: “He’s with the scout team. The defensive coaches rant and rave about him. He’s a big, physical guy that is going to be a very solid quarterback.”
LB JOSH BYNES ON BEING READY FOR FURMAN: “We are going to keep our same focus. Last year we struggled with Tennessee-Martin. If you start in practice playing lazy, you are going to go into the game playing lazy like we did. We’re not going to let that happen.”
CB WALT MCFADDEN ON ETHERIDGE: “He’s one of the leaders on the team. He’s always trying to get the team to do family things. He’s one of the guys who preaches we all have to stick together. To see he’s OK now, we’re all happy and we can play in his honor.”
HC GENE CHIZIK ON PLAYING WITHOUT ETHERIDGE: “It is a big loss. It is a communication gap. Zac is such a smart football player. He understood everything and watched film constantly. He is always in the film room. He always knows what the offenses are going to do based on formations. He always knew what we were trying to do within our defense, and that was a huge help for Daren (Bates) in the first nine games. Now he is going to have to fly solo and do some directing back there, which he should be ready to do because we are in Game 10.”
