Weekly Press Conference, Continued

FOOTBALL

Head coach Mark Richt and several football players addressed the media Tuesday during the Dawg's weekly press luncheon. They offered the following comments:

Punter Drew Butler

On his punting career…

“I always knew I was a more natural punter and I had the potential to punt at the SEC level. My dad was great to have as a personal coach and to be able to talk and ask him questions after practice. I actually did not start punting and kicking for the football team until my sophomore year of high school. Growing up I always just played soccer and golf. My junior year I realized that I might have college ability and here I am today.”

Defensive End Demarcus Dobbs

On having to go back on defense when offense turns the ball over…

“We just tell them to keep their heads up and that we will get it back for them and they will make it up. And this past game they did just that.”

On putting pressure on the quarterback…

“Our defense is centered on stopping the run first. But we are so focused on stopping the run that we have to do a better job at converting to pass rush and getting to the quarterback. I think that will come with experience and being able to read stats better and studying their offensive line.”

On the high scoring games…

“It is a bitter sweet feeling. We are glad we came out with a win, and we think we did some good things on defense, but when you look up at the score board and see all the points that were put up against you, you will start looking at things within yourself and ways to get better and change that. “

Linebacker Rennie Curran

On the one team he would love to play…

“Southern Cal because they are respected across the nation and they get a lot of hype. Also, because of the kind of program they have. I was hoping we would get them a couple years ago in the Sugar Bowl, but they had their rule with the Rose Bowl. I think that would have been bigger than the National Championship.”

On traveling to other parts of the country to play…

“It makes me realize that we have the best fans in the world. For us it is just a business trip when we go, but it is cool to see the different atmospheres and what type of things they do.”

On the high scoring games…

“It is frustrating as a defense. We want to hold the offense to the least amount of yards and least amount of points as possible, but we are definitely doing the right things. We are keeping a good attitude, working hard and encouraging each other. There were a lot of times in the last game that we could have pointed fingers and got discouraged, but we didn’t and it has really helped build us up. We know where we are at as a defense, and I feel that we are not very far from being great. We just need to take care of some of the details and I think we can be a great defense and shut people down.”