Watch Today's Football Press Conference
Oct. 31, 2006
Coral Gables, Fla. (www. hurricanesports.com) – – Get the inside scoop on the Hurricanes as they prepare for the Cavaliers this Saturday.
Click here to watch the press conference on Canes All-Access
Miami Head Coach Larry Coker
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Opening statement…
“I think you may or may not know that Kyle (Wright) did have surgery on his hand, on his thumb. He will probably not play for the rest of the season. We do have some bumps and bruises that we have been dealing with, but we are pressing on and moving forward. Again we expect to play well on Saturday.”
On Kyle Wright’s return possibilities…
“Well, I don’t know that. I think his best option would be to come back in the spring. We will see how it progresses.”
On Kyle’s thumb…
“I am not going to say because I don’t know. It’s medical terms and all I know is that it needs to be repaired.”
On Kyle’s mood…
“Well, you know his mood is not good. He’s handling it. He knows he needed to have it done. So he was in the process of getting it done and now he’s moving forward. Obviously, you’re not pleased about being injured.”
On it being easier for Kirby Freeman…
“I don’t know if it makes it any easier on him. He’s handled things pretty well. Even when he decided to stay here, there were no promises made to Kirby other than he’d get an opportunity. As coach talk says, you are always one snap away and obviously you are. I think he’s just going to prepare himself and play. Certainly he and Kyle are good friends and he wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to Kyle Wright to get that opportunity, but it’s football. It’s life and here we are.”
On who the backup quarterback will be now…
“(Matt Perrelli and Jorge Fernandez) will get a lot more snaps now. Perrelli has kind of inherited the job in a way, not that he’s so much better than any of the other guys but he’s also the holder. Travel-wise and logistically it makes a lot more sense to do that. Matt and Jorge will get the brunt of the work.”
On Kyle’s surgery…
“Well it was a little bit of a surprise because as a former football player and as a coach you don’t think about injuries. You play through those things and I think that is one thing that Kyle has done. He’s had some bumps and bruises and you’re going to have those things. The best thing was to have Dr. Uribe examine it and the next week it was definitely more severe than was originally thought and yes I was a little surprised by that.”
On the Virginia defense…
“They are a real good defense. I looked at the game from two years ago where we won a tough game in Charlottesville. They had a lot of name players on defense. I’m talking about big-time. Al Groh recruits some players and this team is an even better defense. They are active and they play better together. I am more impressed with this defense than I was with that defense. Maybe on paper name-wise they are not quite as talented. I think Al Groh has done a real good job of getting those players who are hungry and putting them in good positions to make plays. They are a good defensive football team.”
On LB Tavares Gooden’s injury…
“You know it’s really hard to say because for a few weeks now it’s been almost a concussion. That is my understanding as to what it is. It’s one of those things that you monitor. Until it clears up you don’t put somebody back on the field. It has been a few weeks now. Obviously we’d love to have him back.”
On handling freshman wide receiver drops…
“Well, I think I made a point with Ryan Hill. We don’t have anybody on our team that works harder than Ryan Hill. His teammates respect him to the utmost. They know how hard he works. Marquis Moseley is the best wide receivers coach I’ve ever been around and there are a lot of places I’ve been. The point to Ryan was you dropped the football. You are going to catch a lot before you leave here. You are going to do a lot of special things before you leave here. I think about a Florida State game. We were struggling. We hadn’t beaten Florida State in a number of years. We onside kick the ball and get the onside kick. Then a receiver by the name of Santana Moss drops a touchdown pass on the first play of the game. But he’s overcome it pretty well and doing good now. That’s the way I handled it with Ryan Hill because I know that’s not like him.”
On Michigan, Ohio State, and the BCS…
“I think it’s the system we have. If the computers say it at the end, let them play. Michigan has been in the situation the last few years like we got ourselves in now. They’ve struggled a bit. They weren’t playing up to Michigan’s level of expectations as we are in our situation now. They are playing Ohio State and they are both undefeated. They can play again for a national championship. If they are the two best teams, I’m okay with that. I’m really okay with whatever the computer says. If it doesn’t fit your needs or it doesn’t fit your scenario, then hey let’s change the system. You do that in the offseason. If not, that’s not right. You don’t wait until the end and say now if we did this and this I would be in and that would be better. That’s not how it works. I think it would be hard for someone to lose this late and be up there.”
On Butch Davis…
“No other than I’m happy for Butch. I’m not surprised that he got back into coaching. I thought he’d go to the NFL or to the right college situation. I think he really likes this North Carolina situation with the possibility that you have a chance to win. I think it’s a nice place for his son to live and grow up and those types of things. I think he did it for all the right reasons. I am not surprised at all that Butch got back in.”
On UNC being a sleeping giant…
“I don’t know. I think certainly you can win there. Is it a sleeping giant? I don’t know that it’s a sleeping giant. I still think that Miami year in year out is more of a sleeping giant than some of the other schools in this league.”
Will it be strange to cross paths with Butch in recruiting…
“No, it won’t be strange. It’s part of the job. It won’t bother Butch I’m sure, so it won’t bother me. I just want to get all the players.”
On safeties involved in TDs allowed against Maryland…
“No. They weren’t Saturday. They were later. I’ll tell you that right now. No, they weren’t on the touchdown passes.”
On Virginia’s QB…
“I think he’s going to be really good, a little bit like the quarterback was a year ago. That quarterback was a veteran player, so hopefully their quarterback this year is a little bit more down than up. I think he’s very talented and he is going to be a very good player. It gives them another dimension like Kirby gave us a spark in the game last week. I think he can do a lot of things that other quarterbacks can’t do.”
