University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Coach Harris Talks With the Media After Saturday's Practice
8/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Coach Harris Talks With the Media After Saturday's Practice
8/23/2003
Day 13 Quotes
August 23, 2003
On depth at wide receiver:
?Well I think that we?ve been lucky and that J.D. [Brookhart] has done a nice job coaching them. I think that we have a good scheme and have been able to teach them how to execute. The line has also done a good job of protecting the quarterback who gets them the ball. We?ve had a fairly good plan that allows our guys to get open. I don?t want to go that far because there?s a lot more to do, but I think that if you look at what they could potentially do, it could be [the best depth Harris has had at Pittsburgh]. It?s also surprising that we?re not better in terms of depth at receiver for as well as we throw the ball. It has taken a long time to get it to this situation. A couple injuries and we?re right out.?
On luring more receivers:
?I think we throw the ball well and we?ve had the leading receivers. I think that would be an attraction. We?ve had a Biletnikoff winner and that was a real shock for a school us at that time, because we weren?t in the national spotlight that much. To have a young man [Antonio Bryant] play like he did and getting some first-round draft choices as the offense develops. I thought it would come faster but it?s still a hard sell nowadays. Teams that don?t throw the ball as well as we do still have guys go there and it?s hard for me to believe but we?re getting better. I think we were fortunate to have some guys that were better than we thought they would be.?
On keeping players focused on the field and preseason hype:
?I told the guys before that I don?t believe that. It?s nice about the hype, but the bottom line is we didn?t believe the hype before because the hype was that we weren?t good enough and now people are telling us we?re good enough. I?m telling them the same thing -- that there?s no reason to believe it. We still have to go out on the field and see what kind of football team we are. I think we?ll make a mistake if we try to live up to people?s expectations rather than living up to what we want to get out of the season. So the pressure should only come from us and nowhere else.?
On tomorrow?s scrimmage:
?Probably a fewer number of plays and we?ll be outside.?
On punter Andy Lee:
?We?ve never had that. Andy Lee really did a nice job for us last year and was named the Big East Co-Special Teams Player of the Year, voted by the other coaches in the league. I know he had a tough game at Notre Dame but I know he came back from that and established himself as the Co-Player of the Year. So it?s a thrill to have a guy of that kind of talent. Of course we?re trying to get him better and he?s been working hard. Our punt team is really one of our winning edges.
On the special teams:
?When you come to a program, there are about 10 things that all losing programs have and one of them is poor special teams because you don?t have many athletes and that?s why you?re losing. One of the ways you get exposed when you don?t have athletes is on special teams because you?re stretched out. It?s been a long road and I think Bob Ligashesky has really done an outstanding job in coaching our special teams. I?m in awe of how hard he works, how much preparation he puts in and how he?s year-round into it now. Also I think our players really respect him, respect his effort, and his expertise. Our players really love to play special teams, but every year is a new year.?
On recruiting punters:
?We?ve tried to pay attention to that. Because of this difficulty of having a punter, we try to look down the road. We try to run this program with an eye on the future all the time. That?s why we recruited a punter this year so he can be with us at away games as well as home games. He can be in practice every day and understand how you have to get it, where you have to kick it, how high you have to kick it, the hang time, what the operations are when he?s under the gun a year before. That didn?t happen with Andy [Lee]. Andy came in right out of high school and started doing it. That was one lesson we don?t like to get in that situation, but we?re a better football team right now so we have an opportunity to recruit those guys. We?re not quite the program that a lot of other teams are. They get the top players to walk on at their places and let them prove themselves to get scholarships and we?re not their yet so we have to extend a scholarship on those guys like David Abdul and Adam Graessle. We know it?s that important.?
On season ticket waiting list:
?There are a lot of people involved with that like our coaches, our players, and our athletic department. I heard a lot of Pitt students were trying to help us recruit last weekend so it?s a family deal that?s shared by everybody, but it?s a great accomplishment. That?s one of the areas that we fall short of the other really respected football programs in a 200-mile radius of this university -- in the area of attendance. It will be very exciting that we?re going to have a packed crowd and hopefully a sold-out crowd for every game. I hope it will be rocking like they do at our basketball games. We know it?s up to us but sometimes they have to help us. We?re looking forward to that and it will us recruit even better. That?s our goal and we really focus on recruiting because that?s the life blood of our program and that?s how we?re going to continue to improve."
