Football Southern Conference

Chattanooga Quotes

Head Coach Donnie Kirkpatrick talks
with Sam Woolwine from the
Chattanooga Times-Free Press.
Chattanooga head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick

On being picked seventh by the SoCon coaches
"I think it might affect the players but it doesn't affect me. I feel that
the other coaches in the league might think that (QB) Chris Sanders was the
majority of our team. Our team will be motivated by that. We will use
that as a motivational tool. I know the others don't know that we have
(Florida transfer) Aaron Deal on the offensive line. They don't know about
the improvements of (offensive linemen) Delanio Taylor and James Clark.
They don't know how good (QBs) Justin Barnes and Chuck Spearman could be.
We also have Theo Harris and Tyler Unzicker, other transfers who will play
on the defensive line."

On the quarterback situation
"Our two quarterbacks won't be as good as Chris Sanders was last year, but
they may be as good as he was a sophomore (at SMU). I'm not opposed to
playing two quarterbacks during the season. The team won't be opposed to
that either. They like each of them, and want to play for the one that
will help us win the most games."

On the prospects of this season
"It's hard to discuss this year without talking about the losses from last
year. (Kicker) Matt Vick will be our biggest loss. He was an All-American
and he was so consistent with our field goals. Defensively, we have just
about everybody back who has started the last two years. Cody Goodin is
back after an injury, and he gives us tremendous leadership. Although we
lose Richmond Flowers and Ronnie Strickland, we shouldn't drop off much at
receiver. At quarterback, we have two very capable players to run our
system. The competition will make them better."