Pac-10 Media Day Quotes

Head Coach Dennis Erickson - "I was looking at the press guide before I came in, reading my biography and it started to look like an obituary. As I was thinking about who I wanted to bring to media day I realized the strength of our football team is our offensive front and I decided to bring Mike Pollak. We have five offensive lineman out of six that have already graduated, it's unbelievable. When you talk about a football team and you talk about the strengths, the biggest part of it is the offensive front and I feel pretty good about it. Mike is a heck of a football player. Our running game is strong too. For us to be successful we must be able to run the football and obviously that starts up front. We have some wide outs that have potential, but they are unproven. Defensively it is more of a question mark. You can not win without being good on defense. We have some good athletes, but we need to get better, play on the edge and have a strong mindset. Our weakness there is depth. Our corners have to step up. I'm very excited to be at ASU. The thing that has changed a little bit since I was at Oregon State is that everybody is even. Everyone can beat everyone. It'll be fun. I know two fight songs and I'm about to learn a third here."

Center Mike Pollak - On the shotgun formation: "It hasn't taken me that long to get used to the shotgun, but Rudy [Carpenter] loves it. He did it in high school so if that helps him I'm all for it."

On having eight home games:"As a senior I am looking forward to being at home. You get that advantage of not having to travel, playing in front of your home crowd and playing in the heat which we are used too."

ARIZONA Head Coach Mike Stoops
General Remarks: "We are very excited for this day and for our football team. When you look at the entirety of last season, to win six games shows constant growth in our program. To win some of the games we won, after what our kids went through and then to win our last three road games was good for us. But we didn't finish the way we had liked too. The loss against Arizona State cost us a lot, including a bowl game. Hopefully that will have an impact. Our expectations are much different going into this season. The way we persevered last season, winning against top teams, I think that gives us some legitimate confidence and our work habits really match those expectations. Our attitude matches our expectations. We are healthy, we have great experience coming back, it is by far and away our most experienced and talented football team."

On the new spread offense: "We are going to implement the whole system. Our biggest challenge will be in utilizing the personnel we have on our team. Whether we go four wides, three wides, we'll have to see. I think the system gives us a unique protection of our quarterback. If we keep Willie [Tuitama] healthy our chance of winning goes up dramatically. All of those things are important to our success."

Quotes from coaches and star players of every Pac-10 team can be found at The Pac-10's official website.