The Citadel Football program held their first weekly press conference of the 2008 season at the Altman Athletic Center at Johnson Hagood Stadium on Monday, Aug. 25. Higgins spoke to media members about the upcoming season, the game against Webber International and the depth of his team. The coaching staff is looking for the freshmen to contribute significantly this year.
The following are some remarks made by head football coach Kevin Higgins:
Opening Remarks -“We're excited about the season and having Darren [Goldwater] with us. I appreciate everybody coming out today. We are looking forward to an exciting football campaign. We are finishing up camp, which is a little unusual this year, in that, this time typically we have been in class already and working through one-a-days, but with class beginning on Wednesday, it is a different scenario for our players and for all of us as coaches. We managed to make it through camp. Our guys worked extremely hard. It is nice to have the same coaching staff basically back, intact again. Things seem to go so much smoother. Our upperclassmen know the drill. I think we've had excellent leadership from them throughout the off season. We did bring in a class of over 25 freshmen. We are really excited about some of our young players. Some of the contributions that they make will be significant this coming year.”
On Redshirting “The idea, when you are building a football program, is you would love to redshirt as many guys as you can. Unfortunately, right now, many of these freshmen are better than the upperclassmen, so you need to play them as freshmen. As you continue in the program, hopefully each year you will have a chance to redshirt more and more guys. I think after this year we will be in that position, that we will be able to do that.”
As a Football Program “In terms of where we are as a football program as we approach Saturday's game, the first thing I would say to you is when we look at Webber, we are very concerned about ourselves more than anything else. Typically, when you play a first game that is the way it goes. We are concerned about getting ourselves lined up. The two things that we constantly have to side with our guys is to be the least penalized team in the conference and limit the turnovers. Last year, we were one of the top two least penalized in the league and we were at the top of turnovers as well, in a positive way. We talked a lot about that this camp and certainly that will be one of our goals for Saturday night is to make sure that we are the least penalized team and that we keep our turnovers to a minimum, zero, and to force turnovers for our opponents. We will always be looking at that.”
The New Stadium “Again, the staff is all back intact. We are excited about that. Certainly would be nice to have the new stadium. Everyone is always asking me about the field and the press box. Our big concern is the field itself, with our 11 players. Making sure 11 guys get lined up and do what they are supposed to do. That is my biggest concern. It certainly is nice having the suites, but as long as there is grass, we are okay. The paint job is nice, but we have to make sure we get everybody lined up within the lines, so that we can make sure that we can do what we need to do.”
The Bulldogs will open the 2008 season on Saturday, Aug. 30 against Webber International in the “White Out” game sponsored by AT&T and presented by Jones Ford.
