Quotes about Timmy’s first game

About his performance in his first start, Timmy said:
“I’m disappointed, I’m definitely disappointed. First I’m disappointed that we lost, and secondly, you want to put up a good showing out there.” (Hamilton Spectator)

“I played horrible. I thought I played horrible. I thought if I completed a couple of passes and got it rolling early it would be a different game. I didn’t think I played very good.” (HS)

HS Note: “What will make it difficult for Taaffe to decide upon his starter for Saturday’s return match at Rogers Centre is that this was not Timmy Chang out there. Chang, who has a good arm and quick release, delivered his first few passes as if he were in a darts tournament. The ball sailed like it had a mind of its own. A deranged mind at that. He was all wrist, and no shoulder, resulting in the kind of follow-through you see on novice shot putters. And sudden mechanical breakdown is the first sign of nerves.”

HS Note: It was always a gamble starting Chang on Labour Day, with the dangerous potential that a terrible outing could damage his psyche. But it was the last card Taaffe had to play. Now his hand is empty, and the Casey Printers card is not yet in the deck.

Reliable talk around the league, which the Ticats will neither confirm nor deny, is that Hamilton is aggressively pursuing the former B.C. Lion, who was released by the Kansas City Chiefs. Printers was reportedly ready to sign onto the practice roster of the NFL team, but as of press time had not yet made a deal. In any case, he’ll be hanging around stateside for a couple of weeks until he sees how many NFL quarterbacks either get hurt or are affected by what befell Chang yesterday. The Cats, who have the cap space, wouldn’t want Printers unless they had him locked up for at least next year, too.”

Quotes about injuries, paperwork problems, and Daniel Lofton

About taking notes in class with his fractured hand, Michael Lafaele said:
“At first it was tough. Now I’m used to it.” (HA)

HA Note: “Because of a small fracture in the metacarpal of his right hand, Lafaele wears a cast on the days he practices. The injury, located between the index finger and thumb, means he has to hold a pen with his middle and ring fingers. Lafaele had suffered the injury during the first week of training camp while trying to use the “club” move, an upper-cut technique to an offensive lineman’s shoulder pad. There now is a lump the size of a football on his right hand.”

About his injury, Lafaele said:
“It’s calcifying. I put ice on it every day.” (HA)

About his injury, which has padding placed on his hand and then wrapped with athletic tape for games, Lafaele said:
“It’s nothing serious. It doesn’t hurt that bad. It’s not a problem.” (HA)

Praising Lafaele’s play vs. UNC, GM said:
“Mike played very well.” (HA)

About his plantar fasciitis in his right foot (sore right arch) suffered during the UNC game, Timo Paepule said:
“I tried to plant (the right foot), and an O-lineman stepped on my foot at the same time. I don’t know who did it. I’ll try to watch film today and get the (player’s) number, Google him, then holler at him.” (HA)

About how X-rays didn’t show any fractures, Paepule said:
“The only thing broken, is my pride.” (HA)

About how he didn’t practice yesterday because of tendinitis in his left knee, DT Fale Laeli said that he has had the condition for a while but during the first defensive play vs. UNC, Laeli said:
“I pushed off on it and I just felt the pain. I played through it.” (HA)

About his bruised foot, David Farmer said:
“Honestly, I can’t even tell you (how I got it), I didn’t even know it hurt (until the next morning).” (HSB)

About how he was yanked from the game after a personal foul following a verbal altercation with a UNC player, David Farmer said:
“It wasn’t like a serious retaliation. It was some mouthing off in the middle of a play. It was a stupid error. It shouldn’t have happened, and it won’t happen again.” (HA)

Unhappy with his paperwork snafu that might prevent him from going to the La Tech game, Erik Robinson said:
“I was really disappointed, but everything happens for a reason.” (HSB)

Robinson had moved to Hawai’i in June to prepare for the season. He participated in training camp.
About how he has been told that he will be held out of games while UH awaited some paperwork, Erik Robinson (who missed the UNC game and will probably miss the La Tech game because of this despite moving to Hawaii in June and participating in training camp) said:
“They said a couple of papers didn’t come through. There’s nothing to do but sit back and wait and pray about it.” (HA)

Robinson said that Navarro JC officials assured him the problem will be resolved happily, and added:
“I want to play, but it’s out of my hands.” (HA)

About his injured knee and shoulder, Blaze said:
“I feel good, but running and playing football are two different things. It’s a burst thing. That’s what I have to find out. And I have to see how my shoulder is.” (HA)

About how he hasn’t participated in any full-contact drill for the four weeks since injuring his shoulder, Blaze said:
“I’m trying to make (the shoulder) stronger and stronger. It’s getting stronger, but I haven’t whacked anybody. I don’t know what the effect of it is. Once I do, I’ll know. I’m going to go hard in practice. I don’t care what my body tells me, I’m going to go hard. … You have to practice like how you’re going to play. You can’t be going soft at practice, not doing anything, and then try to do it in a game.” (HA)

About his one year at Cal, Daniel Lofton said:
“It was a great experience over there. I had some great opportunities as far as football and school.” (HA)

About regretting not signing with UH, adn asking Cal to release him from his football scholarship before calling UH, Lofton said:
“This is always the place I wanted to come to. I thought this was the offense for me. I’ve always admired what they did here.” (HA)

About having to sit out this year due to transfer rules, Lofton said:
“It will be hard to sit out. It’ll give me time to get a lot of work. I’ll have a year to get ready.” (HA)

Quotes about the La Tech game

Pleased with how well their lines played, JJ said:
“I was really happy with how the offensive and defensive lines played. Very intense, and I thought they were the difference in the game.” (HSB)

About the UNC game, JJ said that he was:
“glad nobody got hurt.” (HSB)

Asked about Graunke’s status as their top backup QB, JJ said:
“He’s OK.” (HSB)

Asked about winning the WAC Player of the Week award, Colt talked about their 2 upcoming road games:
“It’s cool and everything. We’re not really patting ourselves on the back for Saturday’s performance or thinking about how good we are yet. We beat a team we were supposed to beat, so these next couple of weeks will really determine how good we’re gonna be and obviously we got a tough test this week (at Louisiana Tech). So, it’s a great honor and everything, but it’s too early in the season to appreciate stuff like that.” (HSB)

“We played a team we were supposed to beat. We went out there and took care of business. That’s how the game felt. I had a bunch of good stats, but it doesn’t mean anything right now.” (HA)

Remembering their last game at La Tech, Colt said:
“We remember our last trip there (to Ruston, La.). We got it handed to us (46-14 in 2005).” (HA)

Asked how their D can stop UH, La Tech coach Derek Dooley said:
“They need to petition to the commissioner to see if we can play with 12, it might help us a little bit. I’m not sure how you slow it down. I don’t think anybody’s really found the answer. Somehow, you gotta find a way to affect the rhythm of Colt (Brennan); it all starts there.” (HSB)

About how they have to force UH to score FGs instead of TDs, Dooley said:
“You gotta play real good in the red zone. If you can try to keep ‘em out of the end zone, and make ‘em kick field goals, that will have a lot to do with slowing ‘em down. Now … how you do it, if you got any answers on that, let me know.” (HSB)