Rennie's Ruminations

Amid all the chaos of the Dennis Felton firing yesterday, several members of the football team were made available, too. Among them was Rennie Curran, who chatted with our Doug Stutsman about several topics looking ahead to 2009.

As a side note, Rennie's response to the expectations for next year simply underscores what Zach Mettenberger said earlier this week about a lack of leadership on last year's team. I think we can pretty safely assume that there was just way too much complacency amid the chaos last year, and the good news for Dawgs fans is that guys like Joe Cox, Jeff Owens and Rennie seem determined not to let that happen this season.

Here's Rennie...

On the offseason so far...
"I feel like everyone's been putting a lot of work in and I feel like everyone is very determined to get our program back to where it needs to be. Everyone if focused. The mentality is right."

On playing a bigger leadership role this year with Asher, Dannell and Corvey gone...
"Oh yeah. Whether Asher would have stayed or left, I felt like going into this season I wanted to be a better leader. It's time for me to step up. I'm not a young guy anymore. I'm not a freshman anymore. I feel like it's my time. It's my defense. It's time to just take control of things."

On which young guys he sees having more of an impact next year...
"I've seen a lot of young guys, Nick Williams, all the young guys who red-shirted last year are starting to step-up now and make some plays. They are ready to have a big year. We have a bunch of hungry guys. We had a bunch of guys leave and it's opened up a spot for a lot of young guys who have a lot of talent."

On Asher's decision to leave...
"No I haven't gotten a chance to just because we've all been so busy this semester. I'm taking a lot of business classes this semester and then training started. But I'm not worried about him. He's a smart guy; great athlete, great person. He's going to do big things on the next level."

On his excitement for Signing Day...
"We definitely look at it just to see who's coming to our team. We've all been there so we know what it's like. We don't make a big deal about guys coming out of high school because once they get here, those things don't mean anything."

On his expectations for 2009...
"Just to be as successful as we can. Not have things like lack of discipline and lack of leadership hold us back. Just be well rounded and fully reach our potential."

On what this year's team needs to do with so many key players from 2008 leaving...
"I definitely feel like them leaving puts more emphasis on us now. We learned a lot about ourselves watching all the mistakes that happened last year and then what Florida did because they didn't make mistakes and they were disciplined. We know those things now that we need to work on to make us a better team."

On what players can step up into a starring role the way he did last year...
"I think Big Kade, Geno and Bryan Evans. Bryan's a guy who hasn't gotten in there too much. He started to at the end of the year and then he got hurt, but he's a real hungry player. I feel like all those guys are ready to explode."