“I was that little kid: I was the one that was looking up to athletes and getting to see them and getting to be a part of it, and I remember those experiences.”

The team aspect of football and just playing quarterback, having the ball in your hands, having to make the plays, that was definitely something I loved.

Every experience, good or bad, you have to learn from.

I want people to know that I’m going to leave every single thing on the field.

You can have the big arm, and that’s good, and it helps out in the games, but it doesn’t help you necessarily win games.

I just try to learn from every mistake that I make so that I never make them again.

If you want to win games in this league, you have to be efficient.

You dream of your first NFL start when you’re a little kid, playing football in the backyard, but until you get there, you never know what to expect.

I didn’t start playing football a lot until I was in high school. I played it in seventh and eighth grade, but I didn’t play Pop Warner or anything.

I was a good student and stuff like that.

Kids in sports – it makes such an impact in life with the lessons that you learn.

I feel like, even if something goes wrong, I have confidence in myself and my team that we’ll fix it.

Until you get there, you never know what to expect.

East Texas isn’t known for producing quarterbacks. I was never really on the football circuit. I wasn’t the type of guy that put my name out there.

It’s a challenge for all quarterbacks, though: You want to make the big play; you want to throw a touchdown every single play. But at the same time, you have to know that it’s a process.

Throughout my whole football career, I have always known I wasn’t the fastest guy.

Good third-down teams are teams that usually have success in this league. –

I want to keep coaching as long as I can. I love teaching and working with student athletes and I love being at the University of Tennessee.

We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.

When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn’t make the NHL. Now it’s kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can’t be a good coach because I was a great athlete.

As athletes, we think we’re heroes, but when you witness firsthand what I saw yesterday, you realize who the real heroes are.

No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow.

I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don’t think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete.

As an athlete, when you are on that field and the fans get really engaged and you can feel their energy and passion and true love of the game, it is absolutely a spiritual experience.

I think you can just go out and try to be the best you can be, deal with people with respect, with honesty, with integrity, have a high moral standard. I’ve always really tried to exemplify that as an athlete. I’ll continue to try to do that.