Bobby Petrino Talks Will Gardner Injury, Dominique Brown, James Quick And More

From today's ACC coaches teleconference.

Opening Statement

We're coming off a very good, hard fought win at Boston College. I was very happy with our players and the way we performed, particularly in the 4th quarter. We've got a bye week, so we're enjoying the time to get healthy and get some extra work in and get into the books and have a good week academically.

On what he's focusing on improving during the bye week

We're working hard on getting better on technique and fundamentals. We had more individual work yesterday than you have during a normal week when you're preparing for an opponent. We're working hard on 3rd downs because offensively we haven't been as efficient on 3rd down as we'd like. The bye week also gives you extra time to work on your red zone offense and defense.

On playing a team like Notre Dame

It's great, particularly for us here at the University of Louisville. We have a very big Catholic community here in Louisville and we have some very strong ties to Notre Dame. There are a lot people in the city of Louisville that are really looking forward to this game and I know we'll have a great crowd up there. It's also a great challenge. Anytime you can go in and play a really good football team it's going to be good for your program.

On Will Gardner's season-ending injury and how it affects the rest of the season

First and foremost you just feel really bad for Will. He's put so much hard work and effort into this season. He came back after getting hurt and has really gotten better in the last three games with his decision making and his accuracy and his competitiveness. I just feel really bad for him. It really hurts our team because now we're down to one quarterback with any experience at all. He played really well and we're excited about his future, but you hate to lose Will because he was playing so much better.

On Reggie Bonnafon and his improvement

I thought Reggie did a great job the other night. The fact that he had early experience and started in two games that we won earlier in the year really showed. He came in and executed our offense and played with great confidence. The first throw he threw for a touchdown was a really great throw. There wasn't a lot of room and he stuck it right in there. I was really happy with the way he played.

On the status of Lorenzo Mauldin

Lorenzo's making a lot of progress and we're hoping that we'll have him for the Notre Dame game.

Did you know how serious Will's injury was?

No, I didn't. He stepped and threw the ball and hobbled around a little bit, but he played the next play and threw a completion. Then he came off to the sidelines and said he felt something in his knee. They evaluated him at halftime and said he could come back out and war-up and see how it felt. But then we found out on Monday when we got back that it was serious.

How much does this change the development plans for the other quarterbacks?

Well, Reggie's played all year long. Throughout camp and everything we knew he'd have an opportunity to play and we planned on playing him. So he's ahead of where ordinary backups are. Kyle Bolin will be the No. 2 quarterback behind him. Kyle's been in a game this year and played some, but he doesn't have a lot of experience.

Is this the same knee that Will has injured previously?

It is.

Are you expecting Will to make a full recovery?

We think so. He's in great spirits and he's a very positive young man. He's going to go home this weekend and spend some time with his family, and then come back and probably have the surgery some time next week.

On keeping Will's spirits up

Will's just a remarkable young man. He's a guy that has always been very positive, very spiritual; even yesterday he had a smile on his face and was talking with all of our players and was happy for us on his way out to practice.

On not using Dominique Brown on short-yardage situations

Yeah, we have personnel groupings that we use in certain situations. One of the things that we've been able to do in practice is really focus on the guys that work hard and execute hard in practice. Those are the guys who get the reps in the games.

On if there's anything new regarding James Quick's status

No, not really. We're real disappointed in James, and he understands that we expect a lot more out of him than that. Right now we're just going to continue to evaluate his status on a daily basis.