Golden Nuggets from Media Day

By Mike Gibson
About five minutes after Al Golden arrived on campus, he dropped a couple of what one reporter termed as "Goldenisms."
I prefer to call them Golden Nuggets.
Like, "we're going to keep pounding that rock until it breaks" (referring to a long losing streak) or "I'm going to build a house of brick, not straw" (talking about avoiding the quick fix to build a solid structure of a program at Temple University.
Things haven't changed much in Year Three.

At Media Day, Golden polished off a freshly baked batch:

On offensive lineman Devin Tyler: "We're all pleased that he finally bought into the program and finally figured it out. He was one of the last holdouts."
On a won/loss goal: "Our only goal is to execute and finish every day, every play. That sounds like a cop out but, if we do that, we'll have success in the end."
On the MAC media's fifth-place prediction: "We want to finish first or second in everything we do, from recruiting to everything else. As for that (prediction), we finished fifth last year. I don't think anybody could think that would fit (well) for us, intuitively."
On the fierce competition for spots: "Nine or 10 linebackers are going to want to get on the bus (to Army) and we're going to only have room for four. So you can imagine how fierce that competition is. If some of them are going to make the bus, it's going to be on special teams."
On the turnover in the starting lineup: "We played with a lot of guys this year who are not starters for us this year and that's a good sign for our team."
On preparation for Army: "Today was the first day we looked at Army and (Thursday) will be the first day we'll practice for Army. Nine days is more than enough time."
On the fans' hype with the UConn game: "We're not even thinking about UConn. We're taking one day at a time. Today, we were thinking about going to Fan Fest and seeing the parents and the fans."

On quarterback Adam DiMichele: "I love Adam. He's a special person and more than fit to lead our football team right now. We rested him a couple of times in camp so far by choice but it wasn't his choice. He looks good and he's running very well."
On the competition at defensive line: "There's a tremendous battle going on right now. We have eight different combinations there and all of those guys are playing at a very high level. There's a lot of competition going on there and I expect it to go on throughout the season. We believe in a Meritocracy. If you merit it, you get to start."