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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 21, 2009

Charlie Tanner

Q. It's all about the ring, isn't it.
CHARLIE TANNER: The ring, yes, I hope I can. I hope I get that chance. I came in in '05, and I got to be on the sidelines with all the confetti coming down and all that good stuff. It was something. I was like, man, if I can do that myself one of these years before I get out of here. All of us are gunning for it. We're doing everything we can to get ready for it.

Q. Did you get a ring?
CHARLIE TANNER: I did. I wore it around for the first week. Got a good taste of what it felt like. Put it in a safety deposit box and haven't seen it since. So I hope I can get a new one that means more to me?

Q. You know the underdog mentality and everything that went into that game and the protection against USC. You guys don't seem to be embracing the number two-number one thing this year. Is that fair to say? You just have more work to do and not worry about the national perspective?
CHARLIE TANNER: I think the thing this team has done this year is realize it's one game at a time. We always said that all season. We made it to where we wanted to be. I think we're taking that same mentality is that, hey, this is another game, even though it's for everything. So it's like you've got to balance, wow, this is the big one. Okay, hey, Alabama's a great team. We've got to be prepared for them not all the pageantry and all that other stuff.

Q. You know the tradition between these two teams, it's got it all, doesn't it?
CHARLIE TANNER: It's got it all. You guys should definitely be busy. It's two great programs. Alabama has so much tradition, such great coaching. And their players, they've got so many All Americans over there, it's ridiculous. Two heavyweight teams going against it, you know. Both are going to play their hardest. This is going to be a great game to watch.

Q. Coach Brown said they have like three Suhs?
CHARLIE TANNER: Maybe even more. They've got great players over there. It's crazy how good they are. They call Mount Cody. Mount Cody is for a reason. He's a guy that's 375. He plays like he's 450 pounds. He can move like he's Lamarr or Sergio Kindle. I'm going to have to get in the weight room, I guess.

Q. After that happens in the Big 12 game, you all are even more motivated to come out?
CHARLIE TANNER: Yeah, after that game we went, okay, guys, that wasn't our best football. That's not our standard here at Texas. We're all better than that. We know it. So let's put that behind us. Forget about that.
Suh's in the past, we don't have to worry about him. We have heavier people to worry about Mr. Mount Cody. So we've got a lot to of film to watch, lot of practicing to do. We're getting prepared to play a great Alabama defense.

Q. How much did you have to change against Oklahoma and Nebraska. You had had the offensive production you'd want, how much has to change?
CHARLIE TANNER: We've got to get back to basics. Coach Brown has put the pads on us, and we've gone out and gotten after each other. One thing that's cool about that, Coach Brown is always saying when we get frustrated and stuff, we don't play our best ball. But when we're loose and having fun, and we get after each other, we play the best football we do here.
That's what we've been doing this week. We've been bringing back all kinds of drills from two-a-days. We'll kind of fight drills where it's offense versus defense, and you keep score and all that good stuff.
You don't want to lose because if you lose, you don't want to go see film the next day. We're getting to the basics. Playing hard-nosed football right now and we're really excited?

Q. After the Heisman, anything to motivate you guys that Colt didn't win it?
CHARLIE TANNER: Yeah, he just said y'all get ready, man. Get back to work. That is basically his deal. He came right back at home and didn't say anything about it. He got back to work. Saw him in the weight room in his workout clothes just getting after it.
That is the thing about Colt. He never gives up. He's always trying to be better. That really rubs off on the rest of us.

Q. How much has he changed? How much is he like this is our house? How different is that for him?
CHARLIE TANNER: Yeah, yeah. It's funny. We've got this picture of him on the wall coming into the facility by the equipment room. And it's a picture of his first signing day here. If you look at him, you don't even recognize the guy. He looks so young it's ridiculous. We joke about him. He's gone from a young guy, couldn't grow facial hair to a mustache that everybody saw. He's definitely changed. Not only physically, but he got in the weight room with mad dog, he's beefed up. He was twice the size as he was when he came in here.
But not only that, he's been a great leader for us. And he takes charge of our offense, and says look guys, we're going to get where we wanted to be.

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