Auburn brushes off Killins’ remark
ATLANTA — The Southeastern Conference is a league known for its speed and athleticism. So when UCF running back
told reporters several weeks ago that Auburn, the Knights’ upcoming opponent in Monday’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, hasn’t seen the type of speed that the Knights possess, it definitely raised some eyebrows.
“Give him credit, he is a very, very fast guy but it’s nothing that we haven’t seen week-in and week-out,” Auburn junior linebacker
said Friday. “Every team that we play on our SEC schedule has at least one elite sprinter, and he’s a very fast guy.
“He’s probably the fastest person we’ve seen this year out of the backfield. We’ve seen a lot of speedy receivers. We’ve had to chase down a lot of speed receivers. But probably coming out of the backfield he’s probably the fastest guy we’ve seen.” UCF interim head coach
said there was no disrespect intended by Killins’ remarks.
“I really want [the players] to do what they’ve done all year. We’ve been confident, but we haven’t gone out in the media and said anything negative about anybody else. I don’t think he meant any disrespect toward Auburn,” Walters said. “They should be confident being the No. 1 scoring offense in the country is a credit to them and they’re prepared, but you’ve gotta be careful in what you say. Your words can be twisted and we don’t need to give those guys any more fuel.” Auburn senior linebacker
said he’s used criticism about to hearing the SEC.
“I’ve heard people criticize the SEC in general but I’ve never heard of the speed. That was new to me. I understand where he’s coming from. They have a lot of good speed and a lot of good players and I understand that confidence he has,” Williams added.
One would assume Killins’ statement would find its way onto Auburn’s locker-room bulletin board — if the Tigers had a bulletin board.
“No, we don't. We text them,” Auburn defensive coordinator told reporters Friday. “
The coaching connection between Auburn defensive coordinator Steele and UCF game-day coach
goes all the way back to Frost’s high school days at Wahoo Neumann in the 1990s.
Steele was a linebackers position coach at Nebraska from 1989 to 1994 when the school recruited Frost.
“That dates me a little bit but that’s OK,” Steele said with a smile. “You knew the family that he comes from, the kind of high school player that he was, the kind of player he was at Nebraska, the intangibles that he had … it’s not surprising that he is where he is.
“And then he’s been exposed to some really, really good football coaches:
He’s a very smart guy and always has been, so it’s not surprising that he’s sitting where he’s sitting.”
Steele said he wasn’t surprised to learn the head coach resigned after just two seasons with the Knights to coach his alma mater.
“I don’t know that this happened, but if you’ve ever played or worked for coach [Tom] Osborne, if coach Osborne did call him and say, ‘Scott, it’s time to come home,’ I know this speaking from my experience: I don’t know that I could tell coach Osborne, ‘No,’ in anything,” Steele said.