Chip Kelly: 'We play because we love football'
EUGENE, Ore. -- University of Oregon football coach Chip Kelly did an interview with ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" Wednesday from Autzen Stadium with the help of KVAL photojournalist and live truck operator Loren Ruark.
"He's running," Kelly told ESPN as Ruark set up the live shot. "I tell you what, this guy is working his tail off. He could play defensive end for me."
Kelly covered topics in the interview including LeGarrette Blount, the college ranking systems and Boise State, who Kelly called "a heck of a football team."
"I believe their quarterback is the best we've played against so far," Kelly said.
Kelly shared a story about Blount from the Friday night just hours after the coach suspended the running back for the season for punching Boise State's Byron Hout. Kelly has since revealed a plan for Blount to earn reinstatement to the team and play again before the end of the season.
"I was at my house late on Friday and he called me and said he wanted to talk to Coach Petersen and Byron Hout," Kelly said. "I called Chris (Petersen) back in Boise and we made arrangements for that following Saturday.
"That was when LeGarette at that point in time had no idea that he was ever going to get a chance to come back," Kelly said. "I needed to see how he was going to react, He could have just as easily packed his bags and went home and blamed other people for it, but he stood in there and has done everything that we've asked him to do. He's got a long, long ways to go before we would ever consider bringing him back."
"He's on track right now," the coach added, "and he's working really hard, and I think he knows he made a mistake and he's trying to prove that one incident on that one day is not what he is all about."
Kelly also addressed the loss of Walter Thurmond III and Willy Glasper and the injury to quarterback Jeremiah Masoli.
He said the team is not looking ahead to the post season or worrying about rankings.
"I don't get caught up in the system," Kelly said. "I don't even understand the system ... The only thing we can control is how well we practice and how well we play on Saturday.
"Our players' focus has been on the next day," Kelly said. "The fun part of this game is practicing during the week and playing games on Saturday, and that's why we play. We don't play to figure out where we're going to finish in the rankings. We play because we love football."
KVAL.com cut highlights from Kelly's side of the interview
