Ole Miss/Alabama 10/19/02 - Lane Bearden druidcityonline.com your guide to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the Deep South
	News&Events Eat&Drink People&Places

True fans already know what happened at the game. DCO's unique coverage of the Crimson Tide brings those unique details that provide deeper insight into Alabama Football.
Click below to read pieces of players and coaches post-game interviews ...

Lane Bearden (#44 Sr. P, 6-2 198 lbs. Helena, AL - Pelham High School)
Punter Lane Bearden may be one of the toughest players in college football history

These comments came during postgame media interviews ...
Reporter-How does it make you feel to see a guy run for five touchdowns? Obviously, he’s made some good runs but nothing quite like that.

Bearden-Well, it’s awesome. I mean this whole week in practice he’s done awesome. Santonio is emerging as a great leader on this offense. Shaud and Ray are doing awesome. I just have to give it to those guys

How does the leg feel?

The toughest is the mental part. Knowing that it’s going to hurt and having to do it anyway. But people have played hurt before and it never bothered them. All I’ve got to do is go out there four or five times a game.

What did you do this week to get ready, and when did you know you could play?

Well, this week I didn’t punt Wednesday or Thursday. The more I kicked today the better I felt, and it was the first time I had put everything I had into it. This week (today), I tried to kick a lot harder and with a little more confidence in it. As I went on it got better, and the kicking got easier. I think the more I do it the better I’ll get at it.

Do you think kickers will maybe get a little more respect for their toughness now?

Uh … I don’t know. Nobody likes the kicker so it really doesn’t matter (laughs).

When did you know that you were going to play?

Thursday after practice when Coach Fran talked to me.

Did you tell him you were playing or did he tell you you were playing?

I asked him if I could punt. And he told me it was fine with him if I thought I could do it. He put a lot of trust in me.

Was that Coach Fran or Coach Tommerdahl?

Coach Fran. Coach Tommerdahl tries to think of every situation, and was waiting until I warmed up today to see how I did. But Ziifle was ready to come in. If anything happened or I didn’t warm up good, Ziifle was ready to go.

Coach Fran gave you an unofficial endorsement for Special Teams Player of the Week in the SEC. What do you think about that?

I heard about that. I don’t have a problem with it (laughs) But I didn’t do as much as lot of people did. I punt four or five times. It hurt a little, but it’s not as bad because I can walk it off and it quits hurting. That’s unlike others. Tyler got hurt and some other guys got dinged up. There’s just some things you just have to work through, and they keep hurting. But I punt real hard, my knee hurts for about two minutes and then I walk it off and feel good, so it really doesn’t matter about that.

Did you a sense from your teammates about how they felt about your performance?

A lot of them didn’t think I was going to be able to kick today (laughs). No, coming into it, I hadn’t really punted hard all week, I hadn’t done anything real hard. Just enough to show Coach Fran I could do it, and Coach Tommerdahl that my leg does still work. When I went out for the first one, I didn’t know how bad it was going to hurt, but I knew all I had to do was punt it hard and get it off. Coach Fran told me when I went out there “Catch the ball.” Because everyone knows what happened in Oklahoma. I’ve just got to get back into it mentally, and do everything the right way like I practiced so hard on this summer.

Other comments about Lane Bearden ...
Coach Dennis Franchione - "If Lane Bearden isn’t the SEC’s special teams Player of the Week then I don’t know why the award exists after what he did today. A courageous performance. 40-yard average. In 30 years, I’ve never seen a young man go out and play without an anterior cruciate ligament, and do a great job for our team at a time when we really needed it in so many ways."

Cornerback Gerald Dixon - "He’s a leader, a warrior. It's awesome. To see somebody come out there and do that, you have to tip your hat. He deserves the game ball."

Tailback Santonio Beard - "Wow! You can’t say enough about Lane. That’s tough. The guy has a torn ACL, as he’s at practice punting. A lot of guys are looking at him like “Lane what are you doing? Why don’t you go ahead and have surgery and get ready to tryout for the NFL?” But you know, he tells us all the time he wants to play. He’s a part of this team, he’s a senior, and man, that’s toughness right there. You’ve got to give him the game ball."

Click here for Alabama/Ole Miss slideshow

Back to the Alabama Football archives

Click on the name for parts of their post-game comments ...
do you like DCO's Home Game coverage??

Dennis Franchione (Head Coach)

Les Koenning (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach)

Carl Torbush (Def. Co-ord./LBs Coach - prev. HC@UNC 98-20, HC@LBC 88-97)

Lane Bearden (#44 Sr. P, 6-2 198 lbs. Helena, AL - Pelham High School)

Gerald Dixon (#4 Sr. LCB 5-1 190 lbs. Burtonsville, MD - Paint Branch High School)

Santonio Beard (#34 Jr. TB, 6-1 225 lbs. Nashville,TN - Pearl/Cohn High School)

Dre Fulgham (#3 Jr. WR 6-1 209 lbs. Montevallo, AL - Montevallo High School)