That dude really responded to a challenge. That whole team did. Remember we had special uniforms that year? The gray ones? We wore those against Tennessee, but you might’ve heard by now that Cal does not like change. So he goes, “I don’t want to wear these, but we have to,” because it was contractual. “Bring the whites, too, but don’t tell anybody.”
Game day, the players see the grays and they’re going crazy. They love them. They’re asking if we’re keeping them for the rest of the season. I say, “I’m going to break it to you bluntly: You guys aren’t even going to have these past halftime if you stink in them. You’re going to be changing into the whites for the second half and Cal’s literally going to make me burn these, like set them on fire, if this doesn’t go well.”
AD was like, “Are you serious?” Dead serious. Socks, shoes, everything, head-to-toe change if you stink in the grays. I told him, “You better leave no doubt.” So AD goes, “I got you.” And he did. (He had 18, 8 and 7 in the 25-point victory.) And we realized they responded great to having a carrot dangled. They’d go, “Hey, Bo, you think we can get the new KDs?” Yeah, I bet if we beat Mississippi State on television tonight we’ll get some new KDs by next week. Done.