Quoting Ole Miss Head Coach David Cutcliffe

Aug. 30, 1999

OXFORD, Miss.--"I'm sure you guys are like me. This weekend gave you a nice taste in your mouth for college football. There were some exciting games and first games are always exciting. We certainly know we will be challenged by Memphis. They are very experienced and very hungry, as we are. It's a great rivalry and we are excited about getting to play."

"Practice has been long in some regards and I know we are ready to hit on someone else. So we're looking forward to a great opportunity and a great challenge on Saturday."

Q: Is there anything that really caught your eye coming out of fall practice?
A: "I think the emphasis in special teams and the kicking game has been good. But, now we got to go play that way. I've been really pleased with our specialists. Our place kicking, field goals and punting has been positive. I think from a standpoint offensively, our backs had really great workouts and we have some depth there. I think getting our players healthy on the defensive front gave us a little more depth and that certainly has been a positive."

Q: What is the injury situation as of today?
A: "I feel like we are going to have everybody available. Grant Heard is the question mark and is on a day-to-day basis, and we'll just have to wait and see. Outside of Grant, we should have everybody ready to go."

Q: Will Terrance Metcalf start this Saturday and is he healthy?
A: "We have not decided who is definitely going to start, but he is going to play. He's getting progressively better. He feels better. And you can't really tell he has been hurt just by looking unless you look a lot closer. But I expect him to play and play a lot."

Q: How has the team picked up your offense?
A: Terminology is what we had to overcome. We were running some of the same plays that we ran in the Independence Bowl, we just restructured our terminology back into our system. It's not old hat to the players by any means, it takes time. But our players are very comfortable with what we're doing. I think we've made some good decisions on where we want to go. One of the things our offense does is to allow us to use our strengths of personnel. And I think our players have done a nice job.

Q: Talk about the tight end situation.
A: "People are always going to look at the tight ends, especially after you lose an All-American. But our tight ends had a good fall. Adam Bettis had some problems with the heat early on, but I thought he had a real good camp. He's a physical player who can run and catch the ball. He's a senior that's been there and that's a plus. Doug Zeigler has come on and is a very talented young man. He's still learning the position, but he's a playmaker and will make some plays for us. He's going to be a good blocker, not that he's not right now, but he'll get more comfortable the more he plays. Mitch Skremta has come on and given us some depth in the last few weeks. Right now I'm looking for all three of those guys to play."

Q: How is Derrick Burgess?
A: "Derrick has had a good camp. He's been full speed and feels better than he's felt in a long, long time. His movement and his ability to run is 100 percent. And I think he has surprised himself. He should start the game.

Q: What about Antionne Scott?
A: "Antoine is in the same boat after coming off his surgery. He's back out there and is ready to go. Looks like he'll start the ball game for us on Saturday."

Q: Talk about the quarterbacks.
A: "I think Romaro's had steady progress all through spring and fall camps. He's much more comfortable with what we're doing and how we're doing things. That takes time and he's going to need to play in some games. He's a guy that can make all the throws and has the ability to do all things we want do. He's a great youngster and a great listener. He's just a pleasure to work with. David Morris is our No. 2 quarterback, with Eli getting plenty of work and we will be in a situation where all three are ready to play. You never know what's going to occur, so you need three guys who are capable of running your system so we will keep all three of those guys ready. We'll still be game-to-game or day-to-day as to exactly what happens to Eli Manning as far as redshirting or getting playing time. He knows where we're at and he's comfortable with that. He understands the biggest thing he has to do is get himself ready to play."

Q: Talk about David Morris.
A: "David is an outstanding young man. He's really had a good fall camp and has worked hard at learning our system. He's really a good athlete and is the fastest of our quarterbacks. He has a strong arm and a good sense of timing. He's starting to understand what we're wanting to do in the passing game, snd is really becoming more and more accurate at quarterback. He could surprise a lot of people.

Q: Have you closed the gap between the starters and backups?
A: "I think in certain areas we have. I don't think anyone ever feels as comfortable when the second unit is out there as you do with the No. 1's. But at certain positions we have created some competition and upgraded ourselves in certain areas on the offensive line with our backups. And that will be an ongoing process, that's not going to stop. I think you continue to improve yourself fundamentally and we will continue to challenge our backups to close that gap. The more people we can play the better we will be. If we happen to lose a starter for any period of time and we have someone who can step in and play at a high quality that makes us that more of a solid team."

Q: How familiar are you with the Memphis rivalry?
A: "I have a lot of memories of Memphis having coached against them at Tennessee. And certainly people are familiar with the last time we (Tennessee) went in there and how Memphis can play anytime. This is a fine Memphis football team. Disregarding the rivalry you would be getting your team as ready as you possibly can. It doesn't take long being a part of this program to realize that with the proximity of the two schools a lot of the players know each other and that makes for a very heated rivalry. We're going in knowing that, and both teams have numerous players that have played against each other. This is going to be a dogfight."

Q: Has Grant Heard gotten enough done to play in the first game?
A: "He has done a great deal of conditioning work and is still in the process of doing that. He has not done enough to be the very best he can be. But Grant has experience and depending on what we get done this week has the ability to play this Saturday if we can get him ready. Without him, Maurice Flournoy is going to be the starter and Maurice has had a real good camp. We will play and rotate a number of people, so from a position standpoint it's not critical. We are going to play a lot of people and will rotate five, six or seven people in the game."

Q: How did you prepare for Memphis' new defensive coordinator?
A: "We certainly spent a great deal of the summer looking at John Thompson's schemes. He's an outstanding coach. His players are fundamentally sound and know how to play the schemes. We know it will be a challenge for us and we have spent a great deal of time preparing for it. You can never duplicate the speed of game situations in practice, but hopefully we have done a good job simulating it."

Q: Did you look at what Memphis did last year or what the new coordinator did?
A: "We are very familiar with John and have an extensive library of tape from the last three years. We spent a lot of time looking at Memphis to familiarize ourselves with their players. Our players did the same. For most part it will be coach Thompson's schemes, they might do some of the things they used to. He will always have something new and you don't know what you're going to get.

Q: How difficult is it to be going against a new defensive coordinator in your first game?
A: "It seems like my luck in first games that there is always some kind of change with the opponent. And they will have the same problem with us with our package. Everybody has that somewhat in the first game. There are no exhibition games.

Q: Do you have any nagging concerns at this point?
A: "I'm concerned about everything that's going on. That's just my nature. You hope the team executes well. And you worry about if you did too much hitting or not enough. Those concerns are always going to be there. Everybody feels that way along the line."

Q: Will you be holding any players back since it's a non-conference game?
A: "We're not concerned about holding anything back because it's a non-conference game. This is our first game and it's the most important one because it's the first. We'd like to play everybody that we could early in the season because it makes you a better team and it help keeps the starters fresh. We've got a plan going in to play as many people as we can."

Q: Which of the freshmen will get to play on Saturday?
A: "We don't really have any dead-set in our two-deep. But I would think Robert Williams and Tremaine Turner could see action early. Some of our freshmen will play special teams but we're not ready to say who will play.

Q: How much did it help to coach the team in the bowl game last year?
A: "I don't know if you can put a gauge on it. It was wonderful to have that opportunity. I think it's a great benefit to our players and coaches. So it's not like going in and doing it for the first time. We have worked a lot as coaches and squads on game situations in scrimmages. We worked on total game operations and it makes it easier on us having the bowl game behind us.

Q: Is there any concern that the team will not have the same kind of emotion as they did in the Independence Bowl?
A: "The expectations are high and that's what you want to have. We want our team to learn how to handle that. We've talked to our team about it and it only happens with hard work. Emotions are only going to run so far in a game. We have to have a sound foundation. But, I would rather have high expectations than no expectations. There will be a lot of emotions, but fundamentals and consistency will be the key as the game processes."

Q: How different will it be for you during the game as a head coach compared to an assistant coach?
A: "It's a little tight on the sidelines and you have a better view in the press box. But, I like being on the sideline and being able to get a feel for the players and look the quarterback in the eye. We'll have really good communication on the field and I don't think there will be a problem."

Q: Will there be a difference for you working the defense during the game?
A: "There's a little bit of change. We'll talk and I will let the offensive coaches make their adjustments unless there's something that I feel the need to communicate to the players. But I want to be able to communicate to our defensive coaches. I did that during the bowl game."

Q: Did you have a chance to talk to any other coaches who did double-duty?
A: "I talked with the coaches off and on. It was more casual than a research type of thing. Most important thing is to be yourself, but it's good to see what others are doing."

Q: Talk about Todd Wade.
A: "Todd is just a tremendous young man and a great physical specimen. He really went off the scale this summer. He's a very powerful young man. He takes his role as captain very seriously and has a very serious attitude on and off the field.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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