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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Football Coach David Cutcliffe Addresses Media
8/9/2000 | Football
Aug. 9, 2000
HEAD FOOTBALL COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE
PRESEASON PRESS CONFERENCE
Coach Cutcliffe's opening comments
Great to see everybody. I am banded, not branded. I had a new baby girl yesterday at 11:12 a.m. - Emily Elizabeth Cutcliffe. It's been exciting. She basically reported the day the varsity reported. I thought she was going to report with the freshmen, but she already thought she was an upperclassmen.
When I look at this team, I know that expectations are high, and I am excited about that. I am excited that our fans feel that way, and I am excited that our team feels that way. It's a challenge that we have to be ready to accept, and I think showing that we're responsible and mature enough to handle that will be key to our success.
I'll mention three things about our team to begin with, before we go to questions, that I think are pertinent about our football team. We have 23 seniors - 19 scholarship athletes and four walk-ons who are outstanding young men. I've been impressed with our senior leadership, beginning in January through spring practice and this summer. I think we have a number of playmakers returning on offense, on defense and in the kicking game. That makes you feel good about a team when you do have some people who are proven playmakers in this league coming back. Lastly, we know going in that we have some questions that have to be answered. During preseason practice, we have to find and solidify our starters in the offensive line, especially at right tackle, and some depth. Our receiving corps brings in five new people. They are exciting and will be interesting to see how that unfolds over the next week or so. Defensively, everybody knows about our defensive interior. We've got some bodies to work with, but we ar e replacing four defensive tackles and that will be a challenge. Developing our overall depth and the secondary will be some other challenges. These are opportunities. I don't necessarily look at them as problems or questions. I say this because we have some people to work with. I am anxious to get started with this team. I am anxious to see if this team will display the attitude that they have displayed up to this point and continue that on the practice field.
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
Q. What about the new wide receivers?
A. We have Omar Rayford (junior college transfer), Chris Collins, Trey Fryfogle and Bill Flowers, all of whom have a couple of workouts under their belts. They are very talented young men. They've got a lot to learn in a short period of time. The reason I mentioned five new receivers earlier is because Grant Heard will be playing in this offense for the first time. They've got ability, and they look good catching the ball and running routes. They've worked hard and they are all in good condition.
Q. Do you expect any freshmen to see playing time?
A. I don't think you go in expecting to count on freshmen, but in that situation there is certainly an opportunity for those guys to find some playing time, if it's right for them.
Q. Why is Deuce (McAllister) a special runner?
A. He has exceptional speed for any running back. But, when you blend it in with his size and his ability to understand the game, it allows us to do a lot of things. Running the football, he's got vision and great speed. I wanted him to make more great four-yard runs. We went in to spring practice with that in mind. You have to understand what a great four-yard run is, and he made some great four-yard runs this spring. He finished his runs better. I challenged Deuce to change his body. Deuce has always been a good looking guy since I've seen him when he was a senior in high school. When I came here I told him, "You look a lot like you did the last time I saw you." He's now become over a 400-pound bench presser. He's done the things that he's capable of doing physically, and he's a better physical specimen now then when we played against Oklahoma.
Q. How has he handled everything in terms of the mental and emotional part?
A. I think he has done a great job with that. We talked about it as a team. Deuce is a very mature youngster. We had long talks about it personally. If a guy is a legitimate star or candidate teammates don't get jealous. They don't have problems with him. It's only when you get somebody that's hyped up, and the teammates don't thing he's all that great. I don't think that's ever been a problem. He just remains himself. We told him going in to the spring that he was going to practice, get hit and be just like everybody else, and he accepted that role. That helped him. He understands that this is truly about believing that he's being the best that he can be, and the rest will take care of itself. It's a fun thing, and it's a team thing. It's not something that I think is a distracting focus at all.
Q. When you are facing a defensive coordinator what do you expect them to do - try to shut down Deuce or let him get his yards and shutdown everybody else?
A. People will change and we'll see different things. People a year ago tried to shut our running game down and some people did a fine job at times of doing that. You see it every year even last year with Ron Dayne. People knew Wisconsin was going to run the football, and they managed to do it successfully a good percentage of the time. We still run an offense that takes advantage of what the defense gives us, and that's the great part of having some other players who can make plays. I think we will see some of the things we saw a year ago, some eight and even nine-man fronts. How we manage that in the passing game and how well our team plays will dictate how successful we can be running the football. We know going in, to be as good as we can be, we've got to run the ball well, regardless of what we see.
Q. How do you see Joe Gunn this year?
A. Joe will be very similar to what he was a year ago. There's no question, in our offense, that there is enough carries for the tailback. I think Joe averaged right at 16 carries a game, and Deuce 15 carries a game. They both got their yards out of that. Deuce will obviously be used a lot in the kick return game, the punt return game and also as a receiver. Joe's a capable receiver. I like our backs being fresh in the fourth quarter. When we didn't have one or the other, I thought you could see a difference in our running game in the fourth quarter. So it's real important that we keep our people rested and ready to play a complete game. I am not a big fan of a 30-carry guy. It doesn't happen very often where a guy can do that effectively.
Q. When you look at SEC backs, obviously everybody's talking about Deuce, but if you take him out of the equation how does Joe rank?
A. I wouldn't trade him for anybody else in the league. He's the leading returner rusher in the league for a reason. Joe is one of those guys who understands what a great four-yard run is and he's a great runner between the tackles. He has also shown speed and elusiveness. He's a good receiver, and he's just a versatile back. In this league with the defenses we face, you better go in with two or three backs because they take a beating. Hopefully, by having some depth there, we can avoid getting our guys beat up. It's interesting to see a running back on Monday, just how they feel after playing in a game in the Southeastern Conference.
Q. Two springs ago you moved Armegis Spearman from middle linebacker to the outside and then last spring you moved Eddie Strong from the outside to the middle. Talk about how those situations differ.
A. We had a situation where we thought Armegis had the experience to make the move and we had more people suited to play Mike linebacker, and we were looking for depth at the outside linebacker positions. What occurred with Eddie was different. Through all the spread formations we were seeing and everything that was happening to us formation wise, I kept looking out there and Eddie Strong was playing defensive back. Here's a 6-4 250-pound guy who people were able to remove away from the line of scrimmage. I wanted to see Eddie around the ball. We moved him inside to Mike, because obviously it's more difficulty to run away from him and it's much more difficult to move him away. We feel like we have some people who can play the outside linebacker position. We've developed some depth. I think this is going to be a tremendous move for us and put Eddie in a position to do a lot more things for us at Mike linebacker.
Q. People talk a lot about all your high profile offensive players, but to the overall football team, is he (Eddie) as important as anybody?
A. He's our leading tackle -a guy that's been one of the better playmakers on defense for a couple of years even though he's just going to be a junior. Defensively, we're going to have to depend on Eddie for leadership, and Eddie has a lot riding on his shoulders. I think he's equally important as any player offensively, defensively or in the kicking game. We have other playmakers on defense as we have other playmakers on offense outside of Deuce and you hope that it grows that way. But, we are leaning on Eddie and looking for him to have an outstanding junior year. He's a very experienced junior. He's a veteran player and hopefully he will play like a veteran player.
Q. You are replacing two NFL offensive tackles. Is that a scary proposition?
A. As the year went on, I thought Tutan Reyes and Todd Wade played as well as any tackles, and we had a year of good tackles in the conference last year. Those two guys at the end of the year were playing tremendous football. We're moving Terrence Metcalf outside because he is an experienced player and a very talented player. In the spring, he made you feel better about that, but he's still got 15 practices under his belt as a tackle-not 15 games. We realize that we are going to have to be smart about what we ask those people to do. We have some bodies, some versatility. We've got people we can move inside, outside. I think competition is going to be fierce at the tackle position between Matt Koon, Belton Johnson, Jason Young, Cliff Woodruff - some people that in my opinion are ready to play football. Competition will make us better there. Hopefully, the experience we have with Terrence and the three inside will make us a solid unit. It's going to be interesting to see how it unfolds. I think our offe nsive line can still be a winning edge for us. It's always difficult to replace seniors who have played a lot of football.
Q. Did you see improvement with Belton, Matt and Cliff in the offseason?
A. They are all stronger. I saw improvement in the spring. Belton in his five days (got hurt on fifth day) was much improved. Matt Koon improved throughout the spring. Going against Derrick Burgess everyday will make you a better player, and that helped him. Cliff Woodruff has continued to grow physically, even though he is just a redshirt freshman. He's a physical guy now. Jason Young is an experienced junior college player and he looks good. He's very athletic. All of them have improved themselves physically. They are stronger and hopefully quicker, and I am anxious to see what effect that has when we start. They are going to be tested because they'll be working against some veteran defensive ends early. We'll see how they stack up against Derrick over there at right tackle.
Q. Which guys have emerged as possible starters on offensive line?
A. I think that you try to have a starting five. A year ago, we felt like we had six starters. You would like to step that up where you can feel that way about seven or eight people. I am anxious to see somebody step up and separate themselves from the crowd. Then you know that player is being as good as he can be. From that standpoint, I think it is important that we find a fifth starter. In the same process, German Bello, who's playing inside at guard, may factor into this. German may play so well at guard that he could bump another guard outside. I would like to see us grow to where we are playing seven, eight or nine people because that's how you build your future.
Q. Can you talk about Derrick Burgess and the work he's put in this summer
A. Derrick Burgess has had a tremendous winter, spring and summer. I think he is probably the most unsung player on our team. Derrick is really a good football player. He's healthy. He's worked hard at getting healthy. Our medical staff has done an outstanding job. We implemented a plan after we came that goes always back to December of 1998. It was obvious to me he didn't need to be on the field because he wasn't healthy enough to be out there. We formulated a plan, and he had surgery. His rehab never stopped. Last season, we were smart in how we worked with him and then finally when the spring came, Derrick was healthy. It allowed him to work in the weight room. He's as physical a player as I've been around. He's cut his body weight to almost nothing. I think his vertical jump, if I'm not mistaken, was 35 ? inches at 270 pounds. He's running better than he ever has. He's much stronger than he's ever been. He's worked like you want to see a captain work. He has led by example.
Q. Talk about Stackhouse's physical situation
A. I visited with the doctor this morning about Charles, and he was pleased with what Charles has accomplished. He's another one that, after seeing him a day on the field in the spring, I made a decision to pull him out of spring practice. I didn't think he was going to help himself or help our team until we saw the Charles of old. He's worked hard and was one who the doctor was most pleased with about where he's come physically. I know it's exciting for Charles, and you can see hat he's back 100 percent with his leg strength. I just pray he stays healthy, because I am anxious to get out there and see him compete again at a level that I know he can compete at.
Q. Talk about Grant Heard and how much you guys missed having him last year and how much he will help this year.
A. It's been a roller coaster for him. When he was hurt in December of 1998 in preparation for the Independence Bowl, I didn't know much about Grant. I've seen a lot of tape on him, and I've watched a lot of tape when he played. He's been a playmaker. I am anxious to get him on the field again. He was a proven playmaker coming back a year ago that Romaro felt very comfortable with. He had thrown a lot of balls in his direction and when he didn't have him, Romaro had to develop some feel and some confidence in some new players. We were hoping that Grant could get back. But, it was obvious very early he wasn't 100 percent, and it wouldn't have been worth having him out there to jeopardize his career or even waste a year. He's been patient. One of the things that's pleased me most is that he's worked hard at still trying to learn this entire time. He's not like a rookie. He does understand. He's watched all of our practice tape. He's studied the offense. In the spring he became a playmaker. That's one of the things I noticed. In the scrimmages, Grant was making catches and I like that big tall receiver. He ran well. He wasn't sure he was well, and I convinced him. We had our pro timing day late in the spring and he wasn't sure about running. I told him, "We're not going to play that, go run." When he came back, nobody had a bigger grin on his face. Since that day he's taken off. I've heard a lot about Grant lacking speed because Grant was weak and Grant hadn't worked. Grant's learned to work and now he's got a 37-inch vertical and he's a 6-3 wide receiver who can run. Now it's time to go make some plays. I am anxious to see how he's going to respond in practice.
Q. Syniker (Taylor) missed a good deal of spring practice playing basketball. In your experience can athletes overcome that?
A. I think mentally he knows what to do. He was in great shape when he came out of basketball. He worked really hard this summer as well and knew he had to get back his strength level. Syniker's a natural football player. I had no concerns about the time away. We had a week or week and a half (when he finished with basketball last year), but I held him out of the spring game. I didn't see any reason to take the risk of getting him hurt when he hadn't been out there. He's done a lot of work this summer on his own. He's played safety all summer long. He'll be ready to play.
Q. Address the kicking game.
A. It's important that we realize that we do have some playmakers in the kicking game. I'm big about guys who prove they can make plays under tough circumstances, and Les Binkley is where you start. He's obviously made some huge kicks for us. He's been consistent. He's got a consistent work ethic. He's a leader for us in our kicking units. I am excited about what he brings. Reagan King has been there and done that. He can be more effective. We have to be more effective in our punting game. I want to see a consistency from him, but I want to also see a consistency in the snap, the catch and the kick. If we do that well in practice, we'll see Reagan improve because he has the ability. The kickoff game will be better. I am excited to see what Lee Rogers does. We have to be more consistent there. He has an opportunity to do something special there if he will. A.J. Kiamie has the ability. It always concerns you when you have a new snapper, whether it's the punt snapper or the long snapper. He had a goo d spring and a good summer. I think he's prepared hard, but he's still a new snapper. We have our holder back in Ben Craddock and another capable backup punter. We signed two young men who have some ability. That's good. There's seven specialist in here and they'll have a lot of opportunity during camp to get better. The biggest thing I see -that I hope happens for us- is that I think we can be a more athletic kicking team. We have more athletes and more speed. We've got to utilize that. I didn't think, by any means, that we were a poor kicking team a year ago, but I think we can improve from that standpoint. I believe that the kicking game is going to be critical for us and many other teams in a year. We played a lot of close games last year. When you look at the balance in our league you anticipate more of the same. The kicking game is going to have an impact on the outcome. We're going to focus hard on our kicking starting tomorrow morning and hopefully that will be an improved area of our tea m.
Q. Talk about the freshman class and what you see so far.
A. Overall, it's really a balanced class. We've got some size and some ability out there on the offensive and defensive lines. I like the fact that you look out there and see that linebacker type body. There's some height, some guys who are rangy and can run. You see some foot speed and quickness at receiver and defensive back. That's what I felt about this class all along. They've really displayed a good attitude. There's a willingness there and a closeness amongst the group and they are an enjoyable group. They've done things like you are supposed to do them from the minute they've stepped on campus.
Q. What are your expectations of Buckles and Campbell?
A. You don't know yet. We haven't put a pad on anybody yet. The varsity hasn't practiced with them yet. When you look at offensive linemen, it's easy to assume that they will always redshirt. We've talked to them. We don't know ourselves and they don't know. We just got to go to work and see how things fall. But, we've really been pleased with where our linemen are and how hard they've worked this summer. There's a lot of ability with that young group of linemen.
Q. Talk about what it's like having a senior quarterback coming back with the experience?
A. In my years of coaching, you always feel better when you've got experience coming back at quarterback. That's a mystery that you don't like facing as a coach because it's hard to simulate as much game time as you would like in practice with a limited number of players. When you have a guy that's played as many snaps as Romaro has, you know what to expect in the tough times from him. One of the things I like most about Romaro is his poise and his focus during the tough times. He's worked hard and prepared himself extremely well and I am excited about that. Any coach will tell you it's a good feeling to know you have a veteran back at quarterback.
Q. Have you set team goals for this season?
A. We talk about some of our goals. Like most teams in our conference, the first thing we want to do is win the Western Division in the SEC. Another goal that steps right in line with that is to learn to take every game one game at a time. You see very few, if any, outstanding football teams that don't manage to do that well. We have internal goals within the offense, defense and kicking game that we want to accomplish. We have standards that we evaluate to know whether we are playing well or not. If we'll hit those objectives one game at a time, then you have a chance of reaching those goals down the road. This is going to be a competitive football team -- just how competitive remains to be seen. We feel like we are competitive from a standpoint of trying to win the West. When you do that, then you try to take the next step.
Q. You mentioned Deuce changing his body in the offseason. Anybody else stick out in that's changed their body to suit you?
A. It's hard to single out a group, because this group has worked collectively extremely well. Coach Benjy Pierce and his staff have done an outstanding job. Keydrick Vincent, when you see him, is going to be real obvious to you with what he's accomplished in the offseason. When you see Kenny Jackson it will be very visible to you what he's accomplished. I don't know exactly what he weighed when he came in here, but I would be willing to bet that he is 45 to 50 pounds less and has maintained his strength. That's going to be exciting to see. Justin Coleman's another one who steps out that has changed his work ethic. I don't want to shortchange anybody. If the players read this, I want them to know that I've been impressed with our team leadership. I mentioned Derrick Burgess earlier. I've seen it at the quarterback position earlier with all three quarterbacks. They're leaner, stronger. I mentioned Stackhouse. We did a good study of our team in the spring -- how strong we were, how quick we were, what kind of endurance we had, what our change of directions were like, what our explosiveness was like. Measuring what we did and what we accomplished from spring to summer has been special to see in our team.
Q. You talked about how important it was for Romaro to have experience. How is it for you now that you've had a year at this and coming back?
A. I've grown personally. Knowing the people around you and the confidence that I have in them has helped. I know that our staff is going to do a great job, and I know what to expect from them. I know what to expect from the weight room and the training room and the equipment room and so on. Everybody understands how we expect practice to be run. All of those of things weigh heavily. You feel much more prepared, and it allows you to focus on the more important aspects and the more important things you have to accomplish as a coach.
