Head Coach David Cutcliffe Holds Preseason Press Conference

Aug. 9, 2004

Opening Comments First thing I am going to do is go ahead and address the off the field issues, that we have just recently been through. It has been a difficult time for all of us involved with Ole Miss Football, and as I said before we have tried to take every situation independently of the other and work as best we can for the good of the program and the good of the young man. I am not going to expand beyond that. Today is a new beginning. We reported yesterday in good shape. We haven't tested yet. We will get our first work on the field tonight, but everybody was here on time, eager and ready to get started. We have a lot of things to look forward to. We have a chance to have an exciting football team. We have some work to do in August. We are not where we need to be yet. What kind of condition this team is in will be extremely important to how much work we can accomplish over the next month. We have the ingredients in a lot of areas to have an exciting football team. We all know a lot of close games are won in the kicking game. Jonathan Nichols and Cody Ridgeway are outstanding, and they are a great pair. I am excited about the ingredients we have on offense, we are going to break in a new quarterback, but I think that quarterback is ready for this opportunity. We have some play makers around him and a big offensive line in front of him, so we have that to look forward to. Defensively, we are replacing our front, which is always a big challenge. One of the biggest areas of concern is how we are going to respond up front on defense. Playing in our league, and to play well, you have to be able to stop the run. We have to prove that we can do that and we have to prove it early. In all, we have quite a few fifth year seniors and they have to play like seniors. They did that last year, and they have to step up again this year. We have to have a mentally tough football team, showing they can handle adversity, because there will always be adversity. They also have to prove they can handle success, we have had success and we need to prove that we can handle that and stay hungry. I am anxious to see how we respond to that. I am looking for a team that is going to have great leadership, great work ethic and be very exciting. Q: On this being the toughest way to open in his years at Ole Miss.
A: I do feel this is the toughest opener we have faced. A lot of people consider Memphis to be a top 25 team and rightfully so. They return all their starters on offense and a good nucleus on defense. They are well coached, fast and talented. It will challenge our team early. Q: On our offense with Micheal (Spurlock) as quarterback.
A: We are going to move the football more with him. We will move the pocket. He is a threat to run the football. Micheal is a great part of that package. Along with our other quarterbacks, we think that we have that capability at that position. I think it will be fun and exciting for our offensive staff, as we head into a new era. That is why it is so important to show that we can execute and execute well early. Q: On Micheal's summer preparation.
A: Micheal had a good summer. In talking to him, he feels good about the work he did throwing the ball. The players responded to him. They practiced on their own, and he said it went well. I know he has done tremendous work in the weight room, and he is in the best shape of his life. You can imagine how hard he has worked, to prepare himself for this opportunity. He is excited and ready to go. Q: How much can you incorporate Micheal into the running game without getting him killed?
A: Quarterbacks that run the ball are certainly targets, and we are going to use him. We do have others we can use that can play that type of football. We wouldn't be able to go in that direction if we didn't have a back up that was able to go in that direction as well. We are still going to protect him, he won't run like a fullback, he needs to run like a quarterback meaning he can avoid as many hits as possible when he gets in those situations. Q: On being back in the "football" swing of things.
A: It felt good to get the players back yesterday. Their excitement and enthusiasm is contagious, and they are excited about the opportunity. It is time to focus on football and it will be fun to get back on the field this evening. Q: How much will this year be like at Tennessee, the year after Peyton?
A: Spurlock and T. Martin are similar athletes, so yes in some regards, we will draw on some of the things we did with that type of quarterback in our offense. But, we have taken it another step. Micheal will be more involved than what we did in 1998 with T. Q: Talk about some of the guys that have been injured a little.
A: We have a few concerns. McKinley Boykin had a scope on his knee and he's not quite ready to get started. He will be limited. Everybody else looks ready to go. We have a few guys that are sick that we will have to take day-to-day. Everybody will be out there practicing as close to full strength as possible with the exception of McKinley.
A: Viciente is better. His ankle has continually improved since he's been here. Obviously he had a serious injury in high school. How much he is involved depends on Viciente. He's certainly going to get an opportunity to compete for playing time. Q: How about Eric Rice?
A: Eric Rice is healthy, thank goodness. His junior year was mixed with injuries and disappointment, I am sure, for him personally. He seems to be 100 percent and ready to roll. Q: In the overall structure of a college football program how important is discipline?
A: You can't run a program without it (discipline). If you don't have any form of structure or discipline where the people know what the expectations are, you have no chance to be successful. I would put it (discipline) at the top of the list, along with other things. They (players) have to be good listeners and they have to respond to you. That's part of coaching. That's always going to be part of the program. I think anyone who coaches the game would tell you that. Q: We've heard about Nick Saban (LSU coach) consulting with psychiatrists on avoiding complacency after winning the National Championship. Last year was the best season we've had in a long time. Did you do anything differently with regard to guarding against that this year?
A: It started with our offseason program. We tried to have the toughest offseason program that we've had here. I went straight to coach Mendoza. There is an old saying "comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable." We didn't want anybody to be comfortable. We went to work from that standpoint. You have to positively re-enforce the work ethic that it takes to get where you want to be all the time. Q: Going back to Eric Rice, can you talk about what he can contribute to the team offensively.
A: Eric can stretch the field, and he can run. He's bigger and stronger. He's also more effective as a blocker. Eric is also a veteran player, which allows us to do a lot of different things with that position. We are hoping the tight end position can do more things for us. His experience allows you to do what you want to with him. Q: Talk about the carryover from the success of last season into the offseason up to this season. Obviously the signing class, the indoor practice facility and the draft were positives.
A: We've had a lot of good things happen to our program. It started with the Cotton Bowl win. That was certainly a culmination of a good year. That carried over into our players' excitement in the winter conditioning program. We increased the intensity of that program. I don't think we would have been able to do that had we not been on a role. They responded well to that. So many positive things have occurred. Expectations are important. Players need to have expectations. If your players don't expect to win and if your fans don't expect to win then there is something wrong with your program. The challenge is to respond to the expectations. That's where we are now with the new facilities and season ticket sales on a record pace. We said we wanted to raise the bar. Now it's up to us to do that on the field. Q: Give us an update on the IPF and when you expect to be using it. A: It's kind of iffy, because of so many different things. The last meeting that I sat in, we were planning to make a partial move at the end of August. We will use the facility to some capacity in the early part of the season. We may not be able to make a full move, depending upon construction, until way into the season. I would think that if we got into the season, we would have to wait until an open date, which is not until after seven games. That's the best answer I can give you. Q: Last year you were able to shuffle a lot of people in and out defensively because even the backups had some experience. This year it doesn't appear that your backups have a lot of experience. Will you still be able to do that?
A: We are going to try and play a lot of people. We've challenged some of our young people to step up. We have a lot of guys up front that have played a lot of football, but they haven't been the starter. Now, they have to prove they can take on the role of starter and increase their snaps. We have a group of guys behind them that have to come in and prove they can be effective. We can play a lot on the inside and hopefully at end. At linebacker I think we'll play a lot of people. We have some guys that can run and have a chance to be playmakers. We'll have to get a feel for that as the season goes. In the secondary you don't normally play a lot of people. I think we have a great nucleus back there with a nice blend of newcomers. Q: For the last five years Eli, fairly or unfairly, has been the face of this program. Who becomes the face of this program now or is there going to be one?
A: We are all looking for individual playmakers. I hope the program itself has enough to stand on. We've got a lot of good football players and a lot of good people that display a good face for the program. I couldn't put that on one individual. Q: Who are some of the likely candidates to add depth at offensive line?
A: It starts with Tony Bonds, who is a non-starter. He has to be able to play center and guard and hopefully play well. He has been in the system. This is his fourth year, and he needs to prove that he can play for us. James McCoy is a physical player with a lot of skills, and hopefully he can help. I am not going to cover everybody there. The tackle spot is still up in the air. I have a concern of who is going to step up. Darryl Harris is back, who I think has a lot of talent. He has a chance to help solidify some depth there. Marcus Cohen is young and talented, but has to prove that he is ready. Outside of that, I am looking for some surprises. Q: Would you be disappointed if Larry Kendrick is not starting on opening day?
A: I think Larry Kendrick has a chance to be a starter. I know he is going to impact our team. He's a very versatile player who can play both sides of the ball. He will certainly be a part of the kicking game. It depends on how quickly he adapts to the system. Q: Everybody talks about Micheal coming in at quarterback, but you also lost a great receiver in Chris Collins. What's your evaluation of some of the guys coming back at receiver including Mike Espy?
A: It starts with Bill Flowers and Kerry Johnson. Both are proven playmakers. They are capable of making big plays at any time. They are consistent players. Our three juniors Taye Biddle, Mike Espy and Mario Hill, is where the bulk of the play will be. We'll have to see about what happens with (Frank) Clayton and (Carlos) Suggs. Mico McSwain is going to play at wide receiver. I know a lot of people speculated defense, but he's going to play wide receiver along with Matt Pierce. Q: With a running quarterback, will that make the tight ends more visible in the middle of the field?
A: I don't know if it will or not. Our tight ends are good players. They can have an impact in our program. I don't think style of offense affects them as much as you think. Q: Much was talked about how effective Eli was at changing plays at the line of scrimmage. How much will the offensive play calling change with a new quarterback?
A: We won't change our philosophy. Our offensive philosophy is to try and train the quarterback to put us in the best possible play he can put us in. Micheal has been in the same system Eli was. When you are a first-year starter you are not quite as comfortable with all the different realms that Eli was given, but we'll be similar. We try to teach them everything we know and they're the functional part. If they know everything they're supposed to know, they should know more than the coach. That's the challenge with a new quarterback. Q: Who's all involved in that process?
A: Kurt Roper has the responsibility of calling the play itself. The entire offensive staff develops game plans. Kurt starts the process from the pressbox by signaling the play down to the field. Then coach Woods and the quarterback have options based on what is signaled.

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