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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Ed Orgeron's Weekly Press Conference
11/7/2005 | Football
Nov. 7, 2005
OPENING COMMENTS
We are ready to get back into action this week. I thought we had a very good week of work last week. Coming out of last week, I have decided to make Ethan Flatt our starting quarterback for the Arkansas game. Matt Hinkle will be our field goal kicker. They had a tremendous week last week, and that's why they are our starters. I expect them to continue to have a good week.
Arkansas is ranked fifth in the country in rushing offense. They have a tremendous tail back in Darren McFadden. I think they do an excellent job in picking people up and blocking. They have a tremendous offensive line. They do a good job running the football. On defense, they come after you on almost every down. They have a tremendous defensive coordinator, and we expect them to blitz us on every down and put a little pressure on our quarterback. We have to do a great job of protecting him.
Q&A
Q: Will you stick with Matt Hinkle for short and long distance kicking?
A: Will (Moseley) will still do the long distance and Matt will do the short distance.
Q: What do you see in both Hinkle and Flatt to make that decision?
A: Well, a good week in practice. Our offense looked different. Ethan was able to throw the long ball a little bit better, and he was able to make some checks on the line of scrimmage that we haven't had. He operated in the offensive scheme better. Matt Hinkle had an excellent practice last week, he was 10 for 10 on Thursday. He won the battle.
Q: Do you think Ethan seems to be showing some lacking in mobility, do you think it's his size or instincts?
A: I think its instincts. He's more of a pocket passer, able to run off protection and run off schemes.
Q: You had a lot of players that didn't practice last week? What can you tell us about their injuries?
A: I think we'll be pretty good, I think most of those guys expect to be back today.
Q: Talk about Flatt coming on as quarterback. Do you think the offense will click better?
A: We will need them to be rejuvenated. I think it will happen this week. We should be able to move the football and open up our running game. We should be able to create some mismatches that we've been wanting to create and get the ball down the field.
Q: Talk about what has made Arkansas so successful at running the football.
A: Their scheme. They are a power team. They have a good offensive line, they're athletic, they come off the ball and they're very physical.
Q: Every time you face a team that runs the football well your defense has stepped in and answered the challenge. How have they prepared so far for Arkansas?
A: They've been great. We haven't worked on Arkansas that much. We're going to start on them today. Our linebackers have to be able to fill the gaps because if you give him a gap he (McFadden) will hit it. And if he bounces the ball back in the corner, they have made some SEC cornerbacks miss; he's hard to tackle.
Q: What do you think of Casey Dick and the South Carolina game? What should we expect from him coming from a home game to an away game?
A: I think he did a good job. He operated well and threw the ball. He had a couple of deep passes that he looked pretty good at. He operated the offense very well. Coming into a stadium you have to get use to the noise and be able to make the calls at the line of scrimmage.
Q: In a broad look at the season have things played out like you thought they would?
A: First of all, I thought we would be very good on defense. We still have three very, tough opponents left, in my opinion, for us to finish out the season defensively like I would like. Special teams we have not found a consistent kicking game yet, so we are disappointed in that. I'm glad we have found a punter. We are disappointed in all phases of the offense, and we need to get better in that area.
Q: What has Ethan Flatt done to put himself in the starting position?
A: It has been what happens to Micheal and Robert when they are in there. The offense is not showing the production I want it to, and we need to go with another guy. As the season has progressed, Ethan has learned the offense a lot more, and he has looked a lot better in practice, especially when we moved Robert to fullback and he was second team. We started comparing him to Micheal, and he started to look better at throwing the football and operating within the scheme than Micheal did sometimes.
Q: The other day at practice you got to look at some of the underclassmen. Are there any that will get more rotation on defense with Arkansas being a consistent run team?
A: Yes. We got Peria Jerry ready and Quentin Taylor. Those guys have to be ready to play. We are very thin at linebacker right now, so Quentin Taylor will have to come in and play for us there. Another young man that did really good was LaMark Armour at defensive end. Viciente DeLoach had some work at defensive line, and he should be able to spell us a little.
Q: Could you touch a little bit more on Peria Jerry, on being injured and having to overcome and that to get where he is now?
A: It kept him behind a little bit, missing practice, and understanding the defense. He is still lingering with a toe injury right now and is not moving as well as he can. We have seen flashes of Peria Jerry that tell us he can be an excellent lineman when healthy a full understanding of the defense.
Q: Do you think Mico McSwain not practicing last week help or hindered him?
A: I think it helped him, because he needed some rest with that shoulder injury. As far as the development of the run game, he missed three big days last week. Our run game got a lot better. We corrected some of the angles we were taking with our running backs. We took more of a down hill approach to some of our running game, and he missed that. He is going to have to catch up this week.
Q: Speaking on the running game. Alan Abrams along with BenJarvus (Green-Ellis) had a really good week last week. Does he factor anywhere moving up with Mico being out?
A: It all depends on what Mico does this week. I think Mico is still our number one running back.
Q: How do you feel about Casey Dick as quarterback for Arkansas after judging his first game?
A: He did a great job, and I think he is going to be a tremendous quarterback in the SEC. He handled himself well and threw the deep ball well. He played a good game.
