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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Ed Orgeron's Pre-Spring Practice Press Conference
2/27/2006 | Football
Feb. 27, 2006
Offensively, I am excited about the new scheme brought in by coach (Dan) Werner. I think it is going to fit the type of personnel that we have. I am really excited to see him work. I'm really excited to see Art Kehoe bring a new excitement to the offensive line and a new level of intensity. We have to do a lot of work on the offensive line to get better and compete in the SEC. I am really excited to see Hugh Freeze work. Coach Freeze will work with our Tight Ends. I have already seen a lot of improvement with our tight ends. I think that area needed a lot of work in the coaching phase of the tight ends, and I think he is going to do a good job there.
We want to develop a tough offensive line. There will be movements made throughout the spring. Again, our depth chart will be etched in sand. Moving Michael Oher to tackle and (Darryl) Harris to guard is going to help us out. We need to find a center, and we are going to try several guys at that spot. We are going to try (Thomas) Eckers and Cory Actis at center. Reid Neely and (David) Traxler are guys that are going to have to fight for the top spot at tackle. It is going to be interesting to see how things unfold in the spring.
I am really impressed with the way that Robert Lane has come back with a great attitude at tight end. I know in Dan's offense you have seen some really great tight ends. We have to get him the ball and let him do what he does best and that is compete. (Lawrence) Lilly has had an outstanding off-season. Watching him in the weight room this morning, he has trimmed down. He is stronger and has a great attitude. We also have Robert Hough at tight end. Just watching Hugh Freeze work with those guys, I'm really excited to see the tight end become a big part of our offense.
At tailback, we are excited to see Mico (McSwain) coming back. He is getting bigger and stronger in the off-season. The guy we all are excited to see is BenJarvus Green-Ellis. We are looking forward to seeing how he is going to react knowing that this is his time, and we expect him to be a great back. Hiram White is going to give us some depth at tailback that we need in the spring. Jason Cook and Seth (Michaelson) are going to be our fullbacks.
To develop the wide receiver corps is going to be a challenge for us in the spring. The young man we are looking forward to seeing that has really stood out in the off-season is Marshay Green. He has some quickness. He came to us as a running back, kick returner and punt returner. He will continue to return punts, but we want to try him at wide receiver and see what he can do for us at that position. Mike Wallace is going to have to come along as well as Carlos Suggs, J.D. Lawhorn, and the rest of the gang.
At quarterback, we all know Brent (Schaeffer) is going to be our quarterback next year. So we will be working in the spring to set up a second team quarterback. Bruce Hall will be the spring first team quarterback followed by Billy Tapp and Seth Adams. I am looking forward to seeing a new and exciting offense and letting coach Werner work with the offense. We want it to become a very productive offense in the Southeastern Conference.
On defense, I'm excited. This will be my second year as the defensive coordinator. We had a chance in the off-season to look at where we didn't make the proper adjustments during the season that we should have to get better. We expect to get better this year. We know that Patrick Wills will not be practicing during the spring. I think that is a good thing. He will be spending a lot of time in the film room learning and helping us coach a little bit. Jamarca Sanford will be out at strong safety, as will LaMark Amour. This will give some other guys a chance at those positions to develop and to give us depth.
We have to develop a front four. I'm excited about developing our front four. I think Peria Jerry has had an outstanding off-season. We are going to try him at end and see what he can do. He is very quick and strong there, and we need to get bigger at defensive end so we can stop the run in the SEC. Hayward Howard is a young man that just got here, but he has had a tremendous off-season. He is tremendously quick and strong, and we expect him to have a good season. A guy that has really come along in the off-season, has a new attitude, has done a great job for us and continues to do a great job for us is Brandon Jenkins. Those three guys have kind of shown off a little bit, along with Jeremy Garrett and Chris (Bowers). Chris has also gained some weight at the end position.
At linebacker, we are really excited to have coach (David) Saunders. Coach Saunders is a guy that works closely with me. He will do a great job with that position, but I will be more involved with the linebackers this year. I think there are a lot of things that we can get better at there. We have to find a new "will" linebacker. The two top candidates are Quentin Taylor and Antonio Turner (moved over from running back). In the off-season, he has looked excellent. At the "mike" linebacker position, we have to develop a guy that can spell Patrick (Willis) next year. Those two candidates will be Robert Russell and Rogers Loche in the spring and we also have some guys coming in. At "sam" position, I expect Garry Pack to have a great spring, along with LeRon King. He is guy that came back to our team, and we will see what he can do there.
Obviously we have a tremendous group of freshmen coming in at the defensive front and at linebacker, so these guys have to take care of the reps they get because they may not get them in August.
At defensive back, we have a lot of experience, so we are going to develop some depth. We have a couple of guys that we are going to give a shot. With Jamarca Samford out, Bryan Brown has had an excellent off-season and we will see what he can do. We are really excited about Trumaine McBride, Dustin Mouzon and Charles Clark. We think we are really strong there.
In the spring, we have to have a kicking game. We have (Will) Mosley, (Matt) Hinkle, and (Justin) Sparks. We have a punter this spring in Rob Parks. This is new compared to last spring. We have the nuts and bolts in place. We have to get better on special teams as a whole. We are going to work very hard this spring on our special teams.
There will be some open practices. All practices will be closed unless I say so. The open practices will be Saturday, March 11, Saturday, April 1, which will be a Saturday that we will do some scrimmage, and April 8, which will be the Grove Bowl. Those practices will be open. I will be available for questions and comment after each practice in the team room.
Q: Are (Reid) Neely and (Jason) Hawkins going to be ready in the spring?
A: Hawkins is coming along, and Reid is too. Both of them will practice. Hawkins has been fighting an illness, but he is coming along.
Q: What is wrong with Jamarca (Sanford)?
A: He had a minor operation. He will be fine.
Q: Have you changed from last year's USC offense?
A: Totally. Dan and I talked in the interview process and I told him I needed a coordinator that could come in and be confident in running his own scheme. That is something I can agree with. Obviously with me being at the University of Miami for five years, it is a scheme that I think is fantastic, and Dan has complete control of the offense.
Q: What can you do with the offense, knowing that you still have guys that coming in August?
A: We can do everything as far as establishing what we are going to run on offense. We can find a center as well as other personnel we are going to use. All of our running game is going to be there. On the offensive line, we have a couple of guys that are going to have to come in and help us next year with the way we are going to block, the way we are going to practice and the way the quarterback is going to act on offense. Obviously, Brent Schaeffer will be our quarterback in the fall. He will bring a different dimension to our team. But, I think we can put about 95 percent of our offense in.
Q: What do you need to differently than last year to be a little more successful?
A: First of all, I think that we need to establish a consistent offense that can move the football and keep the defense off the field. We have to able to run the football and have better offensive line protection and production, and make better decisions with the quarterback. We have to develop a kicker. We signed a new kicker. Our kicking game has got to produce points for us. On defense, we have to be more consistent in the run game and be better on third down.
Q: What will your role be in relation to the offense?
A: I hope I'm saying good job. I will be involved in personnel. I like to be involved in personnel. But, as far as the type of offense we are going to run, Dan is going to do it. He is calling the plays. The only decisions I am going to make is going for it on fourth down. I'll make all game day and personnel decisions.
Q: Without Brent here in the spring, you have Bruce Hall. Talk a little bit about him.
A: It is an advantage because if something happens to Brent, somebody is going to have to go in. So we are developing the second team quarterback and Bruce is very similar. I'm happy to have him, and I think he is going to be excellent for us.
Q: Talk about what Patrick brings to the table that can help the younger guys?
A: First of all, last year was the first year Patrick spent in our defense. There are a lot of things he can recognize before the ball is snapped. Obviously, I want him to coach Robert (Russell) and help him get better at making the calls, and tell him what he sees before the snap. I think he is a tremendous football player.
Q: After a year in the SEC, are you adjusting your defense?
A: No. We know what we need to do better. We know what our opponent's strengths and weakness' are, and we need to take advantage of that. Plus, we have film to watch this year. Last year, we didn't know what was going to go wrong. This year, we can see that on tape.
Q: How have off-season workouts progressed?
A: I talked with Aaron Ausmus before we started the off-season program and told him that we have to get stronger and more physical on the lines. I think we have done that.
Q: What type of back is BenJarvus?
A: He's a physical back. We have been looking for the type of back that can carry the ball 20 to 30 times and take the game on his shoulders and pound it up there. We need a guy who on third and one, can make a play. We need a guy that make the big run, can run inside and outside, catch the ball, and be an all-purpose back. He is that guy.
Q: With the depth at tight end, has there been any thought to moving Robert Hough over to the defense?
A: He has shown us some things this off-season at tight end that he can do well, so we want to keep him at that spot. Again, we need to get the tight end more involved in our offense. Robert Lane can play h-back, tight end, quarterback, he can really move around. So there could be times when all three are in with Hough and Lilly on the line of scrimmage. We had a tremendous defensive line recruiting year, so we are not ready to move anybody just yet. We have some guys that can come in and help us immediately on the defensive line.
