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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Ed Orgeron's Weekly Press Conference
9/4/2006 | Football
OPENING COMMENTS
Obviously we are pleased with the win for our football team. To be 1-0 is exactly where we wanted to be. We have a short week. We are going to practice today. We just watched the film as a staff.
One of the things that stood out to me against Memphis was the play of the offensive line. Those guys are much improved under the direction of Art Kehoe. The whole group played well, but Andrew Wicker and John Jerry had a fantastic game. Corey Actis did a fine job at center. Andrew had some fantastic blocks, and to see a big guy like John Jerry stay on his feet for a freshman, was fantastic.
The protection overall was great. Dan (Werner) had a good plan. It's obvious that when BenJarvus Green-Ellis is running the ball north and south, he is going to gain positive yardage for us every time out. He is exactly what we need.
Dexter McCluster, for a freshman to do what he did yesterday in the return game, the catches, the sweeps and the fake play, was fantastic.
Brent (Schaeffer) played good. He did some good things. One time we had a bad snap when they snapped it early after he called an audible. The ball could have gone over his head, but he caught it and scrambled to the right and made a first down. He turned a potential disastrous play into a good play, and that's the type of player he is. I thought he ran the ball well inside. There were a lot of times when he could have gone outside and he choose to go up inside. He made the proper reads most of the time on his passes.
I have to credit Dan Werner and his offensive staff for the organization of the offense. To have no penalties and no turnovers in the first game with all those new guys, is just a great job by him. The fourth-down conversion on the goal line was the difference in the game. The trick play was nice, but the goal-line conversion was huge. BenJarvus didn?t have much room, but he made it.
On special teams, I am really pleased with Rob Park. A 44-yard net punting average is a big-time improvement for him. We have some room to grow there, but he did a great job. Marshay Green had a big return for us, but the thing you look at is that all 10 guys were blocking. As I said, Dexter McCluster did a great job. We made four PATS, so that was good.
On defense we played poorly. We had poor play on the line with our fundamentals. We were out of our gaps. We just were not very good there. The two penalties, which were penalties, we hit the quarterback in the head when we shouldn?t have. That cost us. We didn?t play the cut blocks well on the perimeter. We had some missed assignments in the secondary, which cost us touchdowns. Overall, it was just a very poor day on defense.
Missouri is obviously a good football team. They had a great game against Murray State. Their quarterback (Chase Daniels) threw for 320 yards, five touchdowns and had no interceptions. We?ve heard he is a really good football player. They have some good receivers and a great tight end. They like to spread it out on offense like we saw against Memphis. We have to get ready. We are going to have to change some things on defense this week. The scheme will not change, we just have to do it better. We have a short week. Obviously we are excited about being 1-0, but after watching the film, we still have things to work on.
Q: What are the areas you see that you need to work on defense?
A: Well, first of all, the guys that are not practicing have to practice. It is hard not to practice and then play. We have several guys doing that right now, and it stood out in their play. That is number one. There will be some switches on the defensive line. It depends on what happens this week and how we are in terms of injuries. But, we have to put a better defensive line unit out there. We have got to find a way for Rory Johnson to play. The nickel package wasn?t as effective as we wanted it to be. Our coverage wasn?t as effective as we wanted it to be. We don?t have a lot of choices out there, because we don?t have a lot of depth. But we have to make sure that the right guys are practicing.
Q: Are there any changes for practice due to the game being played on Sunday?
A: No. We are going to have a regular practice schedule. We will practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and play Saturday.
Q: What are your thoughts on the tackling?
A: I thought the tackling was poor, and that we were not tackling properly.
Q: What are your thoughts about your wide receivers yesterday?
A: Well, the tight end was covered most of the time. (Offensive Coordinator) Dan (Werner) wanted to throw to him, but he was covered. We had a couple of guys that had opportunities to get open but they didn?t. So we have some fundamental work we have to do with some of our receivers. But Dexter (McCluster) really stood out yesterday.
Q: What are your thoughts of Vicente DeLoach's play yesterday?
A: He did okay. He forced a fumble. There was nothing great that anybody did on defense yesterday.
Q: What are your thought's about the number of running plays QB Brent Schaeffer ran yesterday? Was it too many, just right, or not enough?
A: I think that as the game dictates, we like him with the ball in his hands.
Q: Do you have any thoughts of switching some players from offense to defense?
A: Sure. There are some players that are not playing, and I?m going to talk to them today and maybe there will be some position changes.
Q: Have you ever been associated with a team or game where your offense did not commit a penalty?
A: Not that I can remember. But, when I come to work, Dan is already here working on the details. He is sharp. He knows how to install. He knows his stuff, and I think that he did an outstanding job. And I think that the cohesiveness that he brings with the coaching staff is really important.
Q: What are your thoughts on Missouri? Have you seen any film on them?
A: We watched a lot of film on them this summer. They use a wide-open offense that spreads you out. They run quarterback traps. The quarterback that they had last year was fantastic. They score a lot of points. The same problems we had last game, we are going to see again this week so we need to improve.
Q: The offense seemed better organized this year. What do you think made the difference?
A: The difference is that when you have 44 new people, they are going to listen to what you tell them. One of the positive things is that we have so many new people that are new on offense; this is all they know and heard. So we didn?t have to re-teach anything. But I think that we have really worked hard to create a positive atmosphere around here with our staff and our players, and really working on playing together as a team. We are all about 96 percent on the same page. But we haven?t gone through the big-time adversity yet, so our test hasn?t come yet.
Q: What does Brent Schaeffer bring to the team?
A: He brings a lot of confidence to our team in that we have a quarterback that we think can take us to where we want to go. Obviously in the game, he made some plays, one in particular at the goal line that had it been somebody else, they would have gotten sacked. He threw the ball away. He does some stuff out there that a normal quarterback couldn?t do. So he gives us a lot of confidence out there to make plays.
Q: Talk about Andrew Wicker and his approach to making the change from defense to offense.
A: Well, last year was a transitional year for him. I think that he may have resented it a little last year. He had the injury last year, and it was just a tough year for him. He wanted to buy in to everything that was happening. He came back this year. He is healthy. He has a great attitude. I think that the coaching of Art Kehoe and the chemistry that he has with him helps him. Andrew likes to have fun, and Art will joke around with them and still coach them hard. I think that combination has created a pretty good football player for us.
Q: Talk about the move at center.
A: We just saw some things in practice that we didn?t like at the center position, and we felt that we had to make a move. When we did make a move, we put Andrew at center, and we missed the pulling by Andrew on his side of the line by the offense. So we put Corey Actis there, and he did a pretty good job for us.
Q: What does Brent (Schaeffer) have to do to improve to the point that you would like to see him at?
A: I think Dan is going to bring him along at his pace. We didn?t throw any deep balls yesterday. I think we need to improve in throwing the deep ball. That is part of this offense. There are a couple of things that are a little shaky. A couple of calls that were a little shaky. He wasn?t perfect. I think his conditioning could improve some. A running quarterback has to be the best conditioned athlete on the team. I think those things are going to improve over the next couple of weeks. He wasn?t under a whole lot of pressure, so we need to see how he handles that.
Q: Talk about the team making its first trip of the year.
A: This is going to be a tough arena for us. This is a step up in competition for us. We have to take the plane, sleep in a different place and all that stuff. We have some young guys that have never made this kind of trip, so we have to be on our Ps and Qs and be sharp. We have a short week. We have a lot of game-planning to do. Our guys are going to be a little sore and tired today, but we have to go out there and practice anyway. We won?t practice much. I don?t think we are going to practice very hard this week. Today and tomorrow, we may just be in shells. We may go one day in pads. We have to get our guys back and get ready to play a very good Missouri team.
