Ed Orgeron Weekly Press Conference

Opening Comments

Obviously we are excited to start the week against Alabama. I know my team is going to be ready to go.  I can’t wait to see them today.  We watched the film against Louisiana Tech, to correct the things we have to correct and move on to Saturday. We got an early start against Alabama yesterday, and we are on our way to a great morning.  The things we looked at with Louisiana Tech, obviously we are pleased with improvement with defense. We still have some areas that we have to improve on obviously, but we thought we had improved on our tackling. Johnny Brown had to play a bunch after Jamarca Sanford went down and he had a solid game. He made a couple mistakes, but he had a solid game. Ashlee Palmer was all over the place. He was finally healthy last week, and you could see the practice time showed in his play. I thought the linebackers played a little bit better. At least they fit better and were in the right positions. I was really pleased to see the field goal block. Brandon Jenkins blocked it, a senior who is playing a lot for us now. It was a great scoop and score and good touchdown by Dustin Mouzon, his second touchdown of the year.  We have to improve on our punt game and have a better offensive game plan with better execution than we are getting. I know our offense is going to do that this week along with our kickoffs. John Parker Wilson is a very efficient quarterback for Alabama and has a lot of speed with D.J. Hall at wide receiver. Terry Grant a young man from Mississippi. We know all about him. He is very fast along with Glenn Coffee at running back.  They have one of the top linemen in the country in Andre Smith. He is a big guy, runs, a very good blocker.  They are a physical football team. We expect a physical football game. On defense, they are solid very well coached. Wallace Gillberry is a good defensive lineman. Simeon Castille is a good defensive back, and they’ve got some great young linebackers with a lot of speed. We are looking forward to playing Alabama and I know my team is going to be fired up.

Q: What were your impressions of the last two Alabama games?

A:  The last two games against Alabama have been very intense. 

Q:  Will Johnny Brown continue to get more playing time?

A:  Yes, I think so. Jamarca Sanford is going to be questionable for the game, so I don’t know if he is going to play. Knowing him though, he’ll probably play.  But if not, Johnny Brown is going to start. 

Q: Will you keep Brandon Thomas at linebacker?

A:  We will see. He was in the right spots most of the time. That is an improvement.

Q:  Do you feel comfortable with the defense after Louisiana Tech?

A:  The way we play defense, there’s nothing comfortable about here. We have to continue to get better. We are going to play a lot better teams coming up starting with Alabama, and we need to improve play immensely to be able to play with these guys.

Q:  Was last year’s Alabama game a turning point?

A:  In a way, it was.  We went to Alabama and played well on their turf, but it wasn’t enough.  When we came back and looked at the film, I though we played emotionally. It was a very high emotional game for us. Our guys left it all out on the field, but when we came back, we were disappointed with some of our fits and some of our tackling. We thought we could have played a lot better. It’s a combination of things.

Q:  Talk about the lack of success in the running game.

A:  We just made a couple mistakes.

Q:  Talk about the improvement of the receivers.

A:   Last year was the first time they played. They now have all that game experience, and they are very talented.  I think Seth has put the ball on the money.  It is a combination of having experience and getting the ball. I think they are running better routes this year, and we have a better plan.

Q:  Talk about the rest of the secondary.

A:  They played ok.

Q:  How is Greg Hardy’s development?

A:  Good. Everything is fine. I was pleased with the amount of pressure we got on the quarterback Saturday. We had four sacks and guys were on the quarterback a lot more. We are getting up the field a lot better.

Q:  How is Tony Fein coming along?

A:  He struggled a little bit.  He is in the mix of linebacker, but he has to compete on a daily basis to be in the right place. 

Q: Talk about Nick Saban’s defensive style.

A:  He has a good blitz package. He understands protections and does a good job of blitzing by protection. I watched a couple of his defenses before and I watched a couple of his games this year against opponents we play, and I think their guys are in the right spots. They are very athletic, very well coached, and he has a great blitz package.

Q:  Was the Louisiana Tech game the best job of tackling yet?

A:  There is a difference in talent in playing Georgia and Louisiana Tech.  Nothing against Louisiana Tech. They are well coached team, and I know their coaches are doing a good job.  I don’t think that is a very good gauge of where we are defensively. The next three weeks we can find out if our tackling has improved.

Q:  Talk about Terry Grant and the Alabama running game.

A:  We never could get (Grant) to visit, and we really wanted to recruit him because of his speed. We thought he was a fantastic player.  Again, I think Andre Smith is a big physical offensive tackle. I can see why they like him. I can see where they use him. I think they have a good game plan. It is a zone game.  They are basically a zone team. What they are doing on film is very similar to what we have studied and very similar to what teams are doing in the NFL.  They block the right guys, and they know how to block fronts. They understand how to use their wide receivers and they are good at it.

Q:  Talk about the challenge over the next three weeks.

A:  We have to take it one day at a time, one game at a time. We are playing Alabama at home. I think that it is going to be very exciting on campus. I know our team is going to be fired up. I know we will be ready to play our best against Alabama. We are looking forward to that challenge. It seems like our team enjoys playing Florida, Georgia, Alabama and the rest of the SEC teams on our schedules. I expect them to play very well.  The good thing about our win against Louisiana Tech is we played very poor on offense and we played very poor on special teams. Maybe our team will wake up a little bit this week and improve.

Q:  Talk about Chris Strong.

A:  The only thing about Chris is his weight is a little heavy for middle linebacker. I think he is going to be a fantastic player. I know he is trying very hard to lose weight and get to the weight where he will be a fantastic linebacker. It is going to take a little while to get there. It has been a little slower than expected. If he doesn’t lose weight, he could be a fantastic defensive lineman. We were seeing a lot of spread offenses in the beginning now we are starting to see more conventional offenses. We are not good enough on defense to line up in one defense and say come on guys bring it on. We are not there yet.  So we have to play multiple schemes multiple sets and that’s hard for a freshman. He has the physical tools, if he loses weight he would be a fantastic middle linebacker.

Q:  Do you think you’re catching Alabama at a good time?

A:  I don’t know if we can ever think like that. We played against Louisiana Tech. Georgia put 45 points on us. We have to show that we can tackle. We have to show that we can stop the run. We have to show that we can be a physical football team to beat Alabama. They are going to come in here and be a good football team. I know that I expect that, and I expect my team to play well.

Q: Did you notice any improvement in the physical aspects of the game?

A:  In practice we did. We eliminated some mistakes that we made against Georgia. Our linebackers were in better positions to make plays against Louisiana Tech. I think our defensive linemen were more physical and more aggressive last week, although I think Peria Jerry had a fantastic game against Georgia. I think we are settling down on defense and understand what to do, but obviously this is going to be a big test for us.

Q:  Talk about what Hugh Freeze has done with the receivers.

A:  He has done a good job.

Q:  Talk about Seth Adams.

A:  He had an off game. He had some practices like that. He just had an off game, but he picked the right game to have an off game.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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