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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ed Orgeron Pre-Spring Press Conference
2/26/2007 | Football
Opening comments
We are excited to start spring ball on Friday. Looking at our team we feel that one of the strengths on our football team is our offensive line, which features Michael Oher and John Jerry. I think those guys are fantastic football players. We have Corey Actis coming back, but we have to fill the left guard spot. Darryl Harris and our junior college transfer Mark Jean-Louis will be fighting for that spot. Tight end we’ve got
At quarterback we’re looking for a greatly improved position there with Brent Schaeffer and Seth Adams. We think they’ll be very strong with 1,000-yard rusher BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Bruce Hall behind them, as well as Cordera Eason and fullbacks Jason Cook and Reggie Hicks. We’re looking forward to having Dexter (McCluster) back on offense, putting him in position to make big plays. We really feel excited about our offense and I know (offensive coordinator) Dan (Werner) is going to do a great job with it.
On defense obviously we’ve got some holes to fill with Patrick (Willis) and Rory (Johnson) leaving. At linebacker we’re going to mix and match linebackers until we find the best three to play. Right now we don’t know who our starting linebacker corps is going to be and we’re probably going to have to wait until the start of the season to announce our starting linebacker corps. We feel that we’re going to be really strong up front this year and we don’t have a lot of depth, but we feel that our starting four will be very strong. The defensive ends are Greg Hardy, Marcus Tillman, Kentrell Lockett and Chris Bowers. We ought to be very strong there inside with Jeremy Garrett, Brandon Jenkins and Daverin Geralds, guys that are going to be practicing all spring. Peria Jerry as of right now is the only guy that’s going to be out because of an injury. He should be at full speed starting at (fall) camp.
We have some work to do in the defensive backfield. Cassius Vaughn, Nate Banks, Dustin Mouzon and Terrell Jackson are guys that are going to be looking at starting on the corner. We don’t know who is going to be starting at corner yet. At safety it’s going to be Jarmarca Sanford, Markeith Summers, Allen Walker, Jamal Harvey and Ashlee Palmer. We have some work to do on defense and we’re going to try to put the best people in the best positions to make plays.
In our kicking game, we’re excited to have Joshua Shene and Rob Parks back.
All practices will be closed except the Spring Game on April 7th.
Q: What is Greg Hardy’s role in the spring considering he’s playing basketball?
A: I don’t know. We’re going to let him finish playing basketball and when he finishes basketball he’s going to come to football.
Q: You said Peria Jerry is going to be out. Did he have surgery in the off-season or how is he doing with all the injuries he had last year?
A: Peria is doing fine. He’ll be out this spring.
Q: Who are some of your linebacker candidates? Earlier you said Chris Bowers might play some.
A: We’re going to mix and match a lot of guys. It’s easy to say we’re going to put a guy here and then everybody mention he’s playing there and he’s not playing there the next day. We’re not going to do that this spring. We’re going to mix and match guys as we feel fit and we probably will not have our starting linebacker corps until everybody gets together and we see who plays.
Q: What position battle are you looking forward to watching this spring?
A: Left guard, replacing Andrew Wicker. Quarterback. I think there’s going to be a battle at quarterback. Wide receiver, see who are the best three guys that can play. Linebacker and defensive backs.
Q: Who do see emerging as leaders on the defense?
A: Jeremy Garrett has had an excellent off-season. He really works hard. He has to stay healthy. If he can stay healthy, he can be a leader. Other guys have to come to the front. They haven’t proven that they can be leaders yet. We are looking for that.
Q: You moved Billy Tapp to tight end. Are there any other guys you are considering moving around?
A: We are going to try different guys at different positions. We are really not going to announce all of them just yet, because we may move them one day and move them right back the next. There may be a lot of changes made in spring ball, but they may be temporary. We don’t know just yet.
Q: Is Mico McSwain exclusively a wide receiver?
A: Yes. Mico is playing at the “X” spot.
Q: Can you talk about Jevan Snead’s role next year? Do you have plans to use him on the scout team since he has to sit out a year?
A: I’m not sure if Jevan will run the scout team. There is no scout team in the spring, so we are going to let him play and compete, get some snaps with both the first team and the second team. Maybe we can learn a few things from him.
Q: Talk about the quarterback battle. What do you want to see out Brent Schaeffer, Seth Adams and the others?
A: What we need to see is consistency. Are they making the right choices and right throws? Are they able to run the offense? We need to improve on our passing game. I think our running game was pretty good last year, although we still need to have some improvement in it. We need some leadership there. We need to create situations where we are scoring more touchdowns.
Q: Is it a situation where you are looking to say that this guy is our starter after spring ball?
A: No. It doesn’t matter until the first game. We want the best guy to play. Hopefully, it will be Brent if he has a great spring. If not, it may be Seth. I think it will be one of those two guys. But it is open to all quarterbacks.
Q: Marcus Tillman played a lot of tackle last season. Is he exclusively an end this season?
A: Well, we would like that. If we have some injuries, he is a guy we could move down. But I plan on him playing end, and nothing but end in the spring.
Q: Talk about Dexter McCluster. Where is he at right now?
A: He is fine. He is working hard in the weight room and in the class room. He is strong and has a great attitude. He is ready for us to put the ball in his hands.
Q: In the drill work, what have you seen out of Ashlee Palmer?
A: He is really quick and really athletic. We need to find him a place to play, whether it is at safety, wide receiver, tight end or linebacker. There are just a lot of places he can play. We just need to put him on the field and see what he can do.
Q: Talk about John Thompson, the new defensive coordinator.
A: John is doing an excellent job, like I thought he would. He is in the defensive staff meetings, and it seems like things are well organized. He has got the guys in good places right now, and it seems like he has us in the direction that we want to go.
Q: Talk about Cordera Eason.
A: I expect him to continue to improve. I expect him to have a great year, knowing that he will play next year. We feel that BenJarvus will be one of the best backs in the country. We’re going to have to feature him, but Cordera is going to have to be ready to take that spot two years from now.
Q: How much has Coach Thompson’s arrival already helped you?
A: I don’t have to be in a defensive staff meeting all day. I can go into offense. I get to recruit a little bit more. I can do some head coaching duties. But really, he and I are on the same page. We meet at night and I really like his style, I like what he’s going to present. I think that our players are already attached to him. I think that he does a great job of communicating with the players and he’s a great leader.
Q: Comparing the end of 2005 to 2006 do you feel like you’re going into this spring with some momentum?
A: Yes. I think that mostly this team was recruited by us. We have 17 seniors, I believe, and those guys have bought into the program. They have demonstrated that they are able to do what we want them to do, so they’re ours. I feel like we have a coaching staff that understands what I expect in the spring. We can rely on some experiences we had last year that we had when we played very well in some games, but we also know that there are some deficiencies which we need to fix.
Q: Do you anticipate having to adjust things scheme-wise based on the loss that you have with Willis and Johnson?
A: We’d like to think that we can play our base defense still. But there are some things that John is going to bring that we would have done regardless if Patrick or Rory were there. I think that he has the freedom to do what he wants to do on defense, and I think that you’re going to see more of an attack style, more of a blitzing style on certain downs and distances.
