Ed Orgeron Signing Day Press Conference

OPENING COMMENTS

We're very excited about our signing class. I want to thank my coaching staff and all of the administrative staff for working very hard for one full year to come with a class that we're very excited about. There are a couple of things I'd like to talk about. First of all, we're very excited that again we've signed the top player in the state of Mississippi, Chris Strong. We feel that he is going to be an outstanding player and that's where we start our recruiting. Then we went to get the best JC middle linebacker in Tony Fein. He was who we found to fill our No. 1 need, to replace Patrick Willis. We're very happy to get Tony, and we feel that he can come in immediately and is going to be a great player. We've got a top 10 recruit from last year in Jevan Snead. He's already here and has demonstrated that he will be a leader and will be a fantastic quarterback in the future for the Ole Miss Rebels, and we're very excited about him. We went to Louisiana with (assistant coach) Frank Wilson and got the best offensive lineman in Rishaw Johnson. It was a battle and Frank battled to the very end and did a fantastic job of recruiting him. We had to get a tall receiver and we got the No. 1 JC receiver A.J. Jackson. We're excited about him. We figure he's going to fill an immediate need for a tall receiver in our offense. I feel we got the best nose tackle in the South in Ted Laurent. Ted has been committed to us for a long time. He's extremely quick, and we think he'll be able to help us in the middle. Again we landed the best player in the city of Memphis, Roderick Davis. I'm pleased to have started in Mississippi and go regional to get some big time players. Talking about positions, defensive backs we have Johnny Brown, Colby Arceneaux, Jamariey Atterberry, Jamison Hughes, and Fon Ingram. We think we have a fine group there. We lost some guys this year, and we think we're very athletic in that group. We needed some linebackers. LaDerrick Vaughn is already on campus. He signed with us last year and is already doing well. Scottie Williams, Chris Strong, Isaiah Smith, Tony Fein, Lamar Brumfield, we think that those guys will be able to step in immediately and help us. On the defensive line we needed help inside. I spoke about Ted Laurent. We've got Justin Sanders, a very tough, very strong kid from the state of Alabama. We went into Florida and got Lawon Scott, another 300-pounder. We're excited about those guys. Our offensive line is big. Bradley Sowell, 330 pounds, Alex Washington, 348 pounds, Mark Jean-Louis, 350 pounds, and I talked to you about Rishaw Johnson at 315 pounds. We've got big offensive linemen, and our coaches did a great job. And also when those guys come to campus, they love Coach (Art) Kehoe. At wide receiver, we've got some speed there. Lionel Breaux runs a 4.4 in the 40, another guy from Louisiana we're proud to have. I've talked to you about Roderick Davis. Roderick came to our camp last summer, and we thought that he was a fantastic player. It was a battle all the way. Coach Hugh Freeze did a great job of recruiting him and A.J. Jackson. Another guy I haven't talked about with the defensive backs is Ashlee Palmer. He's 6-2, 214 pounds, from Compton and is already working out with our team, and he looks fantastic. I've talked to you also about Jevan Snead. Overall we're excited. We're excited about the work our coaching staff did, and we're excited to see these young men come play for the Ole Miss Rebels.

Q: Who does Ted Laurent remind you of in some others that you've coached?

A: He's about as quick as Mike Patterson was. He's just a little bit bigger. He's a combination of Patterson and Cortez Kennedy. He has some quickness that Mike had.

Q: What kind of an impact will a guy like Chris Strong have?

A: The good thing about Chris is that we've known him for a long time now. He knows our program. He's a ferocious football player, one of the best we've recruited since I've been here. I think that he'll be able to step in immediately. He's very mature. He's very physical, and we need those types of guys on our defense.

Q: You looked like you were trying to go after bigger tight ends and got one.

A: Yes, I didn't mention him, David Rue. We're excited about him. David is 6-4, 245 pounds. He came to our camp as a sophomore. Coach Frank Wilson has been recruiting him since then and has done a really great job. He was a victim of hurricane Katrina and moved up to north Louisiana, and we stayed with him and we're excited to have him. We think he's a pro-style tight end.

Q: Considering that you've got Robert Lane and Robert Hough as seniors, do you think you'll try and play David Rue some?

A: Sure. Obviously we want all of our young guys to come in and compete for starting positions, but we think that he will fill a need there. We needed a big tight end.

Q: How do you think you did with your defensive areas?

A: First of all, we had to fill linebacker positions. With Rory (Johnson) being gone and we anticipated Patrick being gone, we feel like we got some outstanding linebackers. We needed a tall receiver, we got him. We needed some inside guys, we got them. We needed some speed at wide receiver, we got that, so I feel good. We were really looking for a top quarterback. We feel that we are very fortunate that Jevan Snead wanted to transfer, and we're happy that we have him.

Q: Have you got any feedback on Jevan Snead from some of the current players?

A: Yes, they love him. They think he's fantastic. He has some leadership qualities we're looking for, and I think they're kind of growing attached to him, but we're going to have to see. He's going to have to get it done on the practice field and on the field.

Q: With the guys you signed on the inside defensive line, how do you feel about your potential for depth this year?

A: Hopefully that helps. We have Peria Jerry, Jeremy Garrett, and Brandon Jenkins coming back. Daverin Geralds is coming back, so that's going to give us some help and a rotation which we need. Also, it will give us some flexibility if we need to move one of those young men.

Q: How close did it come down with Joe McKnight in your estimation?

A: Well, I know we were in there, and it came down to late last night I believe. I think it was a matter of if he was going to go away from home he was going to USC, and if he was going to stay close to home he was coming to Ole Miss. We felt good about the recruitment the whole time. I think Frank Wilson, again, did a tremendous job to put us in the fight with McKnight. We felt that he is an impact player, and we went for the best player available. We came up a little short but I was proud of the way we recruited him.

Q: Was McKnight considering going elsewhere a risk you were willing to take?

A: Yes. Everyday I'm taking that risk, we're going for the best player. We felt that McKnight was an impact player, a Reggie Bush type of player and we had a shot to go get him. We will always go for the best player, regardless of the outcome.

Q: Do you feel like you have as good of a class coming in as you did with the commitments or are you disappointed?

A: No, we're fired up about this class. All these guys that want to be here, we want them here. If a guy in the last night or last couple of days decides to go to another school after we've been recruiting him for years, I think that's a blessing. I don't want him on my team. I want guys that want to be here, that want to win and are committed to being a great player.

Q: Is there one guy that you think is going to come in and play right away and make a difference next year?

A: Chris Strong, Ted Laurent, and Tony Fein fill some needs for us, and I think those guys are big and physical. They can help us immediately, but you can never tell.

Q: Jevan Snead was a very quick recruiting process. Can you explain that?

A: (Offensive coordinator) Dan (Werner) was at the University of Miami and did a great job of recruiting Jevan and made a great relationship with the coach. When Jevan decided to go to Texas, Dan continued to keep up with the coach and when Jevan decided to transfer, he called Dan. I really believe that if you make relationships, although people may go to other schools, you can continue to do the right thing and some guys come back to you.

Q: Your relationship with Ashlee Palmer dates back a little bit. What was he like when you first met him and what have the last couple of years been like?

A: I don't remember him. He was young and came to our camp and again last year. I think he decided to sign at Nebraska, and I really didn't know what happened to him. He called me and said Coach, I'm available, will you take me? I said yes.

Q: Can you talk about Tony Fein and his service in the Army? With him being 24, have you recruited a guy that old and mature? What does that bring to the table?

A: I told him that the offense is enemy territory and to get into the enemy territory and do what he does best. I really liked his maturity and really liked the way he came across. I think when you're recruiting a 24-year-old man, you can recruit them a little bit different than you can a 17-year-old teenager. We shot him straight when he got here. We told him what to expect, that we expect him to be a starting linebacker for us in the SEC, and I think he welcomed that challenge.

Q: How much do you have to keep the APR in mind when recruiting?

A: I think that comes into play now. If you look at our class out of approximately 25 that I expect will sign, 17 have already qualified. There were some players along the way that academically we thought were a risk so we pulled off of them.

Q: Who would you call a "sleeper" in this class?

A: Fon Ingram is an excellent player, and he's going to find a way to play. He kind of reminds me of Jamarca Sanford a little bit. Lionel Breaux is very fast. I wouldn't call him a sleeper, he's going to be a big timer I believe. I think that Fon Ingram will prove to be an excellent player.

Q: On your coaching staff, do you have the coaching assignments?

A: Yes, I do. We'll announce that soon.

Q: Was there anybody in this class that you had the same feeling that you did about Marcus Tillman last year?

A: We were going after McKnight hard. It was all the way up to and throughout the night. I think we did the best job that we could have. We're excited to have the guys that we have. When you look a Rishaw Johnson and all those guys, tremendous athletes on the offensive front and the linebackers and DB's. We're really excited about the guys we have. I think in recruiting you shouldn't worry about the guys that you lost you need to make sure that the guys that you signed can play and you're going to have success there.

Q: How are you able to put the best foot forward and sell Ole Miss in comparison to USC and Miami?

A: You just have to believe in what you're selling. I think the facilities here are fantastic, I think that Oxford has some things to offer that a big city doesn't, and the education opportunities. The big hurdle we've got to overcome is that we've got to start winning. We need to start winning, eight, nine and 10 games and going to the bowls.

Q: Talk about Jamison Hughes.

A: I don't think you could find better people than (assistant coach) Tony (Hughes) and his wife. You guys know how I feel about Tony on my staff, he's an outstanding man, and they've been great to us the whole time. Jamison is going to be an outstanding player, we've known him for a while. I want to say this about Jamison, he is very unselfish. He committed to us, did not take any other visits, although other guys were taking visits, he was very unselfish and stayed committed to us.

Q: Some kids don't like playing for their family, was there any discussion about that with Jamison?

A: Yes, we discussed that in the home. He's going to be treated just like any other football player there will be no difference.

Q: Chris Strong going to play linebacker?

A: We're going to always play our players at the best possible position, and right now Chris is a linebacker and I feel that he's a very good one.

Q: Talk about recruiting nationally.

A: That's what we want to do . We want to be a national recruiter. We want to take care of the state of Mississippi first and get the best players available that also qualify academically according to our standards, and then we're going to look elsewhere. We've got three players from Georgia, where last year we had none. We're excited about that. Louisiana, California, we're making end roads. A little disappointed in Florida. I think that we spent a lot of time there, and we need to do a better job in Florida. Alabama also.

Q: Are there any areas in recruiting that you feel like the staff needs to improve on?

A: There are always areas that need improvement. We will continue to improve. I know the way our staff prepares, I know the teams we're competing against, the top teams in the nation, and we're giving them a run. I expect us to continue to do a great job.

Q: Do you see a domino effect in Texas after signing Jevan Snead?

A: There is no doubt. We're going to be in the Dallas area more, Houston area more, and we're going to open up Texas a little bit.

Q: What kind of impact can Roderick Davis make?

A: I think he will have an immediate impact on our team, such as a guy like Dexter McCluster did last year. He gives us the speed we needed at wide receiver ,which we were lacking at some times last year. He's also an excellent returner. He's a guy that could have went many places, and we came down to battle for him. Again I want to compliment Coach Freeze for a great job of recruiting.

Q: Are great corners becoming as difficult to find?

A: Yes. They are the basis of our defense, and we feel like we have an excellent one in Jamariey Atterberry. We feel that we've recruited other guys that perhaps can play corner. We're going to try them out at corner. We're going to continue to look for players out there. We may have a few more scholarships available, so we're going to continue to recruit and cornerback may be a position that we sign in the spring if one is available and defensive line also.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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