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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ed Orgeron Preseason Press Conference
8/13/2007 | Football
ON THE OFFENSE
I want to say something and clear the air here. Our quarterback position is still open. Seth Adams, Michael Herrick, Brent Schaeffer, Billy Tapp and obviously Jevan Snead can’t play they are all competing out there. On Saturday, Seth had a better scrimmage than the other guys. Today, one of the other quarterbacks may have had a better scrimmage. It’s going to remain an open race. Just because he is pulling away, doesn’t mean he is going to win. We’re going to give time for the race to finish so we can make a great decision on our quarterback.
Seth has taken most of the snaps with the ones. Michael has taken most of the snaps with the twos and Brent has taken most of the snaps with the threes. We’re going to continue to evaluate and grade them. When it’s time for the race to be finished, we’ll announce it but not until then.
I really love the attitude of this football team and coaching staff. We’ve been working very hard in conditions that will be similar to those in which we’ll be playing. We had a fantastic scrimmage at 2:30 at Vaught-Hemingway on the turf and our guys performed very well. We’re going to continue to put them in those circumstances so they can perform in those playing conditions. I’m very proud of Aaron Ausmus and the job his coaching staff has done this summer to get our guys into tremendous conditioning.
You guys know how I feel about Art (Kehoe); he’s done a fantastic job bringing this group together. Michael Oher is in his best condition that he’s been, weighing in at 315 pounds. I don’t believe he’s missed a rep this camp. I made a tape of him hustling and running down field. I think he’s ready to have a really good season. Reid Neely is performing well. Our center is Corey Actis. John Jerry is really becoming a leader for us at 350 pounds and a 5.0 flat forty. He is a tremendous guard and is learning our offensive scheme and making calls at the line of scrimmage. Maurice Miller is at right tackle and has gotten down to a slim 335. He’s playing well.
We’re really pleased with our freshman class. There have been very few disappointments in our freshman class and a few surprises. Bradley Sowell has lost a lot of weight and is looking good out there. Rishaw Johnson is at left guard and we feel he is going to be an excellent player. Mark Jean-Louis who was about 367 pounds is at about 330 and is doing a good job. We’re developing depth. We wanted to go into camp and develop depth so we can play better in the fourth quarter. Overall, we’re really proud of our offensive line. We think they are going to be a key to our season.
At tight end, we have focused on and accomplished getting the ball to
Robert Hough has gained weight and is about 238 pounds. He looks good and is a very good athlete. We think those tight ends will do an excellent job for us. David Traxler has moved out there and is doing okay. So has Cecil Frison.
I talked about quarterback and it’s really up and down. We’re going to let it play out. We had preseason game one this past Saturday. We’re going to have game two on Wednesday, and then game three on Saturday and those players will go the equivalent of a game. Then we’ll have a mock game the next Saturday and we can find out who is ready to go.
At wide receiver we are very thin there. Dexter McCluster is having a good camp. You may have seen him in a yellow jersey, and I put him in that because I didn’t want him to get hit. He’s too valuable of a player and we can’t afford any mistakes out there. Marshay Green is having an excellent camp. He’s a great returner and competitor, and he’s made some plays out there. A guy who is coming along fast is Lionel Breaux. Defensive-minded Coach Orgeron wanted him on defense, but he didn’t do much there and asked me to move. He said he thought he could do better on offense and he had a tremendous scrimmage on Saturday. Hopefully we’ve found us a playmaker. Mike Hicks is doing a good job and so is Mike Wallace. He’s our fastest guy and can be our deep ball guy, but we have to find that out during the year.
Shay Hodge is coming along and is ahead of schedule. I don’t know when he’ll be back, but I think it will be soon. We’re going to welcome him back.
At running back, BenJarvus Green-Ellis is excellent. He’s a big-time player and a big-time character. He is probably the best player on our football team right now. He’s so far ahead in conditioning. He’s worked very hard. He’s the leader of the offense and the “go-to” guy. There is no doubt about that, and we’re looking forward to having him out there. He’s even better than he was last year at any time. He’s in great condition and has a great attitude. Come
Bruce Hall has had an excellent fall camp. He’s really a good running back and does a lot of things. He catches the ball out of the backfield and is explosive. He hits the ball well and has a great attitude. Cordera Eason has had a good camp. We’re really excited about Jeremy McGee, our transfer from UCLA. We have a bunch of big backs, but he gives us a change of direction with his quickness in the backfield. We’re really excited about his performance. Reggie Hicks is an athlete who can play tailback, fullback and tight end. We have to find the best place to put him.
Obviously, BenJarvus is going to carry the load along with Bruce, but he is the guy back there and I want to make it clear he is our guy.
At fullback, Jason Cook is having an excellent camp. We did some things last year in research and development to involve our fullback more. He’s fitting into a great scheme. He’s a very smart young man and a good leader for us. Andy Hartmann has done well, too.
The guy that has been a surprise to us as a staff, because he hadn’t shown much due to a knee injury, is Derrick Davis. He has played tailback and is going back to his old form. He’s had some breakout days.
ON THE DEFENSE
I can’t say enough about having John Thompson with me and how excited I am to have him on my staff. He is tremendous as a man and a coach. Saturday we had a tough practice. We walked out of practice and he was sitting in the ice tub with Jerrell Powe. I don’t know what they were talking about, but that is him. He gets close to his players and will do anything with them. You can already see a change in our defense. We’re sacking the quarterback and blitzing left and right. You never can tell where he’s coming from. He does a great job and allows me to be the head coach.
We have a shot here everything has to fall right to have a tremendous defense. Finally, it starts with the defensive line. We’ve got some guys now. Marcus Tillman is having an excellent camp. He’s at 270, which is exactly what we wanted at the strong end. He’s getting sacks, working hard and is an intelligent young man. Peria Jerry is practicing about 70 percent of the time and has not been blocked yet. He just has not been blocked. He’s got a great attitude and is having a great camp. I think he’s ready for an outstanding year.
Backing him up is Jeremy Garrett, who has practiced sparingly due to a knee injury. I don’t know when he’ll be back. Lawon Scott has shown some quickness at 300 pounds. He’s a freshman, so we are developing some depth.
At nose tackle, Jerrell Powe has come in and been everything we expected. He’s a great young man and is working hard to get into football shape. He’s shown where he can be a force in the middle. Obviously, he hasn’t been cleared through the clearing house yet, but as soon as he gets through we think we have us a great situation with Powe, Jerry, Garrett, Scott, Daverin Geralds and Teddy Laurent who is having an excellent camp. We have six guys we feel can play and that’s what we need to lead our defense.
At the Leo position, Kentrell Lockett is out with a minor injury and should be back in about 3-4 weeks. Greg Hardy has really turned it on and is having an outstanding year. We feel like we finally have a top-notch, SEC defensive line and we’re excited about it.
We moved LaDerrick Vaughn from outside linebacker and he has had several sacks with his speed. We’re using him as a nickel rusher and he is having an outstanding camp. Coach Nielson does a tremendous job coaching our defensive line. He has a fire and intensity just like I expect out of our defense.
At linebacker it’s about what I expected. We have to keep on fighting and keep changing jerseys and positions. We don’t have the guys in place yet that have the experience to be a great linebacking corps. But after one day of practice with shoulder pads on, we put Chris Strong as our starting Mike linebacker and we feel he can handle it. We feel he is going to be a great football player. He has to get cleared through the clearing house, but he is exactly what we want in there. We are excited about him.
At Sam linebacker, Ashlee Palmer is having a good camp. He’s backed up by Jamie Phillips. Antonio Turner should be joining the team soon, but he’s got to work his way up the ladder. We moved Jonathan Cornell to Will linebacker, but he’ll play some Mike on third down, as our most consistent linebacker. Lamar Brumfield is going to back him up and Tony Fein will back up Chris Strong at Mike linebacker. Nothing is settled, though, and we’ll keep mixing and matching to see how they go through camp.
We are very excited to have a guy like Jamarca Sanford in the defensive backfield. He’s a leader and very solid. John Thompson is using him in some blitzes and defenses that are a little bit different, and you can see him blossoming on defense. He should be a force.
We’re really excited about Jamison Hughes. He’s a good athlete and we think he has a bright future ahead of us along with Fon Ingram and George Helow as a backup.
At free safety we are unproven. He’s in the post and he protects the team from the deep ball. Kendrick Lewis is there and having a good camp, but it’s going to take several games to see if he can remain consistent. Backing him up and starting in our nickel package is Johnny Brown. He is one of our better freshmen and is a great athlete. Colby Arceneaux is out there making plays. He’s not the biggest or fastest, but he’s getting interceptions and already shown he has leadership ability on our team.
At cornerback we are very thin. Dustin Mouzon has had a stellar camp. Jamariey Atterberry is coming along, but is not ready yet. He’s a good athlete and it will take a little while. Terrell Jackson is starting at the other cornerback position and is backed up by Cassius Vaughn. Those guys are fighting it out and we have to find the best guys there.
We expect Nate Banks to be back. We don’t know when, but we expect him back and maybe he can do something there to help us out.
SPECIAL TEAMS
We’re really strong with Joshua Shene. He had a fantastic day the other day and was right on the money. He’s doing the kick-offs for us and we think he’s going to be the guy. He has a really strong leg. We have been practicing from the 30, and it’s a little different than we imagined. The kick is getting there faster than our coverage, so we will have to do some things different there to get that taken care of.
Rob Park and Bryan Powers are fighting it out at punter.
We feel we have an excellent return game with Marshay Green and Dexter McCluster back there. We think we can be very explosive on special teams and will play our best players out there. We’re looking forward to that.
Q: Have you ever started a true freshman middle linebacker, and what are the pluses and minuses there?
A: Obviously we’re going to have to simplify it. We have to do this all over our team. We’ve been on the front end installing everything we have and now we are going back and finding out what our players can do the best. With Chris Strong, I think you will have a tremendous player who can fill the gaps and be a run stopper. I think he has to lose a little more weight to be a great coverage guy that we expect. I think he’s going to be a tremendous football player for us. He has a quick twitch as does Jerrell Powe and Peria Jerry. Those guys have a defensive personality that we really like.
Q: Is there a possibility that Chris Strong might get a rotation at defensive end?
A: Not right now. He’s our Mike linebacker. The only thing we need to do with Chris right now is make sure that he clears the clearinghouse. We expect him to be our Mike linebacker. That’s not etched in stone, and he needs to lose a little weight, but right now we see what we need in a Mike linebacker. He could probably jump in at defensive end and look just as good.
Q: How much risk is involved in giving the work to Chris Strong and Jerrell Powe?
A: We’re giving work to the other guys too. The other guys had their turn. We’re going forward, thinking positive and we expect them to be cleared. We’re not going to hold this team back and the other guys have had their chance and got beat out. We didn’t give it to them, they’ve earned it.
Q: How does Coach Thompson make camp different than it has been the past few years?
A: I can go into the offensive meetings. I know exactly what they are installing. I can go watch Coach Kehoe’s line more, which I like. I get the stats on the quarterback. I do more head coaching duties than I ever have. I don’t have to be in the defensive staff meeting every second although I am in there most of the time. I am getting closer to the players and can do some things I couldn’t do last year.
Q: What is your comfort level with where you are right now and what you need to accomplish?
A: We have to start fast. It all depends on how well we can play on defense. Are Chris Strong and Jerrell Powe eligible and in football shape? Is Chris lean enough to play Mike linebacker every down? Those two guys are keys. Is Peria Jerry healthy enough to go every play? I think we are fine at the end position. How well can our cornerbacks defend the ball? We don’t know that yet. How well can our quarterback manage the position? Is our offensive line as good as I expect them to be? BenJarvus is, I know that. Do we have someone on the edge who can catch the ball? Those are all questions we have to answer fast. We have a tremendous schedule in the month of September, but we all know that our goal is to go to the Sugar Bowl and win it. We all feel this year’s step forward is to have a winning season and go to a bowl game and win that.
Q: How good is your overall depth?
A: It’s a lot better than it’s ever been. We’re thin at receiver and cornerback. We have to do a better job of recruiting. We were hurt there by some young men not being eligible.
Q: Who does Jerrell Powe remind you of as a player?
A: He reminds me a lot of Cortez Kennedy. Cortez came to us at about 350 and ran three 110s and passed out. He was on the PAT/kicking team, then got down to 285 and became a one-man wrecking crew. He was quick and had girth and power. He was a great young man who loved to play. Jerrell Powe reminds me a lot of him. Jerrell is a little bit heavier than Cortez was when he came in, but he has the quickness and attributes Cortez had.
Q: What weight is Jerrell at now and what would the ideal weight be for him to get to?
A: Well, he is a little bit heavier than we want him to be and he needs to get a little bit lighter than he is right now.
Q: Powe has obviously gone through a lot. Can you talk about his fight?
A: He’s determined. He’s a young man who loves
He’s a great story for all learning disabled students who are struggling. He shows there is a path and a way - that we care about them. I think it’s important to understand there are learning disabled students out there that have people turn their back on them. We should never do that. There are ways that learning disabled students can come to school. There are techniques we can teach them so they can have a productive life. I think he’s the one who will start that here at Ole Miss.
Q: Where is Allen Walker in things?
A: We have him at linebacker and he has been up and down. He has a camp injury and isn’t practicing right now. He’s going to be in the linebacking corps somewhere. He’s an athlete and has made some improvement. How high he is going to go is up to him.
Q: Can you talk about Seth Adams and his development?
A: He knows the offense. He has some leadership qualities. He throws the short ball well and can make decisions at the line of scrimmage. I think some of the team believes in him, but he hasn’t done it out there yet. He’s played in some games. He has those attributes. He’s there every day and does everything we ask of him.
Q: Can you talk about how he got here?
A: I think he had a scholarship somewhere else. We talked him into walking on here. He’s a competitor. He knew Brent was coming in and had been named starter. He decided to come compete. What a great story if he does get it.
Q: Can you talk about Greg Hardy and his role?
A: Every coach fights for Greg. He can be a great offensive or defensive weapon. He’s that good of a football player and athlete. He’s really come on at end the last few days. He has a tremendous attitude about going both ways. We go down to 7-on-7 and we use him. He’s catching balls. I think he’s settled in the amount of time on offense and defense. He’s defense first and offense second. We have some situations where he can be a force for us.
Q: Can you talk about
A: That is so far away right now. We’re so focused in on camp and what we’re doing. We had a preliminary game plan in June. We know the defensive coordinator is from South Florida, so we have to watch some
Q: Do you feel like you are where you need to be at this time in practice?
A: I feel we have more talent than we had last year. We are better along the lines. At some times we feel we’re better than we were last year, even at our best times in games. We still have some things to put together. We’re not doing the simple things right every down. We need to get that better. The attitude from the team toward the work needed to become a good team is there.
Q: Can you talk about why it’s been so hard to find a guy to play quarterback?
A: I wish I had the answer.
With Brent, obviously he had a shot last year given to him. That was a mistake, but I’ve said that before. His conditioning level was nowhere near where it should have been coming in here. Becoming qualified hurt and being inconsistent throughout the season. Is he an athlete? Yes. Does he have the talent? Yes. Does he have the makeup of what it takes to be a great quarterback? That remains to be seen.
Q: Can you talk about Michael Oher’s progress?
A: You can see the light in his eyes. You have to attribute that to Coach Ausmus and Coach Kehoe getting Michael to become a man. He’s been tremendous since he’s been here. He has a tremendous family and support at home. You can see the light come on in his eyes of “Hey, I’m going to get this.” You are starting to see that in all the players. He is becoming that player who knows what he has to do and is going to do it.
Q: Can you talk about your pass rush and pass protection?
A: I’m seeing better pass rush and better blitzes. Coach Thompson brings that. Marcus, Peria and Greg are great pass rushers. We have some guys who are starting to understand pass rush. We’re having a little problem in protection right now because of those guys, but we’re going to solidify that this week.
Q: Can you talk about what Jamarca Sanford brings to the field?
A: Jamarca Sanford gets everyone lined up and is always talking. He’s got a great spirit about him and is probably the best tackler on the team. He’s also learned how to cover man-to-man. We bring him up front and he’s like an outside linebacker. I think he does his best work off the field. We’ve challenged the team to be a closer team off the field and a cohesive unit off the field. I think he’s one of the inner fibers there to get things going in the right direction. You can see the chemistry on our team and I think he’s one of those leaders.
Q: Can you talk about Thomas Eckers?
A: He’s doing a lot better job than he did last year. Cory had some nicks and Thomas got in there. He had the first snap against Jerrell Powe. I think it was a fumbled snap because he was a little nervous. He’s going to be there with the depth of our football team.
Q: Can you talk about what you hear on Brandon Jenkins?
A: I expect him to be back. They should be back around Wednesday. I don’t know their grades, but I expect them to be back.
Q: Can you talk about any pre-game rituals?
A: We have a little system here. We don’t like to change it. I like our guys to know what we are doing every minutes of the day. The Grove has to be the best part. Once we walk into the Grove, we’re ready to go.
Q: Can you talk about
A: I think we have more of a focus to get the ball to Robert this year. It’s Coach Werner’s second year in the offense and understanding what I want. The quarterbacks out there right now, sometimes I tell them to throw it to the tight end. I want them to throw the ball to the guy who is going to catch it. I know it sounds simple, but that’s what I want done.
