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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ed Orgeron Weekly Press Conference
9/10/2007 | Football
OPENING COMMENTS
After looking at the film obviously we are really impressed with the play of BenJarvus Green-Ellis. With the blocking, the offensive line is much improved over the first week. The passing of Seth Adams really impressed with the way he handled the ball game, especially during the second half, and with the catching of our receivers, I thought they played one of their best games. We were disappointed in the output of the offense in the first quarter. It took us a while to get going, but our tight end did a good job of adjusting especially in the second half. On defense, we basically played poor for most of the game. We had missed tackles. We gave up big plays. We got beat on the corner a bunch. We had some missed assignments, and we are really disappointed in the overall production of our defense. On special teams, we need to get better in the kicking game. We need to put better players out there, and we need to make some improvements this week on our special teams. Our punt team did an outstanding job on coverage. I thought Coach (Hugh) Freeze did a good job of getting our guys ready.
Moving on to Vanderbilt, obviously we are excited for our first SEC opponent on the road. They are returning 16 starters, nine on offense, seven on defense and three on special teams. They are a well coached football team. Going against Coach (Bobby) Johnson the last two years, those guys are going to be in the right place. He always has a good game plan. We are looking forward to going up there. On offense, Chris Dickson and Mackenzi Adams have both played at quarterback. We have played against both of these guys. Garrison played against us my first year, had a very good game with over 100 yards rushing. He is a good tailback, but the key to their offense is wide receiver Earl Bennett. He has 17 receptions for 275 yards and three touchdowns. He is an excellent football player. They have five returning starters on the offensive line. They are an experienced group. They run the option. They spread you out. They make you play disciplined football. On defense, their best player is Curtis Gatewood. He had seven sacks last year. He is a very good player. They have an experience defense. They play a similar style defense to what we play, so we will give each other a good look this week. We are excited about it. We think we are fairly healthy going into the week. We’ll make some corrections on defense and really play like we played in the second half. I thought our team really came back to life in the second half.
Q: How are you preparing for Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks?
A: We will prepare for both. We played both last year. He got hurt in our game too. We’ve seen him. We are going to prepare for both. Their plays didn’t change much. They’re going to run their offense. Their different styles, but their play remain the same.
Q: What can be done to improve on defense?
A: Tackle more. Good athletes are going to make tackles, and they’re going to make good tackles. We have some good players. So we need to work on our full speed work in practice. That’s it.
Q: How do you coach them to that next level where they can put four quarters together?
A: Eventually we are going to get there. We need to click on all cylinders, on offense, defense and special teams. Sometimes it just takes a while. Eventually we will get there.
Q: What was the biggest difference in the running game?
A: Better blocking, better schemes. I think we had a lot more confidence on our offensive line. We are picking up schemes up front. BenJarvus was making some good plays. He broke some tackles, and hit the hole a little bit faster. Good play caller. Passing game, we started throwing the ball a little bit. They couldn’t put eight players in the box every down. A combination of all those things. I was really impressed with the play of Seth Adams. I thought he gave us one of his best shots.
Q: How much do you plan to use others in the running game?
A: Bruce was injured last week, so we couldn’t play him very much. So it all depends on how he comes along, but he is our best next back. BenJarvus definitely needs a break, so if he is healthy, we plan on playing him a little bit more.
Q: How much confidence do you have in Cordera Eason?
A: We like Cordera. We haven’t put him in a game yet, and our games are so close that it is hard to give a guy a chance to prove himself. It may be the difference in winning or losing a ball game.
Q: Are there any chances of changing the personnel defensively after last week’s game?
A: No, not really. Just keep on playing our stuff, and getting better. We may make a couple of changes in our rotation at cornerback. We are very thin there, and don’t have a lot of choices. You may see Cassius Vaughn go up the depth chart. It just all depends on this week though.
Q: Do you have any idea on which freshmen will redshirt this year and who will play?
A: No, not yet. We’re going throughout the whole season. Obviously we don’t want to burn a redshirt year with a couple of players. But we are still looking at some freshmen, especially on special teams and some back-up situations.
Q: Talk a little more on Seth Adams’ performance.
A: He’s coming along. Seth has a little confidence about himself right now. I thought the protection was good and the scheme was very good. I thought this game was very good. I think he is gaining a little confidence in his receivers. He went to his third choice about two or three times during the game, and he has protection and understanding the coverages. We knew that about Seth that he had all those qualities. The strong arm down the field is something that he didn’t show very much in practice, but he shows that he can do it, so that gives us another threat. On the deep ball, you always want to the threat of the deep ball on our offense.
Q: Talk about Ted Laurent and Tony Fein and their expanded roles.
A: Tony was one out of three. He made some plays, played one out of three plays. He was around the play, making the play, making an assist, so he played ok. We look forward to those guys playing a little bit more.
Q: Talk about how important this game is.
A: Last week was the same way. Every week, the way our team is right now, is important. We cannot make one week more important than the other. Today is going to be a critical day in our program to watch the
Q: After two games, what are your thoughts on just being head coach?
A: I like having John (Thompson) here. I know he is disappointed in the defensive performance, but I’m involved in all the game planning in defense, so I have to share and take most of the fault for that. He’s doing mostly what we want to do in there, so I’m part of all that. I give a little hand on offense and special teams, but mainly involved in the defense. Now, I want to say this about John Thompson. He is extremely loyal. He is doing everything I ask him to do. Every defense that we put in, I have a say-so in it or not. He makes the final decision. So just because we play well one week and poor another, I’m in all those decisions. I think he’s an excellent defensive coordinator. He has really, really helped me in being a head football coach. He’s taken off some of the work load, and I’m able to put more on recruiting and special teams and into my team on offense. So I’m really, really happy he’s here. I think he is an excellent football coach.
Q: How do you expect the team to handle preparing after a loss.
A: I believe they’re going to be fantastic. They’re not going to have another choice.
Q: Talk about Shay Hodge.
A: Another young man who knows how to handle adversity. He’s shown his maturity. He is really a good athlete. When he had his injury this summer and all you guys found out and you weren’t supposed to, we told him that we think he would play in the
Q: Is there any news on Jonathan Cornell?
A: I don’t think he will play this week.
Q: Talk about the rest of the linebackers.
A: They’re going to have to show up. We’re going to have to play a lot of nickel packages and bandit packages. We’re thin there, so we are going to have to recruit a lot of safeties and linebackers and speed. We have enough big linebackers. We need faster linebackers on our team. We looking to move a couple of people around today and see where they fit in. I’m not going to say anything until we see where they fit. We are going to have a couple of new linebackers out there.
Q: Are there enough similarities in Vanderbilt’s spread offense to draw off the first two games?
A: Yes. They are similar, but a little different. They have more quarterback runs and lead draws and powers and zone games, so they are similar. Their option game is a little more of a speed option game with the quarterback under the center. They know what they are doing. So there are a lot of similarities and a lot of differences.
Q: What is the status of Todd Cox?
A: Todd left the team He had asked for a release to
Q: Talk about Mike Wallace.
A: I thought it was his best game here, and that’s what we’ve been looking for in Mike. He has the ability to go deep. He had some short passes against
Q: Do you have any updates on Dexter McCluster?
A: I think it is going to still be a week maybe. I’m not sure. He’s from
Q: How do you believe special teams has performed?
A: Very, very below average. Really I’m disappointed in the field goal team. We have everybody back and we miss one, we missed the snap and it was ugly. So we are going to get on those boys pretty good today. The kickoff from the 30 probably has a little to do with it. Probably has a lot to do with not having Will Mosley. Will made us all look good. There were not many times that we had to cover. So I think we are missing him a bunch. The kickoff return team hasn’t done anything yet. They were very good last year. So this is going to be another week where we will look for improvements, but we have to try different personnel. Maybe change up our scheme a little bit. I’m very pleased with the punt coverage and very pleased with our punt block team. I think that those two teams are right where they need to be.
Q: Talk about Jamarca Sanford.
A: I don’t think I can ask anything else from Jamarca Sanford. I think he’s fantastic. He was disappointed because he missed a couple of tackles in the game which is unusual for him, but I think he has given us every ounce of energy he has, both on and off the field and in the leadership position. I think he’s fantastic.
Q: Would you consider redshirting McCluster?
A: No. He wouldn’t consider it. Not unless we absolutely have to.
Q: What is his defense missing without Jonathan Cornell?
A: We’re thin at linebacker, especially at experience. Ashlee (Palmer) has played well. Ashlee has made some mistakes, critical errors on the option, missed a couple of tackles, but again, played well. We have some big guys in the middle, but we need some speed at linebacker. Patrick (Willis) was a big, speed linebacker. I watched the Vanderbilt film this morning with Patrick and Rory (Johnson). Rory had a fantastic game. He stole that ball at the goalline. So we are going to have the playmakers at linebacker right now, but basically we are going to get it, we’re going to have that type of linebacker. We are missing those two guys.
Q: Is Jerrell Powe planning on attending classes here?
A: Yeah, despite what I saw on the TV today. He’s still here.
Q: Talk about Jason Cook.
A: Fantastic. Very unselfish player. Knows who to pick up. Good blocker. We are really proud of him. I think he is a good fullback.
Q: Would you consider moving
A: I think Jamarca would probably be our best linebacker. We want to move him to linebacker, but Jamarca really, really wants to play safety. He’s so important to our team that we are going to keep him at safety, but we are going to play a lot of defense where our safety is playing linebacker. We’ll have the best of both worlds.
