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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Houston Nutt Postgame Quotes
4/12/2008 | Football
Opening statement:
The first thing I want to say is I am really, really appreciative of first the most beautiful day we've had in the last few weeks and then just the fans. For the fans to come out like this and break a record, I am very appreciative. I know our players appreciate it. The coaching staff is just extatic. We're really thankful for Eli Manning and Patrick Willis. We had Derrick Burgess as well speak to our team. They just did a magnificent job. There's nothing like a former player, of course who's won the Super Bowl MVP, the highest award you can win, and to come back and give your time and talk serious to your team is just priceless. Patrick Willis did a great job, Derrick Burgess, just talking about accountability, doing the right things, making good decisions, work ethic, all those things they can't hear enough. That's the start of a great day for us. The crowd was great. We had a good spring. Of course there's always room for improvement, and we can't wait to get going again. We'll give them a little time now. This is discretionary time for the weight room and stuff like that. We'll really put full emphasis on school, study hall, turning the last corner in school, get that right, and then we'll get back started toward mid-May with workouts.
As far as the game, I liked that they were playing hard, having fun and the fans were there. That's what it's about. It's the greatest game in the world. I love a lot of sports, but there's nothing like this one. They played hard, had too many illegal procedures and too many balls on the ground and all those things, but it was still great. Because Ole Miss won today. That's the bottom line.
On the play selection:
We worked on a lot of those things. I think the thing that's different is of course Dexter McCluster being in the mix as a slot back, wide receiver, quarterback. We put the ball in his hands. He makes things happen. I thought our receivers had a great spring. They're probably the most experienced and very fast. Shay Hodge had a great spring. Mike Wallace, Markeith Summers keeps coming, Lionel Breaux's coming. We're fortunate to have the depth to move a guy like Marshay Green over where we really need some help, especially with depth, in the secondary. We just tried to mix and match a bit and have a good scrimmage with the plays we've been working on. We tried to create a running lane. There were a couple of running lanes today, that was good. I thought our offensive line for the most part did pretty well. There were some times where we did get sacked. We've got a lot of improvement left, a lot of work to do.
On Jevan Snead:
Jevan's had an excellent spring. I love his way of standing in that pocket, he has a quick release and he doesn't flinch. He doesn't care if someone's coming full speed, he knows he's going to take a shot for the team. There's a lot of quarterbacks that will turn and run and hide, but he doesn't. He sits in there strong with confidence and finds our receiver. That last ball in the endzone, he drilled that between two defenders. You've got to have an arm to do that, and some accuracy. He gives us a chance offensively to keep people off-balance. I'm real exc ited about Jevan.
On Cordera Eason:
He has really improved. If you take the first week of spring to now, there's a lot of improvement. Then again, it's a new system, new terminology, new way of thinking. He hasn't come the furthest with what we're expecting. We're expecting a physical running back, a physical running game. And also pass protect. He's got to protect the ball for us. He had a few too many fumbles this spring that we've got to get corrected, but overall very good.
On the Wild Rebel and Dexter McCluster:
We just watched him run day-in and day-out. I found out he did have experience at quarterback, so immediately that alarm goes off. He can handle the ball, he can hand it off. He can read the defense. So he took a major step in our playbook. We've got a fast guy that just can keep people off-balance. He's not only a great route runner, a reverse runner, a quick-screen runner, but we can put the ball in his hands and he's dangerous.
On the former players returning to campus:
They have a lot of love and pride for their school. They love Ole Miss. Derrick Burgess lives here. He could live anywhere in the world. He plays for Oakland. The theme for both Patrick Willis and Eli was accountability. Be accountable to your teammates, accountable to your team, accountable to your hometown, accountable to your mother, accountable to your coaches. It's really, very, very good. Awesome.
