Nutt Weekly Press Conference

Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt met with the media on Monday and discussed the Rebels' last second loss to Wake Forest and this week's opponent, Samford. Below is a transcript:

Opening Statement

Boy, that was a tough one to get over. I tell you. I really loved how hard our young men played. I thought they really competed hard and played hard. There at the end, the whole side line, especially after that last score, our guys from the kickoff team to the offense to the defense had one thing on their minds - winning the ball game at Wake Forest.

I was just proud; when you go back and watch the film I was proud of the effort of each player. They played really hard. The first thing you look for is if everyone gave effort and they did. The things that we have to get corrected are some foolish mistakes. One, I just can not put up with is a hit out of bounds. Everybody knows the rules. We've had one each week and we've got to stop that. We're smarter than that. We can't turn the ball over. We talk about winning the turn over margin. We can't do that especially against good teams. We've got to take care of the ball better.

There are a few things assignment wise that we may have to make a little simpler. Everybody was pretty much out on the field practicing yesterday. They had a good attitude and they know after watching the film that they can get better and so we've just got to go to work.

As tough as that was, you know you have to go to work and realize that you're close and there is such a fine line between winning and losing. It is such a fine line. You go back and 15, 16 different plays could have gone just a little bit different and you win the game and you're sitting here 2-0. But that's not the case and the reality is you go back and go to work. We had a good start Sunday. We'll come back tomorrow with a hard hat on and go to work.

Q: Are most of the mistakes of a correctable variety?

No question about it - very correctable. As a staff we're so excited to be able to get some things corrected that you know you can correct and be a better football team and win there in the end. So that is the first thing we did. On Sunday we started correcting things that can all be corrected and really put emphasis on that.

Q: Do games like Wake Forest help the attitude that you are trying to change to a winning one?

That's a good question, but I tell you what, it is always better when you can win a game like that because now they know they can do it. But really what this game has actually given us is a lot of hope and a lot of confidence that we can play with the top twenty-some teams in the country, and of course in the SEC you play them anyway, but to be able to go on the road and have good focus, to have every chance in the world to win that game. You look at the film that's when they realize boy, this game should have been ours. So that part of it gives you that confidence. The other thing is the next time you are in that position you hope you change the outcome by correcting those mistakes you are talking about and finishing it, which has been our theme song - finish.

Q: How do you respond after losses similar to last year's Alabama loss, and what's your approach as a motivator this week?

I don't worry about last year, I just worry about right now and I go by the very first day right after one of the toughest nights there is, which is the day after a tough loss. How do you respond? That's what I love about this game. It's the greatest game in the world in that you are going to get knocked down and you are going to get hit in the stomach, and you wonder how you are going to respond to it. You go by their practice and attitude. Was everybody here for weights? Yes. Was everybody here on time for meetings? You give that credit to your seniors, your leadership. Now, as coaches we want to go and correct those mistakes, and put them in a position to win the next ball game. I don't really worry about their attitude right now. Their attitude has been good. The sideline was very into it. Seventy guys all together, that is what I love about this team right now. They know they can do better. They know that they can win. They have to keep working to get better.

Q: Anything surprise you about Jevan Snead's performance?

A: It surprised me for the better. I knew that Jevan was talented. What I didn't know was how he would respond to an interception. How he would respond when things weren't going right like in the third quarter. The leadership he showed, and what you guys don't get, is on the sidelines. You don't get to hear what he is saying to his teammates. You don't get to see his response to me or Coach (Kent) Austin when we tell him, Hey, you missed a little pre-read right here, this is what we want you to do next time.' You have to have a short memory, and he does. I'm so excited about Jevan. I think Kent Austin will tell you the same thing. What a leader. He's got such a quick release. He took some shots, now. He took two or three really hard shots, but you talk about standing in there and being a man, getting hit right in the teeth and throwing it to our guys. He showed a lot of courage, but just the leadership he showed. I thought he took giant steps. Our team now knows that he is our quarterback. That he is our leader. After the first game, we won and everything, but in just his second game in two years - he is going to be something. He is going to be something when that fifth, sixth, seventh game rolls around. We just want to keep building on that. Those deep balls are going to come. We are going to keep working on that. We are going to get better on that.

Q: Do you wish you were playing another team beside Samford after last week?

A: We just can't take them like what you got through saying. That is the worst thing that you can do is to have that attitude. If you look around at Louisiana-Monroe and other teams, you can say the attitude is just a so-so opponent, and every Saturday there is a shocker that somebody beat somebody they weren't supposed to. That's the way the world is right now. Our approach is that we need to get better. It doesn't matter if we are playing the Green Bay Packers or Samford. We have to get better, and it starts this Saturday at six. We are about to head into the SEC, but the worst thing we can do is say, I wish we were playing Vanderbilt or wishing we were playing somebody else this week because that's not reality. The reality is we are playing Samford and they just scored 52 points on somebody. We have got to get better. We have to be better blockers, tacklers and a better football team this Saturday. That's the key.

Q: What did you say to the team after the game?

A: Our team right now, they are really enjoying playing football. That's number one. Number two, they were hurt. I want them to be hurt. We were all hurt. I told them that I was proud of themproud of their effort, proud of their fight. At any time in the third quarter when you have double interceptions and double turnovers, it's real easy to let go of the world, and say that's not going to happen today. Our guys didn't. The defense did a great job of holding them to three points and holding them at a certain time in the third quarter before this thing got out of hand. If we just scored one time in the third quarter, it's a different ball game. There's a lot of ways you can look at it, but just that Dexter play. If we don't get that holding call, we score. We would have had seven there. So, lots of ways you can look at it, but the bottom line is I told them to keep their heads up. I'm depending on them to be better the next time we play, and there is only one way to do that. You have to go back on the field. You have to go practice the right way. That was the biggest thing I told them.

Q: What is the update on Brandon Bolden and Peria Jerry?

A: Brandon Bolden got hit real good. He got welcomed to college football. He took some shots. He ran good. He was sore since he got beat up a little bit. Peria, he has more confidence now. After playing the amount of plays he played Saturday, he is going to be even better the next time he plays. He's coming. I'm just glad that he is out there. For the most part, we've been able to stay pretty healthy. I don't recall anyone missing yesterday except for one that has been hurt.

Q: What do you mean by simplification?

A: There may be something offensively and defensively where we aren't doing all these plays. Maybe just zero in and cut down just a little bit. Not to cut down on Jevan and the things he does, but just as far as some of these runsplay more physical, play faster. We want to get our running game going. We want to be a better running team to compliment our passing game. There's too many plays where they think, I think I'll go get this guy,' and I want to be on automatic pilot where we are going full speed and coming off the ball, knowing who we have and giving our backs a real chance.

Q: Talk about Patrick Trahan's improvements and performance.

A: He's getting better. His main problem was missing the summer and he just out of shape. It's a working process where he gets winded. You can tell that he's getting a lot better. He's a whole lot better today than what he was three weeks ago. I've been real proud of how far he has come. He is just a good, physical football player that just has to keep working on conditioning and learning the plays and fundamentals. Just keep coming because he's going to get more and more.

Q: Do you sense an impact from Trahan?

A: I know that he will be better this week compared to the last two weeks because of number one, condition, and he's starting to get a feel of what Coach Nix wants him to do as far as his package and the things he has to execute.

Q: What did you see from Bolden on tape when recruiting that made you want to keep him from the old staff?

A: The first thing I found out when we got here was what he was running in track. He was about 10.5 in the 100 meters. You can't hide those times. Anybody can say, I ran a 4.3 or a 4.4,' but when you go look at track times, those are legit. So when a guy looks the way he does physically, and you saw how physical he runs the ball, you know how fast he is it's a no-brainer. You have to have a guy like that. He's another guy that is going to get better. He gets down. He's hard on himself. He dropped a kick-off, which he normally doesn't. It means so much. He doesn't want to let the team down, and he wants to please everyone so bad and puts pressure on himself. You just have to turn him loose and play and relax. It's easier said than done, but he's getting a lot more than an average freshman. He's getting a good dose of college football. I've been proud of him.

Q: Were you surprised that the running game slowed down when Bolden left? Do you think that Cordera Eason struggling could have something to do with the offensive line?

A: I think it's a little bit of both. All that will work out. I think that these next couple of weeks, we will find out who our guy is going to be. Right now, we are still feeling things out. They have been told that no matter who we hand that ball to, no matter who is in there, you have to go. You have to run like you are breaking glass, be physical, hang on to it. Sometimes you have to BYOB: be your own blocker. You can't just find a place to fall down. You have to go. Again, I just feel that the offensive line can do better. The backs can do better. That will be interesting, though, to see how that plays out.

Q: What is the update on Greg Hardy?

A: I didn't get one today, but he's probably a couple of weeks out. I know he's getting better. He's in the pool running.

Q: Are you getting what you want from the front seven on defense?

A: For the most part, they have been playing very hard. Marcus Tillman has been real steady. Emmanuel Stephens plays hard along with Lawon Scott. When you lose three starters right from the start that have some experience, Ted Laurent, Peria Jerry and Hardy, you are losing three experienced, tough, SEC guys. That makes it hard. So they probably aren't on that level. So, are we getting what we want? Well, we got the best that we have here, and again, we want to keep getting better. These guys are playing hard, but we just have to keep working and hopefully get everybody better and get everybody back.

Q: Did you get what you wanted from the offensive line as far as protection?

A: Protection was the best thing we did Saturday. Those guys did a great job with twists, stunts, backers blitzing. Michael Oher did a good job. John Jerry did a good job. Daverin Geralds, Maurice Miller. Jevan did a good job of escaping problems and making things happen. That helps when you've got a quarterback that can do that. If you go back and look, most are at 84 percent as far as pass protection. That's pretty good for as many times as we threw the ball. Jevan had time to throw, especially in three wide out, four wide out sets. He really had time to see the field. You saw the results when he has time. He is accurate when he throws it where it is supposed to be thrown.

Q: What kind of leader is Jamarca Sanford on defense? What have you seen from him?

A: Jamarca Sanford has probably been our most vocal leader on defense since Peria has been out. What a solid tackler. Really comes up and squares up, puts that helmet in there, looks them right in the eye. He just tackles so solid. He really was probably our best blitzer Saturday. He put the most pressure on those last two or three plays, and the reason he had to get rid of it was because of Jamarca. He's been a real leader. That's the reason the team voted him captain. He's really admired and looked up to, and we will need his leadership even more in the next couple of weeks.

Q: Did you think Jevan was eyeing one receiver when he looked down the field?

A: For the most part, he looked right down where he is supposed to lookone, two, three. For his second ball game in two years, I just thought he was spectacular. The play-action fake, drop back, quick gain, escape problems, to be able to take a play-action fake and know you are going to get hit right in the rib cage and get in there and throw the ball to Dexter McCluster, Shay Hodgehe's very, very good. He's going through a progression. His reads were very good, except for the two or three times he got in trouble and he will tell you which two or three plays those were. One of them was the interception and that was a pre-snap read. I don't ever see him zeroing in on one receiver. I see him going through his progression. Coach Austin has done a great job of teaching. Jevan is only going to get better. You see those couple of plays where he drops it down to Cordera. A lot of quarterbacks will try to get it down the field. The play calls to get it to the receivers down the field. That's the third choice. So he had two or three of those.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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