Postgame Quotes

Ole Miss Head Coach Houston Nutt

Opening Statement

"The best thing about today was that we didn't get anybody hurt. That's the main thing. We finished strong. I thought we had a very good spring. We got better. This is always a good time because you're not in a rush for a gameplan for each week. To be able to help young guys like Jason Jones, like Devin Thomas, that have been here for a year on scout team, they've had a chance to grow up a little more. There's just a lot of good things that happened this spring, there's just some things that concerned me that we have to get better at. The number one thing is depth in the offensive line. The guys that are here have got to get bigger and stronger in that second line. We'll address that tomorrow. We'll have a team meeting tomorrow, then I'll meet with each individual player. It was a good spring. I thought the guys went out there and had fun but with a business-like manner. I thought we improved for the most part."

Were there any major surprises today?

"I thought Ferbia Allen and Mark Jean-Louis, a couple of guys like that, who I thought wouldn't be where they are today. What that means is they took 15 practices and did something with it. That's what it's about. Lionel Breaux continues to improve, as well as Andrew Harris. The receivers was another area; we're not real deep there. You have Shay Hodge and Dexter McCluster with experience, but I thought those younger guys kept coming. That's important."

On Andrew Harris' consistency

"The last two weeks have been excellent. The first two weeks, not very good. That's what we're trying to get across to him is to make sure that he's consistent. He's physical enough, tough enough, he's a good blocker. Be consistent. On and off the field, from homework to blocking your man the whole bit."

On the Jevan Snead's efficiency and comfort level

"From this time right now to last year, is just getting out of the huddle, the command he has. If you heard him call the plays this year, it's just so much different than it was last year. There's a real confidence, a real command in the huddle. He's been around this playbook for a year, and he's just gotten better. I thought he really threw the ball well today."

On dividing the Red and Blue teams

"We put all the one's on one side. We wanted to finish out the right way because they've been practicing together. Because we're so thin, it's been tough to have a draft and divide them up evenly and keep it really fair. Not that it was fair today, but what I love to do is keep the teams together."

On Nathan Stanley and Billy Tapp

"I'm glad we've got both of them. They did very well this spring. The thing about Nathan is that he can throw every ball the deep one, the intermediate, the touch. I think he has escapability. He's just got to learn to read defenses a little bit better, but I think that's coming. He's improved the last seven or eight days. The thing that stands out is he can throw the ball and help you win a game."

Offensive Player Quotes

Devin Thomas

On his performance...

"I felt I had a pretty good day. I had a long run, and it felt like the old days back in high school. I was pretty excited."

On spring practices...

"I have been working hard ever since the beginning of last year, and I knew coming into the spring that if I wanted to play that I had to go hard every day and be consistent like Coach Nutt always says. I just have to try to find my role on the team."

On the screws in his foot and its effect on his running...

"It did at first, but my ankle is starting to get used to it. I am getting to used to the plate and seven screws I have in my ankle. It affected me last year, especially when it got cold because you always feel it in your foot. It is getting better now."

Jevan Snead

On his performance...

"I felt pretty good, and overall I felt the team did pretty great. We had some young guys who have been working really hard this spring, and I thought they stepped up and did a great job."

On Bradley Sowell at left tackle...

"I think he is doing a great job. He has been working hard all spring. Him and Rishaw (Johnson) both have really been working hard, and I thought they stepped up today and just grew."

On his comfort level on this year from last year...

"I think a lot of that has to do with my experience and being around the offense for a year. It is easy to be comfortable out there when you have such athletes around you. All the receivers have really stepped up and done a great job this spring. It's easy when you're playing with guys like that."

On the team's receivers...

"From last spring to this spring they have made huge gains, just as the whole offense has and the whole team. They have done a really good job throughout the spring working hard and just learning the offense and becoming a big part of it."

Defensive Player Quotes

Kentrell Lockett

On today's game

"Things went fine. They were kind of slow at times, but it was what you expect in a spring game. We just really had a lot of players out there that we wanted to see how they were going to do under pressure, in a real game situation. I think it went great."

On the spring overall

"There was big play from everybody. Everybody stepped their game up. Everybody who was expected to step up, stepped up. Coaches were impressed and I was impressed by a couple players too - Jason Jones, Gerald Rivers, Justin Smith and Derrick Hermann. All in all it was a group effort. Everyone stepped up their game and got better."

On differences from last spring and this

"Now, it is just we have a bull's-eye on our back. We have to come out and play. We are expected to be between the No. 5 and No. 10 team in the nation. So we've got to come out and perform and prepare really well. That's what people expect of us."

Patrick Trahan

On the strength of the defense

"I think it's a mix between speed and (being) physical because our defensive line is one of our strengths and our linebackers are too. We're really just bringing it from every position."

On looking forward to the summer

"I'm just going to get back into the weight room and turn it on for the summer. I'm looking forward to the fall and I'm starting to count down the days."

On what he needs to work on in the offseason

"I'm going to talk to coach and see how he evaluated my spring. Whatever he tells me I need to get better on, I'm going to make that an emphasis for this offseason."

On facing the offense every day in practice

"It's competition. We all talk in the locker room. It's all in good fun, but when we get out there on the field we try to bring it out of each other."

On his spring performance

"I really wanted to come in and step up my play. I'm not saying that I'm done. There's a lot of improvement that I still need to make right this summer."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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