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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Houston Nutt Press Conference: 11.01
11/1/2010 | Football
Nov. 1, 2010
Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt met with the media on Monday and discussed the Rebels' upcoming Homecoming week matchup against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Opening Comments:
"We had an outstanding crowd Saturday. I want to thank our fans and our students. The atmosphere was outstanding and I hate that we couldn't hand them a victory. From the video boards to everything else when you walked in there, the place was rocking. We had a lot of outstanding recruits and families here this weekend and they kept commenting on it. They kept talking about the atmosphere. It was a big time college atmosphere and I appreciate that. We never expected to be in this position in November. We had different plans. One thing you can't control is injuries. Now we have to look at young guys and tell them its time to play. I'm not trying to make excuses, but the message to our players and coaches now is to realize that we have a chance. We all can't stand losing, and I never want our guys to get used to that. It is unacceptable. We have to fight and really reach down deep. We are better tacklers than that. We have to be. That was our seventh different offensive line to start on Saturday. I like their fight and how competitive they were. We have to keep finding ways to score. We have to be better on our kickoff team. It really breaks your spirit when they bring one back like they did. It is such a cheap way to score. We can't allow that to happen. That is our fault and we have to get that corrected. I like the way they came back on Sunday. As we turn the corner into November, there is still a lot left to play for. When you look at our league its very tough. It is the most competitive league in America, especially on the Western side. Every play and every series, you have to be at your highest level. There is no drop off. We are calling on our seniors and calling on everybody. There are only about 20 practices left and we have to decide what we are going to make out of our season. We all had different plans up to this point, but this is reality and all we can do now is change it. That's where we are. We are excited about Homecoming week. We need our crowd back in there again. I cannot tell you how important great atmosphere is. We couldn't have planned it any better to score first this past weekend. We have to build on that and get better."
On continuing to play hard in November:
"I don't know if there is any magic, but it is easy to play the blame game. What we try to tell our guys on Sundays is that there is enough blame for everybody. I have seen teams fall apart. We try to harp on staying together and continuing to fight. The reason football is the greatest game in the world is because there are so many life lessons and things to learn. The biggest thing is to stay together, keep fighting, and keep getting better. We have always been in good condition. We are in good shape, except for the injuries that keep occurring. We can't control the injuries. We tell them to go full speed and they do. The last few years we had very few injuries, but this year is different. We always tell them that they are a play away. They truly are a play away when we are down to our fourth-string defensive end. Staying ready and staying together are the main things we concentrate on."
On taking any young player's redshirts away:
"We are going to try to stay away from that. I hate to take a young guys redshirt away unless it is absolutely necessary. We will continue playing the guys that we have been playing. We got good news on Jonathan Cornell. His MRI came back negative so that is positive for us. Gerald Rivers has a high ankle sprain so he will be slow going for a while. He probably won't be ready Saturday. The ones that have been playing like Carlos Thompson and Brishen Matthews, will continue playing."
On facing defensive adversity:
"I always tell our coaches to look to us to be their leaders, even through the negativity that they may hear outside of this building. They need to know that they have coaches that believe in them. The thing that is disappointing is that I know we are better tacklers. We can line up better. Those little things that we are so accustomed to doing just right have to be there again. We can't have false steps. We can't make excuses. I want to give Auburn credit. They are a good football team. I think we helped them in a couple areas though to make them look better. We want to correct that and always be at our best. As long as they give me their best, take coaching, and execute our plan, that is what we look for. It hurts to be at this point when we planned on a different record at this time. We wanted to be at 7-1, 6-2, or 5-3 at the worst. The bottom line is that it hasn't fallen that way. As a coach everyone looks to you. We have to do our best coaching job in November because that is what people remember."
On hope for the young offensive line:
"If you look at Auburn's offensive line, that is the same group we tossed around with Peria Jerry. That is the group that [Tommy] Tuberville put our there as redshirt freshmen and now they are seniors. We are going to have a group like that. This group is going to be very good. They are holding their own and fighting. They are finding holes, getting good pushes and helping our backs. It helps to have Jeremiah Masoli because he knows how to get rid of the football and make quick decisions. He is an experienced guy and that really helps. Our receivers are coming on and I am really proud of them. Markeith [Summers] has played hard the last two week. We got onto him after the Alabama game and he has responded. I have been really proud of them. I think it says a lot about our offensive line. We knew this would be our most challenging year. These are the guys that we signed, besides Bradley Sowell, and I have been really proud of them. Our new centers Evan Swindall and A.J. Hawkins have been good. It is hard, but they are fighting, competing and giving us a chance."
On looking for speed in next years recruiting class:
"It is the first thing that hit us is realizing that we have to be faster, especially in the secondary. We lose Johnny Brown and Fon Ingram. We have to be faster. Jeff Scott helps us by doing things like taking the ball for an 83-yard run against the number one team in the country. That rarely happens, but he runs a 10.3 [100-meter time]. He is fast, and we have to have quickness on both sides of the ball. That will be a priority."
On Jeff Scott:
"We knew that he was tough when we recruited him. There are a lot of guys who say they can run a 4.4, but when they get here they run more like a 4.6. The thing about a guy that runs track is that you cannot hide their times. He was a legitimate 10.3 100-meter dash runner. He ran 10.4 and 10.5 numerous times. We knew he had speed and acceleration. When he got here we found that he was tough. He has to learn the intensity, how to practice, and the speed of the game. Once he got into it and got his plays down, his confidence took off. I was proudest of him at Alabama. Away from home and in that atmosphere, guys tend to slow down, but he sped up. That to me is exciting. As a freshman he is making plays and is exciting."
On Damien Jackson:
"He practiced a little bit Sunday and was much better. I am expecting him to be able to go on Saturday. His MRI was negative so that is positive. We need him back."
On Louisiana-Lafayette:
"They are very athletic. Defensively, they will throw the house at you. They come with weak corner fires, safety fires and blitzes all day. They run around. They jumped onto Oklahoma State and played them very competitively. They have a good group. Offensively, they have a very good tight end. He can run, catch, and will be one of the most athletic tight ends we will see all year. They have big receivers, so we have to do a good job against those guys. They also have a good skate back. It is always difficult to play three top 15 caliber teams in a row and them jump out of conference. Our mindset has to be right. We have to be ready to go. We need to be ready for Homecoming. November is a very important month and we have to be ready."
