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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Houston Nutt Press Conference: 11.08
11/8/2010 | Football
Nov. 8, 2010
Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt met with the media on Monday and discussed the Rebels' homecoming win over Louisiana-Lafayette and upcoming game at Tennessee.
Opening Comments:
"We had a good start yesterday. We are in the middle of game planning and can't wait to get back on the field. Tennessee plays hard every game. Every game you watch, they play extremely hard and do a good job. We can't wait to get everyone out there tomorrow and we'll know for sure about our guys that are injured. From there we will get ready to go."
On playing Tennessee:
"I think its no secret that they're a lot like us. There are still bowl possibilities for both teams. There is a lot to play for. It's about how you finish in November. We will have their best, there is no doubt in my mind, and we are going to give them our best."
On Bryson Rose:
"Joe Pate at North Carolina State referred Bryson Rose to me. He let me know that he was a very talented high school kicker and that there was interest on his part in taking a look at him. Once he got here, we found that he is a fine young man with a great work ethic. We told him that it would be a while before we could put him on scholarship. We always try to keep a deep snapper on scholarship, and a guy who punts and kicks on scholarship. I never thought he would be so consistent. He has done an excellent job for us."
On Masoli's condition:
"We still don't know yet about Jeremiah. They are going to do some more tests today and tomorrow. Concussions are looked at differently now. Hopefully he will be ok, its just not one hundred percent sure yet.
On Tennessee's Tyler Bray:
"He has a very strong and accurate arm. He has made some big throws for them and has some good receivers. He has gotten better each time he has taken the field."
On Mike Marry:
"Mike Marry for his first start was outstanding. I am very proud of him for how hard he played. He is young, but he is having to grow up in a hurry. We have always felt that he was going to be a good football player for us. He is physical and loves contact. Now, as we are putting him into the scheme of things he is starting to realize what he's meant to do. He always knew how to go tackle the guy with the ball, but there is a lot more to it than that. He wasn't playing slow and he wasn't trying to analyze everything. He was playing with a lot of instinct. Tyrone Nix had him ready to go. It was good to see. In a first start you never know how young guys are going to react, but he did some good things. He is a physical player and we are excited about Mike."
On concussions policies and treatment:
"It depends on how far you go back, but when I played, they gave you a couple of aspirin and sent you back onto the field. It is much different now. Even in the 1980s I don't remember the full attention to detail with concussions as we have now. Things are much different, much more tested, and much more thorough. You can't go back to practice the next day. It does not work that way anymore. Jeremiah couldn't practice on Sunday. I cannot give an exact timeline, I just know that now it is much different than it used to be."
On Jonathan Cornell, Jason Jones, and D.T. Shackelford:
"It is good to see Cornell back at practice. D.T. and Jason were both very athletic, and D.T. brought a lot of energy. He played about 48 snaps and made some things happen. D.T. is outstanding and valuable because he was at linebacker, but because of injuries up front we had to move him down. He's fighting hard and adding pressure on the tackles and ends. He is quick. We felt like the first time we started blitzing that he was our best blitzer. He was the best guy to put the pressure on. We saw that from the linebacker spot. We want to keep him going from there. Jason Jones did the same thing. He's around the ball. He got fumble recoveries against Tulane and Auburn. He's doing some good things. I'm excited about them."
On Bobby Massie:
"In the last three weeks his practice habits have picked up. He is intense and finishing blocks. He is our best lineman right now. His hard work in practice is showing up now. He takes it to the game and things are slowing down for him. Last year at this time he was still trying to figure things out. His work ethic is the key. That is why he's gotten better. He is a good practice player and takes it to the field. He has been protecting better and has been working hard."
On differences in Tennessee this season:
"There are some differences. Several of their players are back from last year. They have some guys that can run, including Chris Walker on defense. He is a very good defensive end. Every team has one or two that are so athletic, and he is one of those guys. LaMarcus Thompson, Herman Lathers and Janzen Jackson really show up as well. They are more different on defense this year."
On Gerald Rivers:
"He just got back Sunday. He had been out of the loop a little bit, but I hope we can get him going and get him in the rotation. He just got back for his first day yesterday."
On gearing the offense towards Nathan Stanley:
"Saturday night, we had to go back a little more to the things that he does best. The "bread and butter" play action pass, drop backs and more handoffs under center are his game. We have to do what is best for our offense when Jeremiah is not there. We will spend part of the practice doing that and have that ready to go."
On the play where Masoli suffered his concussion:
"He was scrambling to the goal line and he scored a touchdown. It was right there at the end and he tried to dive over the white line. I wish he wouldn't do that, but that is the way he is built and that is the way he thinks. As he crossed the goal line he went helmet-to-helmet with their safety and it was a really good hit. He got up fine, but Coach Dave Rader knew instantly that he needed to be checked out. I didn't see it from my angle, but he saw the hit and said we needed to go check him out. He [Jeremiah] did not know that he had scored, so from that point he didn't know where he was. The training staff had a conversation with him and asked him questions about himself. They knew that he couldn't go back in. In the fourth quarter he remembered that he had scored, remembered his birthday and wanted to go back into the ball game."
On confidence in the running game:
"Louisiana played hard. I think we improved, but we are not jumping up and down thinking that everything is right. We will play a much more athletic team jumping back into the SEC. You have to hold your blocks longer. Everybody has to finish like Bobbie Massie. We have to keep working and keep getting better."
