Grove Bowl Postgame Quotes

LANE KIFFIN

Opening Statement:
"First off, we stayed healthy today, which is always the main goal in a spring game. You know having a season of COVID I just wanted to make it as funs as possible for players and fans that maybe didn't have an opportunity to come. It seemed like the guys had fun."

"Matt played well with the top three receivers, that was good to see. The defense has some turnovers and played really well at times. It was a cool day. It was really cool that baseball had the bug comeback win right before we started, and it was neat that it happened to be on when we were warming up."

On Kinkead Dent and Luke Altmyer:
"They didn't have the top guys when they were in there which makes a difference for anybody, so we'll watch the film on that. They made a few plays in there and had a few times where a receiver should've made a play that would've helped them statistically."

On players being out this spring:
"I think once you lose top players and obviously that filters through your depth chart that leaves you with some twos that are really threes or fours. We didn't have as many defensive guys out and I think you saw that more when it was twos vs. twos."

On Braylon Sanders and Matt Corral:
"I thought Braylon, when he was healthy, played really great. In that LSU game he was really hot, and I think is average yards per catch was one of the top in the country so it was just good to see him make plays and he needs to stay healthy so he can have a big year."

On the Party in the 'Sip:
"Our guys had fun. They had a good time before and trying to make it fun. I thought the pregame stuff was pretty cool and the coaches got into it dressing up and all that. If I was watching, I'd say that's a fun place to go and I'd go there."

On defensive play:
"It's kind of a weird game because things are mixed and it's not just ones and two so it's hard to evaluate that way. And those top receivers we weren't supposed to tackle so that probably made it a little harder to cover them. I look at the spring at the whole and think we are much improved on defense."

On Tysheem Johnson:
"He's really unique and doesn't seem like a young kid. From day one when he got here, very mature and a really good sense of viewing what's going on around him. I think he'll be one of many freshmen that play for us."

On portraying a fun image to recruits:
"Again, the most important thing is the product you put on the field in the end. The other stuff is good, so that's why we try and be creative with it. If we can go out and play really well, that will help more than anything."

On accomplishing goals from this spring:
"I think the goals of playing a lot of players on defense and creating competition, playing better over there we definitely did. Our goal will be getting a lot of these guys healthy who missed spring and fall should be very competitive after that."

JACQUEZ JONES

On how the defense has progressed:
"I feel like we did a great job on both sides. It was kind of a one-sided affair with the spring game, at the end of the day through the whole spring I feel like the defense made a major step. The blue squad took it today, but I feel like with the red squad we know what we can do. I feel like we've taken a major step, but we can keep on improving this summer."

On where specifically the defense has improved:
"Really just the standard that we implemented in January and we just took off with that. Like I said earlier we got the standard posted in our locker. Everyday coach Durkin reminds us that we can't drop off. We said we wanted to be one of the top defenses in the nation, and we got to live by that day in and day out."

On the offense receiving attention:
"It does give us a (chip on our shoulder), a lot of people foreshadow our defense. We weren't that good last year, we're not afraid to say it but this year we're going to definetly be turning a lot of heads."

On adding depth:
"It's going to make a big difference because we really don't have a drop off. As you can see today, we had the one defense and the two defense, and you couldn't really tell the drop off. I feel like adding the depth is going to keep us fresh for all four quarters."

On the party aspect of the spring game:
"I like the atmosphere; I thank the fans for staying out there in the rain. If it was me and it was raining, I would have gone to the house. Them staying out and actually staying until the end of the game, it was big."

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Luke Altmyer

Matt Corral

Kinkead Dent

Tysheem Johnson

Braylon Sanders

The University of Mississippi Athletics