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Sports/Dale McKee
Hey, I am Dale McKee. I have been a sportswriter since 1973 when the Leader-Call hired me from the five and dime store on Central Avenue called S.H. Kress when I was a college student. I did finish college from Southern Miss in 1974 and also attained a Masteršs from William Carey in 1978. I have worked part-time for the newspaper for the last five years although I have written for the Leader-Call for many years when I was needed. I retired from my full time job of 28 years- Post Office- in 2005.
Sports is the second love in my life behind my wonderful wife Teresa of 27 years. She teaches tenth grade English at Wayne County High School. She also taught at R.H.Watkins for many years. She has taught school for 22 years and has been named Teacher of the Year at Laurel and Wayne County High School. We have two sons Derek (25) and Brett (22). Derek was on the 2002 Houston Bowl team at USM and he graduated from USM last year. Derek played quarterback on the 2000 Heidelberg Academy state championship football team and also played on the 2001 Rebel state baseball championship team. He works for Weatherford Oil in Houston, Texas in their home office. My youngest son Brett is in the Marines and stationed in San Diego. Brett played on the Heidelberg Academy 2000 state championship team and then transferred to Wayne County where he played tight end on the first WC state championship team- the 2002 5-A team. Both of the boys have very lovely wives. I have lived in the Beat Four Community of Wayne County for the past 13 years. Before that I lived in Laurel for 25 years where I enjoyed coaching the Laurel Broncos in football and basketball and coaching summer league baseball I grew up an Ole Miss football fan in the late 1950šs and still like the Rebels and also support USM. I have supported the Saints and Braves for many a year. In my youth I liked Johnny U and the Baltimore Colts and also liked Brooks Robinson and the Orioles. In the old AFL I was a big Lenny Dawson and KC Chief fan. At World Series time I always supported the Yankees as a youth. Casey, Yogi, Whitey, and Mickey were the reason.
Ole Miss Media Day Quotes
COACH HOUSTON NUTT
COACH NUTT: Thank you. I'm privileged to be here. Going into my 11th season in the SEC. Very excited to be the head coach at Ole Miss University. We've had a good transition so far. It seems like we've been there a long time already. But we're excited. Our families, our coaches, we're all moved and we're into it. It's hard to believe it's 37, 38 days away and here we go again in the toughest conference in America. So I'm excited and ready to go. Ready for questions.
Q. Could you tell me what your impressions of Michael Oher were before you came to Ole Miss, and what are they now that you have him as a member of your team?
COACH NUTT: Michael Oher, Danny, my brother, was recruiting him at the time when he was attending Briarcrest High School. The first time we saw Michael was on a basketball court. Big ol’ guy, was so athletic, so fluid. Didn't get much of a shot at him. Now being with him for the last few months, I tell you, when you see him, you'll see he's in tremendous shape, really committed and probably one of our best signees, really, when you look at him, because we had to go re recruit him. I tell you, he is totally committed, worked really hard. He's been a leader for us. That's why he's here with us today. I'm very proud of Michael. Boy, I tell you, he brings a lot to the table for our football team. We want him to be a little bit more dominant, a little bit more physical. But he has everything. He has all the tools, has the attitude. I really think he's gonna have an excellent year for us. I'm excited about Michael.
Q. As someone who was at Arkansas for a good long while, now at Ole Miss, is there something invigorating about starting fresh? Has it surprised you in any way, the impact it's had?
COACH NUTT: It has. I tell you, from the moment Diana and I and Haven, we walked in the Ford Theater in Oxford, Mississippi, I really thought the press conference was going to be basically a room full of just press, print media. But to walk in the Ford Theater and have 1500 people, then later find out that 500, 600 people were turned away, I can't tell you how we felt that day. That was a day full of goosebumps, just reenergized us from that moment forward. Then you go into the meeting with the players, you see that hunger again, to see how they embraced our coaching staff, it excites you, motivates you. It makes you want to please. It makes you want to work a little bit harder. So it's just been an excellent transition. You're exactly right. There's something about being reenergized with new names, new problems, new street numbers, the whole bit.
Q. Coach Saban talked a little bit about expectations and said that we as members of the media probably look at them a little bit too much. He prefers not to look at them. There's been a lot of talk about you going to Ole Miss and the expectations that fans have for you and the program. Is that necessarily good or bad that a lot of people look at you coming to Ole Miss saying, Coach Nutt is the man for us, he's going to bring us an SEC championship?
COACH NUTT: Well, I think it's good. I think it's good because I'm proud that they wanted us in their family. They see something there. What's more important, that the players, they feel the same way. You can see that by their attitude. So I think it's a good thing. You know, to go in with no expectations or low expectations to me doesn't do much for me. I mean, you want to set that level high. When you walk into a room, in my very first meeting, when you walk into a room, you ask how many of y'all have been to a Bowl game, not one student athlete can say, I've been to a Bowl game. To me that motivates me. That excites me. You want to take them where they can't go by themselves. You want your staff to take them where they can't go by themselves. That's what coaching to me is all about, trying to make a difference in a young person's life, taking them to the next level, to make them a better person, better father, better husband, on and on. Expectations, those things don't bother me.
Q. Four coaches now in the league that are coaching at a different SEC school than the previous one they coached at. All four of them have to play their former school every year. I know it's only one week out of the year, but do you plan to talk to the other three guys, get some advice on how to handle that week, the obvious overkill that comes with it?COACH NUTT: No, probably won't. We have a lot of football before that game takes place. The only thing on my mind right now is Memphis. All our coaches and players should be focused on one game. That game has always been very, very tough, always close. So I think it's really wasted energy. I don't think there's too many coaches that can help me with a place that I've been to and raised, where I'm from. I've been there a long, long time, and understand what goes on there. So I'm just really more focused on the very first game, getting our players ready.
Q. Could you talk a little bit about Kent Austin, why you like him?
COACH NUTT: Kent Austin, first of all, is just an incredible person, with great character. He won a championship in the CFL. But first and foremost, he played quarterback. He played quarterback at Ole Miss. Tremendous teacher. I think one of the things that to me you don't see as much anymore is the teaching of fundamentals. From the way you get up under the center, the way you place your hands, the first step, the throwing motion, he can critique all of those things. Fundamentally very sound. Great chemistry with our staff, other staff members. Tremendous knowledge in the passing game. So I'm excited about Kent being an Ole Miss alumni, great family guy. But, boy, what a winner and a great quarterback coach.
Q. You've been at Ole Miss eight or nine months. Is it still surreal as you switch teams in the same conference or have you gotten used to it at this point?
COACH NUTT: I've had that question asked about three times already. You know, it feels like I've been here a long time. It's the way I feel right now. Again, I think because of the transition, it's been so smooth. I realize we haven't played a game yet. I understand that. But this was a good move, I think, for our coaches' families. You feel that way. You feel the players feel that way. So I just feel like I've been here a while. I know we haven't played a game yet. But you just feel good about it.
Q. Your predecessor was supposed to be renowned for how good a recruiter he was. Have you found in your time there that the talent that you've inherited might be better than what you probably had left at Arkansas? As far as this season's concerned, do you like the way the schedule sets up to maybe build something with this team?
COACH NUTT: I think Ed did an excellent job of recruiting. There's some holes at some different spots, different positions. There's a lot of players that didn't quite always make it to campus. But if you look at Greg Hardy, Michael Oher, Peria Jerry, you look at those players, look at the receivers: Michael Wallace, Shay Hodge, Lionel Breaux, Dexter McCluster, boy, there's spots of I just feel like tremendous athleticism. Boy, that really excites you. My whole problem is you have a group of guys, again, that had very little success the last three, four years, and they haven't experienced a Bowl game. They didn't experience winning an SEC game last year. So those are the obstacles that we're trying to really work hard with. As far as the schedule, I don't have anything to do with it. That's the schedule. I really like our schedule. I like our schedule, especially starting out at home. We got some good home games. Then you got some very tough road games. We all know, hey, once you've been in the SEC, you grow numb to it. Every single Saturday, two chin straps, buckle up. It's going to be a full day for three hours. Anybody can beat anybody.
Q. When you first came into the league in the late '90s, the conference was in a middle of a span where it was basically Florida and Tennessee rotating winning the title. Now it's known as a league that is extremely deep. What do you think some of the factors that have gone into the conference's rise to its current state?
COACH NUTT: I tell you, I think it's excellent coaching, tremendous athletes. I think you look at the athletic directors, the chancellors, the tools they've given us, the facilities. It's the greatest conference in America. NFL, they seem to come to SEC first. You look at that and you just look at the atmosphere. You look at the pageantry, the tailgating, the stadiums that are full every Saturday. It's just a tremendous, tremendous conference. I think there's nine or ten teams that can win a championship in our league. I really mean that. If you just look from top to bottom, just look at the athletes, nine or ten teams easily could win our league. You don't ever know. That's what makes the conference so great. It's a lot of great talent, good coaching, great football. A lot of exposure. A lot of people here today. So I think that's the recipe. It all adds up into just a great Saturday afternoon.
Q. Talk about what you see in Jevan Snead and maybe the pitfalls of being the first time starter at quarterback in the SEC?
COACH NUTT: Jevan Snead brings a lot to our team. I think he's highly intelligent. He works extremely hard. I love his leadership. That's where you start. I love his decision making. He makes great decisions. Has a strong arm. Very, very accurate. So he has all the qualities you need to be a quarterback. But you hit on something that's important. He hasn't played in a while. Hasn't played. He's done scout team last year. He had 15 practices this spring. So he hadn't played in a while. You're hoping he can just take right back up where he left off, but more importantly, you're hoping that supporting cast, that defense, receivers, tight ends, backs, will be able to take some things off of him. But overall you just love him under the center. You love him with the ball in his hands because of his decision making, first and foremost. So I'm excited about Jevan.
Q. Just wanted to get your opinion on a couple of hot button issues in college football. One, the idea of instituting the early signing period in recruiting, if you'd be in favor of that, and if so, how early would you like to see it? Also, your current stance on the plus one format that's been discussed or if you like the BCS status quo?
COACH NUTT: Early signing date, we talked about it in Destin. The way it was presented to us, we liked the early signing date if there's not an extra contact period, if there's not gonna be a prolonged recruiting time. What we're basically talking about is people that say, You know what, I've been to your campus unofficially. I've been there possibly more than one time. I know where I'm going to school. I'm coming to your place. I think that's wonderful. Sign an early signing date, it's done. And you don't worry about it. There's no, Well, it was a soft verbal and now I'm rethinking things. You know it's done. He's locked up. He's ready to come. That's the way the presentation was presented to the coaches, and you feel good about that, of that early signing date. But extending some time or extending another visit in May, you get into all that, well, I don't like that. Whenever the date was, I'm not sure when the date was, sometime right after the season, November, December, after December I think was the date that we discussed in Destin, that we all voted for, is the one that we'd like. What was the other part of the question?
Q. BCS.
COACH NUTT: Yeah, the BCS, plus one, I love Bowls. I've been a Bowl guy all my life. I love Bowls. The plus one, as long as you keep the Bowls, that's fine. But I go back to I love Bowl games. I love Bowl games. Love Bowl games. That's the reward. A lot of people can be happy during a very, very tough year, in a tough conference. But the final four or eight, I don't see how you can do that with finals and all the things you have to do to keep things normal, as normal as possible. Plus one, maybe. But I'm for the Bowls.
Q. In recruiting, most go out with the parameters of height and weight at different positions, what you're looking for. How strict are you with those and what does it take to go outside of that when you're looking at a kid?
COACH NUTT: In recruiting?
Q. Yes.
COACH NUTT: First of all, I want to start with, I love our location, where we're located. Got a lot of athletes starting in Mississippi. We've always been one to look a little bit past the five star rating or four star, three star, two star. Doesn't matter to me. That doesn't matter to our coaches. We pick the players. It's the person. It's the character and speed, the difference maker. You know, there's a lot of recruiting services out there. But I think it's how your team, your coaches evaluate. I think that's key. Jamal Anderson was a tremendous example for us at Arkansas. Probably a two star maybe. Played wide receiver. Eighth pick defensive end, first round. That's just one example. There's a lot of examples like that. So to answer your question, boy, you do your homework, you do your homework, you do your homework. You study. I think you've got to go further than the film, further than a book that says he's a five star or a four star. You got to see him run and jump, play basketball, run track. You gotta go further than that. You gotta see him play basketball, run track. You gotta see something in person, live and in color, and then you make your character references and all those things, and you add it all up and you pick your people your that best fit Ole Miss.
Q. Will Jerrell Powe ever play a down of football at Ole Miss?
COACH NUTT: I hope so. I hope so. I don't know. We're still waiting, just like y'all. Hopefully. I'm anxious to see if this guy can play. I've been told that he can. I don't know. But I'm like everybody else: we're just waiting.
Q. Do you have the kind of runningbacks there at Ole Miss? I know you don't have McFadden and Jones, but talk about the runningbacks you have, what kind of running game you can have without Green Ellis leaving?
COACH NUTT: Cordera Eason, Derrick Davis, two guys, they had a good spring. They're gonna get a lot of competition from three freshmen, Devin Thomas, Brandon Bolden, and Enrique Davis. I'm excited about Cordera, how far he came in a short period of time. He really improved each day. I really think with our offensive line, we can have a very physical running attack. Hopefully we'll be able to get better and take off right where we left in spring. I mentioned Derrick Davis, probably not the speed, as fast as Cordera. But what you love is the three guys that are coming in that are very, very, very fast, very exciting. There's nothing like competition.
Q. Can you talk about the impact of Tyrone Nix since he's arrived on campus, and also the impact he'll have once the season starts defensively?
COACH NUTT: Tyrone to me is such an excellent defensive coordinator because of his passion, because of his energy. It's very contagious. You look at him, he still looks like a linebacker. Boy, he gives it to his players. I've known Tyrone since Southern Miss days. His teams play hard and they play with a passion. They play just the way he played. And there's only one way: it's all out. That's what you love about him. You could just see in the spring how they were really our players were buying in. Sometimes change is always hard. New terminology, new coach, new style. Boy, there was really a very smooth transition. That credit goes to Tyrone. If you talk to him, you listen to him as he addresses the team, as you see him work on the field as a grass coach, I mean, he is fiery, he's exciting, and he's a teacher. He's a teacher. He can move and persuade. That's what it's about. He is outstanding. Glad he's on our team.
Q. You mentioned the great coaches in this league. What do you think about Bobby Petrino joining the SEC West, your thoughts about going in there and playing the Razorbacks in October?
COACH NUTT: You know, I don't know Bobby that well. I've seen his work from afar. I know he's done a great job at Louisville. I was really impressed with the run he made there. I've known some coaches that coached with him at Jacksonville, Jacksonville Jaguars. So there's a respect there. You know, he's done an excellent job wherever he's been. We actually played against each other when I was the head coach at Boise State. He was an offensive coordinator at Utah State. I knew a little bit about the things that Bobby was doing. So he's very, very good. Again, it goes back to you know, October 25th is a long ways away. We have a lot of work before we get to that point.
Q. You don't have any thoughts about going back and playing (indiscernible)?
COACH NUTT: You can't help but think about it. You grew up in Arkansas. You thought at one time you'd be there for life. I had 10 great years of experience there working with some great people. We won three titles. Two of them went to Atlanta. Very close against Florida, winning that ballgame. So we had some great days, great times there. You can't help but think what it's gonna be like coming in from the visitor side. But quickly my mind goes back to Memphis.
Q. What is your opinion of the current overtime rules in college football? Would you change anything?
COACH NUTT: I wouldn't change a thing. I love overtime and I love the way it's set up. Really ever since Murray State, we've had some awfully good experiences and good success in overtime. I know a lot of people would want it a little bit more like the NFL, where you actually play the game. But I like the way it is. I think it's pretty good. 25 yard line going in is pretty exciting. I've been involved in quite a few of 'em. I don't want to change it. We changed the clock. We changed the time. We change a lot of things every year. Don't change the overtime.
Q. With SEC coaches being paid so well these days, I want to know if you had an appreciation for the early stages of your coaching career, how humble those beginnings were compared to now.
COACH NUTT: Absolutely. Absolutely. First walking in here 1998, it was an eye opener. Now going into my 11th season, so much bigger, so many more people, so many more rooms to go to. I have an awesome, awesome respect for this league, what you do. I'm just I feel very, very privileged to say I'm still here in this SEC Conference. I think since 1998, there's been about 26, 27 changes at that head coach's table. I'm excited and feel very privileged to be at Ole Miss.
Q. SEC teams won the last two national championships. You have so many coaches here with championship backgrounds. The balance of power in conferences, do you think it's a cyclical thing or is there something specific about the Southeastern Conference that you think might be able to make it stay on top for quite a while?
COACH NUTT: I hope so. I hope so. I think if you look again, if you just look at athleticism at every position, from kicker all the way down to the tackles, the ends, receivers, the quarterbacks, you have the Heisman Trophy in this league, the Heisman Trophy winner in this league, so many great players. Then you have great coaches not only head coaches, but the assistant coaches, excellent coaches who will be head coaches. I just think we'll be knocking on that door. I really believe that. Again, I'm a little partial. But I have so much experience of going against these guys each Saturday, you know what they bring to the table. You know how good everybody is. It's just outstanding football.
Q. I know taking over and 0 8 team may be the bad news. Is the good news that you got nowhere to go but up? What's it like taking over an 0 8 team like that?
COACH NUTT: Again, it's very similar to me coming the very first year at Arkansas when they were 4 7, 4 7. Didn't win too many conference games. The mindset, the obstacles you're facing are very, very similar. You just take your experiences and hopefully you try to change a mindset that won't accept losing. We got a lot of hungry guys, a lot of hungry fans. Just because you change the bus driver doesn't all of a sudden mean, hey, we're going to start winning games now.
That's one of the things we really talked hard to our players about. Just 'cause you got new coaches, new names on the walls doesn't mean necessarily you're gonna win. It's you guys. You guys are out there blocking and tackling. That's what you're trying to get over to your team, really trying to change a mindset. We look good in a uniform, but there's a whole lot more to that in 60 minutes that you have to execute.
Q. You said you thought you might be coach for life at Arkansas at one point. Is the coach for life a dying breed? If so, why?
COACH NUTT: I think it is. I think it is. Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, I have so much respect for. They've been there for so long. My relationship I had with Frank Broyles. We had these conversations. It is so much more difficult. The reason why, to answer your question, is because a lot more pressure. Salaries are higher. More talk show radios, more Internet blogs, more people can say anything without any accountability. Sometimes things are written that really puts a lot of pressure on the athletic director. It makes it very, very tough for a coach. I think it won't go the other way for sure. I think that part of it's here to stay. Everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to win yesterday. Everybody wants to go to a Bowl, everybody wants to go to BCS, everybody wants to go to Atlanta. The toughest thing about this conference is not everybody can go. It's very, very difficult.
Q. Recruiting, big, in the state of Mississippi, Mississippi State, with the success that State had last year and Ole Miss having a down year, how crucial is this year, especially with the way Mississippi State has gotten off in recruiting so far, how crucial is it that you have a good year in the sense of recruiting?
COACH NUTT: I think it's very, very important. But I tell you, if you go back now and look at the way we finished in recruiting, I think you'll see that our freshman class is very, very good. Just about every one of them are going to be ready to go, academically qualified. You look at Enrique Davis, Brandon Bolden, Jason Jones, Lekenwic Haynes, E. J. Epperson, you got a lot of young men that are very, very athletic. The one thing I love about Mississippi, I think there were 69, 70, 71 guys that signed to Division I in the state of Mississippi because of junior college and high school. I'm excited about, again, where we are, where we're located, how close we are to Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, plus Mississippi. So I know we're gonna find 25 every year good athletes, student athletes, that want to come to Ole Miss. There's no question in my mind. What you're asking, I think winning does nothing but elevate that. If we did what we did in a short period of time at Ole Miss just this past few months ago, I know what we can do when we start having a little success. So naturally you want to win. Winning helps everything. It solves a lot of problems, helps everything. I think it will take you to another level in recruiting. But I thought we finished very, very, very strong.
Q. Earlier you mentioned you thought there were nine or ten teams that had a chance to win the conference. In your mind, is Ole Miss in that group? What are realistic expectations for this team?
COACH NUTT: I would put us in there. Again, I'm not saying that, boy, you can give us our bus ticket, we're going to Atlanta. But what I am saying, if you walked these athletes in from each of those nine or ten teams that I'm talking about, you walked them in and compared them to different leagues, you'd say on paper, Whoa, they got Tebow, Heisman Trophy winner; you got this receiver, this back, this defensive end. I mean, there's a lot of athleticism, a lot of good athletes that can run, jump, hit you, block. It's good enough. But what you don't know is who's gonna get hurt, who's gonna stay healthy, who's gonna get the ball that bounces just right. So there's just a lot of variables, a lot of factors that are involved. But that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to change the mindset of our program. We want to win. We want to win right now. I think it would be unfair to say, Okay, we're going to rebuild, just kind of gradually I think it's unfair for your seniors. Two guys I have here today, Peria Jerry, Michael Oher, it would be very unfair of how hard they've worked. You look at Greg Hardy, Marcus Tillman, Dexter McCluster, Michael Wallace, it would be so unfair to those guys to say, We kind of got to start rebuilding a little bit now, we're gonna work our way up. I can't do that. We're not built that way. Our staff is built to let's go, let's go as hard as we can, and let's go right now.
THE MODERATOR: Coach Nutt, thank you.
COACH NUTT: Thank you.
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN MICHAEL OHER
On Coach Houston Nutt
“Coach Nutt is a great guy. He’s a great Coach, and he’ll do a lot for us this year. He knows what to do and what to say, and he says, we do because we respect him.”
On the team’s expected quarterback, Jevan Snead
“Jevan’s a great player. We’ve got great receivers too, and we’re just looking forward to big things this year.”
On the team’s goals
“My goal is to win, and that’s what our team’s goal is too. (The NFL) will work out as it goes. I’m just working extremely hard, this is my senior year. The NFL comes later, and it’ll be there later.”
On the team’s offense
“I think you’ll see us scoring more points. There’s so much talent there that I think the sky’s the limit for us. People might underestimate us, but I know there’s talent there, and Coach Nutt knows how to put talent in the right spots.”
On preparing for SEC defenses
“It’s why you work so hard in the offseason. The coaches have been working us hard to prepare us for what it’ll be like when the season starts and week in and week out, you have to be ready to go up against the best.”
DEFENSIVE TACKLE PERIA JERRY
On the team’s defense
“On defense, we’ve got a lot of returning starters. We’re looking forward to the start of the season.”
On Coach Houston Nutt
“I’ve got great respect for him. He’s working us hard, has us doing a lot of running. Everyone loves him in town. The optimism is extremely high. I feel like everyone has a much more positive attitude and we’re just ready for the season to start and to start working hard. (Coach Nutt) He’s my type of guy. He’s very high energy, and I’m high energy myself. He has everyone staying positive and telling us to stick together, like family. Everyone’s doing a great job with that.”
On the SEC West
“Everything is wide open. There are great players on every team, and you have to get up and get ready to play them, not matter the team. I think we have a better opportunity to win games this year. With Jevan at quarterback, he’s a really smart quarterback.”
On SEC Media Days
“It’s crazy. I’ve never seen so many cameras before.”
July 29, 2008 10:27 am
More entries >>>
Mississippi State Media Day Quotes
COACH SYLVESTER CROOM
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue on with Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom.
COACH CROOM: It's good to see everybody again. That means it's time to start playing ball again. We're excited about going into the 2008 season. We've got a lot of players returning, 21 seniors coming back. We're a pretty experienced football team. We have a couple guys who are going to be in starting roles this year that played in backup roles that are going to have to really play well for us, particularly we start with Derek Sherrod, our left offensive tackle spot, taking that spot overdue to the loss of Mike Brown for disciplinary reasons. Then Mark Melichar, the right tackle spot, who was our backup left tackle last year. Those two guys really do have to step it up and play well. They think they're very much capable of doing that. JC, our new center, replaces Royce Blackledge. JC is more talented than Royce, but Royce was the leader of our offense last year. The intangible quality's that JC brings, how he handles all the things that a center has to do in the Southeastern Conference, is really going to be a key factor in the development of our offensive line. As a group, we'll be more talented there, but we did lose a couple of guys there that we'll definitely miss. Overall we go into this season with a more talented football team. But as you all know and watch throughout this conference over the years, a lot of things go into being able to win, particularly being able to have a chance to compete for a championship. We need to play well as a team, be physically and mentally tough, which we think we've established in the past. We have to have great team chemistry. We have to have excellent leadership. One of the things I was very pleased with us last year is that we finished games and we finished the season extremely well, and we have continue to do that. Hopefully this year we can start off a lot stronger and a lot faster than that we've done as far as the season go and also at the beginning of games. That's something we're really going to work on during the course of our two a days. If we do have the intangible qualities as our team had last year, with the talent we have, then we have a chance at some point to be a good football team during the course of this season.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Can you just talk about the effect of last season and winning the Bowl game on your program and how you feel like it's taken it up a level in recruiting or just attitude on the guys buying into what you're doing.
COACH CROOM: The biggest thing that's happened for us is we're now starting to see the residual effects of last season in the recruiting. As you know, with the nature of recruiting, it's such now that about mid season is pretty much over and done with. So last year's recruiting was pretty much in the books before we went down that winning stretch at the last part of the season. But we are way ahead of where we've ever been in recruiting for next season. In fact right now I think we're at 19 commitments already. We've got a few guys in our state that, if we can get those guys committed, and we feel positive about that at this point, then we'll have an excellent recruiting year.
Q. Did you use the Michael Brown situation to kind of illustrate to your players their responsibilities off the field as well as on?
COACH CROOM: That entire situation, I hope we've learned from that. Mike Brown is an excellent person. I think Mike was on the Dean's list the previous semester, an excellent student. In the spur of a moment, he made a bad decision. That's what we get our players to understand. I'm not making excuses, let's make sure you understand that. There were things that myself and my teammates did in college that if these guys did them today, it would be horrifying. But what happens now because of the Internet, all of these different kind of tubes we have on the Internet, all that stuff, I don't totally understand it all (smiling), but the access to the public has so much access to what goes on so much quicker, that a guy in a split second can change his entire course of his life just by a decision that he makes. What we really try to do is educate our players to make the right decision. They're gonna make mistakes. What we try to do at our program is hopefully try to keep them from making a mistake that they're going to have to live with the rest of their lives. Unfortunately in this case we had some guys who made some mistakes that as far as being in our program, you know, they just can't be there any more. We talk to our players constantly. There's certain things on our campus, any kind of possession of any kind of firearm is not tolerated at our institution, and they know that. If that happens on our campus, you are not going to be in the program again. He made a bad decision.
Q. Teams usually bring seniors to these events. Why did you bring a sophomore?
COACH CROOM: Because he know how to win and he's a leader of our offense. You know, I didn't read in the handbook where you had to have a senior (smiling).
Q. Compared to some other players you've had, how composed is he as a youngster?
COACH CROOM: Think about this: the guy starts off as a third stringer. He was a guy we recruited, liked, didn't have a great arm. Still doesn't have a great arm. He ends up all of a sudden in the early part of the season starting in the Southeastern Conference as a pure freshman. No benefit of spring practice, no working in the summer with the coaches, learning a pretty complicated offense. He goes out there, he throws I think 135 or 136 straight passes without an interception, which was almost almost broke the national record. He's won more games than any quarterback in Mississippi State in the last eight years. So that says a lot for him in this conference. You usually don't expect your quarterback in this conference to play until his third year. This young man played well as a freshman. And I have been amazed at his decision making. I expect him to be even better this year. We're going to give him more options this year and allow him to make more decisions on the field, which we think will make us a more explosive offense. He's a joy to be around. He has pretty much orchestrated our throwing program. The players have responded to his leadership.
Q. Talking about him some more, you said his arm isn't any better. Is it unfair to judge him on his arm? His arm's got to be letter than last year.
COACH CROOM: I'll tell him you said that (laughter).
Q. It wasn't bad. With your offense, you put him in situations where he didn't have to throw deep or whatever.
COACH CROOM: I should have said that Wes has a good arm. Quite often we look at a guy's arm. But the strength, the velocity of passing, it starts with flaws in his footwork and his footwork. That's what he has to improve. His arm strength is strong enough for him to do what we want him to do. Because Wes played and is having it's happened to a lot of quarterbacks that play in high school offenses and shotgun throughout high school, he's not used to taking a snap from the center and dropping back and delivering passes in a rhythm passing game. The footwork, the timing, it takes a lot of work. That's what we've had him working on throughout the course of the entire off season in spring practice. Just the improvement in that area is going to make his delivery and getting the ball to the receivers, going to make him a lot better.
Q. Sly, speaking of that offense, is there a chance that it does open up a little bit this coming year? I know you ended up using three quarterbacks last year. Would you like Wesley to be the only guy this year? Is a possible change of pace quarterback something you are looking at?
COACH CROOM: Okay, our offense is definitely going to open up. A lot of that reason is it starts with the quarterback. I trust our quarterbacks, not only Wes, but Tyson Lee, a junior college transfer, to make right decisions. In our offense, the ball goes to anybody who can get the football. In the years that we were at the Green Bay Packers, the runningbacks were the leading receivers in the offense every year. But that requires a quarterback to make good decisions and be able to get the ball to the open receiver. We think Wes would do an even better job of that this year. We have more speed at wide receiver. That's gonna allow us to attack vertically a little bit more than what we have done. It's not that we will force it. But when the opportunity becomes available, he has that option. He has a green light. We've given him the green light to take those shots. If it doesn't work, we feel like with our running game we can come back and make it up on the next play, whereas we didn't give him those kind of options last year. I mentioned Tyson Lee and Chris Relf. All of our quarterbacks can make plays with their feet now. That was important for Wes going down the stretch. We ran a little bit of the inside zone option. We added that to our mix. That will continue to be a part of our offense. Wes made several plays going down the stretch in those last four games where he pulled the ball down and ran the football. Tyson can do that and Chris Relf is almost like having another runningback out there. He has the strongest arm of all the guys, but he just has not mastered the entire offense to this point. But there are certain things we can do with him to take advantage of his athletic ability should he have to play on an extended basis. Our plan, we use two offensive lines last year. We played 22 guys on defense last year. If Tyson is good enough to win, then we will play two quarterbacks this year. It has nothing to do with Wes' performance. I just have always believed that if you can any contribution that any of our players can make towards us winning the game, we want to use them. That makes everybody accountable for wins and losses. It also heightens everybody's intensity and preparations because they know they gonna play.
Q. Given all the positive things you said about Wesley, what is it about his personality that, now given a little bit more freedom, now that he has a little bit more confidence, what do you think those aspects of his personality will allow him not to get too caught up in trying to be a Tim Tebow or Wilson or Stafford?
COACH CROOM: Well, first of all, Wes is a team player. Hopefully that's one of the things when I talk about maintaining an identity, that we have established as part of our culture at Mississippi State. We constantly talk about this. Any time anybody does anything that seems to have another agenda or tries to elevate themselves above the team, then they're gonna be called on that. That's me, coaches, anybody. Nobody in our program is bigger than Mississippi State. It's not about an individual; it's about Mississippi State. That's the way we are. That's the way we always will be.
Q. You mentioned your numerous early commitments. That seems like a trend around the country. Are coaches using that as a strategy to evaluate for the following year or is that kind of a safety net maybe for players decommitting at the last second?
COACH CROOM: Rephrase that question. I missed the first part of it.
Q. The numerous early commitments that you have, is that kind of a strategy that coaches around the country are using as kind of a safety net for players decommitting at the last second or is that just a strategy you're using going into recruiting for the following year?
COACH CROOM: Really I don't know if it's a strategy because it's just the way it's happened. When I came back to Mississippi State, I was one of those guys that didn't want to offer a scholarship until after guys started playing the senior year. If you wait that long, you won't get any. I got a letter the other day from a kid in the ninth grade. Wanted to know if we offered a scholarship. I hope it doesn't get to that point. One of the things that's really helped us is the stability of our coaching staff now, being able to know where guys are. Basically in the fall we'll be evaluating talent not only for this year, our last few scholarships, but also for the next year. We're almost two years ahead. Believe it or not, last night I was working on a 2010 depth chart. That's how far you get ahead. You'll know exactly who's leaving and how many scholarships you're going to be able to offer the next year because it does affect your decision. It's a lot like the NFL. The NFL looks at guy's salary contracts and who is going to become a free agent. We have to look at who is going to graduate, positions we're going to be deficient, how many guys we're going to be able to sign. This year we're going probably sign 25 guys. Next year we'll probably only be able to sign 16, 17 guys. We'll have to be sharp on our evaluations to make sure all 16 of those scholarships count. It's just the trend right now, the way things are going.
Q. I remember last year you said something to the effect that you'd be happy to give Glenn Dorsey a graduation gift and see him move on. I know you got a lot to do between now and the game against LSU, including your 2010 depth chart, but when you look at what they've got coming back on the defensive line at LSU, do you almost think there's not much of a drop off you'd expect losing a guy like Dorsey?
COACH CROOM: If anybody else had lost Dorsey in this conference, they'd be in real trouble. LSU just puts another one up there. Tyson Jackson is really an outstanding player.
But I know that whoever they put out there is going to be a great player. But I'm still glad Dorsey is gone (smiling). I tell people this all the time. In my coaching career, he is one of only three defensive linemen that when I went to the game I was truly afraid of. Reggie White was one of the others when I was in the NFL. And Howie Long was one of the others.
Q. I think you're one of 11 coaches now in the league that's won a Bowl game. There's five guys that have won national championships. What is it like coaching this league, the competitiveness level?
COACH CROOM: Our conference is the toughest conference in the country. We've got more national championships, we got more players in the pros. So our talent level in this conference is the best in the country. The quality of our coaches is the best in the country. If you're going to compete in this conference, you've got to prepare well and you've got to play well every week. Anybody in this conference can beat anybody at any given time. It's an honor. I always felt it as a player and I feel it more now as a coach, it's an honor to be part of the Southeastern Conference.
Q. You talk about high school quarterbacks have run the spread, and it now seems to be seeping into college. Could you just talk about the thinking behind that. Would you ever do it, defend it, the problems is causes?
COACH CROOM: I would never say never. I like having tight ends and fullbacks. It's part of who we are. It's a part of our mentality. We want to continue to stay in that direction.
We do use some spread sets. We do use the shotgun. But, you know, to go to that full time, I don't see us doing that. Defending the spread is just like defenses defending the wishbone. It all goes in cycles. You have to recruit a different kind of athlete to run the spread offense. You've got to recruit a different type of athlete to defend the spread offense. You have to have speed in the secondary. You have to have speed at linebacker. The days of the 250, 260 pound middle linebacker, those days are over. The days of 215 or 220 pound safety who runs a 4.7, those days are over. All four of those guys in the secondary have to be able to cover. You have to have six defensive backs now that can line up and play in a given game because you're going to see four wide receivers and you have to be able to put six guys out there, corners, that can cover and also be able to tackle. I think there's no question the defenses are going to catch up with it because they always have and they always will in time.
Q. Will there be any changes with the new defensive coordinator? Any changes in philosophy? Also could you talk about your decision to sort of promote from within rather than go look for somebody who had experience as a defensive coordinator.
COACH CROOM: The first thing is there will be minor changes because every coach is going to be different. Any time you get a different play caller, a guy's going to have a different feel for the game. He's going to have different thoughts about the way you do things. Our overall philosophy will not change. We want to be a physical defense. We want to be a defense that plays fast. We want to be sound in the fundamentals. We want to make sure we don't give up explosive plays in the running game or the passing game. My decision to promote within. Basically I watched Charlie. I knew of his reputation before I hired him as our safety coach. Strong reputation. Probably as strong as any assistant coach I was hearing about in the conference. In fact, I've been hearing about this guy for so long, surely nobody can be that good. After we got him there, watched him work in our defense for a year, it was almost like an interview for a one year interview. I decided, I had no idea we were going to be losing Ellis Johnson. About mid season I had really decided that if we ever lost Ellis, that's the route I was going to go on, based on what I was seeing in seeing him coach on the field, preparing in our coverages. You got to understand, you go back and look through our defense last year, we didn't give up any home runs back in the secondary. We played some of the better offenses in the country. The job that our defensive unit, particularly on the back end in our coverages, what we did against Kentucky, was outstanding. That was one of the most prolific offenses in our conferences last year, one of the best in the country. They did a great job on the back end, giving us a chance to win that ballgame. So without his knowledge of it, he was interviewing for the job because I always if we have somebody on our staff who is fully capable of getting a job done, I always prefer to promote from within.
Q. Would you like to see the possibility of an early signing date? If so, when? Do you like the BCS system the way it is now or would you like to have a plus one or playoff system?
COACH CROOM: Well, I'm not in favor of any kind of early signing date, except the proposal that as a coaching staff we made in the spring, for a possibility of a 24 hour period the Monday prior to our going on the road in December. It would eliminate the possibility of anybody else, you know, signing anybody who is taking an official visit. The reason for that is we do not right now we have a system where you can focus on the games during the course of the fall and not have to prepare for games and be in the intense part of recruiting at the same time. I think that's great for our players. It was also great for coaches. As far as the playoff system, I don't see where you can ever eliminate the Bowls. Anything that would take the Bowls out of the picture, I would not be in favor of. If they could work out a plus one, some kind of way we could get the top four teams in there, you end up with a plus one, wouldn't be opposed to that. If it stays as it is, I'm happy with that. As long as we're all in the same system, as long as the rules are the same for everybody, I don't have a problem with it. Most important thing to me right now is our team having the chance working toward winning the SEC championship. You win the SEC championship, you don't have to worry, you'll be in the hunt for the national championship.
Q. You had several close games last year. Does that give you any concern about whether or not you can replicate that success this year?
COACH CROOM: Well, we had several close games the year before and we lost them. Last year we had those same several close games, we won 'em. This is the Southeastern Conference, they're gonna be close. The blowouts back when I was playing in Alabama, the game over a halftime, 35 to nothing, you sit over there and drink water, eat popcorn the rest of the game, those days are over. Games are going to be decided probably by seven points or less and it's going to come down to somebody doing something right or wrong at the end of the game. That's just the way it is. Not going to be any celebrations, taking your best people out the first drive in the third quarter. Not in the SEC competition, that's not happening any more.
Q. As you enter another year, last year you said the program may be a little ahead of schedule. Can you talk about where the program has been, where it is now, where you hope to take it? Could you comment on Jamar Chaney, the impact he'll make on your defense.
COACH CROOM: You know, we did some good things last year. From the day I see Larry Temple back there. Other than those players at our first meeting, we established that day that our goal was to win the conference championship. I told those players at the first meeting they would not be around when that happened because it was going to be somewhere down the road in the future. I know a lot of people have made mention that that's ridiculous to say that. Well, they give a championship trophy. We play in the Southeastern Conference. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't want to compete and shouldn't work toward competing to get that done. Because why else do you play the game, other than to win it all? I think we have a chance to do that this year. I don't know if we're good enough. But I know this: every year prior to now we have played as good as we could play. When I sit back and look at our team, we have played as good as we can play. But our goal is to win the conference championship. Again, I want to ultimately for us to play as good as we can play, to be the best we can be. I don't know any other way to be the best you can be unless you try to be the best and to be the best in this conference, it means you got to go to Atlanta and win the conference championship. And that's what we're going to try to do. Whether we make it or not, I don't know. At the end, we may not be good enough. But that's what we're going to try to do.
Q. Coaches in the SEC now are pretty well taken care of financially. I want to know if you have an appreciation for maybe the early stages of your coaching career, maybe how humble those beginnings were compared to now.
COACH CROOM: Well, I'm very thankful for all I've been blessed with, very thankful. I'm like a lot of other coaches in the conference. This year I got a new contract. Mississippi State was very generous to me. I'm very appreciative of it. Yes, I definitely do remember the days when I was broke. I had a guy ask me the other day, Coach, you've always done well. No. I know what it's like to be worried about where your paycheck is coming from. A lot of people in our country in that situation now. I've been looking for a job. I got hired on a Monday, and my last paycheck was coming on Friday. I've been there, done that. I've had to raid my daughter's college fund in order to pay the bills and nothing else be left. I know what that feels like. I'm very thankful to not have to worry about it. I'm blessed now. I don't have to worry about those things right now. It's not because of anything that I've done. I'm just fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time and the good Lord saw fit to allow me to be the recipient of some of the good things of life. I don't take that for granted. You know, my wife and I, we're just thinking of all the things we've been through over the years, the tough times and all the financial things that we've been through, and yet our lifestyle really hasn't changed. The biggest thing is I don't have to worry about paying my bills. I don't think any head coach in the Southeastern Conference does. I can say that without hesitation. So, yes, I'm very fortunate. But it's never been about the money. I coached at Alabama for 10 years, started with a salary of $14,000 and only got a $2,000 raise. I coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for five years. The fifth year my take home pay was lower than it was the first year I got there. It was the love of the game. That's the only reason I still do it now, the love of the game. One of these days I'm going to walk away from it. The money is still gonna be there. There's gonna come a point, I know when that time comes, I'm going to have to walk away. Nothing lasts forever. Right now I'm enjoying it. I'm very blessed to be coaching at Mississippi State. I'm financially blessed. I'm around good people. I enjoy going to work every day. And that's the greatest blessing I have right now. I love going to work. As long as I enjoy that, you know, I'll keep doing it. I won't go to work where I hate to get up and go to work. I'll never do that again another day of my life.
Q. I was wondering if you could explain, it seems like over the past 15 to 20 years, the importance of the left tackle position has increased fairly dramatically. Do you view it as the most important position on the offensive line? Secondly, how do you view Derek Sherrod individually in replacing Mike Brown?
COACH CROOM: I can't believe you asked that question to a former center (smiling). There's no doubt that the center is the most important guy in the offensive line. Always has been, always will be. The left tackle is the second most important guy in the offensive line. So let's make sure we clear on that (laughter). Yeah, it's really important. We've got two new guys there. JC Brignone and Sherrod. Now, they're new guys. Let me tell you something, if I got to go to battle, I want those two guys going with me. Sherrod played almost 300 snaps last year as a true freshman. Probably the next greatest story, other than Wes for us, he never started a game because we had J.D. Hamilton there, but Derek Grady, 79% for the entire year, played almost 300 snaps as a true freshman. We hadn't had a senior in front of him that I had a great deal respect for, he probably would have been a starter last year. I had a great deal of respect for J.D. J.C. Brignone is one of the toughest, strongest guys I know, tough not only physically but tough mentally. J.C. lost his dad in the spring who was his closest friend. Missed about a week of practice. Went, took care of all of the family business, and basically was the host and the coordinator of his dad's wake. To sit there and watch him do that, even though he missed a week of spring practice, I knew he was going to be our center because the mental toughness he displayed to overcome everything else that he does at center. If he's that mentally tough, he'll be fine there. I have no questions about him. Even though guys haven't been true starters, you know, I trust them and I'll put it in their hands. We'll be all right with those two guys.
Q. The ACC is sort of toying with an NFL style injury report for their coaches during the season. Do you think that will work or how would you feel about having to do that in the college game?
COACH CROOM: Everybody is doing it, I don't have a problem with it. It's easy to say probable, out, maybe. Just cuts how much I got to say down.
Q. If you can specifically what did you tell your guys after the LSU game?
COACH CROOM: Well, the first thing I told them was they didn't lose the game, I did. And I did. That dumb decision to try to get a touchdown just before the half, that was stupid. If I had one thing I could do over again, we'd run a draw, are una screen, it would be broken for a touchdown, great, otherwise we go into halftime 10 to nothing, go in there, get a little Kool Aid, high five everybody, tell them how good we played, come back out, let's see what happens. Basically I put us in a position where the game was over at halftime, with that interception, their scoring just before the half. After the game what I told them when we walked off the field, Hey, we're going to be a good football team this year. We're going to go to a Bowl game this year. Because we just held our own with the national championship football team. That's exactly what I told them in there. I thought less and his staff did a great job. I know they struggled. But when they lost Dorsey, had those injuries going down the stretch, for them to still win the championship, that was a tremendous job of their players and coaches staying focused on what they had to get done. Had they not had the injuries they had last year, I think it would have been a breeze to the national championship.
Q. Could you talk a little bit about your opening game at Louisiana Tech. Unusual for an SEC team to play there.
COACH CROOM: Well, I've never played there before. I think we're going to have to make some adjustments in our schedule, when we leave, how we dress, all those sort of things. But we look forward to the game. Our staff, we were looking at some film of them the other day. They played some good football last year. They made it tough on Hawaii, who I thought June and his staff did a great job with that game last year. I watched Hawaii several times on TV. They were a very good football team. I think Hawaii beat them in overtime. Tech played Boise State extremely close last year. It is the game we're focusing on right now. It's going to be a tough game. We're going in their territory, so we're playing a road game right from the start. We're going to have to be totally prepared and ready to play. It's important for us and our players, something we want to improve on, is being able to get off to a good start in the season, being able to get off to a good start in the first quarters in our game. We know we have traditionally finished strong. We need to start faster.
Q. Could you talk about Jamar Chaney. It appears he's come a long way since back when he was denied admission to Georgia. Now he's an all SEC guy. How far has he come and what kind of guy is he?
COACH CROOM: Jamar has played for us for a long time. Seems like he's been playing forever. Very fortunate to get him in our program. He has responded positively. He has done a good job academically, has played extremely well. He's a leader of our defense. Right now, you know, we always try to be strong down the middle with him at the middle linebacker spot, Jesse Bowman, Kyle Love as the two interior defensive linemen, and with Derek as safety we're pretty solid down the middle of our defense. If we expect his play to improve, I think even from the spring to the summer, he's really changed his body. I think his conditioning one of the things we talked to him at the end of spring, he had to improve his endurance level, get stronger. I think he's done that. I don't know if you can tell, you probably can't tell with that suit on, 'cause he's got it draped on him pretty good, but he's a pretty good cut individual now. I think he's really changed his body since spring practice.
Q. Do you foresee using Dixon and Ducre in similar roles as last year?
COACH CROOM: Our offense starts with, of course, Wes and AD. Those two guys have to play well. But Christian is a valuable part of it. Then we expect Rob Elliott and Wade Bonner to really make a contribution to them. We got some packages where those guys will be involved. Even though AD is a starter, all four of those guys will play and play a lot.
But Rob and Wade give us some explosiveness at the runningback position that we have not had since Jerious went to the Falcons. We expect those four guys an integral part of what we do offensively.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.
COACH CROOM: Thank you, gentlemen, ladies.
MSU QUARTERBACK WESLEY CARROLL
On how far he’s come in a year:
“I’d be lying if I said a year ago that I thought I’d be here. I didn’t expect everything to happen so fast. 13 to 14 months ago I was in high school; I wasn’t thinking about being here at SEC Media Days. God has blessed me with a great opportunity and I just hope we can be better this year.”
On this year’s team:
“I feel we can compete for an SEC Championship. I definitely believe we can play with teams like Auburn and Alabama. Last year we played well against Tennessee and South Carolina but felt like we let those games get away from us late. We believe we can be better and win those games this year. We had a good spring and if we have good two-a-days we can look forward to a good opener against Louisiana Tech. Hopefully we’ll get off to a good start and keep it rolling, but we have to focus on each game without looking ahead. We’re not going to sneak up on anyone this year.”
On his supporting offense and teammates:
“That’s what is great about (Head) Coach (Sylvester) Croom, he doesn’t sugar coat things. He’ll tell you when you need to be working harder and in which areas you need to improve. Working with the running backs and wide receivers, the skill position guys in the spring has helped tremendously. I feel like we’re on the same page unlike last year.”
On what was a bigger win in 2007, Alabama or Mississippi?:
“Which one was first? Alabama, I guess. That’s the thing; we only worry about the upcoming game. This year it is definitely a goal to beat both of them again, just like I’m sure it’s their goals too.
On the offense being more explosive:
“We definitely need more balance on offense to be more consistent. We feel we play against one of the best defenses in practice every day, so we are prepared. We would like to have more explosive plays (22 yards or more) in order to make strides in the passing game and running game.”
On the other quarterbacks on the team:
“I feel good about the other guys. We have Tyson Lee who is a junior college transfer and Chris Relf. We really push each other and we all know the offense well which is good.”
On playing as a true freshman in 2007:
“The toughest thing was getting the older guys to listen to me and trust me. It was great having guys like Royce Blackledge, a fifth-year senior, and Titus Brown taking me under their wing. That was one of the reasons we had a good season.”
MSU LINEBACKER JAMAR CHENEY
On playing for Coach Croom:
“It’s really great. He cares about us as a man and a person both on and off the field.”
On Coach Croom being one of the few African-American head coaches in the nation:
“We take it as a great opportunity to play for the first black head coach in the SEC. What he’s doing now is opening doors for a lot of people.”
On the team’s goals for 2008:
“We just want to finish better. We won eight games and went to the Liberty Bowl, but we want to go out and prove we are even better this year.”
On strength of their defense:
“I think with eight returning starters who are all seniors. With two starting linebackers returning, I think experience is going to be the strength of our defense.”
On if he’d imagined beating Alabama and Auburn on the road in the same year:
“Yes, actually I did because I never have gone into a game thinking we were going to lose. I feel we can win every game we play.”
On not beating Arkansas and LSU since he’s been there:
“It’s something we’d like to do but we’re taking it one game at a time. Our focus right now is on training camp and Louisiana Tech. We’ll worry about those games when they get here.”
On the strength of the SEC West:
“I think we’re pretty strong. We have the National Champion and the SEC Champion plus Alabama and Auburn. I think the West can compete with the East.”
On signing with Georgia initially:
“I wouldn’t change anything. I have friends who play for Georgia but I love being a Mississippi State Bulldog.”
July 28, 2008 09:02 am
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2008 SEC Predicted Order of Finish
EAST
Georgia
Florida
Tennessee
South Carolina
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
WEST
LSU
Auburn
Alabama
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Arkansas
ATH - Athlon; LIN - Lindy's; TSN - The Sporting News; PS - Phil Steele's College Football; BR - Blue Ribbon Yearbook; BN - Birmingham News (SEC Media Relations Directors Poll)
2008 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Composite National Rankings
July 15, 2008 11:07 am
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High school baseball
South Jones will host Wayne County in softball Thursday (April 10) and the winner goes to the playoffs Saturday at Brookhaven.
In high school baseball District Six will cross with District Five in the opening round of the playoffs.
The most likely order of finish will be Brookhaven, Lawrence County,. Mendenhall, and Forest Hills. The only position up for grabs in District Five is third place. If South Jones would upset West Jones Friday night, then they would finish third place. If not, Quitman would win the tie-breaker over South Jones and claim third place.
West Jones will travel to Forest Hills and Wayne County will head to Mendenhall for opening round action on Friday. The teams will then switch on Saturday with West Jones and Wayne County hosting. South Jones would host Brookhaven if they lose to West Jones Friday or a win has them hosting Lawrence County. Quitman would switch places depending on the Friday’s outcome of the SJ-WJ game.
Stringer is the number one team in Region 4-1A while Taylorsville and Heidelberg Academy will make the playoffs. HA has won the district that they have played in the last 13 years in a row.
April 10, 2008 11:16 am
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Happy Holidays
I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. My next blog will come on January 9th.
Just some random thoughts over the last few weeks of sports happenings.
Really felt for Jeff Bower this past Saturday. I had a lot of mixed emotions about his force out at Southern Mississippi to start with. Jeff is an entirely different person when he is not talking to the media. Bower is a private person who took on almost a father figure status with the young men he has coached over the years. I know my son Derek who played for him really enjoyed his time with Coach Bower. He is a good guy with definite ideals on how to discipline the young athletes of today. I wish him only the very best in the future.
Saw where Bower’s defensive coordinator Dave Womack is going to Georgia Tech. Womack is a good coach that seems to fit in very well wherever he has coached.
I have a friendship with long time assistant coach Randy Butler and hope that he and all the former Bower coaches catch on with someone next season. I am going to miss not seeing Butler and all the coaches when I go to Southern Mississippi football practices.
Saw where Tom Glavine is back in Atlanta with the Braves. Glavine, who has been in New York the last five years after skipping town over a contract extension, is happy to get back near his family. He has four young children and took a five million dollar cut to get back to the South. His wife and children stayed in Atlanta while he was in New York. It was tough on Glavine and his family being apart over that period of time. This could be his last year in baseball, but he is scheduled to make eight million dollars this year with the Braves. Andruw Jones is gone. Does that not sound strange? That seems a little sad. We saw him break in with the Braves as a 19-year-old and remember those two home runs in the World Series against the Yankees his rookie year. Jones’s claim to fame is his work as a defensive outfielder, and the Braves will have a chore in filling his shoes……………see you next year…………
December 24, 2007 11:56 am
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USM searches for new head coach
Southern Mississippi AD Richard Giannini is out looking for a head football coach today (Tuesday). Reports has him in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas interviewing possible replacements for Jeff Bower. The process could be over in a few days. Two names mentioned that he could be meeting with today are Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora and Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Giannini has already interviewed Tryone Nix, Tim Hatten of Pearl River, and former Alabama head coach Mike Dubose according to media reports. Overall he has spoken with 75 coaches interested in the job, and says he will speak with others until he names a coach. One rumor that has some merit has Muschamp coming as head coach and Troy State offensive coordinator Tony Franklin coming as his offensive coordinator. Franklin is one of the master minds behind the spread offense that is being used in high schools today. He coached at pass happy Kentucky under Hal Mumme. Muschamp had the second ranked SEC defense. He coached at LSU and with the NFL Dolphins under Nick Saban.
December 04, 2007 09:28 am
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Ole Miss Head Coach and Bowl Talk
Ole Miss will try to find the best fit for their head coaching position. The University’s brass Chancellor Robert Khayat and Athletic Director Pete Boone will conduct the hiring process like last year’s basketball search that produced Andy Kennedy. The Chancellor and the AD messed up their last coaching search in hiring Ed Orgeron. Who would be the best fit for Ole Miss? Do you want a new car or used car? How much money do you have? The Rebels could find a retread or an up and coming coach. The one requirement should be that he has head coaching experience or at least he been a coordinator at an SEC school in the past. Names of head coaches mentioned are Houston’s Art Biles, Central Florida’s George O’Leary, Houston Nutt of Arkansas, former Florida coach Ron Zook, Mike Leach of Texas Tech, and Gary Pinkell of Missouri. Chris Hatcher of Georgia Southern, even though he is a couple of levels under 1-A, has been very successful. Hatcher played and coached at Valdosta State and also coached under Hal Mumme at Kentucky. I have heard the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach could be interested in Ole Miss or the Auburn job (if it comes open). Top assistants being mentioned for the Rebels job are Auburn DC Will Muschamp, Jimbo Fisher of FSU, and Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster. Tyrone Nix of South Carolina and Chris Strong of Florida will be likely be interviewed for the job.
The Hesiman Trophy winner should be Tim Tebow or Darren McFadden.
Did you know that this past weekend four SEC games were decided by less than seven points? Three of those games ended on the game’s last play. This season 15 SEC games were decided by less than 5 points while another 22 conference games were decided by less than 10 points. The SEC had five overtime games this past season. Ten teams are bowl eligible while eight of the teams had seven wins. Thanks to the SEC media office for that information.
Mississippi State will go bowling at the Independence, Music City, or Liberty Bowl. I think that West Virginia and Ohio State will play for the national championship in New Orleans in early January.
Taylorsville, Raleigh, and Laurel are all in the South State championship games this Friday night. We have 19 teams we cover in our area and we are down to three. Good Luck to all see you in Jackson…………..
November 27, 2007 09:35 am
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Football Preview
The adage saying from old school football coaches that “Defense wins championships, and offense sells tickets.” This Friday night when the West Jones Mustangs entertain Laurel, the old time saying could be tested.
In seeing both teams over the year, I can say one thing: Laurel has the best offensive unit that I have seen while the Mustangs have the quickest defensive unit. In the Mustangs’ win over D’Iberville, the Mustangs came up with some new defensive wrinkles that seem to bother the Warriors’ offensive unit. Laurel has scored 390 points on the season while West Jones has allowed only 146 points. Tornado quarterback Akeem Davis is one of two of the most exciting offensive players, I have seen on the year. Corey Harrison of Northeast Jones is the other. Marcus Pierce of West Jones is just a good football player, period. Both teams have a bundle of talent and both teams seem to operating on all cylinders. Each team has had a stretch during the season when they played below their standards, but both have overcome their sub-par play.
The Egg Bowl will also be played Friday. State should be a hands-on favorite. Will the pressure get to the Bulldogs? They know going into the game that they have to win to go post-season bowling. The Liberty Bowl really wants the Bulldogs for their bowl.
Ole Miss, although winless in the SEC this season, could pull the upset. The Rebels who have not won in conference play since last year’s Egg Bowl have nothing to lose. Who will be the Rebel quarterback? My guess is we will see a lot on Brent Schaeffer. Seth Adams is not the athlete that Schaeffer is. I question the Ole Miss coaching staff for taking out Schaeffer late in the first half and replacing him with Adams. Schaeffer seemed to be moving the offense against the country’s number one team. Adams threw an interception in the shadow of the end zone stalling the possible score. The Rebels and their fans were left deflated going into the locker room. This week should be another great game between two old rivals.
November 19, 2007 09:29 am
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SEC Football
With the Ohio State Buckeyes’ stumbling Saturday, LSU now needs three more victories to virtually assure itself a berth in the BCS title game in New Orleans, where the Tigers won their last BCS national championship during the 2003 season. LSU travels to Ole Miss next Saturday, hosts Arkansas the day after Thanksgiving, and meets the winner of the SEC East (probably Tennessee or Georgia) for the conference championship in Atlanta on Dec. 1. LSU's presence in the SEC title game was assured when Auburn and Alabama both lost earlier Saturday.
The interesting question is whom will they play in the SEC title game?
Georgia (5-2, 8-2) remains atop of the SEC East, but they need help to reach the December 1 championship game in Atlanta. Tennessee has the same two defeats, but holds the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs. Georgia plays Kentucky in their final SEC game this Saturday.
Tennessee (4-2, 7-3) has two games left in SEC play with Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
If the Vols win both of those games they will play LSU in the championship game.
Kentucky (3-3, 7-3) has for the first time since the 1976 and 1977 seasons have recorded back-to-back seven-win seasons. They could sneak into the championship game if they win their final two games over Tennessee and Georgia. Florida (5-3, 7-3) finished their conference play this past weekend with their 51-31 win over South Carolina (3-5, 6-5). The Gators would have to have Tennessee lose one of their final two games and have Georgia lose to Kentucky to have a chance to punch a ticket to Atlanta.
Speaking of the Gators, did you see Tim Tebow’s performance against South Carolina? The talented sophomore accounted for all seven Gator touchdowns. He has accounted for 42 touchdowns this year, which is an SEC record breaking break, surpassing Danny Wuerffel’s previous mark of 41.
Ten of the SEC teams have six wins and are bowl eligible. Vanderbilt (2-5, 5-5), with their loss to Kentucky Saturday, will have to wait a little longer. Vanderbilt has not been to a bowl since 1982 when they played in the Hall of Fame Bowl. Ole Miss (0-6, 3-7) will not be bowl eligible this season.
Six wins is not an automatic bowl invitation. MSU (6-4), South Carolina (6-5) and Arkansas (6-4) are no locks for a bowl. The SEC has 10 teams bowl eligible with only eight bowl spots guaranteed. The Gamecocks end the season in two weeks against archrival No. 20 Clemson. Steve Spurrier hasn't missed a bowl since his first Florida team was on probation in 1990 and hasn't had a non-winning season in college since going 5-6 his first year at Duke in 1987. Arkansas has Mississippi State and LSU in their next two contests.
November 13, 2007 09:39 am
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Football Preview
Laurel and Northeast Jones will play at home this Friday night in 4-A playoff action while the West Jones Mustangs will play at Brookhaven. The Mustangs just out-fought the War Eagles to claim their 9-6 win and a spot in the playoffs. Adam Herrington kicked a 42-yard field goal in the last minute to give the home team the exciting win. The Mustangs’ offensive coaches decided a couple of plays before the kick to attempt the field goal and run plays to give Adam the right angle for his kick. Adam has kicked a practice long of 54 yards so it was not surprising he made the kick. A tip of the hat to the Mustangs’ defense. They played one heck of a game in de-clawing the War Eagles. Good luck to all the teams in the upcoming playoffs. We need one of you to bring home the big football from Jackson in December.
JCJC put on a scoring show in Itawamba last Saturday afternoon. This week, the Bobcats will travel to Perkinston to tangle with the undefeated Gulf Coast Bulldogs for the state championship this week. Perk nipped the Bobcats 20-14 in the regular season three weeks ago in Ellisville. Hope the Bobcats bring home the trophy.
Did you see where the Ole Miss Rebels played before only about 23, 000 fans this week in their win over Northwestern State? The University’s President Robert Khayat says he likes Coach O, and even though the Rebels are 3-7, he thinks the embattled coach should be retained. Ed Orgeron is 10-23 overall in his three years and 3-19 in SEC play. I have a couple of opinions. The Rebels at times look like the worst football team in SEC history. The players seem to get up for the big games, but a head coach’s job is to make sure they are ready to play every week. Ole Miss is the only SEC football team that has been eliminated from post season contention. Information leaking from Oxford says Coach O has still not turned the defense over to his defensive coordinator.
On the other hand, Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom finds himself lobbying for a bowl game for his 5-4 Bulldogs. The Bulldogs might have turned the corner in their rebuilding efforts when they claimed at 17-point win over Kentucky. I read in a statewide newspaper that Croom spent a large part of the Bulldogs’ open date lobbying bowl directors for a possible bid. The Liberty Bowl said that MSU would be a strong candidate with that sixth win. The Bulldogs will take on Alabama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss in their final games. MSU could be playing the Crimson Tide at the right time and claim that sixth victory. If not, they should get that sixth win against the Rebels.
LSU, with their win over Alabama, claimed the Western Division Championship. They still have two games left in Ole Miss and Arkansas. They have wins over Auburn, Alabama, and MSU, so they would claim almost all of the tiebreakers if they actually lost those two games.
The SEC had nine teams with the required six wins, and Vanderbilt and MSU need only one more win to hopefully earn a bowl bid. The bad news is that the SEC can send only eight teams unless two teams can get in the top ten in the final BCS standings. Then the conference can send nine teams. Ole Miss and State are the only SEC teams to win seven games and not get an invitation to bowls in the ten years. Ole Miss fans remember the Independence Bowl taking a 6-5 Alabama over the 7-4 Rebels. OM had beaten Bama in the regular season. Under the new bowl rules, a six-win team cannot be chosen over a seven-win team. The Bulldogs lost to Ole Miss (15-14) in 1997 as both teams finished the season 7-4. Ole Miss headed to the Motor City Bowl that December leaving Jackie’s Dogs at the house. Other possible avenues for MSU are the Bell Helicopter Bowl in Fort Worth and the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. The Bell Helicopter Bowl has a tie in with the PAC-10, but they will unlikely fill its bowl obligations, leaving an at-large berth spot. In the Poinsettia game, they have a designated at-large spot. These scenarios would give the SEC their 11 teams with Ole Miss sitting at home. It could be this year that the SEC teams will have to have seven wins to acquire a bowl spot.
November 06, 2007 09:47 am
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