Sept. 15, 2008
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Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt met with the media on Monday and discussed the Rebels’ victory over Samford and this week’s opponent Vanderbilt.
Opening Statement
After watching the film again and putting grades on everything, I was really pleased with most of the football game. There was a lot of improvement, especially in the running game. Like I mentioned Sunday, it’s always good to win. There are still some things that we can get better at doing. I just liked our attitude on Sunday. We came back with a really good day of practice. We are anxious to get going on Vanderbilt. They are an excellent football team that’s undefeated, playing well and well coached. Chris Nickson is the difference. He is a healthy guy that is moving around. He can escape and he can create. They have some good receivers, and then they have a running back that’s really tough. He knows how to hit it up in there full speed. Defensively, they have given up very little and are very sound. They’re a really hard hitting secondary, especially number 33. He will hit you. D.J. Moore, boy he’s good. They’ve got 300-pounders in the middle up front and have 6-foot-5 guys on the edges. Bobby Johnson has done a great job. I know Bobby and the kind of work he’s done. I have a lot of respect for their program.
Q: Can you please provide an update on Greg Hardy?
A: He joined us yesterday for the first time since he’s been back from surgery. He moved around fairly well, he was just a little sore. I’m anxious to see Tuesday how everything goes when he puts on pads and goes through practice. He hasn’t done anything for a month, so you just don’t know. Running straight forward in drills he looks good, but you just don’t know how he is until after practice.
Q: How does this Vanderbilt team compare to Vanderbilt teams in the past?
A: I’m a big Bobby Johnson fan, and I know the kind of work that he does. He started way back when, and you can just see improvement each year. I think this is one of his better years, besides when he had Cutler at the helm. Nickson is a different type of quarterback. He is more athletic and can escape problems. Their defense has really improved. I think they’re one of the better defenses he’s had. They’re sound and they will hit you.
Q: Talk about the receivers.
A: Our receivers are getting better – Mike Wallace, Shay Hodge, Lionel Breaux (he’s really coming on), Dexter McCluster, Markeith Summers and Andrew Harris. We have a good group there, and if we just keep those guys healthy, I feel good about going against anybody. We just have to keep executing. We didn’t execute at different parts of the game. Jevan Snead has got to play better, and he knows that. I think he will. Like I’ve said before, that’s one of our strengths, our wide receivers, so we have to try to get them the ball.
Q: What is the situation with Fon Ingram?
A: He was playing really good football. He was doing a really good job of covering kicks, and we were going to get him more plays. He just made a bad decision. Right now we’ve got Kendrick Lewis, Johnny Brown and Terrell Jackson – those are our guys right there.
Q: Talk about your offensive line and how they haven’t given up only one sack all season.
A: They’re doing a great job, but I still think it’s an 11-man football team. A lot of that has to do with the tight ends, the running backs, and Jevan Snead. Jevan doesn’t take sacks, he gets rid of the ball for you. You have to give him a lot of kudos on that, because he can avoid, escape and when he feels pressure he gets rid of it. It’s been good. The protection has improved each week. We just don’t have one protection. We have about 12 of them and they’re doing a good job of handling all of those different scenarios – people blitzing, trying to create pressure and putting a hit on Jevan. It’s been 11 people getting it down, so I’ve been proud of that part of it.
Q: How would you like to use Greg Hardy on Saturday if he is able to play?
A: Every play, every down. That is what I’d love to do. I just don’t know until we see him in practice on Tuesday and see what he can handle. He may be so sore after Tuesday after turning and twisting trying to get to the quarterback. I’ve never experienced a screw in the foot like this. I’ve never been around his type of surgery. It’s a wait and see for me. I know he can’t play the whole game, but maybe he can give us a lift. If he could apply some pressure that would really help Kentrell Lockett and Emmanuel Stephens and Marcus Tillman.
Q: Do you feel good about what you’ve accomplished during non-conference play?
A: I wish we were 3-0, but when you go from the first game to now, I do feel good. I think we have improved in a lot of areas. I still want to get better in the turnover margin and I want to be better with penalties. There are still some things that you always want to improve. One of the things we talked about back in the spring is how we were going to change our mindset. I feel like our guys are closer, and I love how hard they’re playing. I just want them to keep believing and listening to these coaches. We haven’t played our best game yet. I want to try to get better each week.
Q: Are you where you want to be going into conference play?
A: In some areas we have gotten better, better than I had anticipated. In other areas you’re upset because you’re not 3-0. You want to finish. That has been our theme song – finishing, especially when we get ahead towards the end. I have been proud of this team. A new system with new terminology – change is hard for a young man. Hopefully we can keep scoring points, I’m proud of that. Just keep building on what we have going. It’s real football now. It’s SEC play and everybody knows how tough that is. I’m pretty pleased with the non-conference starts, but we’ve got to keep getting better.
Q: Are you surprised at what Vanderbilt has done so far?
A: No, I’ve seen it coming for a while. We’ve played against Bobby Johnson and faced his teams before. You know how they recruit and how hard they work. They’re schemes and tactics are awesome. You have to be ready to go. There’s not a team in our league that you can circle up and say that you’ve got a `W’. I don’t think anybody can do that with any team, no matter who you are. You better be ready to go, and Vanderbilt is one of those teams. They’re not a homecoming team anymore.
Q: Has Greg Hardy been able to do any conditioning?
A: He’s been doing that for quite a while now, the last two and a half or three weeks. He’s been in the pool running and doing conditioning with Tim Mullins. He’s been on a strict schedule trying to stay in condition and trying to get the foot well.
Q: Is there any added significance to this game?
A: I think the biggest thing is that it’s SEC, the very first step, the very first game. Vanderbilt is undefeated, there is going to be a tremendous crowd here with a great atmosphere. There is going to be a lot of energy. It’s the biggest game in all of our careers, right now, this Saturday.
Q: Which Chris Nickson do you prepare for, passing or running?
A: That’s what tough, he has both. He can run, which always makes a coordinator very nervous. He’s like a 12th man out there. You can cover up everything, and then he can take off running. Those are some of the most well-designed plays that they have. That makes it hard. The thing that we’ve got to do is stop that run first. Then we have to do a good job defending the pass because they will take their shots deep. They’ll lull you to sleep with the handoff, then fake that play action and throw it deep. They have a good package.
Q: Is this a must-win game to help get to six wins and a bowl game?
A: You look at all of them, but with this being the next game on the schedule, it is the biggest game. It is the most important game on the schedule right now. It’s the next step. All of those goals that we talked about before the season, this is the next step. Right now you want them to have blinders on. You don’t want them looking down the schedule, you can’t do that. This game is too hard. You have to take it one step at a time, one game at a time. It all starts with Vanderbilt, period.
Q: Is Greg Hardy’s attitude toward rehab what you wanted?
A: Oh yes, he’s been very good. He hasn’t missed anything with Tim. He’s been trying to get back. I think he misses football. There is no question in my mind that he wants to get back on the field. Especially after we won two games, I could tell that he wanted to be out there.
Q: Is Preston Powers as good a deep snapper as you’ve been around, and what makes him good?
A: The thing that makes him so good is that he has a quick release getting the snap back to the punter. He’s accurate and a very good blocker along with that. I’ve never seen a ball get back there that fast. That really helps as you know with teams putting their best athletes out there trying to go block it. There is nothing like having a good solid snapper. It makes you feel good, and helps you go to sleep at night knowing that we have a deep snapper that can sling it back there with accuracy. He gets it back there on time and it really helps our coverage.
