Ole Miss Rebels College Football Pregame Quote, 09/09/2019

I thought it was a solid win Saturday, something we can build off. I was very pleased with our crowd. I hope they’ll come back again this week. The defense, in particular, fed off them. The students showing up was really important, so we encourage those guys to come back this weekend and help us. Coming out of the game, we’re relatively healthy. MoMo Sanogo will have surgery tomorrow; he’ll be out roughly 10 weeks. Moving on to Southeastern Louisiana, Frank Scelfo is a great offensive mind. He has a veteran quarterback (Chason Virgil) that is a transfer from Fresno State. They also have Cole Kelley, the transfer from Arkansas, so they have two very capable quarterbacks. They have a running back, a transfer from Indiana (Devonte Williams). They have good skill guys and a quarterback that can distribute the ball, so they’ll test us on the perimeter. On defense, Coach (Lance) Guidry is coming over from McNeese State. He’s always been good defensively. They’ll be moving around, a lot of blitzes and a lot of pressure, so they do some things that can give you some trouble. We’ll have to prepare well and play well this week.

On the confidence growing in the defense:

I think it’s important to keep building and getting better every week. That’s what we’ve been preaching. The confidence is growing. They believe in the system and they have confidence in it, but it’s important to keep improving on that every week because we’re not perfect on either side of the ball. There are a lot of things we need to get corrected and have a sense of urgency to go get it fixed.

On players stepping up in the absence of MoMo Sanogo:

It reiterates what we’re always talking about, being ready to play. Jacquez (Jones) wasn’t getting that many snaps, but he kept preparing. It can happen at any position, and you’re one play away from having to step in there. He stepped in, was prepared, and was our leading tackler. That’s a good lesson to every position on the football team.

On Matt Corral’s improvements and winning SEC Freshman of the Week:

I thought that was a great honor for Matt and a great job bouncing back. He seemed much more comfortable, and the ball was going to the right spot. If you look at the quarterback as a point guard, the ball was going to the right spot a lot more times, giving us chances to make plays. Obviously, there are some things we have to get corrected, but the I thought the ball was going to the right place a lot of the time.

On offensive lineman Nick Broeker:

I thought he played well. Nick is a guy where you are never going to have to worry about his effort. He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. Again, a lot of room for improvement, but I like the energy and obviously helped keep us fresh and made Michael Howard play better because he was more rested in the fourth quarter. Just a lot of energy and he played really hard. A lot of things technically that we can clean up, but I thought he played well.

On the improvement of the offensive line:

They played better but still some things we can get corrected. I was really happy that we were able to win the rushing battle because that was a mindset with us trying to go in and stop Rakeem Boyd. And for us to outrush them, that was a big difference. At the end of the game getting some first downs, milking the clock some, and then Scottie (Phillips) getting a long run to put it away, I thought that was big.

On the importance of the game from a confidence perspective:

There are a lot of young players that are getting their feet wet. We have to continue to get better. It was improvement, but there needs to be more improvement from week two to week three. That is what we are looking for. We are looking to get better. We did seem more comfortable last week than we did the first week, and we just need to continue that improvement as we move on to week three.

On Matt Corral getting the ball out faster:

I thought his comfort level was good. The ball was coming out to the right spots, and some guys made some plays. Elijah (Moore) made some plays, (Dontario) Drummond made some plays. We got the ball on the perimeter to (Jerrion) Ealy a couple of times. I thought for the most part it was good.

On the secondary:

I thought they’ve played well with their eyes. For the most part, they’ve made some plays on the deep ball. A couple of times they didn’t in this past game, but they were right there. I think their eyes have been better, and they seem more confident on deep balls and playing the deep balls. They are going to be tested this week with the amount of skill players and speed that Southeastern Louisiana has. They will be tested on the perimeter more than they have in the first two games.

On Ryder Anderson and Alex Givens:

Ryder was fine, I think he was just cramping a little bit. Then Alex just got winded and tired, but he came back and practiced yesterday, and he was fine.

On playing an FCS opponent:

We really have to focus on getting better. That same improvement we saw from week one to week two, we need to see from week two to week three. We have so many young players. And Southeastern Louisiana, they present unique challenges on both sides of the ball. We will have to prepare well. And then for us to improve from week two to week three, we will focus on doing the little things better technique-wise and getting better in every area because we can.

On getting QB pressure with the three-man and four-man rush:

Any time you can get some pressure with your down guys not having to bring added pressure, it’s a bonus. But I was really impressed with our outside linebackers. That’s the unique thing about the 3-4 is they don’t really ever know where that fourth rusher is coming from, or you can drop eight. It’s just a little bit harder to see, and you can disguise it a little better. Coach MacIntyre has done a good job of mixing it up and keeping the offense off-balance.

On responding after the fumble recovery:

It was big. I went up to (Octavious) Cooley because for him it was shades of 2017 with the fumble. I told him it is a different team, and we’ll be alright. We responded, and Elijah made a big play. That was big. It was huge. There were several big plays in the game but obviously us responding to that was very big.