University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Preparation for Memphis Continues
10/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Preparation for Memphis Continues
Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Golden Eagle football team continued its preparation, today, at the Southern Miss practice fields for its game against Memphis on Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Head Coach Jeff Bower seemed to be pleased with the team's practice so far this week. "We've had some pretty good practices this week," Bower said. "We had a physical day today, and we got a lot of work done today. If we keep going hard and doing the same things every day, I will feel better about how we play on Saturday, especially on offense."
Bower talked about how he has motivated the team to work on its focus. "We are going a little simpler as far as a game plan standpoint on offense this week, so I hope this helps. We talked to them about it. It's a lot more than what you do on the field and a lot more than what you do in meetings. You have to concentrate and think about football, reviewing your assignments and studying tape. You have to do a lot of things on your own in order to prepare yourself to play well on Saturday.
"We've had good weeks before and not played well on Saturday. I want our players to bear down and give more attention to details from a mental standpoint, preparing for this game and every game and I think we will be a better team."
He also talked to the team about the physical nature of the Memphis game every year. "I expect a tough and physical game this week," Bower said. "They've played hard every game this year and are good again on defense. They are similar to us in that they lost a lot of players from last year's defense, and also like us, they are playing together as a team and playing real hard. They are mixing up their offenses and are moving the ball better than they have in four or five years. They are similar to UAB in that they run a lot of shotgun, no huddle offense and have an athletic quarterback. Memphis is a good football team.
"Offensively, we haven't done anything to really change things up. We have cut back a lot on how much we have in our game plan. We have to be demanding of our guys and keep giving them repetitions the whole week and get them ready by running the same plays with the different looks they will be seeing on defense. Then it is their responsibility to get themselves ready to play so they will execute during the game.
With the starting change at receiver, the competition at other positions also has been good this week. "We've had some good competition so far this week. At center, Jim Hicks and Brock Anderson are both competing hard. Also at the quick guard position, we've got Kendrick Key back, looking like he's healthy again. We are playing both Kendrick and Jeremy Parquet and will see what kind of week they have and start the best one. Woody hurt his knee a little today. He made it through half of the practice today. I think he is fine. Timmy will start but both guys are going to play a lot."
The injury situation hasn't changed much. "Dannye Fowler, Stuart Floyd and Seth Cumbie didn't do anything. Terrell Browden did some little things but didn't do any team work. Kenny Johnson practiced through it and did okay. If Dawayne's not ready to go, then we'll move up James Walley and get him ready to go."
