University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
2002 Football Media Day
8/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
2002 Football Media Day
Head Coach Jeff Bower?s remarks during the 2002 Football Media Day news conference
On the receivers:
?The one person who I have seen make some improvement at the receiver position is DeRon Lawrence. He has had three good days so far. Adam Hurst is really smart and can run, and he possibly may be able to help us in the kicking game. Antwon Courington has really looked good too. It all depends on the players staying healthy and how some other guys do. The only move we made was to move Naton Stewart from an outside receiver to an inside receiver. He is a big, tall target and that has given him some new life. I think that we can go without playing young players on the receivers.?
On the team?s hunger after the disappointing season last year:
?Well, I think there was a great commitment from our squad this summer. I think they worked very hard this summer. The attitude has been good. I have been impressed with our leadership so far. We do have a hungry football team, but I have been real impressed with our seniors and some of our underclassmen who are leaders on this football team. I think that it is critical to have the senior leadership, but there is also a lot of quality in our underclassmen. That is important if you are going to have the season that you want to have.?
On the respect:
?There is no doubt that we probably lost some respect. We won the conference three of the first four years, but we didn?t win it the last two years. We lost some ball games because we turned the ball over and didn?t do enough things to win. I hope that we learn from the mistakes that we made. Our players are hurt because of what we did last year.?
On the excitement level for the Jackson State game:
?We will be ready to go. It will be exciting. I wasn?t here when we played them before, but I am sure that it will be a tremendous atmosphere. The home schedule that we have is by far the best home schedule that we have ever had. We have quality schools coming in here, and I hope that it is exciting for our fans. They are the ones who make it a great atmosphere, and they are part of our team too. The more our fans show up, the more enthusiasm there is, and the better chance we have.?
On the fan attitude:
?I think our fans are pretty confident that we have a chance to be a good football team this season. The fans have high expectations. Our squad and our coaches also have high expectations.?
On the unique quarterback situation:
?To have three players bunched up close together at this part of the season is unique. We have had some other unique situations in previous years. As far as trying to determine who our starter is, I don?t know if we have had a situation like we do right now.?
On helping a young quarterback gain confidence:
?The best way to give a young quarterback experience and help him gain confidence is to be good around them. If you are a skilled athlete, it is really tough for you to do your job because it all starts up front. On the offensive line, we have to be better than we were last year, and I believe we will be. It will be a challenge for our football team, but the players know our situation. They know that we will have a young quarterback, and everyone has to play well around him. The other players have to raise their level of play one notch, and if they do that, it will make it a lot easier on the quarterback position.?
On the expectations for this season:
?I always go into every season expecting for our team to be good. The players work hard. If you don?t expect good things to happen, most of the time they won?t happen. I am being realistic, and I expect this football team to be good. It is what you do on the field and what you do off the field. You have to win on the field and practice, and you have to win off the field. We have a chance to be good.?
On playing an in-state school this season:
?There has never been this much excitement around a home football game in a long time. That says everything about playing an in-state opponent. That is what college football is all about. If you have more intrastate games, everyone would get more excited. I can remember the times when we did play other teams from in the state. But ever since that time, I don?t think that college football in this state has been as big as it used to be. I don?t know what else we can do to play another in-state team. We are ready to play anytime ? just like our slogan. It will be a home-and-home if we do it. We all know why they don?t want to play.?
On platooning quarterbacks:
?I have done it before. I don?t mind doing it. If someone doesn?t separate himself and emerges as a clear-cut winner, there is a real good chance we will play a couple of quarterbacks. It is too early to make a decision like that, but I am not opposed to doing that. If it is best for our football team, we will do that.?
On having home games to start of the season:
?I think it is a good start. I like the fact that we are at home three times. There is quality competition coming in here. I really like our schedule. It is a great schedule for our fans. If a fan ever wanted to buy season tickets, this would be the year.?
On the new facility:
?It means a lot. It is nice, and it is something that you can be proud of. I have wanted a first-class facility for our players for a long time, and I think they are enjoying it. They are taking a lot of pride in it. We as football coaches are teachers, and when it is all said and done, we will have great teaching facilities. That is something that we have not had the luxury of before. It will be a facility that is first-class. You have to be fair to your kids. They have to have every chance to be successful, as well as our coaches, and this facility will help us do that.?
On the recruiting advantage from the new facility:
?I think this is as nice as most facilities in the country. It will be a huge advantage. This is a nice facility. There is no doubt that this will help in our recruiting. Facilities are not the most important thing in recruiting because the people are. But this will do a lot to help sell our program because it is first-class and our program is first-class. It goes hand in hand in with what we believe in.?
On the offensive line:
?I think they are a pretty close bunch, and I think they know that they have a big responsibility this year. If we are going to be what we want to be, everyone has to play well. But we have to play well on the offensive line.?
