University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower' Comments From Media Day
8/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower?s Comments From Media Day
Jeff Bower |
Opening Comments:
?Things have gone well in our first week of practice. We reported back in excellent shape, which is always important in order to accomplish what you want to do in preseason preparation. Our players worked extremely hard this summer to get themselves ready to go. We?ve been installing a lot and trying to get the team ready. We?re still finding out a lot about our new players; I?ve been real impressed with them. I think they are a good class, and some of them could help us this year.?
On Losing Several Defensive Starters:
?We have a tradition and a reputation for being really good on defense. There is a high level of expectations that the newcomers face on how they should play. Even though we lost several starters, we?ve been in this position before. There are guys who are filling in at positions who have experience. John Eubanks and Trevis Coley played a lot. Darrell Bennett redshirted last year, but he?s played before. Tyrone Nix and his defensive staff do a tremendous job, and they?ll get them ready.?
On Being Confident With the Secondary:
?There is some inexperience, but we want to run what we?ve been doing. We?ve got a good system on defense. You might simplify it some depending on who?s starting, but things won?t change a whole lot.?
On Dustin Almond Being the Established Starting Quarterback:
?Last year, we didn?t have continuity and went back and forth between the quarterbacks. We didn?t know who was going to play and play well. It makes it easy knowing that he will be the starter. You?ve got to give him credit, he?s really established himself as the solid number one.?
On the Backup at Quarterback:
?It?s still pretty wide open. Jeremy Young and Damion Carter have been getting about equal reps the best we possibly can. They?ve both improved. Damion has been working at wide receiver also, and we?ve got to keep him busy at both.?
On the Defensive Ends:
?We don?t have a lot of experience with some of our guys, and we didn?t play well at that position during Saturday?s scrimmage. It?s a little bit of a concern of mine. We have enough ability inside that we should be fine if some of our other guys (LeVon Pears, Akeem Lockett, Tom Johnson, Matthew Chatelain, and Demarcus Barner) will crank it up a notch. We need to be able to pressure the quarterback without having to blitz. We had to do that last year, and we need to get some guys to step up and be good pass rushers.?
On if the Running Game Being Good in Scrimmage is a Result of the Defense Struggling Against The Run:
?I think it?s a little bit of both. I think we?re better in the offensive line and we?re more athletic. I think we have a better understanding of what we?re doing and being repetitious has helped that. Defensively, if we had a weakness on last year?s team, it was against the run. We didn?t allow a lot of points, but we gave up too many yards running the football. That?s an area we need to get better in.?
On the Team Being Affected by Opening the Season at
?It doesn?t affect us. We know what we?ve got to do. It?s a tough place to play, but we played well there a few years ago, though we didn?t play well enough to win. We?ve proven that we can go out there and play well, and we know that we?ll have to play extremely well again.?
On the Opening Two Games:
?It?s two quality opponents to open the season, with the short week. We?ll have to do some
On the Running Backs:
?I?ve been real pleased with them. They?re running hard and have improved. Jay Johnson has done a nice job with them. They?re running more physical and are also better from an assignment standpoint. The major concern is taking care of the football. We?ve had the ball on the ground too many times during the first week. I don?t care how good you are as a running back, how fast or tough, if you can?t take care of the football, you don?t need be playing. They?ve made a lot of improvement.?
On Britt Barefoot and Kickoff Duties:
?Barefoot is everything we thought he would be, and he has an excellent leg. He?s going to be a good punter too. There is no disappointment there. To see a true freshman come in and kick the way he has, he has really impressed me. There?s a good chance you?ll see him do something. He?s the back-up at punter and on field goals. We?ll continue to work them all (Darren McCaleb, Luke Johnson, and Barefoot) at kickoff.?
On The Position Areas Where a Freshman Might Play:
?Typically, it?s at your skill positions. With us, it could be at running back. Though our freshmen are down the line, we know how that can change with injury. Anthony Harris hasn?t practiced much all week because of a slight hamstring injury. We may also see a freshman play at wide receiver most likely and maybe in the secondary. We?re pretty thin at linebacker, and we?re looking pretty hard at Gerald McRath, so there?s a chance there.?
On Chris McNair:
?He wasn?t at practice yesterday because he?s got some academic issues enrolling in school and some personal business to attend to with that. We?ll wait and see on him.?
On Bower Being Recharged For the Season:
?I?ve worked longer and harder this summer than I ever have. I like to play golf, but I have played one time during the last nine weeks. So my critics that say I spend too much time on the golf course, I don?t. I like taking some time off to have some family time. I always get excited during our coaches retreat. It always gets the mind going and thinking, gets me excited about the season. Seeing the fans and alumni at some of our big events gets me going. But when the players get back, that?s the real deal. All those things get me excited about the season.?
On Damion Carter:
?He?s doing more quarterback than receiver. He?ll throw and then jump in line with the receivers and run a route. We?re mixing it up.?
On the Difference in Last Year?s Offense and This Year?s Offense:
?It?s a major difference. Where we are now compared to last year, it?s an unbelievable difference. They?re much more comfortable. Mentally, we?re so far ahead than what we were a year ago, and you?d expect that. We should be. Our staff has done a good job. We played well the last six games of the season, but the bowl game was bad. I don?t know if we got overconfident, but I told the players that I would keep reminding them as often as I can about it.?
On the Offensive Line Being More Physical:
?Those guys went out by themselves a few days a week this summer, working on drills and assignments and things like that. I think that has showed in their performance. We weren?t as physical in Saturday?s scrimmage, on both sides of the ball and that was disappointing. That will be a big emphasis. It always has been, but we?re not getting what we want.
On the Offensive Line Improvement:
?They?ve done a good job, and Mitch Rodrigue has done a nice job with them. We?ve made improvement. I think for the first time in I don?t know how many years, we?ve developed some depth at the position. I really feel good. Our backups have done a good job, and we?re in a lot better shape than we have been. I think we?re fairly athletic, but we need to continue to challenge them with running the football. It?s extremely important, and that?s what we want to do, to line up and run the football. It all starts with them, but those guys have made a lot of improvement.?
On the Development Level of the Junior College Transfers:
?Ricardo Clark and Joseph Leech have come in and have done a good job. From a physical standpoint, they were well developed. It?s the learning part of it that?s the big thing with them. You might see one or both of them help us this year.?
On Being Close to Giving Up on Dustin Almond After the
?It never crossed my mind. That was probably the best thing that could?ve happened to him. He got embarrassed. He went to work, and he did the things that you?ve got to do to be a successful Division I quarterback. You can?t think just about football when you set foot in the meeting room or on the field. You?ve got to spend a lot of your own time, watching tape, learning, and studying the game. He started doing that, and it made a difference. He?s a competitor. Anyone who is a competitor and has something negative happen to you, you?re going to fight back, and he did. I?m real proud of the way he handled himself and fought back. He was a big key to us winning the championship.?
On Almond?s Frustration in the
?He?s a competitor, and when things don?t go right, he loses his poise a little bit. He?s got to work on that. He got frustrated and what he did in the bowl game was uncalled for. He?s got to learn from that, and I hope that it will be.?
On Almond Being Helped by the Addition of Ron McCrone:
?I think they?re pretty close. We wouldn?t have Dustin if it hadn?t been for Ron. He probably knows Dustin as well as anybody. I think he will help him out with frustration and handling himself, it?s a big help.?
On Getting Back to the
?There are a lot of keys that we?ve got to accomplish for us to get back there. I think if our players will continue to work hard and improve, and we can get some of those keys done, there is no doubt we?ll return there. This team is good enough and talented enough to win the league again and get back to the Liberty Bowl.?
On The Special Teams Return Men:
?They run really well. Eubanks is fast and both he and Young are athletic. They both have a good feel for what we?re doing and have some natural running instincts. Let?s not forget that there were 10 other guys out there who helped them be good. We really got good on special teams last year. I don?t know many times that people kicked to us at the end of the year. We got all kind of kicks- punts away, kicks away, sky kicks, and squib kicks. We?ve got to get good at returning sky and squib kicks. We saw so much of it. We were pretty darn good when they kicked one deep to Eubanks. But, we need to improve when we get those funky kicks. I hope we get good enough that we see a lot of those kicks again this year.?
On What Marvin Young Brings To The Team:
?He?s just a good player. He understands the game. I think he?s a smart football player and has good hands. He?s good in man-vs.-man coverage. He?s a good one-on-one route runner. He?s a lot like (former Southern Miss star receiver) Todd Pinkston, you never thought he?d survive physically. But he keeps on going, and he?s been durable for us, knock on wood.?
On Michael Boley Becoming More of a Leader:
?He?s gotten up and said a few things, which has been good. Michael is a good player, he works hard, and that?s why he is a good player. I?ve been real pleased with our seniors so far, and I?ve heard some good things from them so far.?
On Preparing For
?It?s always tough because there are a lot of unknowns. At least they?ll have a game before we play them, so we?ll have an idea. But you go back and do your homework and research and see what they?ve done in their previous coaching positions. We?ve looked at Oakland Raiders tape and Wisconsin Defense tape, which is all you can do. You break that down and get ready for that. We?ll have a better idea after that first game to see if we?re on the right track with what we?re playing for.?
On the Linebackers:
?It?s not as deep as we need to be. You?ll see Naton Stewart on the field, he?s a good player. Out of our middle backers, Dillon Cleckler has played a lot and so has Kevis Coley. We?ve got to stay healthy there. We?re not as deep, but we have talent and speed at the position.?
On The Starting Job
?It?s tight. They?re both going to play. It?s good competition.?
On Robby D?Angelo:
He's worked hard and gotten bigger and stronger. He?s had a good summer, you can tell. His body is much improved. He?s becoming a player.?
