University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Jeff Bower' Weekly Press Conference
9/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Coach Jeff Bower?s Weekly Press Conference
Opening Statement:
?We gave our players some time off over the weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We?ll go heavy today and Tuesday in practice, before we cut back on our practice.
On
I?m impressed with
On Injuries:
?We will get Caleb Hendrix back this week. He did a lot last week and looked a lot better. I expect him to be ready to go. CJ Barrows will have hernia surgery today and we will lose him for the season. I don?t know the status of Howard Overby. His ankle has ballooned this past week and I doubt that he will be ready to play. Other than that, we?re probably in good shape coming into the week.?
On How The Players Have Handled The Hurricanes:
?I think good. There?s not much you can do about it. You just adjust your plans and you keep a positive attitude. We?ve prepared for two games that we didn?t play, but you know that we?ll eventually play those games. I think the players have handled it well and we gave them some time off to keep them mentally fresh.?
On If It?s An Advantage Or Disadvantage Of Not Playing:
?I?d rather play. I want to get on a rhythm and routine. We haven?t had much of one. Starting this week, we will get on one.?
On Gerald McRath?s Chances Of Playing Late In The Season:
?I don?t know. It?s a possibility. You talk about six weeks and then another week for conditioning. There is a chance, maybe.?
On Keeping The Players With The Competitive Edge:
?I hope we have. We needed to give them some time off. We?re going to get into a stretch where we are going to play a lot of games without time off. I think the players have handled it well. Our practices have been good. They known there?s nothing anyone could?ve done about the games being cancelled. We know we are going to play and they will be excited about playing.?
On If He Has Heard Anything About The Marshall Game Being Moved:
?I haven?t heard a word yet. I know our commissioner Britton Banowsky was going to talk to the television folks and see what they could do. Our preference would be to move the
On Losing Television Money And Exposure:
?I don?t know how much it would cost us financially. I don?t know what it would mean to us. If the games don?t get picked up, we would lose some revenue. We also lose exposure. I?m not sure what will happen.?
On What Prevented Caleb Hendrix From Getting Healthy Sooner:
?Those things take a while. Some kids take longer than others. We did an MRI on him and he had a slight tear in his hamstring. He had a legitimate hamstring injury. The worst thing to do is pull the trigger too soon and set yourself back. It?s a call you leave to the players. Only they know how they feel. They have to be smart and use good judgment.?
On If James Denley Starts This Week And His Backup
?Yes. More than likely, we will have double backups. I need to talk to Coach Hopson about that.?
On Coach McCrone:
?He?s been around and knows a lot of football. He?s been an asset to our program. He?s been around to a lot of programs and has coached a lot of positions. He has a good grasp of what we are doing defensively. We?re doing some different things that he wasn?t accustomed to prior to him coming here. One reason I moved him to defensive ends, is to get more production, especially in the pass rush. So far, I think we have been better. When the opening came, we brought four guys in and he was the best one. We were impressed with his overall knowledge. He brings a lot to us recruiting wise in the state of
On Being At A Competitive Disadvantage With All The Games In November:
?I don?t think it matters. I?m going to be real positive about it. We?re going to play them and we will be ready to play. I don?t think you can think about things like that. You?ve got to focus on getting ready to play and we as coaches have to give our players the best plan we possibly can. We have to have great preparation.?
On If He Has Ever Seen Anything Like This:
?No I have never been through something like this. Les Miles at LSU hasn?t either. Art Briles and his
On Helping
?We tried to get them our charter flight. I think FEMA took their three buses. We couldn?t get the flight. We got the flight, but they didn?t have any flight attendants. So they got three buses out of
On If He Has A Theory As To Why All The Hurricanes Have Occurred:
?I don?t know. Hurricanes come in cycles, but it?s been a long time since we?ve had something like this. I?m no scientist.?
On How Much Of
?Probably a lot, with new life and excitement. They are playing hard and doing some good things.
On Being Out Of A Rhythm On Offense:
?We need to play and we need to tackle, but we are so thin at some positions we can?t afford to. We did some at
