Coach, I mean, these kids,
I guess the upperclassmen were
in a four-three two years ago,
a three-four last year,
and now you guys are kind of
going to be doing
a little bit of all of that.
How does that transition maybe
become a little easier with --
when they've kind
of experienced
maybe a little bit
of everything at this point?
You know, a lot of times,
football really
is just learning language,
because you're --
there's a lot of concepts
and things that carry over,
and it just might be
one system call it this,
the next one calls it that.
So, more than anything,
it's learning terminology,
the language, and, you know,
it's not just about what you do,
it's more about
how you do it.
So, one thing we've done
throughout
this entire quarantine process
and all the Zoom meetings
and everything else,
I tell you what, we've gone over
and over the install,
you know, I don't know
how many times,
at least through meetings
and through talking.
So now we're actually getting
a chance to go out
and do it on the field,
which is great.
We've been waiting for that.
Our guys have done a great job
with learning it.
You know, you're talking
about a veteran player
who has experience in
a couple different systems;
that certainly helps.
All right, Parish, go ahead.
Hey, Coach, who are
some of your players
who are getting
more reps right now
because Sam Williams
is away?
He's unavailable.
Who are some of those guys
in that mix?
Yeah, I think it's --
you know, today was day one.
And a lot of times,
just like anything else,
when a guy is down,
it becomes everyone
collectively,
as a defense, to all step up.
And we're cross-training
several guys,
not just at that
particular position Sam plays
but we're cross-training
a lot of guys
because we're really preparing
for, number one,
we want to see guys
play different spots.
We haven't had a chance to see
these guys practice until today.
And number two, we're preparing
ourselves to, okay,
maybe there's a week
throughout this season
where we have several guys
out at one spot
because of COVID
or whatever else,
and it's like you've got
to have answers ready.
So, you know, I talked
with defense
about it
just this morning again,
about how important
it is to be a guy
that can cross-train,
learn more than one spot.
So, you know, there's a
combination of several guys
that are filling in
where Sam was.
What's your take
on your defensive line?
Obviously, there were
a lot of snaps
lost at those
interior positions.
So what do you see there
as you guys get started?
Number one, I just see guys
with a great approach.
I love how that group's working.
I think, you know,
they're hungry,
and there's good and bad
to everything.
So, obviously, when you lose the
guys that played a lot of snaps,
you lose those snaps, so that's
the negative part of it.
I think the positive is the
other guys see opportunity.
You know, you're a football
player, you see, okay, man,
like,
the guy that played the majority
of the snaps last year
is not there anymore,
this is a great chance
for me to go earn that spot
and show what I can do.
So I think, a lot of times,
that really creates
great competition at practice.
So far, in our walkthroughs,
meetings, and practice today,
that's shown up that way.
All right, Neal, go ahead
with your question.
Yeah, D.J., kind of following up
on what Parish just asked,
I know you've had a lot of day
one,
year one at different places,
Maryland, Michigan,
that kind of thing.
Have you ever gone into a place
where the front seven
was kind of this inexperienced?
I'd have to really think back.
I mean, obviously,
I'm sure at some point I have,
but I don't know a year off
the top of my head right now.
You take every one
of these experiences
in their own individual way,
because even when you say
this group has X amount of snaps
or X amount of starters
coming back, or whatever it is,
those things are still
all individually based.
You're dealing with different
personalities,
different situations,
and everything else.
So I think it's hard sometimes
to just liken things to,
oh, this was like that year,
because I think sometimes,
as a coach,
if you do that, you know,
you may find out down the road
you made the wrong perception
about what was going to happen
or how the guys
were going to react, respond,
whatever it is,
in a good or bad way.
And so that's how we'll approach
this and take it.
I like the approach
our guys have had.
I know maybe snap-wise,
not as experienced
as some other places
or other years,
but they really are taking
ownership in it.
And we got guys like Ryder
and Jacquez and MoMo
and, I mean,
there's a whole group of guys
that are really taking ownership
in what's going on,
and being great leaders
and setting the tone
for the whole group.
All right, Ben, go ahead.
Yeah, D.J., to kind of piggyback
off
of what Neal was talking about,
you've been through
so many day ones.
And knowing that
it's going to be much
different on the last day,
what do you look for on
that first day
and what were maybe
some encouraging things,
or did Ole Miss
meet the expectations,
meet the expectations
of what you expect
to have from them on day one?
Every day one I've ever been
a part of is,
like, you know, you come off
the field feeling like,
oh, you know, we have
so many things to work on,
which is true, but it's day one.
To me, all you're looking for
at day one is really,
as coaches
and as players collectively,
that we're
all upholding the standard
and setting the standard for
how we're going to do things.
In terms of running to the ball,
being urgent about what we do,
you know, in our communication,
going from drill
to drill at practice,
all those little things
make the biggest difference.
There's plenty of scheme
stuff to clean up
and we'll get to all that,
but, to me, you've got to learn
how to practice and what is
our standard as a team,
as a defense to how we operate
and how we handle our business.
Day one is your first day to go
put that on film and go show it,
and then day two
becomes the first day
you get the chance
to go clean that up,
improve it, talk about
the things where we need to be.
So that's really -- I think
it's the practice habit
that's the most important to me.
All right, Nate, go ahead.
How important is kind of that
middle of the defense
going to be with you?
And that's kind of where
the experience is
with MoMo and Jacquez and Lakia.
Well, it's critical -- I mean,
obviously, from just a schemes
standpoint of the guys
in the middle of your defense,
but really it starts
with the communication.
Those are the guys that are
the quarterbacks of the defense.
They're making the checks
and calls
and getting guys
where they need to be,
and really setting the tone
and tempo by their demeanor
and their conviction
about the calls they're making.
So they've got to know
what the D line is doing,
what the DBs are doing,
and communicate
all those things.
So that's where it starts,
first of all.
And then you talk about, okay,
now, once the ball snapped,
I mean, those are naturally
the guys that are around
the ball the most.
They're right in the middle
of the defense.
And so we're expecting
big things from those guys
and I think they're expecting
big things from themselves.
All right, go ahead, Nick.
With the COVID protocols
in place,
were there any things
that you weren't able to do
in this first day of practice
that most years
you would have been able to do,
or is everything just
kind of same as?
You know, the basic things
are just kind of
how we're meeting right now.
We're breaking up special teams
at two different times
because we don't want everyone
in the same room at once.
So that was a little staggered.
Obviously,
everyone's with a mask
on the entire meeting
we're in there,
we're all together, and we're
kind of spaced out a little bit.
But, I don't know,
once we got on the field,
I don't feel there was anything
different,
other than coaches --
it's hard to get used to,
you're wearing
a mask at practice but you're --
when you're trying
to blow a whistle,
that becomes complicated.
I caught myself a couple times
on that,
but, other than that,
we're rolling, practicing.
Go ahead, Ben.
Yeah, D.J., the newcomers,
like the Canada kids
and the other transfers,
first impressions of them?
What would you say you thought
about them
when you saw them
on the first day?
I mean, you can group everyone,
freshmen, transfer, senior,
you could really group everyone
all together right now
with our coaching staff
because
it was all of our first day
together on the practice field,
which is obviously a unique
circumstance right now,
in August, saying that,
but that's what it is.
And so we're thrilled.
I really feel really good about
the guys that we have acquired,
you know,
however they've gotten here,
through recruiting freshmen,
transfer,
or just our team
of existing players.
Overall, like I said,
our guys prepared really well.
It was a good first day
in those terms.
And I'm excited to see us
keep going
and keep making improvements.
All right, Nate.
On those
COVID protocols and stuff,
you see some teams wearing
that face shield stuff.
Are you guys wearing those?
I know some kids said it was
like breathing in a Ziploc bag
and stuff like that?
Yeah, I mean,
I've never experienced it
myself, wearing it.
Our guys are wearing it
and they have said it,
but, again,
it's just one of those things
that you just got to --
here's the deal,
let's get used to it.
When it's new, first off,
it usually feels different,
so you're calling about it,
but you get used to anything,
I feel.
So we'll get used to it.
Are they fogging up,
stuff like that?
Like, how does -- does it
actually affect them from,
I guess, your point of view?
It would be a great question
for the players.
What I have noticed is some of
the guys that also wear a visor.
So if you have the bottom shield
and the visor,
you got a pretty good chance
of fogging up there; you know?
The other ones, I mean,
it's still there on your mouth,
so even if it fogs up,
you still have vision.
