Opening Day of Football Spring Practice: Press Conference Interviews

Many thanks to rblakeh for pointing us to the video clips of the press conference.  Yes, it's Silverlight.  Still, it's of far higher quality than the sandstorm we were treated to for the live video feed.  The plan is this:  I'll/we'll post the feeds as the links are made available.  we'll then watch through as time allows and make our own comments.  Feel free to make your own comments as well.  Particularly insightful stuff will get bumped into the t

Click here for the link for interviews with the assistants.  (Yes, Orgeron is in it.  If he grows his hair out further, I'm going to start calling it the Afr-O...)

OC Chaney:

-- We're going to play the best people.  (In response to a question about seniors vs. freshmen.)

 

-- We're in it to win now, and Coach Kiffin has made that extremely clear to our entire team.

 

-- Not one bit.  (When asked if he's concerned about injuries in the spring due to the full-speed practices that are scheduled.)

 

-- I think all the good ones possess a quality of leadership about them.  They can rally the troops.  They can make the average player look great.  They can score points in the red zone.  They have the leadership.  They have the intelligence to make the good decisions.  (When asked about the "intangibles" he looks for in a QB.)

Rico McCoy (no, he's no assistant, but the interviews seem to be intermixed):

-- You work your butt off, you're going to get out there.

 

-- Everything's at a high tempo.  So I expect it to be at a high tempo out there on the practice field today.

 

-- Nick Reveiz playing Mike. ... He's a playmaker, one of the toughest guys I know - a hard-working guy.  (When asked about the depth at linebacker.)

Monte Kiffin:

-- Whaddya say, gang?  (Opening up conversation.  I found it funny.)

 

-- I can't wait to see the tape after practice to see how we look.

 

-- You better hustle.  Eleven guys going to the football.  Not eight, not nine, not ten, but eleven.  Not twelve, or we'll be in trouble.  (The last bit said with a grin.)

 

-- I don't want to give them too much, because I believe when you play football on defense you gotta play fast.  We want to be the fastest defense we can be.  And if you play that way, you can't be, "Watch out for this, watch out for that."

 

-- I get excited, no matter what.

Montario Hardesty:

-- I'm completely healthy now.

 

-- [The outside zone is] definitely something that I'm happy we're going back to. ... Last year, we were more of an inside zone running team.

 

-- If you've been a guy that's been playing, you know, in the past, if you've already been playing, you can - I wouldn't say chill, but Coach Fulmer would kind of rest you a little bit to see other guys play.  But now, I think everybody's going to be playing just that much more, so there's just that much more competition on the practice field, which is going to make us a better team.

Da Coach O:

-- I really want to see our talent:  where it's at, our deficiencies, what we have to go out and get.  We kind of have an idea now, but after fifteen great days of spring ball, it's going to let us know exactly what we need to get in next year's recruiting class.

 

-- I'm going to talk about the defensive line for a second.  I'm excited about our guys, about their attitude towards work.  It's going to be a new system under Monte Kiffin.  I think we're going to be very, very talented in some spots.  I'm excited about the athletic ability we have at end.  At left end, we've got Wes Brown, Chris Walker and Willie Bohannon in no certain order.  ... At right end, we have Ben Martin, Stephen Faulkes and Rae Sykes. ... In the middle, we're a little thin.  But I think we have some really good players.  In Dan Williams, he's a veteran, he's a senior.  ...  The three-technique tackle is wide-open, just like any other spots on our depth chats.  We got Andre Mathis, Donald Langley and Chase Nelson. ... also, Victor Thomas and Montori Hughes.

 

-- I just think you'll see this team make a lot of improvement in the next fifteen days.

 

-- They really believe in Monte's system and what I brought in.

Click here for the interview with Lane Kiffin.

(More video feeds to come as they're posted.)