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UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 5, 2015

Hugh Freeze

HUGH FREEZE: Ladies and gentlemen, it's good to see you again. It means it's the kickoff of another fall session here, and we're excited about the opportunity we have. I told our staff this morning that I know of very few professions that have the chance each year to really be involved in the building of young men, and it's something that I hope and pray that we can keep at our forefront, that we really keep in mind that the impact that we're making on young men extends far beyond just their lives but to the lives of their future families and kids and the people that they will come in contact with, many of which will be leaders in communities.
Our theme this year is take a stand, and the first thing we're talking about today is being teachable, and that goes for our coaches as well as for our young men, having teachable spirits that we recognize that each is a reflection of the others in that room. That goes for coaches, players, managers, and hopefully we'll be very engaging and cutting edge as coaches, and hopefully our young men will grow together.
I think that we have a talented football team, and I think the thing that will separate a lot of teams that are in this conference and that we are playing, which are all talented, very talented, will be the chemistry that is formed throughout the next 20 or so days in fall camp.
So what do you do to make sure you're a little better every day in the chemistry aspect, and we've thought out of the box a good bit. We've got some unique things that we're going to do to make sure we're building chemistry among us that hopefully helps us embrace the expectations that have been placed on our program in year four. That's a compliment to our kids and our staff and to our administration and their vision, to everything that's gone into the first three years. We're thrilled that our expectations have risen a bit in the time we've been here, and hopefully we can embrace those, develop tremendous chemistry throughout our team and staff, throughout fall camp that will hopefully help us when we get into the battles, the inner workings of our team in the locker room, and as we're around each other in off‑the‑field situations, I would like to see that be a bit better this year. Not that it was bad at any moment, but I just really want us to depend upon each other and have a we‑before‑me mentality.
Hopefully I'll challenge them tonight that this is their job, that they owe this University and the people that are affording them this opportunity with bringing something to the job every day, and we as coaches have to bring it every day. We can't expect them to and us not, and I think our staff is itching and ready to get going in this 2015 campaign.

Q. When you talk about chemistry, how could it have been better at the end of last season to maybe help y'all deal with the adversity you faced?
HUGH FREEZE: Not get people hurt would be a good thing. You know, we can't control the injuries that we have that affect our team. I do think our depth is better this year than it's ever been since we've been here, but you know, I go back and I look at myself and everything that went into at the end of the year, and I certainly learned some things I would do differently. But the chemistry was good, but handling adversity, you've got to have people in that locker room that make a difference when those times happen, and we're going to try to do some things throughout this fall camp that prepares a leadership group to be ready for some of those, but real life is that at some point in this life, they'll be hit with adversity. I will, you will. If we live long enough, all of us will, and we're not exempt to that, but how we handle it, certainly we need to be preparing for those moments. So we're going to try to do a few things this fall camp that I'd rather keep quiet, but we're going to do some things to hopefully help us if those arise again.

Q. Hugh, which guy do you think will take the first snaps at quarterback, and how do you plan to divide those up for the first month?
HUGH FREEZE: We'll certainly rotate them. Ryan will take day one. He'll take the snaps with the 1s, and we'll just rotate‑‑ may even rotate drills on day one. We'll talk about that some more tonight, but he'll take the first snap. But all are going to get reps with the 1s for sure. We'll rotate days, chart everything, and evaluate the film, see how they do in the scrimmage situations.
I'll tell you one of the toughest things that I struggle with in talking to other coaches, I think it's pretty common, is you feel like you have a pretty good football team, and as I said in that staff room with our coaches, my mentality is get your guys to the bus for the games, and the other mentality is I've got to get them ready to tackle and block and all those things, and really I don't know many ways to do that other than to be really physical.
We had an extremely physical spring. Every single day that we were afforded the opportunity to put pads on, it was physical, and I've got to really do a juggling act with that. I know that's not what you asked, but the quarterbacks will rotate, but it does play into that because we really need to see those guys get some live bullets. At the same time you want to get your team healthy to the games.

Q. Staying with the quarterbacks for a second, you were talking about chemistry and everything. I know Chad Kelly has had some highly publicized things from the past. Where do you think he fits into that? Do you think he'll fit into that? Obviously you don't know if he's going to win the job or not, but chemistry‑wise do you think he'll fit in like you want him to?
HUGH FREEZE: Like I've said all along, you don't know until you put him in those situations. All I can tell you is to this point I could not be more pleased. The guy had a 4.0 GPA this summer, had a 3.6 in the spring. One of the strength staff's most favorite kids, finishes first in every drill. He's just like a lot of us, has made some mistakes in our past and is ready to hopefully move beyond them, and I think he deserves that opportunity now.

Q. Talking about quarterbacks, I know you've got a great defense coming back. You're still going to lean on them to possibly lead the team, but how imperative is it for a quarterback to come in and take charge and take control of his offense?
HUGH FREEZE: Well, I said it at SEC Media Days. I really believe the SEC west has seven top‑25 teams. I think the team or teams at the top of it that will emerge to be the top will be the teams whose defense is the most stingy in the red zone and whose quarterback plays the best. I don't know that I can overstate the importance of our quarterback situation, us finding the guy that can hopefully make us efficient.

Q. Hugh, I counted them, I think you have 15 scholarship offensive linemen right now on your roster. It's probably the most you've ever had.
HUGH FREEZE: Yeah.

Q. How is Aaron Morris, I guess, along with that? Is this the year that group has to take that big step up?
HUGH FREEZE: They have to take a step up. I don't know, again‑‑ this league is so good, defensive front‑wise, but we need to‑‑ we've got to get better and more efficient in running the football, and I think it is the year.
Now again, hopefully you stay healthy. But we did our first year, and we ran the ball pretty good. We didn't the last two years. We have more scholarship kids now, which our goal is to get 16 on scholarship in that room, and we're getting closer to that.
I am confident coming into camp that we're healthy. Aaron is the only question mark in my mind right now. Everybody else is ready to go. Aaron is ready to go at some things, but we've got to‑‑ you know, any time you've had two knee surgeries, you're just not quite sure ‑ I'm not. Everything looks good right now, but I've got to see him go out there and get it done.
But we should be better, and I believe we will be. We recognize that as a staff, and we've put an emphasis on it, and excited to see them go about their business.

Q. Staying with the offensive line, Javon Patterson, just what you saw of him in spring, does he seem able to be right there this summer competing for a starting spot, or does he need to develop a little bit?
HUGH FREEZE: We put him right behind Aaron for a reason. I believe in him strongly.

Q. What are some goals that you hope to accomplish during this fall camp, especially on offense?
HUGH FREEZE: Find a quarterback. That would be number one. Establish our identity in the run game, and that doesn't‑‑ that means, all right, what is our bread and butter. What do we feel good that is something we can ask our young men to do. We look at our running schemes, and gosh, we've got every blocking scheme known to man. I told our guys the other day, let's just find the three that work for us. I think those would be the top two, and then developing chemistry that really separates us in the touchy‑feely moments of college football that we talk about that captures the heart and the mind outside the lines. I really want to separate ourselves in that regard.

Q. In your mind are there any positions, maybe offensive line or whatever, that young guys are going to have to come in and contribute and help you out? There always seem to be a few for you.
HUGH FREEZE: Well, I hope we're at a point where we're not depending upon that for our success unless we have injuries of some type. You know, I think we've got depth. I love the receivers we signed. But our depth in that room right now today is pretty good. I like the DBs we've signed, but hopefully our depth in that room is pretty good.
Some are going to have to play, but I stand here today where in the last few years I could rattle off some names that‑‑ I'm sure there will be some surprises and we're going to play the best players, and I like our recruiting class. We had 17 guys in summer session and we had 17 A's in June term with those signees. I think we've got the right type of kid. The July term there were 13 A's. I like the guys that we've signed, and there will be some surprises that stick out for us, but I sure hope in four weeks' time from now that we're not having to rattle off a bunch of those names to depend upon for a lot of snaps.

Q. Are all the signees playing tomorrow outside of Anderson and Clemons?
HUGH FREEZE: Yeah, we're planning on everyone being here, and everyone is going to be here unless they have travel problems tonight. They should be back already.

Q. Coach, you mentioned Aaron Morris is the only one that's even questionable as far as health‑wise?
HUGH FREEZE: Offensive line, yes. Talbot Buys, one of our‑‑ we're going to‑‑ and Eric Swinney. Those are the three that won't be able to just go‑‑ two of them can't go in camp right now. Eric is having his surgery, and Talbot is still about two weeks away probably from a surgery he had on his foot. Aaron is going to go day‑to‑day as to how much he does. That's it right now.

Q. How many times this off‑season do you think you've been asked about the quarterback situation, and do you have any favorite stories of when you were asked?
HUGH FREEZE: I told a group at one of these road trips, it was one of those days, I think, where I had been asked that question probably 15 times, and I said, I've decided on a starter, and everyone's ears perked up, and I said, I'm starting all three. So the first play of the first game, I'm going to have a play where all three are out there, so y'all can remove the suspense. All three are starting the game.
I don't know if they knew how to take it. They kind of just sat there. But I might do that. I was actually playing at that time, but it kind of sounds like a good idea. I'm just going to start all three and we'll come up with some fancy play for them.

Q. Just the general sense of how Treadwell feels getting ready to get out on the field tomorrow?
HUGH FREEZE: I like his demeanor right now. I think he feels confident, feels like he's worked his way back into being in top shape. He's lost some weight, feels better about that, not that he was heavy in my eyes, but I feels better about it, so I like it. I'm good with it.
Someone asked me earlier today did I think he would come back this fast, and to be very candid, I really can't say that I feel that way yet because I haven't let him do anything. They would have released him in spring, but I just‑‑ no way I was doing that, so I'm about as anxious as anyone to see what the reports I'm getting from his workouts are that he's ready to go.

Q. Long time until your first bye week of the season. Do you feel like the team is built for a long run of games like this?
HUGH FREEZE: There's no way I can say. If I had my preference, I would much rather have the bye week in a little different spot, but it's the schedule we were given. I know that we're better‑‑ sitting here today we're better prepared for that type of run than we have been the previous three years, but you never know how the grind will affect you and how the injuries are going to go. But looking at our depth chart, we certainly are better prepared for it than we have been.

Q. (No microphone.)
HUGH FREEZE: Our brand certainly has changed since I've been here, and nationally Ole Miss, we're a factor now, and we're not going away. We're going to continue to identify people that fit with our program, and we're going to continue to work our tail off every day to sell this brand in a positive light of what we can do for your son and the people that are involved in our program long after football, not just in between the lines, because I do think that's kind of where we hopefully can separate ourselves somewhat. I mean, you've got to find your niche. You've got to be true to who you are.
You know, this will only help our process in seeing the things that I've told people like Laremy and Robert and others in the recruiting process, and to see it play out exactly hopefully like we talked about is really rewarding. It's rewarding for the program. It's rewarding for the young men, for the families. We want them to make wise choices, and certainly we're going to try to educate them like we always have to the best of our ability and make sure that they're getting great advice when that time comes.
But I certainly hope that that's the least of their worries when we start tomorrow. Their résumé will take care of that. Nothing else. The résumé that they put on the film will decide whether all that stuff has any validity to it or not, and that's the only thing that will decide it. That's what I hope they hear from me every single day, man. It's your résumé and you're making it today.

Q. It wasn't a secret in spring that you have a desire to go faster more often this fall. What will determine in August whether you can stick with that plan or not?
HUGH FREEZE: Well, we watched our cut‑ups the other day from spring, we were extremely fast, so we have the capability. I did not like the position I found myself in at the end of last year trying to go from slow to fast, so I just made sure‑‑ and I never had to do that before because we've always been fast, but I do think we were prudent last year, too. You've got a defense that's giving up for most of the year 12 points a game, it doesn't take a lot of rocket science to figure out that if that defense is that stingy, you give the opponents lesser and lesser opportunities, you're going to have a chance to win some games. And so we kind of played to our strengths.
We are prepared to go extremely fast. That is my personality. It's what I would like to do. It's when I'm the most comfortable. But I won't do it just to satisfy my personality. I will‑‑ we're going to do what we think gives us the best chance to win, but we're not going to‑‑ we're going to prepare from day one to go fast.

Q. Until last season you always tried to rotate two quarterbacks, one that would run a lot. Do you kind of foresee bringing that back a little bit as to kind of play into go faster?
HUGH FREEZE: We're going to find out what our strengths are and what gives us the best chance to win. As I've proven, I'm certainly not afraid to play two. If that gives us an advantage in any situations, we will definitely do it.

Q. Any position changes since spring practice, and secondly, what are your response to a couple of the teams saying they knew what plays were coming, specifically the TCU and LSU games? Is there any reason you tightened up practices or anything? Is that a result of those comments?
HUGH FREEZE: Let's go back to the position changes. D.K. Buford is going to tailback from the secondary. I think that's the only one.
And then I don't know‑‑ I don't know what LSU said. I talked to Coach Miles the other day and he didn't say anything like that to me. You know, so I don't know what LSU said. And TCU, Coach Patterson and I talk frequently, and we were fairly predictable at some formations in that game. He was exactly right.
But tightening up practices, man, it's just a distraction. It's hard for me to darned coach ball, and I've got‑‑ man, we just want to coach ball and build our team. And yeah, when you change your verbiage and you change this and you change that, man, you want to give your kids the best chance to win, and it's‑‑ I don't know half the people that are standing around there when we have an open practice. That's difficult, and I don't know of many that really do it. I'm probably as generous with that as anyone I would think. It's just a distraction, and it's a little paranoia probably on‑‑ most coaches are paranoid to begin with. But I want to go coach Chad Kelly hard, and I want to do it the way I need to do it, and I want to‑‑ if I need to yell out what he should have done and what it's called, I want to do that, and I want to be protective when I do that. So I guess there's some of that to it.

Q. In a game that's extremely physical in a league obviously maybe the most physical, how do you balance in this modern era getting your team to that level of physicality that you want, yet being protective in the fall camp?
HUGH FREEZE: There's no answer to that. I wish I had it. I think you've got to judge your team, kind of see how they're handling it when you go thud. Are they practicing good techniques, or if you're watching film and you're in a thud period and you see in one period eight times that there's supposed to be thud but he's not in a position to make a good tackle on a player, we've got a big problem probably. We've come up with a ton of tackling drills that we use every day that doesn't pose a risk too much to our young men. We'll do a lot of that, but man, I'm not planning on tackling a lot to the ground if I can at all keep from it.

Q. Can you talk about your receivers a little bit? I know you've been asked a lot about Laquon, but seems like you were looking for more consistency overall from that group in the spring. How do you feel about that group?
HUGH FREEZE: I was, and I don't know yet because I can't go out there and do seven‑on‑seven with them now, but coming out of spring I challenged them and thought we needed more consistency out of them. We'll find out in fall camp. I think we have the ability, or I wouldn't say that. I really wouldn't.
If you have a group of men that have trusted in you and to come to play for you and they're doing all they can with what they've been gifted, I would never say that. Those young men we need more out of them. To whom much is given, much is required, and they're a talented group, and we need more out of them, and I think we'll get it.

Q. In order to rely on the defense you've had, you've relied on the defense that much‑‑
HUGH FREEZE: Just one year.

Q. Given your personality, do you find yourself just frustrated by playing the way you played? That's question one. And the second one is just about Chad. I understand he's not talking, that he's a first‑year player. In terms of getting that behind you, is he at some point if he wins the job? What's going to be your approach with that?
HUGH FREEZE: I told Cal if he wins the job, I think you have to reevaluate that for sure. I want to give him the‑‑ I don't know what that young man would say to you today, and truly we do‑‑ we typically don't let first‑year players talk a lot. But if we get two weeks into camp, I'm a reasonable guy, I understand your jobs, and I don't understand how some of you do it sometimes, but I do understand what you're about. And if he ends up having playing time, you have the right to talk to him for sure.
The other question about gall, I get frustrated with it, but at the end of the day, if that scoreboard looks like, I can handle those. I tell people sometimes, Gus and I were actually talking last week, and we both said, you know what, being an OC really wasn't that bad because you didn't worry about all that stuff, man. You were just, hey, I'm going to go fast and I'm going to score some points. At Arkansas State when I was the OC, man, that was the easiest job. Not easy, but I didn't have to worry about all that. I was just going to find a way to go fast and hopefully score some points.
That wasn't such a bad gig, you know.

Q. Laremy Tunsil, health‑wise and eligibility‑wise, has anything changed with him, and do you feel that something is kind of hanging over him this preseason? Have you talked to him about that or anything?
HUGH FREEZE: No, we really haven't. He's going about his business in a great manner. I think he's healthy. He's fully released to go on day one, and like I said, nothing has changed since the last time we talked, I guess at media days or wherever, that‑‑ other than, I think, the case was settled, and we're happy any time that‑‑ I don't wish discourse in any families in our‑‑ that we deal with or any period, and I'm glad to see that that got handled.
As far as moving forward, if we are to cooperate, whether it's with law enforcement, NCAA or our own University, we are fully cooperative and confident, again, in the way we do things, and we'll continue to be, should something else arise, but he's ready to roll right now.

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