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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYJuly 29, 2014June JonesNEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND THE MODERATOR: Now we're joined by Coach June Jones, who has had bowls in four of the last five seasons, restoring the luster to the program. COACH JONES: Just some general comments and we'll get to questions, because that seems to be more what you guys want to do anyway. I think just as a couple comments from our team. I think that we're more talented than we've ever been since I've been there. More talent and speed in the O‑line and D‑line. We have a secondary that looks like an NFL secondary. We have three, four runningbacks that I think are very, very productive, going to be very good players. One of them Kevin Pope, is here today. Quarterback‑wise I think it's going to be Neal Burcham to start with. Certainly he has waited his turn. He throws the ball accurately, understands what we're doing. We have really four guys behind him, two true freshmen that are very talented. We have a redshirt freshman that has four years of eligibility, Kolney Cassel, that has a lot of talent. We have the Players of the Year in high school from Houston, Player of the Year from Tyler Junior College named Matt Davis, a transfer from Texas A&M, that I've been very impressed with since he arrived the 1st of June. I think we're close to being where we need to be athletically on all sides of the ball. We got Jonathan Yenga that's going to be a good linebacker. We have a transfer from Rice that I thought was their best defensive player, Cameron Nwosu. I'm anxious to see him get on the field and get into the scheme. With that said, we're going to be young. We're better than we've been. That equates with a very difficult non‑conference schedule we're starting with. If those kids grow up and believe in themselves, we can compete with anybody on our schedule. So I'm excited to see how this starts off this season. We open with Baylor. We'll go down there and be competitive with them. Hopefully we'll score more points than they do and be able to contain them. With that said, that gives you a general outlook on where we are. I have another player here that's been very productive, Stephon Sanders. You may get a chance to talk with him. He's been a really, really great football player for us so far, off the field also. With that said, I'll open it up for questions and we'll roll from there. Q. You've had great success building, rebuilding programs. You come to SMU. Those of us who are older know the great storied traditions of SMU. I'm wondering if you feel like you've been able to teach younger people now something about the traditions of SMU, get them to understand what SMU football was as you are bringing it back to now where you want it to be? COACH JONES: You know, this day and age, I coached Derek Dickerson, for example, in Atlanta when I was in Atlanta. My kids weren't born when he was playing. They didn't even know who he was. They have to get online and Google him. To answer your question, anybody that spends time at SMU, walks through the halls, everybody is talking about Doug Walker, all those issues all the time. There is a great tradition. Like I said, we're just fighting every day to keep that tradition, keep trying to get better. Q. We've asked some of the coaches of the new teams coming into the conference about their challenges. How about from the perspective of somebody who has been within the conference and the challenges of these new teams coming in? COACH JONES: I've been in pretty much every conference. I was in the Western Athletic Conference, the Mountain West, the American Athletic Conference, and of all the conferences, this one is one of the upper echelon of all of the above. We played Tulsa, Houston, Tulane. We've been through all those and other meetings. The challenges basically are there. All these banners, these are better football teams than those other conferences. We worked real hard when I first got in Conference USA that we could compete. We were at the bottom and ended up tying UCF. When we entered the American, the talent level went down. We were back down to where we were, building it back up again. This is a very competitive conference. There's a lot of talent. So the challenges are just to keep getting better. You have to keep getting better. It still comes down to the locker room and the chemistry within the locker room to winning. Those are the things we spend a lot of time on. My kids understand those intangible things. Like I said, we're more talented than we've been. As soon as we get those guys to buy into what we're doing, we're going to be something. Q. How about the prospects of a conference championship game? What are your views on that and the value it provides you for recruiting? COACH JONES: You strive to win conference championships. That's what you're trying to do. You try to win them all. I've had the fortunate time to be on one undefeated team to get to a BCS game. I can't tell you how many people that I've asked, Have they ever been on an undefeated team from Pop Warner on, and nobody raises their hand. That's a difficult thing to do. But you set out to win every game. The real thing is you win your home games, steal a couple on the road, try to get in the big game. That's what we're trying to do. That's our big goal. Q. Big 12 Media Days last week it was a hot topic, and here as well. You started a lively discussion. What about the fact that at least you're trying some new ideas? COACH JONES: Those were my personal thoughts. This conference has a chance and has the leadership and has the direction to be one of the five basically. I think that we've proven that really this year. Obviously through the next two to three years, there's going to be some more shake‑out on that. I'm very confident of where we stand as a conference, where we stand as a group of coaches. At the same time there is a lot of 'what ifs' if it doesn't work. I prefer to focus more on what we're doing right here. Q. You mentioned a young team. What is the most difficult thing you've got with a young team? You said they're good but they're young. COACH JONES: Yeah, the most important thing, I don't know if it's the most difficult thing, but the most important thing is to get the quarterback to play at a high level. One of those guys that doesn't have the experience in what we're doing has to grow up real fast. We rely on the past. We're going to throw the football. If you look in the book right there, we threw more passes, I think the top three number of passes thrown in a game were SMU games last year. That is what we've had success with all my career, wherever I've been. That is the thing that has to happen. Our quarterback has to play at a high level. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. COACH JONES: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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