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CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: OLE MISS v TEXAS CHRISTIANDecember 28, 2014Dick BumpasSam CarterChucky HunterATLANTA, GEORGIA MODERATOR: Hope you're settling in, having a good week so far. They're coming in right now. So for first session, TCU defensive coordinator Dick Bumpas, safety Sam Carter, and defensive tackle Chucky Hunter. Coach, we'll start with you. If you can give us an opening statement, maybe talk about how the Bowl Week experience has been so far in preparations for the game. DICK BUMPAS: First of all, we at TCU are extremely excited about being here. Bowl Week has been a tremendous amount of fun. Kids have certainly enjoyed it. The activities they've had planned are outstanding. Accommodations are superb. We feel very fortunate to be here and certainly enjoyed it up to this point. MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. Sam, talk about the battle for Bowl Week. How has that been for you so far? SAM CARTER: It's been fun last night. We got to race go karts. The night before, we got to play the Madden game, and even the day before, we got to see the offensive lineman make milk shakes. So it's been cool for us. MODERATOR: You guys have the lead right now, 2‑1. So off to a good start. SAM CARTER: We're winning at the moment. MODERATOR: Chucky, looking ahead at Bowl Week schedule, what are you looking forward to the most? What's the event that you think you'll have the most fun at? CHUCKY HUNTER: The event I'm looking forward to is going to the hospital for the children. My major is criminaljustice ‑‑ I mean, I graduate in general studies, but my job, I want to be a probation officer for kids. I'm looking forward to going to the hospital. MODERATOR: We'll open up for questions. Fire away. Q. Coach, talk about Ole Miss's offense, what you see out of them. DICK BUMPAS: I think it starts with the quarterback. I think Bo is probably one of the toughest, most aggressive quarterbacks that we've played. I know he's fought through injury. He's a competitive guy. He's hard to get down. I think one of the things that makes him most dangerous, when he scrambles, he's not scrambling to run, he's scrambling to throw. That makes him an extremely dangerous opponent. I think the receivers are tall, they're rangy. They can run. And any time you get deep balls downfield that are high, they have an opportunity to jump for, they come down with an awful lot of them. Their offensive line is extremely big, they're extremely talented, and they are very quick. So all in all‑‑ and then when you blend in the running backs, the running backs are extremely elusive, and they are hard to get on the ground. You see them run through a lot of tackles. And so for us, it's going to be extremely‑‑ it's going to be a heck of a test, I think. Q. Coach, can you talk about the strengths of your defense? I know a lot of people made a deal of 61 points against Baylor. If you take that out, looks like the defense has been top 15, top 20. What are some of the strengths? What are some of the things fan can expect in this game? DICK BUMPAS: It all starts with the players. I think we have a group of young men that football is extremely important to and they're extremely competitive. They want to do well. It helps when you have good players. Q. You're playing a team that, obviously, is the only team to beat Alabama this season. Their A‑game is real high. If you get their A‑game and beat them, what do you think it will say about your program? DICK BUMPAS: I don't speculate. I apologize. I'm not a PR guy. I don't know. SAM CARTER: Same here. I really can't tell you. I'm going to leave that up to the coaches. This is our last game. We want to come out and win. CHUCKY HUNTER: I can't say anything either really. Q. [Indiscernible]. CHUCKY HUNTER: It will give our juniors and seniors next year a better opportunity. That will be good for them, starting off on top. So that's pretty good. SAM CARTER: It will give a boost to the guys next year, helping those guys out, knowing we beat one of the top teams in the country. You still have to perform next year. Doesn't matter what you do this year. Next year is a whole new season. Q. I'd like all three of you to respond to this. Ole Miss offensively scored on a lot of big plays. Had a lot of big plays in the last game against Mississippi State. Didn't drive the ball as much in that game. Can you talk about that? Does that increase your awareness, keeping the ball in front of you, things like that? DICK BUMPAS: I would certainly hope so, yeah. And again, I go back to the receivers. They have deep threats that are outstanding. Like I said, they're tall, they're rangy. You get a ball thrown downfield and it turns into a jump ball situation, it gets a little scary. One of the things, if you pack a lot of guys up front to stop the run, which happens a lot of times, then you're vulnerable to the deep ball. And I think that's happened to people at times. So there's a thin line about getting too many guys up and getting too many guys back. Because if you start defending the deep ball the whole time, then they're running the football. So it's a little bit of a cat and mouse game. SAM CARTER: Same here. I agree. I think those guys are very precise, they know what they're doing out there. Like Coach said, you pack the box, those guys will go over the top. You go deep, those guys will run the ball. So I think they're pretty good at those two phases of the game. Bo Wallace does a great job of checking and figuring out what defenses they're in. CHUCKY HUNTER: We have to do our one‑eleven. Everybody has to do their job. Everybody has to worry about what they have to do. Just keep everybody in front of you. That's the most important thing. Q. Coach Bumpas, what were your thoughts about the defense after the Baylor game? DICK BUMPAS: That game, we played 109 or 112 snaps. I thought we were awfully tired. Turns into a long game. Q. [Indiscernible]. DICK BUMPAS: I think to a certain point, it is. And they had a big running back, and we were having trouble getting him on the ground. Yeah, just they scored when they needed to. We didn't stop them. That's bottom line of it. Q. [Indiscernible]. DICK BUMPAS: No, we haven't played 109 snaps again. I would say we've certainly improved. Q. Coach, what kind of offense does Ole Miss remind you of, of a team that you may have played this year? Specifically, No. 17, what are your thoughts on Engram, the tight end? DICK BUMPAS: As I watch them, I would compare them to a pro team. They do a lot of shifts and motions and whatnot, which forces you to be on top of your game in terms of where your eyes are, and their tight end, to me, is‑‑ they call him a tight end, but he's actually a wide receiver, and so he becomes an extremely deadly weapon because he has an opportunity to match up against the linebackers or‑‑ and so he gets‑‑ he's very, very good. And we all, we're trying to know always where he is right now. Q. Coach, if you could give us some insight into Paul Dawson, what makes him the player he is? DICK BUMPAS: I think, number one, he was a wide receiver in high school and went to junior college and became a linebacker, and I think he's extremely athletic. I think the game of football is important to him, and he wants to learn. Q. [Indiscernible]. DICK BUMPAS: Well, having never played the position, he comes by some things naturally. But as you approach the defensive game today, it's a little more complex than just running around to the football. He's shown an ability to know where to go and to learn where to go. So I think he's got a bright future for himself. Q. [Indiscernible]. DICK BUMPAS: Not necessarily. Mostly on the field, but he is getting better at it. Q. Coach, going back to Dawson, have you been around another player that's made like a transition from an offense to a defensive role, or running back, wide receiver to a linebacker, defensive end, something like that? DICK BUMPAS: We've had several guys, even at TCU, that came in as running backs and wound up on the defensive side of the ball. Most notably, the most recent one that I can think of is Jerry Hughes. Jerry Hughes was a running back coming out of high school. Now he's competing for the lead for the NFL sacks right now. He turned into a defensive end and a pretty good one. Q. Sam, could you talk a little bit about Evan Engram, the Ole Miss tight end coach referenced, and how Ole Miss uses him and what challenge that might present? SAM CARTER: Like Coach said, he's really not a tight end. He's a receiver. Those guys moving in and out of formations, get a lot of one‑on‑ones, and I compare him to probably a Jimmy Graham because of the way those guys use him. Sometimes he's outside, sometimes he's inside. He's very fast to me, when I watch him. He blocks very well. So he's a tight end mixed with a receiver, but he's amazing. He's probably one of the best tight ends I've faced this year and probably last year also. MODERATOR: Anything else for the student‑athletes? Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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