CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: OLE MISS VS PENN STATE

December 27, 2023

Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Ole Miss Rebels

Quick Quotes

Q. When you look at how they've been playing recently, what stands out to you about what they're doing and what's working?

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: I think they're going to try to run ball on us honestly.

Q. What's the start to this week been like for you? You enjoying it?

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: Yeah, I've been enjoying it. Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, Omni Hotel, everybody has been very welcoming, and I appreciate it. They're making me feel like home. That's very good.

Q. I just asked John about this too, with everything that's been going on with the transfer portal, I'm interested what role did the Grove Collective play for you when you decided to go here?

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: The Grove Collective, they're a lot of good people. Always looking to help their student-athletes. That's something big, man. I can say that the Grove Collective is not like -- they did a good job with our core guys, and I know they're going to do a better job this year. Kudos to them. They do a good job, and I'm grateful for them.

Q. John said playing for Coach Golding, he's like an evil defensive genius.

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: Listen, he's a defensive genius for real. I soak up a lot, and I'm good with it. I like listening. It's just crazy.

Q. How long did it take to you get it, to get the system?

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: To get the system, at my old school, we had a similar system. So coming in here, transferring in here, it wasn't very challenging for me because there's a lot of similarities, but different terminology. So it was pretty easy for me.

Q. One of the things they brought up was how the Georgia game provided a turning point when the SEC Championship dreams were dashed, they scored 50 points, and Lane Kiffin made the comments in post-game, simply put, we have to recruit better. We have to get different guys and have more depth and all that. It seems like that has played into the last two games. Plus what's happened so far this off-season. How do you see that game as the transition?

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: From that Georgia week, that was a very tough one honestly. We know that defensively we're a damn good defense. So we took that next week going into -- whoever we faced --

Q. Monroe?

JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE: Yeah, but listen, we didn't care about the opponent. We cared about what we put on tape. Going into that week, we made sure we stayed focused and played our brand of football. That Georgia game wasn't our brand of football. Those last two games, you can see we were playing our brand of football and being aggressive and playing great defense.