@MizzouFootball Media Day - Week 2
9/7/2015 3:28:00 PM | Football
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Fresh off of a 34-3 win over Southeast Missouri in its season-opener, Mizzou Football now shifts its focus to a road game at Arkansas State. Head coach Gary Pinkel met with reporters on Monday. Below is a transcript from the press conference. Also, be sure to visit this link for sound from Mizzou offensive coordinator Josh Henson, QB Drew Lock, OL Connor McGovern, WR Nate Brown, C Evan Boehm, QB Maty Mauk, RB Russell Hansbrough, DL Rickey Hatley and LB Kentrell Brothers.
Opening Statement…
Good afternoon everybody, I appreciate you all being here on Labor Day. You're laboring, just like I am. That's great. Congratulations to Carl Edwards in NASCAR, a great Columbia, Missouri guy, a Mizzou fan. I'm really happy for him. I'd like to thank our fans Saturday. I was happy with the turn out, one of the biggest turnouts we've had, in really, really tough heat conditions. And students also, I'm very appreciative of them being there and coming to that game. Thanks to all of our fans. We'd like to have a bunch of fans down at Arkansas State, it's not that long of a drive, and that'd be awesome too. Arkansas State is a very good football team, I think the score was very misleading. On film when they played Southern Cal, they played, I think they really played really well. When you have 4 turnovers to zero (for USC) that kind of gives you misinformation of how close the game really was in terms of just execution on both sides. Their quarterback is a very talented player, great running backs with experience, they have great receivers. Defensively they had to replace a lot of guys, they've had some transfers and some junior college players. They've got a good scheme so it's about us focusing on all the things we need to improve on, so that's what we're going to try to do. Become a better football team and go try to play our best football.
Injury-wise, Evan Boehm and Russell Hansbrough are both questionable, and that's their status not. They're both ankle injuries. They're both questionable to play. I really don't- the trainers make those decisions and they haven't made a decision yet.
On freshman QB Drew Lock's performance on Saturday…
He did a lot of good things. He's got a lot to learn. I mean, lots to learn experience-wise, that's why he got a few plays. Pretty good situation for him. I thought he did some good things, he had a lot of poise and he handled himself well. We saw him do that in practice so I'm very, very pleased with him. He was excited about that first touchdown. I told him that he'll never have a guy that wide open again in the history of college football, but certainly he made a great throw to get it there in an awkward situation. So it's a lot of good things.
On Terry Beckner, Jr. being named a co-started alongside Josh Augusta…
It's competitive there. Terry really had a really good game, Josh did too, but it's a competition, we do that all the time. We've done that with all of our defensive lines. We play eight guys there consistently when we can. Terry did a lot of good things, as a lot of players did. He's really come along and really maturing and it's really nice to see. He's a pretty humble guy, those guys have a tendency to mature quicker and listen more and don't get caught up in themselves. So we're excited about his progress.
On Nate Howard's great jump at the defensive end spot and if he feels it looks like he's offside…
That's what I was wondering too because of our problems with penalties a year ago. On a couple of them he jumped fast and quick. That's what he started doing the last 10, 12 days, 12 practices that we had, we saw that and that's when we decided 'Shoot, this guy's going to be great, and obviously he's got the upside to do great, great things.' He did a lot of good things. Coach Kuligowski has done a good job coaching those guys and they have great respect and trust for him just because of the consistency of how players turn out at those positions.
On how significant it was to get a commitment from Terry Beckner, Jr. ….
To get Terry was - East St. Louis High School - we knew about him obviously when he was in ninth grade. We'd heard about him, one of the best players in the nation. The neat thing about him too, like I said he just he just brings this humility, he's a hard worker and takes coaching just wants to get better. He listens to Coach Kuligowski and everything he says. He's going to be an impact player right away, and that's huge. Especially losing (Harold) Brantley, and that has problems we've had there some with the loss of players that have gone to the NFL or graduated and both. I'm just happy he's on our football team and hope he stays healthy and I am interested in how good he can get.
On whether Beckner's low-key personality presented challenges in the recruiting process…
Coach Ford and Coach Kuligowski both had a good relationship with him. I didn't have as much, you know I'd talk to him once every couple of weeks on the phone and those types of things. Coach Sunkett has done really well over the years so I think there was some great trust there, but he is a quiet guy. Very few words. Those guys are kind of hard to read sometimes, but what you do is you just recruit them. It's still all about people and trust and those types of things. In the end, when he put that hat on, that was good for Mizzou.
On the backup running backs and how they can improve…
I just think they have to just play more, Ish [Witter] did some things in there. He was back, not 100 percent. He was suffering a groin all up until that game, so to get him back. Morgan's (Steward) getting better, I think he's getting better all the time and a few weeks from now he might be 100 percent. So that's certainly a challenge for us. You know, bringing [Chase] Abbington and getting him in there too, so there's a lot of things we've got to work with there and that's it. And obviously if Russell's back and he stays healthy, that would solve a lot of things. You never know when that's going to happen. Tt was very typical on that first play in the game when he ran the ball, that's typical of what we've seen all- he's just a different player than he was a year ago and he was pretty good. I'm just- he's going to be ok, which is the most important thing. It's frustrating for him and for us because he's a difference maker. So hopefully we get him back.
On the run game struggles against SEMO…
I think you always look at, you might look at running back, you might look at offensive line, you might look at the scheme, and you might look at a lot of things. It's just like a pass – there's a lot of different things – run's the same way. I think everybody's got to do a little bit better, and that's what we're going to work hard to do.
On if he was pleased with the lack of penalties from his team against SEMO…
Yeah, I was. I thought our players, they got a bit carried away too a bit with our players, and I thought our guys back off and didn't retaliate in any way. I think, our players, I commend our players on that. So that was really good to show discipline out there. I think it was a good first game in terms of that. It's about consistency so hopefully we can do some things better.
On the level of kicking in the college football improving over the last several years…
Yeah, I think that has a little bit to do with, with the kicking scholarships. Years ago when I was at Washington we had a bunch of great kicker and punters and we never put guys on scholarships, they had to earn it. I think the biggest difference now is the development with kickers and punters. Just like quarterbacks, receivers, and skills guys that go to camps all over the place. So that we come in here and see them, and I think it's the same thing with kicking. Those guys are in camps and you know about them when they freshmen, they've got strong legs. Follow them a little bit longer and things like that, so I think it's a combination of cams and improving at a higher level, and also in terms of recognition and being able to identify who the guys are and with all the information you get out of form camps, you make good decisions.
On if it is harder to evaluate kickers during the recruiting process…
I just think you've got to make good decisions. You've got to make good decisions in terms of what you're looking at; the parameters you're looking for in evaluation. I think it's got to be a bit of a gut feeling as well: you're exactly right, kicking off the tee is a lot different than kicking off the ground. And punters, getting the ball off, we've got guys come in and Corey (Fatony) was the same way - he was just real slow in terms of where we need them to be, but he fix that quick, the amount of time to first get the ball off and the time to get it off. I don't know, I think you have a player come out and play like that and be like that in a game, and also kick off, he did that too, and you also saw that he has a very strong leg on kickoffs. I think some of the punts he had were outstanding and that's encouraging. He's a freshman in one game, and we've got a long season. I certainly just like his competitiveness and his confidence that he has. He's not cocky in any way, it's just the determination that he has. It's very good, I'm very pleased with that.
On Kentrell Brothers' instincts at linebacker…
The three toughest positions to play, and this is my opinion: quarterback, offensive line, and linebacker. Linebackers have to have so many keys and counter keys they're getting. I mean honestly, it's mind boggling. Stec (Dave Steckel) initially taught it and Barry's done a great job also. There's a point where they get to where they're not thinking about it. The B-gap or whatever those rules are, and to make that call. What he's doing right now, he's just going. No thinking. He sees it, it's just, there's no second and a half, 2 or 3 seconds where "Ok, I need to go here", that's gone. He's a good athlete, he can run well, he's fast. So that's what you've got, you've got a guy with all those instincts and knows his keys so well. There's no thinking, it's really neat to see and (Sean Weatherspoon) Spoon actually got that way too and did a great job that way.
On Alec Abeln's performance last weekend…
I thought he did good playing two positions. We didn't plan on that. What we do is we have who's going to be a backup center, who's backup guard, tackle and such. I told you that, I've mentioned this before. But I thought he did really good. He's young, he's going to make some mistakes. A lot of guys that are young are going to make mistakes, everybody has that, the chance to be really good players. What we have to do, as I mentioned at the press conference, is be very positive, very positive with our players, be very encouraging. As long as we're getting a great effort and a great focus, that's what you've got to do.
On getting Wesley Leftwich back at the WR spot this weekend…
Well he's experienced, he played. Last year he played quite a bit. We have very little experience down on that field. By the way, those receivers did a lot of great things. We're going to keep, they're very good and athletic, and we're just going to keep working with them. Maty was really good with them too. He had touchdown passes dropped and he's going out and putting his arm around them. A lot of times that doesn't happen with an experienced quarterback and I thought he really did a good job of that. I just think that the experience factor, you've got to keep getting better. Many of those guys are playing their positions for the first time.
On Aarion Penton fielding punts…
I think he's got a little ways to go, he reminded me of Marcus Murphy a little bit. You know, you think about him for four years. He went out the first few times, balls are dropping down and he's got to get down there and call fair catch, we lost some field position there. But he's just got to get out there and do it. Instinctively, he's got to do it. He's very talented. You saw him get one return that put us at about the 40 yard line and we got a chance with the ball with great field position on the punt return. I think he'll do a very, very good job. He wants to do it and he's very athletic, so that's just him being out there and making those kinds of judgments. I think he'll do fine.
