Sept. 12, 2005
Missouri Football Media Day
September 12, 2005
Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
"As usual our players are working on academics today and some of the players are going to be watching video and so on. We had a good practice yesterday; I look forward to tomorrow to improve as a football team. Troy has a very good program, they went to a bowl game a year ago. We remember the game last year at their place where they beat us, and they deserved to win the game. We certainly have a lot of respect for them. It's important to get back on a winning track, so it's a very, very big game."
On Missouri's defense:
"We ran plays different in this game than we did in the first game. Everybody does that, and what you do is adjust. I felt that we haven't got any turnovers, so we're not getting out on the field enough, and I think fundamentally there are some breakdowns there, as well. I think all those things can be corrected. I was very disappointed with the loss, but I think these things can be corrected. You can analyze anything, you can see if there are too many yards rushing and too many yards passing, and then you're concerned. Again, I think you look at what you're faced with, and you determine how to fix it, and things you need to work on. Scheme-wise things you can do, fundamentally how you can do some better things, and get it straightened out. You are always concerned when you come off of a bad experience. I think we were running plays with defense that we always run. Every time you run a defense, you have responsibilities, and you make adjustments and try the best you can as we did last year. Therefore, we will always look as coaches to get better too."
On Chase Coffman being a target:
"We threw the ball to a lot of people; there were a lot of people who caught the football. And that's one of the things going on with the offense now, and you have to substitute a lot. The guys go full-speed, you play hard, you get 105 plays, you've got to get a substitution in there. We knew this though, when we put this in, and Chase Coffman has made some plays. As far as a freshman, he's as good a freshman I've ever seen play. Some players I'd be hesitant to say that about because I don't think they can handle it. He can, he's a very mature young guy with a remarkable future. You're watching the game, and watch him catch the ball, and the corner had him, and he makes the guy miss, and darts up the field, breaks a tackle and gains eight yards. I'm standing there on the sidelines saying `This guy's a freshman?' It's only the second game he's ever played in college. He's very impressive. That's also what we saw as two-a-days were going on, and his name kept coming up, and we finally made a decision for him to play. You've got to be pretty mature to do what he's doing, and I think that along with his athleticism has allowed him to perform the way he's performed."
On putting two tight ends in at once:
"In our system, we can pretty much put any player anywhere we want on that field. It's possible we could do that. You have to look at those things and evaluate them and I think that's something to consider. We have a couple of injuries at our receiver position which puts a little more pressure on us to make sure we get the right guys out there and at the same time, you also have to play with more players so [Arnold] Britt, who hasn't seen a whole lot of action since he's been here, has gone and done a great job because this team provides him the opportunity to go and do that."
On the versatility of the offense...
"When they put a spread offense in, it's pretty much the same thing as me being a receiver. We have a few plays for me. A lot of the time we're split out and run routes like the receivers. They have so many formations that we can put whoever we want wherever on the field just to get the matchups we want. (Martin) Rucker, he was a Freshman All-American last year and he's been helping me learn the routes and Brad (Smith) is great at that too."
On taking the punting responsibilities too...
"I was pretty freaked out last year when they told me I was punting for the Kansas State game. This was definitely unexpected, I'm not overwhelmed this year, but I know what I need to do. I haven't spent all that much time on it this year, but I'm going to work on it a lot this week and prepare myself for Saturday. I took on a lot of things last year with the punting and the kicking, I felt like I kicked better, felt more involved in the game. When you're that involved, I feel like I focus better.
On looking to bounce back versus Troy...
"Definitely, looking forward to this game, this is a big game for us as a team. We want to comeback and play a good game, and we got more motivation than anything. It's big; we want to get back on track."
On moving the ball around a lot...
"Yeah there is, there's a lot of opportunities to get the guys the ball like Chase (Coffman), he can make plays, "T-Ruck" (Martin Rucker) and all the other guys. You get them the ball, they can make plays for us."
On Troy's defense without DeMarcus Ware..
"Yeah, he was good, made a lot of plays in the backfield. Got back there and made some plays and the rest of them reacted around him and played hard together as a team. They were a good defense last year."
On the mood of the team...
"I think what we can do now is learn from it, watch the film and move on. It's a new game, new week, new game plan, new opponent. We're back at home; we have something more to prove to our fans that we can play. We got to have a fresh new attitude on a fresh new day and show we can play. That was only the second game last year and last week was only the second game. We can't think of "we might have" last year, but at the same time we got to go out and focus."