Coach Odom Previews Georgia
9/20/2018 3:22:00 PM | Football
Georgia is all that is on Mizzou Football head coach Barry Odom's mind this week. Odom said during his weekly press conference with the media that Georgia is well deserving of its ranking going into Saturday's game.
"I am very, very impressed," Odom said. "I think their ranking is very well deserved. I think you can't go into a discussion about the landscape of college football and talk about the top teams in the country without them coming out of every conversation."
Odom mentioned that it's going to take a great week of preparation and great amount of focus for his team to feel prepared walking out onto the field Saturday. However, Odom is definitely not counting out his team by all means.
?? @Coach_Odom Previews Saturday's Matchup vs. #2/3 Georgia ??#MIZ #ShowMe ???? pic.twitter.com/TW7R34yyJE
— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) September 18, 2018
"The field is still 100 yards long," Odom explained. "It doesn't matter what the opponent looks like, you're going to play in the moment and play one play at a time. That takes mental training and conditioning and coaching and teaching, and then you've got to get into the experience and then go execute."
Odom continued, "You always want to try to find mismatches and creative ways to maybe find opportunities for your team and there's not many out there [against Georgia], but that's also, for us, the way we have approached this year. For three weeks we've done it and we're going to continue doing it this week. We're going to prepare as great as we can prepare then we'll get into the arena and play it one snap at a time."
While Georgia is the main focus this week for Odom, he also mentioned that he was "excited and happy" for his team being 3-0 through three weeks. He added that he is "excited for us to have the opportunity to get into SEC play and obviously it starts off pretty fast and furious with a great opponent coming in."
Odom also spoke about the talent level of current group of players.
"Well I do like the work this group has put in and I think we've recruited well to a point that we've got a number of guys that have an opportunity to make plays in this league. I think we've got an opportunity if we prepare, we continue to work on our habits and our focus and culturally continue to build our locker room to the way it is putting "we over me" and all the things that we try to do then I think we're right where we need to be in moving our program forward."
Odom went on to add, "There's always work to be done and that'll never ever change. It never stops and we're embracing the opportunity to go do that. You know, it's the best league in college football and I'm honored and proud to be the head coach and lead this group into league play."
Senior K Tucker McCann has been one of those players Odom looks to for consistency in both practice habits and on the field play.
"He's a lot more consistent right now," Odom said. "The practice habits that he's shown recently put him in a position to go kick the ball well. I think he's done a great job on our kickoffs on providing field position. He's got a strong, powerful leg and when we get inside the 35-yard line I feel very good about lining up and putting him out there."
RS freshman OL Hyrin White was another player Odom spoke about during his press conference. White sat out the 2017 season as a redshirt, but has seen quality minutes in the 2018 season so far, specifically filling in for an injured Yasir Durant last Saturday at Purdue.
"Hyrin has done a great job on embracing playing that position, understanding it, and then getting the speed of the game," Odom said. "He has played some high level games before [during high school] and he's played against some really good people. We knew he had some of those things, some of those qualities that were really going to help him out. He's deceptively heavy. He's probably 310, 315 pounds, but he's just so long and tall he doesn't look it and he moves extremely well. He's got a really bright future."
Odom was also asked about the possibility and likelihood of a sellout for Saturday's game against Georgia.
"I'd be very, very appreciative of our fans on supporting our team and our athletic department. It should be a great environment for SEC football. I know our kids are excited to play at home too."
