RGTV: Lane Kiffin post-Furman

[Music] okay really pleased today by the performance and you know that's not always the case in these games where they go your well go your way early or maybe you are pleased about one side of the ball not the other um I thought that these guys our players really came out with a great intensity we really challenged them not to have anything to do with the opponent have to do with them their first game of this team that they've worked so hard for they've come together from all these different places and didn't go to the NFL so I was like all right this is your first message you get to send about the team no matter who you play next week or week five any of that stuff this is all that matters is this game and um you say that don't mean it's going to work and it was good that they responded that way they played like it was an elite SEC game with the energy that they played with the way they went after the ball um style so really really pleased with that I thought uh fans were really good uh student section um you know was a good first half and that that was good to good to see and good to feel good to be back out there with everybody so someday maybe we'll get everybody to stay for the second halfs but we'll work on that later so also in the plane clean you know you run 82 plays with no turnovers and a combined three penalties and all three phases of the game that that's enjoyable for a coach for that to happen because it means a lot of players are doing a lot of things right and playing with great discipline and and they did that today and that's a lot of players doing that because I mean highly unusual I don't think ever here we've gone out in a second half where we basically don't play the starters even in the second half we usually let them take the first series so a lot of them weren't we we're out already and so a lot of times that when games can get kind of you know not clean when there's new people in there at different spots and anytime you only get seven first downs I think two on the last series of the game there uh and no points here win a lot of games so that was really good to see there was a lot of talk put in about this defense a lot of energy put into this defense resources put into this defense so to see them show up like that was huge gu laying to your initial point of don't about the opponent worry about yourselves just that first half your initial assessment of what the offense showed out there yeah I guess 52 missed the field goal there at the end um that's about as good as you can do the one series we don't punt but the one series we kick a field goal instead of a touchdown so when we look at it the three points at the end that's basically what you're going to get in a one minute drive so outside of that you only left four points out there um with a lot of Series so that's a really good half and I don't care who you play in that's hard to do you see scores around the country that don't look like this you know um our mock game didn't look like this so that's this gu performing really well and taking the challenge to not look ahead on a schedule we've talked a lot about that defensive front uh did that group live up to what you thought and what you've seen in practice yeah it did it was exciting was a feeling we've never had here um you know I haven't had it as a head coach you know just where you just look at the four guys that are going out there and then they got about three guys that rotate in with them and uh it's elite it's elite size length players that present major problems if they're doing the right thing and playing hard and that's it's very intimidating to play against so they they all came out and showed up and you just have a different depth than you ever had you got these other linemen rotating on offense that are been starting you know basically I think you have nine linemen that have been normal starters at places offensive line and you have this abundance of defensive line and then even look at the linebackers Chris Paul didn't start but went in and and played great Lane having a large chunk of the second half watching Austin Simmons and his Al Miss debut just your initial impressions of him and game action yeah he started well with the touchdown throw was a really pretty throw um you he misses one late that the receiver he thought he was going to go to the Post so he threw it behind it was a big third down that would have kept the drive alive but you I thought he he did some things good and he was a little off on some others a lot of work for michah Davis in the punk game tonight what what did you think about him on offense and on special teams yeah I thought he did a really good job handled some punt situations where we're just fair catching them and um saved us some yards you know instead of letting them roll so I think he's a really again another really big addition in one of the last ones Lane what what made you go with Austin for for those qb2 reps there yeah I think it was very close both guys had a really good camp did really well um it was hard decision just felt um Austin had just played a little better right at the end the last last couple competitive situations but it was a very hard decision we're very confident as you saw with both guys going in there and running our offense and then uh didn't see Jordan Watkins dressed what's his status uh he was not eligible to not eligible he was not available to play injury-wise question coach I was just curious about you you throwing JJ piges back there uh give him a little tote on the two yard line or so let him get in the end zone obviously I think he had might a tackle in the tackle for loss in the previous drive what was it the thought be behind giving him the ball back there yeah we really weren't going to probably go to that yet because it was like a fourth and a long two and so we had already changed to go to a different pass and stuff and then I would just kind of wanted to send a message you know about this group so I looked at the lineman and I said all right we got all you big guys you know they got these shirts they say Size Matters they think so cool they wear around now so let's let's let's see it and so we put JJ at running back and let all those big lineman block them and I don't know I think he made seven yards on it so uh then Coach Weiss got excited and he just said running again so he ran the same play again people have spent so much time talking about how good this team can be how good did it feel to you know go out there and actually show it it felt great it really did cuz I thought we would play really well but you never know and um I just really like them I just really like how selfless they are in some different situations and you know these are one of those games you can have these guys mop in because they're not getting the stats they want and it's just a now it's early it's week one but it's just a really neat group of guys they're very very focused on a common them coach there's a lot of talk in the offseason about all the transfer additions a lot of them had big plays in this game how do you think they performed in their their first game action great I I don't have the list of them but they're all over the place you know from Juice's touchdown um obviously the defensive lineman um Walter and prinsley so um they Juan the other tight end you know there there was a lot uh couple running backs that were added so ton of guys got in there and did a lot some some of the safeties and in the corner back really both Corners Lane Jackson had a record-breaking first half do you feel like you saw a different Jackson tonight than even when he was kind of hitting his Peak at certain points last year uh yeah I think he had a better pocket so that made him a little different um I think that the line we missed the blitz one time but I think they had a really good you can see the length showing up um and some of the pockets that he's sitting in and that hasn't always been the case so I think that helped him a lot and he felt comfortable back there any questions all right thanks coach players next all right guys