all right ladies and gentlemen uh welcome to today's press conference uh the blue Raiders will prepare to go on the road for the first time this season on Saturday at Old Miss uh kickoff is set for 3:15 and the game will be shown on the SEC network so to get things started i' like to bring up coach coach Mason at this time who have he'll have an opening comment and then be available for any questions if you're on Zoom please remember to use the razor hand function and we'll get to you as soon as we can Co good morning happy labor day and I hope everybody's doing well uh it's Old Miss week uh for us week two for us of the college football season and we're excited uh to be in preparation uh right now we got to travel down to Old Miss to play an extremely uh talented Old Miss football team led by head coach lay kein um last week that group put up 76 points versus Ferman uh we know and understand uh how vaunted uh this group is being in the top 10 uh extremely talented and as I look at how we came out of this past uh weekend hey man a lot to learn about our football team we learned a lot um we got a little bit of work to do uh in preparation for what we have to see heading down there but I'm excited about where we sit um again spend some time with our football team just talking about like us uh really you have to fix the things within your organization especially early in the season because it's about how we play what we do and then what you have to do is launch your schemes and and and your abilities in a chess match trying to make sure that you can put guys in the proper position and let guys go play fast so um with that being said I'll turn it over for questions coach you faced coach kein a number of times when you were in the SEC whether he was a coordinator or a head coach mhm um what's the key to have you know containing his offenses uh you know over the years as a defense you know I got to give up a lot of respect and and really what we have to know and understand um he he he's one of the most respected offensive Minds in college football uh you know when you talk about him you talk about Sark I mean those guys are are terrific at being able to play the chess match of players it's not really their ex's and O's it's how they find ways to get players to ball because their best players are always going to get touches right and now that falls on uh you know Charlie wise Jr and uh we've seen him be very pronounced as a play caller uh in what he does and I think it's great when you have you know two offensive Minds that are able to link together uh and collaborate right um and that's what that's sort of what myself and Coach St you know are doing now man you just try to be collaborative in your process so when you play these types of teams man you know what a lane ke team's going to look like it's going to be you know explosive shots there's going to be opportunities to run the football you're going to get Tempo um these are Hallmarks of really what they do but it's all built around the simple fact that they like explosive plays they're going to find ways to run the football and Jackson Dart provides um a different type of um sort of threat because there's always the possibility of QB run so with that being said you have to play 11 man football obviously their defense you know had maybe even more impressive Saturday against Ferman you know FCS teams had some success held to zero points you know in V Hemingway uh what did you see from them you know onte particularly that defensive front that had a good day on Saturday yeah I mean they're talented across the front right uh I think football's a l scrimmage game and it starts up front so you know with that coach Golden has been around the game a long time you know whether we talk about UTSA whether we talk about you know Sten ofama all all these things matter you know when you when when you talk about having a library of football right and he knows how to put his players in position uh a very talented group on the back end uh good at the second level in terms of their ability to track hit key and diagnose they've got speed all over the field you know a couple of those guys I remember we had JJ pagis when I was at Auburn uh so just a full understanding that this group is a talented group they're going to deploy different types of schemes uh to sort of pressure and confuse your quarterback they want to own the line of scrimmage and coach Golden will have this team prepared to to to hold up on the edges Derek you talked about fixing things after game one there were certain things you looked at how were you you guys able to get started on that on Sunday yeah we came out uh yesterday on a Sunday looked at the film you know quickly because you have to turn the page you look at what you did but then you go out on the field you make a couple of Corrections and then it's right back to fundamentals right fundamentals are special teams um there's some things special teams WI that we did really good there's some things that we needed to clean up so we started there and then we went right to the idea of you know man what we have to do offensively and defensively and again these things sort of get flushed out uh last game gets flushed out new opportunities sort of present themselves with it being a new day you sort of split your day between the old and the new and I think our guys had a chance to sort of look at how this team presents itself how old Miss presents itself because that's important you have to know what you're going to against uh and and and really just keep it about your fundamentals on a Sunday but really start to learn your opponent so that on a day like today which is their off day they get an opportunity to go through the tape figure out uh you know what the matchups are who these guys that we line up against uh you know what are the individual matchups going to look like and then what you can do is is sort of start to get into the game plan as we talk at Tuesday morning practice as much as you learned during a during practice during fall Camp how much more do you learn when you actually watch a game tape uh and get that first one behind you yeah like the first one like to me is the biggest right um because you know what your tape is is who you are you know what deficiencies you put on tape that's where teams attack okay and you know obviously Old Miss didn't have very many deficiencies okay uh we showed some so you know for us uh they're they're they're going to work on them we're going to work on us we know understand that we've we've got to be proactive okay and and say well hey this is probably going to show up you know they ran they ran uh you know surprise like to the boundary uh them being Tennessee Tech oh miss has their that in their Arsenal uh from the boundary from the field they find you know five or six different ways to run it so to think that we're not going to see it you know that's great teach tape for us in terms of how we play it in our mans how we played in our Zone those things are the things I think will apply from week to week so for us I think uh watching their tape will give our guys a good head start as to uh what they can expect the one thing about Old Miss that people don't understand is that not only do they have talented players and do what they do they do it fast they do it extremely fast so you you you you have to be pronounced even though you have player to coach player to coach uh will help a little little bit but when it's going fast man you still have to be able to get guys lined up and make sure that they can get off the ball and do their jobs because if not you know as they're looking to the sideline a guy may be running right past you with the football coach you're going up a quarterback Jackson Dart how are you gonna contain a quarterback of his caliber yeah Jackson Dart Jackson Dart seems like he's been playing for like six years right I mean I I've I've seen Jackson you know since he was a young guy and and you know he's always had this you know competitive aura about him um when you talk about containing him I think what you really you know man want to do man you try to pressure and confuse like the quarterback a little bit man but with dudes like him you got to be careful you know because what he will do uh you know off the RPO game is is is Dice you up if you leave him uh uh with edges man he'll he'll attack those edges in the Run game but where he's matured in his game and become very pronounced is he keeps his eyes up the field I think that's a that's a that's a lan keing trait with older quarterbacks in the system as those guys get better at what they do those that those guys can scramble but they scramble to throw right he can run all day long but he keeps his eyes down the field and I think that's where he can get dangerous because if you drop coverage he'll find it and he did it he did it last week and that's one of those things for for us that we have to be aware of Ware of you have to be disciplined in your mans and zones versus him but you also have to make sure that you rap tackle him because his body is the build of a running back okay he's got quarterback abilities but he can run the football and when he puts his shoulder down he'll run you over Coach you lost six-year Center Julius Pierce last week how are you going to feel that Gap yeah uh it's always a next ManUp mentality um in football you're always talking to guys I mean that goes from Spring to Summer to fall you're always talking next man up um Julius you know unfortunately sustained an injury that everybody saw him and he was CED off the field and uh you know we we'll we'll miss him but the idea that football stops there it doesn't right um we got back in guys understand uh their roles it'll change up a little bit on the offensive line and you know what we have to do now is adapt and adjust and you get days to do it so with that being said I I I think it's always been about this idea that uh offensive line players are always going to have to be rotational so you want those guys to be as flexible as they can be and that's where I think we are right now we've got rotational players that can go from Center to guard to tackle and that's what we're gonna have to do this week uh right now we got a couple questions on Zoom uh we'll get started with Jared reading hey dere jar 247 Sports you touched on a second ago having JJ the defensive coordinator Auburn I was just curious were you there at Auburn when the decision was ultimately made to move him from offense to defense and if so what gives him that quity defensive blond good morning Jared um JJ pis is one of the most freakish athletes uh like I've ever seen like JJ like played running back quarterback you know everything coming out of high school and you know he he the offense wasn't built around having a tight end there initially and so with him uh I I think he was recruited uh there by the the the prior staff because I was on harson staff and um you know to to look at his abilities they were just going to waste because he he he he really didn't fit uh what was wanted there so JJ moves to the other side of the ball and you saw you saw you saw the fast twitch you saw the quickness you saw the strength I mean JJ was like 300 pounds and running you know like like high four or like High 4 six low 47s I mean he was like 473 469 uh at 300 lounds the dude was just a freakish athlete um so that it only made sense you know I I've I've taken a lot of you know offensive players over the years and they've come to defense and they've had the opportunity to flourish a little bit and JJ was just getting to that point um uh dline coach Nick Nick een uh who's now Clemson you know had him and he said you know like the young man is going to be special he just needed time right because when you make that change Jared it's not it doesn't come easy um to go from off offense to defense it's a different mentality but you saw um the abilities in this young man for sure all right next up on Zoom Noah Maddox morning coach just kind of a two question but uh as Serge go down L Environ what kind of challenges is that POS how how are you guys working to you know keep the you know the offense rolling at you know the pace it's supposed to and then secondly your time at Ville you go to miss um and Coach a couple games there what kind of things can you learn or can you help with the team that you learned in that in those games old to prepare for a trip to Oxford yeah I I think when we talk about the first question being um rotational players look we we you have rotational depth uh in there because it's not about just backing a guy up it's about playing best players or best athletes uh and moving those guys around we we saw you know Simon step on the field and you know we were able to you know move move the ball down the field late in the ball game and have success so like to me we're not talking about big changes we're not talking about wholesale changes right we're we're talking about a guy who's played center who's been playing Center um just just now I mean he's doing it fulltime um so to me that that's that's not that big of a a change I just talked about rotational depth because you're just trying to get best players on the field when you go to Old Miss you know it's the best cocktail party in college football so uh you know getting to that place it'll be hotti totty uh a lot of things going on our players never really see all that much of it so I mean it doesn't affect us and when you get into the stadium it's going to be a great football environment I think any player in college football wants to go to a place where uh it's packed people or are excited about the game of football and I've always tried to pretend it that they were rooting for me so U I don't care what big Stadium I went to I I I was always like hey man I I love it man it's great to hear the people it's great to be around the crowd noise because this is a gladiator Sport and if you're a gladiator you just want to be in the arena so I think the atmosphere down at Old Miss uh will be one that's exciting for our players it they've been to Alabama it's it's not like this is new for uh half of our football team but with 60 new players we'll have some guys uh you know sniffing it smelling it and hearing it for the first time so with those guys we'll just be playing Old Miss uh fight song throughout practice all week so they can get used to it any other questions today for coach Mason oh got one more on Zoom uh Brian McKean hey coach what's sort of been the attitude since you know Saturday going into now for the team not for you thanks for the question Brian our team has been uh focused on like the fixes right we talk about the good okay and the cleanup the football you the good showed itself the cleanup is what's got to get done so I think this group we started a long time ago with a blue like a blue collar like mentality and I I think this team is sort of bought into the simple fact that the work is free we got to show up uh and and and in showing up we have to be intentional about the work so I think this guy the these guys enjoyed it uh on Saturday or really Sunday because it was like 12:30 like am. so uh they they they enjoyed it on Sunday they got some rest woke up on Sunday uh again to come into the building and once we got through the tape I think these guys have really turned the page because they understand uh once it's in the record books win or lose man you got to move on and I think that's been their mentality it's sort of a March right because we talk about the hill decline there's Hills there's hurdles uh and you know every week man we just trying to climb this Steep Hill that is you know Conference USA that's packed in there with some uh you know an SEC and ACC opponent all right also on Zoom got another question from Jared reading hey sorry I just want to follow on my prev question for clarification purposes did the ball get rolling to move defense happened before you came in or was that while you were there it's while I was there okay like the transition was was happening while I was there so I mean it started in the spring and obviously as we got the fall it it it it sort of started to transition thank you all right uh any more questions for Coach Mason all right thanks coach appreciate you again enjoy your labor day let's go Blue all right everyone it's now time for our student athletes with us today is wide receiver Omari Kelly and defensive tackle Damonte Smith and we'll get started with [Music] Amari Mari coach Mason just talked about you know the old miss defense and you know the the talent they have the speed have at all levels what are you seeing for them as you guys start the film study this week uh that you're preparing for in Oxford uh the main thing I'm seeing is that they're obviously going to be bigger and faster than uh Tennessee Tech team that we played last week so I feel like that's really the the major thing that we're going to have to focus in on and H in on Miss is a place where you know you made one of your your catches for Auburn and you know in your freshman season one of the first moments you sort of got to shine on the field what do you remember about that play specifically and about playing you know in V Hemingway Stadium uh I actually it wasn't really the route I was supposed to run so that's that's really the main thing I remember but it was it was a really good atmosphere um it started off a little bit slow just I feel like just because of the fact that you know it was kind of a close game at first but I feel like once the once the intensity kind of picked up on both sides of the ball the stadium ATM were also picked up well you got to make your impact early with the blue Raiders this past week that big fourth down catch you know to just keep the drive going against Tennessee Tech walk us through that play and sort of what happened on it and how you were able to to set the team up you know for Frank's big run at the end uh was really it really just Nick trusting me being in the right spot um I can't really take much of the credit because I wouldn't have even been in that position if he didn't trust me and the rest of the old linan everybody else trusted me too so I feel like that was uh that was manly just them having trust in me Saturday night was certainly a an EB and flow kind of night where you guys started out super crisp and and ended very crisply how do you take that and move it into Sunday's practice and then again Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and keep building till Saturday I would say taking the momentum that we ended with and just applying it to everything we do maintaining that same intensity that we had at the end of the game carry throughout the week and take it in Saturday with us Omar you're going up against a talented SEC defense is there anything you can just clearly take advantage of that's a good question I say just like coach M said it's going it's gonna have to be Guerilla Warfare ad dog fight so just keeping that mentality with me just trying to take advantage of every opportunity I get coach MIT L about you know cleaning up you know what you can clean up on film what's maybe you know one point of emphasis for the wide receivers this week on something you have to clean up from Saturday um one thing we talked about was straining when blocking uh downfield and making sure we're more consistent with uh rout detail and uh whenever we're blocking anything else for Omari thanks appreciate it thank you all right next up is Deonte a lot to talk about you know the skill guys that Miss has all over the field but you know in the trenches they've obviously been very successful as well what do you see from the Miss offensive line as youall start to get into your scout this week uh I see that they they they real physical they big they strong but like they good up front they're real good up front that's why they wanted the best in SEC yeah the the scheme's a little different for you guys up front this year where you're having some more you know help from the outside backers getting pressure at times from either side of the line how's it effect how you're what you're doing on the inside line where you could have pressure coming from either side uh I mean we got good Edge rushers I mean as long as they stick to course and push the pocket that's what we taught Vision Line R so we just take coaching and try to apply it to best you can on the field Deonte they like to play Fast play Tempo from uh a defensive lineman standpoint and from rotations and being able to get lined up you know how do how do you process that and what what are the things that in your mind you've got to do okay plays over get line back up talk a little bit about the challenges of of facing a team that plays a very high Tempo uh I think that it come from your preparation during practice during the week like you as a defensive lineman going against a team like Old Miss I feel like you have to like really practice like a line backer like just run all over the field just try to get in shape during the week day by day all the way up until Saturday and try to just you got to have that dark mentality on the field coach said he's going to play the Old Miss fight song all week by the end of the week are you tired of that and kind of make you mad when you want to play don't want to hear it anymore I I don't need know how to answer that I feel like I love to hear cuz we going they we going on their field in they atmosphere I mean just it's a big crowd it really just GNA bring bring us some juice really bring us some energy else for Damonte same question I ended for Amari with what's maybe one point of emphasis for you guys in practice to to clean up from Saturday this week uh as a defense I say just being intentional just making sure sure that we minimize the mistakes and just come play together as a defense it all right I got one question on Zoom uh Noah Maddox no M just real quick the kind of extra challenges that facing quarterback like Jackson D has um will oppos to defensive line and just you know you guys contain them in the you guys be able to do that this week and working on that practice uh I say just being disciplined with our rushes uh stand in our gaps try to antagonize and be in his face a lot just trying to get him on his heels and make him Panic a little bit see what he capable of for real anything else for Damonte thanks Damonte thank you all right everyone uh that concludes today's press conference thanks for being with us uh reminder we'll be back here next week as the blue Raiders prepare for Conference USA play thank you