@MizzouFootball Media Day - Week 6
10/5/2015 12:38:00 PM | Football
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou head coach Gary Pinkel met with the media on Monday to discuss his team's upcoming Homecoming game with Florida this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network. The game will be at Memorial Stadium. Sound from Pinkel, Drew Lock, Ish Witter, Evan Boehm, Russell Hansbrough, Nate Brown, Michael Scherer and Walter Brady is located below as well.
Opening Statement…
Okay, good afternoon everybody, I appreciate you being here. South Carolina obviously is going through a lot of problems now. Coach and I talked about that a little bit when all those rains are coming down before the game, so I know that prayers to all the victims and all that they're going through as that state's really struggling right now. Injury update for us: Sean Culkin right now is the only one that will not play in this game. Other than that, I think we should be in pretty good shape. We're excited about this game this week. We're in our preparation mode, as we always are at this time. We're playing a very, very good football team. A team that, I think Jim's doing a great job with that team. They're playing great defense and offensively their quarterback is playing well. They've got great athletes at receiver, so they're doing some really good things. It will be a challenge for us, so we're excited about the opportunity. Not surprised that they're good, everybody in this league is good. It's just the way the league is, the gauntlet of games that you play being a member of the SEC. We're excited about being in The Zou at night, it's been a while since we've been there. Our fans, I think, really enjoy that atmosphere and certainly we do too and we have to give them something to get excited about. So here we go.
On Maty Mauk's status…
He's indefinitely suspended and when he returns, that release that you have in front of you, his name will be in it. That's when he'll be back.
On if Drew Lock will start until Mauk returns…
Yes, it says it right in there.
On if Malik Cuellar has returned to the team…
Yes, the depth chart is accurate.
On if there is a timetable for Mauk's return…
Like I just said a moment ago, his name will be on that sheet there on the Monday that he is back.
On if coach Pinkel spoke to Mauk today…
I don't discuss personal things. I have an agreement with my players. I protect them like my son, so I don't ever talk about disciplinary issues ever. That's something that they trust in me and I trust in them.
On the quarterback depth chart…
I'm focusing on (Florida).
On Lock's performance in his first start…
Well, I think any quarterback earns trust. I think the situation of the game, you take that into consideration. You take into consideration the down and distance. You take into consideration the score. We had the ball, I think, on the ten, two, and five yard lines in three of the five or six drives we had in the second half with a lead. I thought we were pretty smart how we handled that. I thought he did a lot of good things. There's a lot of little things he has got to improve on, which is consistent with any time you have a young quarterback, but certainly he did good things. He can get a whole lot better, and we're excited about that.
On what things Lock must improve on…
I don't want to critique him in front of you guys, that's what I do with him. He's just got a lot of little things he needs to do, just quarterbacking things. I always tell quarterbacks: the quarterback-center exchange, the quarterback-running back exchange, the 40 second clock, don't take sacks or do everything you can not to take sacks, the down and distance, the field position, where your reads are, your keys. There's so many multiple things that a quarterback has to think about and he instinctively has to do it. He's smart and he's doing a good job, but the more he plays the more he's going to get it. We anticipate this, but he's doing a really, really good job.
On whether starting a true freshmen at quarterback has been a learning experience…
I've started a lot of redshirt freshmen, second year players, so I don't think it's a huge difference except that it's just a confidence level that I've never gone through before. I thought he did well. I think you always look at the quarterback and don't give him things he can't handle. I think that's where the gauge is. That's where game planning, that's what coach [Andy] Hill is involved with that, and coach [Josh] Henson certainly with all the things the offense wants to do. Ultimately at the end of the day, you've got all these ideas you want to do, but you've got a young quarterback and you've got to execute. You've got to decide what he can handle and what he can't handle, which increases his chances for success on our design.
On Florida…
I think they're very good. They've been a very good defensive team for years. When I've been in this league, they've been an outstanding defensive team. Again, Jim's doing a great job and their staff. They do some things differently defensively than they've done in the past, but certainly they're playing great defense. But that's not a surprise. We didn't just wake up and think "My gosh, is this for real?" We knew that they're playing great defense, and I think offensively right now their quarterback is playing really well. I think that he's doing a lot of good things, I'm impressed watching him. I believe he's a redshirt freshmen, I believe, so he's doing an outstanding job. He's got some experienced receivers making plays and they've got a good running game, so there's a lot of good things.
On if success in the run game took pressure off of Drew Lock…
I think any time you can run the ball, it helps you offensively, certainly for any quarterback. If it's a quarterback with experience or a young quarterback, there's no questions about it, it helps. Sometimes, you can't, sometimes I think also, sometimes you have to use your passing game to help open up the run. The more efficient you are in your passing game, a lot of times it can help your running game open up. So it kind of goes both ways a little bit, but I don't think there's any question about it. Being able to run the ball is positive.
On Russell Hansbrough's health…
He's getting there, he's getting there. I think Ish [Witter] did a good job too, but Russell getting there. I think not asking Ish to carry the ball as much really helped him. People asked me after the game why we ran the ball, and it's real simple. We blocked better and we ran the ball better, so a combination of both.
On if Nate Crawford is healthy…
He's on the depth right now. I have no other comment than that.
On if Coach Pinkel prefers Taylor Chappell on the outside…
No, I think what we have to do is any time we bring a player back from an injury, any time we do that at any position, we'll make sure we set it up initially, the first day tomorrow, that if a player is struggling at any time, we put him in a position that a player can move up and do that, so that's what we're doing. Can we move him in Wednesday at guard? Yeah, we can do that.
On which quarterback would step in if Lock were injured against South Carolina…
We'd have played both, that's the plan. That was the plan for that game. We would have played both of our backups, Eddie [Printz] and Marvin [Zanders], and we'll make that decision Thursday for this week.
On if he would have alternated the backups by series…
Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I go that far?
On if he'd play them at the same time instead…
Yeah, one of them would play tailback and the other…
On if the success on the offensive line was a result of the scheme or if they played better…
I thought we played better. We played better. There's no question about it, we played better, so that was good. They responded to what we needed out of them and I thought they did a good job collectively playing as a group. This week's going to bring different challenges. They've got a really good defensive line, they roll a lot of guys through like we do. I think they're second in the league for tackles, or yards lost. We're first. They do a good job, so this will be another different challenge for us. Every week's a little different.
On why the offensive line played better…
I think they just played better. Again, I don't evaluate my players in public. I just don't do that. They trust me and I don't do that. I just don't do that.
On if they were finishing blocks better…
I think they were. I think they were.
On Cam Hilton's move to the offensive side of the ball…
Yeah, he's a really good athlete, he's just got to learn more. He made a great move and got open. Actually, the ball was thrown ahead of him a bit but he made a great catch. If he'd have caught the thing in stride he might have made a gain of 35 yards, so It's real exciting to have him there. The transition is difficult but I think for a guy like himself it's going to be easier than anybody else because he's smart, he's very worldly, he understands space. On punt returns, he's getting back there. He's a very, very confident young guy. It's just exciting that he can get in and help us a little bit.
On if Hilton can be the permanent punt returner…
We'll just have to see on that. I said at the beginning of the season that Murph is a guy we had for four years. We're going to have to be concerned about that. I think we have some good candidates, and hopefully we can do it. We had one called back, we had a real long one called back, and we didn't think that was called right. We'll get a ruling on it so we can coach it the right way. It'd be nice if we could get that. He made a lot of plays over a four year period of time and you certainly miss those.
On Terry Beckner Jr.'s ejection from the South Carolina game…
Well, we just want an explanation for it. I think what they're doing is they're trying to, you know, if you touch the quarterback's head at all, in any way, and really the bottom of your neck is your head, that's the way it's interpreted now, you're near the shoulder pads or you're near the head. We need their interpretation from it. The big reason for us is we want to make sure we can teach it to our players right. On the positive side of that whole subject matter, it's just amazing how much safer I think college football is right now than it was four years ago. Everybody's complaining and moaning and groaning about it and all of those other things, but guess what? Those ferocious hits aren't being made any more, or they rarely are. Coaches are teaching it better and awareness of it is better, and I think it's just great for college football. I'm pleased we're making progress there.
On how Evan Boehm's experience helps Lock…
I'm sure that having an experienced center, there isn't any question about that. Again, we had a quarterback-center exchange problem at the two yard line, so that's not good. But that's things you've got to work out and make sure you've got a lot of reps for those kind of things. I don't think there's any question about it, having an experienced guy like Evan there is really a huge plus. Really, having a bunch of seniors up front, that helps in a lot of ways. He's got a lot of guys his age out there running routes, they're all over the place. In fact, on both sides of the football, there are more than I've ever had. It's exciting, because they're good kids, they're working hard. Guys like that can get better faster because they can make so much progress.
