Murray State University Athletics
Aug. 30 press conference comments from head coach Joe Pannunzio
8/30/2004 11:00:00 PM | Football
Opening statement: "We're excited about the way we started the season off. I know that it was a Division II opponent, but at the same point in time, I think our kids gave us a good effort, and it's a good start for us.
"We're nowhere near where we need to be, nowhere near where we've got to be, but it was a good start for us.
"We lost Zack Knight (broken fibula) -- he was a backup fullback for us -- he looked like he was going to be a promising player for us. Hopefully, we'll get him back in four to six weeks. DeSean Hammons, a receiver for us, probably our most productive receiver, hurt his foot, and he's day-to-day. I don't know if he'll be able to play Saturday night. Keith McClain, a linebacker who's probably going to be one of our better linebackers, hurt his thumb yesterday in practice, and he's also going to be day-to-day. So, we're just into our football season, and already, the injury bug has hit.
"Defensively, I was happy with the way our defense played, especially our first group. Any time you hold opponents' rushing down, you do like they did, you've got to be happy with that. It looked like, to me, that all the underneath throws that Glenville tried to make, we rallied up on them, and it seemed like our linebackers were playing a lot more productive in terms of stopping that short passing game.
"Special team-wise, I'm excited about the way our special teams are going, obviously, with the insurgence of Nick Turner. It makes coaching a little bit easier on those return games. But, there were other kids who attributed to that and made some big blocks. Greg Archer had a couple of nice blocks on his returns. Two guys that holed up the gunner so he could get started and not have to fair-catch the ball, Koji Farrington and Derrick Parrott are young guys that are taking pride and have a chance to be, it looks like, pretty productive in the special teams areas.
"I was disappointed in our field goal guy, Morgan Riley, not in him, but in that we didn't give him a chance to kick some field goals, and I think that's going to be big for us as we get on down the road.
"Offensively, I'm concerned a little bit about our passing game, as I said after the game. I think that we're a little bit better up front. We're going to get a lot better barometer on that this week, but when you have two kids rush for over 100 yards (Turner and Ron Lane), obviously, you've got to be doing something right. I think teams are going to take that away from us, and we're going to have to be able to throw the football, to not be so one-dimensional. If we're going to win a championship or have a run at it, we certainly are going to have to get better in our passing game.
"As I look forward to this week, as we've done before with Division I games, I just looked at our record, the school's record is 2-10-2, and we're playing a really good team. I don't know if I told you, but about three or four weeks ago, I'm listening to ESPN Radio, and the surprise team of the year -- who's going to be the one who comes out of the woodwork? -- it's UConn, so everybody thinks they're going to be a heck of a football team, and rightfully so.
"They have a great quarterback, and any time you have a good quarterback, you have a chance to be very explosive and very productive on offense, and they will be. Defensively, they have two kids who are up for Butkus Award candidates, linebackers. If you have two linebackers who are up for awards, you're going to play great defense.
"We're stepping up a level, so obviously, you have a little bit more depth. They've got, probably, a little bit better players than we have. It's their first game; they've been working for it all summer long. Now, we're into our second game, and we're going to Hartford, Conn., and see what it's all about."
On the passing game: "We just had hoped that it would be a little further along. Again, we've got a new quarterback. We have, really, a whole new group of receivers, so let's don't overreact. At the same time, I wish we were a little bit more timing-wise, a little bit more complete than we were. I thought (QB Adam Fisher) made good decisions. I think that there were a couple reads that he missed, and if he had them over again -- one of the nice reads he made looked like it was a pretty easy play and a designed play. We flipped the ball out to Nick (Turner) early in the game on a swing route, because they're blitzing, and Nick picks up the pass and goes 40 or 50 yards and really opened the game up. That was a read that a lot of kids can't make, so his progressions are coming along.
"It was just timing, just stuff that I think is going to take time. It's one thing to run it on air, and one thing to run it in practice, but it's another thing to run it in a game and guys are really trying to hurt you. I think that's going to take time."
On UConn QB Dan Orlovsky: "He's just a great quarterback. When you're picked to be the No. 1 quarterback coming out in the draft, you have to have it all. He's a big kid; he gets rid of the ball extremely fast, he sees the field, he's got a good release, he's very accurate. He's not a great scrambler by any stretch of the imagination, but he's productive, and he cold be the best quarterback in the country. When you say that, you're encompassing a lot.
"Their rise from I-AA football to being a pretty good I-A football team, you have to have players like that, and he certainly has brought them out of that, and he's done a good job."
On the positives of playing a I-A opponent: "I think it helps us because you work out a lot of kinks. Hopefully, we've worked out a bunch of those penalties. We had 137 yards in penalties. We had two turnovers that, hopefully, we can get better at, and not turn the ball over. One of the things last week, and I haven't talked about it, that no-huddle offense (of Glenville State) was good for our defense. We're going to play Samford down the road, and Samford runs the no-huddle offense, and Tennessee Tech runs the no-huddle offense. That'll help our kids get ready for that style of an offense. That was a good thing.
"The biggest thing for us is, every week, we've got to get better, and this is the same thing this week. We have to grow together as a football team, and our effort has to get better each and every week."
On the team attitude: "The biggest litmus test they passed, to me, is the chemistry that we have. It's different. It's different in the locker room and how our kids prepare. We have better leadership than we've had since I've been here.
"For instance, on Wednesday or Thursday of last week, our seniors came to me and said, 'Coach, I know you put a big-screen TV in there for us to enjoy ourselves, and it's good for us, but on Game Day, will you take the TV out of there?' We've always had music in our locker room on Game Day; we're not having that any more; we put the headsets on.
"Yesterday, when I talked to our kids, went back over the week and what's coming up this week because we have a plane trip and all that: 'What do we need to change?' 'Coach, we need to change pre-game meal,' and I thought, 'If we feed them chicken, they're going to want steak.' What it was was: 'Coach, it's too chaotic. Seniors should eat first, juniors second, sophomores third, freshmen fourth, and after they get their plates, sit with their coaches; turn all the TVs off.' I mean, the approach is so different from what we had. We've got kids taking ownership in what we're doing. At one point in time, it's going to get tested. Right now, if we continue to go on that path, good things are going to happen."
On Connecticut: "I know this is easy for me to say, but I think they are the best Division I team that we've played up to this point in time. The reason I say that is that Middle Tennessee is a middle-of-the-road I-A football team. Ole Miss is a very good football team, a very good program over the last two or three years, but we caught them when Eli Manning was just a freshman and they were just starting to get good. Minnesota's going to have a great football team this year, but we caught them two or three years ago when all those kids were sophomores. Kentucky was just kind of getting themselves started.
"But UConn, this is for real. You've got a quarterback who has a legitimate chance of taking a team and winning the Big East, and we're talking about Syracuse in there, West Virginia in there. This is the best football team we've played up to this point in time as a Division I school. We'll have to play very, very good to make something of this. We're capable of doing that, but I don't know if that'll happen."
On the offensive line: "We're better than we've been. I don't know that we're as good as when we had our three-year crew with Josh Foster and Clint and those kids, but we're better. One of the things that have helped us is Dennis Therrell, our defensive coordinator, brought in three drills that have really helped our football team. One is a drill where we put the kids on a board, and they try to knock one kid off the other end of it, and it's very evident to our offensive line that makes the kids keep their wide base and keep their feet moving during contact. You can just see it on our film. We're much better than we've been in two years.
"We have another drill that we do right on the goal line where a back has to take the ball and he has to go just one way, and he has to knock the guy into the endzone or the tackler has to stop him right at the goal line. On our first touchdown Saturday, 'Tank' (Chad Cook) gets hit about two yards deep at the 2-yard line, and he ends up finishing the kid three yards in the endzone, and you can see that drill just carrying over.
"Some of the fundamental things that Dennis has brought us has made us better. You can see it carry over from our practice to our game."
On the offense: "We've got different styles. 'Tank' is a different guy, probably, than Ronald (Lane) or Nick (Turner)...There's certainly a place for a hard-running guy like 'Tank' and Ron. He's almost one of those guys like instant energy when you bring him in there. He was that way Saturday night, that he could break one at any point in time."
