Ole Miss got the bounce back game against Vanderbilt it needed after a disappointing showing three weeks ago against Florida. Now, it has to show it can keep playing at that level against the latest red-hot SEC darling, No. 13 Missouri.
The Tigers will come to Oxford this Saturday and will feature a trio of former Ole Miss players, notably quarterback Austin Simmons and wide receiver Cayden Lee. It should be another interesting matchup, but one that coach Pete Golding is looking forward to.
Golding held his weekly press conference Monday morning at the Manning Center and here’s everything he said.
Pete Golding, Head Coach
On the challenge of preparing for former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons…
Golding: It’s scary to know how good he is and how talented he is. I love Austin. He did an unbelievable job while he was here. He’s got elite arm talent. Always has. He’s more athletic than you think. It’s fun watching him develop as the season goes. Obviously, he had two games under his belt here and then got hurt. You see him getting better week in and week out. Relating it back to when he was here, there are certain things you’ve got to go back to from a scrimmage standpoint and all those things. What affected him? What didn’t affect him? So you know a little bit about the personality and the mentality and all that. Different offense now, different scheme, different design and all those types of things. I think it helps more than it hurts, obviously, when you know guys’ demeanors and how they think and all those types of things. But I know he’s super competitive. He’s got leadership ability and all that, and you can see that in his play.
On how Simmons has improved from last season to this season…
Golding: I think his comfortability within the scheme. I think he’s improved week in and week out. I think the decision-making process. He’s only turned the football over one time. I think that comes with maturity. It comes with understanding of the system. But I think he’s playing within the scheme. I think he’s doing a really good job of taking what the defense is giving him as well. So he’s playing as an experienced quarterback in a really good system.
On former Ole Miss receiver Cayden Lee and Missouri’s other offensive weapons…
Golding: Obviously, I think the offense, especially in the pass game, goes through Cayden. We know what type of player he is, no doubt. Very elusive, elite route runner. Really understands what they’re trying to do conceptually. Has really good football intelligence of what we’re doing defensively as well. Aware of vacated zones and option routes and all those types of things. So definitely a guy that we’re going to have to know where he is on every snap that he’s in the game, for sure.
On whether Missouri is the hottest team in the SEC right now…
Golding: It feels like that every week right now. I think that’s this league, which is what’s awesome about the SEC. But yeah, they’re putting up elite numbers on offense. They’re averaging 36 points a game and taking care of the football. The back’s a really good player. It’s surprising you’re saying that after they had the No. 1 back probably in the league coming in. Obviously, this kid’s come in and played really well. He has the most yards after contact right now, which is something that has been an issue for us on tape. So we’ve got to do a really good job in the run game, obviously, hopefully to stop the run game and make them one-dimensional. Then obviously Cayden presents issues. They’ve got other really good players. Obviously, you have to be able to affect the quarterback like you do every week. So I think it’s a big challenge, but hopefully our guys will be up for it.
On what led to the defense’s improved performance against Vanderbilt, particularly against the run…
Golding: I think effort, No. 1. I think No. 2, the violence at the point of attack. I think the physicality showed up at times. Like I told them last night, it wasn’t perfect. I told y’all that after the game. There are still some times that you see some lost leverages. We still missed a couple of tackles, but it was much more consistent. I thought guys played faster. There’s still inconsistency in eye control, and I think you saw some of that in the play-action game off of some of the same looks and all those things. But of all the things that we addressed as issues and emphasized, they made it a point, and they put it consistently on tape, which is something that we haven’t done. So we went through it all last night. But to me, it’s the decision to make it from an effort standpoint, No. 1, and No. 2, to be physical at the point of attack. In the perimeter run game, it’s about winning your one-on-one, and we want to win it with the right leverage based on the coverage we’re in. We didn’t do that consistently early, and I thought we did a better job of it in this game.
On balancing an aggressive, opportunistic defense with sticking to its principles…
Golding: I think we’re always going to stick to our concepts and what we believe in. Like I told you guys the other day, I think that changes week to week based on who you’re playing and all those types of things. But a lot of those turnovers, you wish you could go back to, “Hey, here’s the concept that they’re all showing up.” And it’s not that. Some of them were opportunistic. A couple of them were tipped balls, and the tips and overthrows, which you always have to be able to have. But we were able to try to create a couple more. That’s what I kind of went through last night. We had some missed opportunities in that game to actually take the ball away. They turned the ball over some, and it was tipped, and they fumbled it. We were opportunistic in that. But there’s still the actual takeaway component of driving on the ball, matching the angle, snapping the eyes and undercutting a route. We’re dropping those right there. We’re a step late right now based on the eyes. So that’s something when you play better teams that aren’t going to give you the football, you’ve got to go take it away. I think that’s something on defense that we have to improve at.
On how Kewan Lacy is feeling after returning against Vanderbilt…
Golding: I think he’s feeling really good. He came in yesterday. I thought he was going to be a lot sorer than he was. I think the way the game helped a little bit, as far as from the management standpoint of it. The offensive staff did a really good job managing him in the first half. Then based on where the game was, obviously, there was a decision made that we shouldn’t need him for the second half. So I think that helped getting him back in the flow of everything, getting him involved in the offense, eliminating the contact. So hopefully we’ll go in this week, and we’re going to manage it the exact same way going into the week. But I think it was really good for his confidence, right, to be able to get out there and not be an issue, to get some good experience back with the guys. Obviously, you see how explosive he is when he is in there. Different type of offense. So I think it went as good as it possibly could have. I think a lot of that was based on the situation.
On whether Ole Miss will use unfamiliar defensive concepts against Austin Simmons…
Golding: It’s a great question. I think defensively, and we talked about the building-the-buffet piece, there’s not a lot of things that you can do from a coverage standpoint, a front or a pressure that we don’t have within a package. Does that make sense? We’ve got a big variety and a big menu. I think, like we’ve said before, week to week, that’s independent of its own. I think the big deal every week is how do you make the same things look different and different things look the same? You want to make quarterbacks play after they get the ball in their hands. You want them to think, “Hey, this is what I think it is. This is what coaches told me all week, and this is where I’m supposed to go with the ball. Oh, shit, it’s not that.” Then there’s the indecision component of it. So obviously, week in and week out, you’ve shown certain things on tape, right? This is what they’re watching. This is what they’re expecting. All right, how do we show that, and then what’s the complement to it based on what they’re going to do? So that’s the battle you play every week. That’s the chess match that I love. Does that make sense? There are several things that you’re going to make look like we did this in Week 3, we did this in Week 4. It’s going to look the same. It’s not the same. But I think that’s every week. That’s not specific to Austin Simmons. I think that’s conceptually week in and week out. Whether it’s pressure-generated or coverage-generated, you want to make it look like other things that you’ve done and then not be it. So I think that’s week to week. Hopefully, you’ll see several of those things this week.
On his relationships with Austin Simmons and Cayden Lee and their departures from Ole Miss…
Golding: Both those boys know I love them. They were unbelievable throughout the process. Even from the Austin situation, I completely understand. You play quarterback. We play one of them. Here’s an appeal process going on. He couldn’t take that risk. Cayden was a very similar situation. Loved his time at Ole Miss. I had a lot of different meetings with him. Wasn’t comfortable yet knowing whether the appeal was going to go through or not. Did he really want to risk the season based on that? He was scared to go through the spring to find out. So I understood it. I got it. We’d have loved, obviously, to still have him. He’s a really, really good player, but was very professional about it. Really good meetings, and I think he’d probably say the same thing. But excited to compete against him.
On Missouri’s defense…
Golding: I think they’re super sound on defense. Probably one of the less aggressive units that we’ve seen, especially coming off of last week. Obviously, the edge player is a really good player. He’s leading the conference in pressures right now. I think they’re really good at the second level, at linebacker. Both those kids are playing really well right now, are erasers. On the back end, they mix it up enough based on the looks to play complementary football. So they’ve done a really good job. They know who they are. They do what they do, and they’ve done it really well. So a lot of respect for Corey. He’s always done a really good job.
On Makhi Frazier’s performance against Vanderbilt and the running back rotation…
Golding: I think he had a really good week of practice last week, coming off the bye week and all that. I felt like he kind of separated himself from some of the other guys from an every-down standpoint of balance and body control and hitting it and still being able to protect. So I think he’s playing well right now, and I think we need him to play well. JT is still in the mix. He’s still there. I think Shakai came in. He’s a big back, right? Kind of gave a spark. So I think we’ve got the depth that we need there. It’s nice to be able to minimize it and package it based on who’s in the game. So you can get a little more specific from a game-planning standpoint and make sure that we’re going to base it on what they do well. I think sometimes when you don’t have five and you’re trying to fit them into what you want to do, that’s not always perfect. That’s hard to do. So I think it allows us to cut some of the reps off of Kewan, get really specific with him when he’s in, and then we’ve got three guys that we can roll in and hopefully not miss a beat. So it’s nice to have some depth there.
On the development of John David Baker’s offense through six games…
Golding: I think we’ve gotten better at using our pieces. I think he’s done a really good job all year. Does a really good job by design and in scheme and all those types of things. I think we’ve improved every week on using our pieces effectively, creating opportunities for those guys. I think that was the big difference to me. We were going through the explosive reel last night with them. It was seven different dudes. So I think they’ve done a really good job of spreading the football around based on what the defense has given them. Everybody knows how explosive Deuce is. So there’s going to be a lot of weeks they’re going to come into the game and take him out of the game, and that’s going to open up a lot of other opportunities for other people. So I really like the design. I like being multiple in personnel. I think getting Caleb back really healthy will really help open up Deuce. Obviously, getting Kewan back really healthy, that’s going to change box counts as well. So I think it’s going to be fun moving forward to have all those pieces back healthy, to where he can really personnel it up and create some mismatches.
On the injury status of Edwin Joseph and other players following the Vanderbilt game…
Golding: The only concern right now from an injury standpoint Saturday would be Edwin. So it is an ankle. Obviously, he got diagnosed yesterday with an ankle sprain. We’re going to go get another opinion on that tomorrow and see, and we’ll manage that throughout the week. But I would say right now, from Saturday, he would be the only question mark that played in the game that could potentially maybe not play this week, based on how this appointment goes tomorrow.
On the offensive line’s improvement and Connor House’s development at right tackle…
Golding: I think he’s played his butt off. We have players of the game every week, and that’s the first game this year that we came out and all five offensive linemen were the players of the game. I think they’re working well together. I think they’re starting to understand the scheme better. We’re getting better at the double teams and getting to the second level, but also from a position-blocking standpoint. So the communication is really good. I think Coach Garrison does a really good job with that group. So I like the development. I think we’re getting better and better every week, especially Connor. The more he plays, the better he gets. Tommy was a little more banged up than we thought. We thought we were getting back healthy, and he kind of came out of pregame and wasn’t in a great spot. So Connor obviously took the nod and got all those snaps. Hopefully, with another week, we’ll have another guy that has starting experience that we can plug in there. But I think they’ve done a good job, and I think they’ve gotten better every week.
On how former Ole Miss players Austin Simmons, Cayden Lee and Chris Graves will be received when they return to Oxford…
Golding: I think obviously you’re talking about three guys that have started here for us on a playoff football team. So we know they’re all good players. A lot of our guys obviously have really good relationships with those guys. I’ve been around them a long time. They’re multi-year guys that were here. So I think there’s a natural respect for them, right? Obviously, and a friendship from a locker room standpoint. Obviously, I recruited Chris, coached Chris. Chris has a lot of ability, could be a really good football player. Started a lot of games around here. I wish them a lot of luck other than this week, right? We’re playing against them, so we’re trying to whoop Chris’s ass this week. But no, I think they’ll come ready to play. All three of them are really good competitors. They’re good players. So they’re coming back, probably got a little chip on their shoulder, too. So it’ll be fun to see.
On Terez Davis’ development and performance at left tackle…
Golding: To me, I just saw the change in the spring, the summer and the mindset. Very few guys have that pro mindset and come in every day with a chip on their shoulder and go to work and take hard coaching and work extremely hard and say, “Yes, sir,” and ask really good questions. That’s been him. Then he’s got that nasty streak that you love in a lineman. He’s nasty. He’s explosive. He’s got really good feet. I think there were a couple of combos, obviously, in that game. A lot of guys can’t redirect and get to the second level and set it up. That’s why the run breaks. Really athletic. I love the demeanor. So that’s what I said in camp. He’s really athletic, he’s got really good feet, he’s nasty and he’s super consistent. So I think he’s playing at a really, really high level. With P.K. up there and Bryson, the experience those guys have, [unclear] obviously still getting better as well. But I would say right now he’s playing elite football.
On whether Kwon has extra motivation facing his former team, Missouri…
Golding: I forgot about that, to be honest with you. Dude, it’s every week, right? We go to Florida, we’ve got Florida players. We’ve got LSU guys when we play LSU. So I think that’s just the day and age now. I probably don’t give it as much credit as it deserves. I always try to meet when we go back to that place, like, “Hey, man, have we got any ghosts? Have we got any skeletons? Anything we need to worry about? Emotionally, can you handle this?” But I haven’t felt that. A lot of them aren’t there very long. A lot of the guys that recruited them aren’t there anymore. So I haven’t met with Kwon specifically about that. But I’m sure, like our guys, there’s a piece to that. He knows those guys and knows a lot of those coaches. So they’re going to want to play well against them and go compete.
On Shekai Mills-Night’s performance against Vanderbilt and whether he earned more opportunities…
Golding: I thought it was awesome last night. We were going through that explosive reel, and when his play came up, man, this place erupted. I think it’s awesome when you see your teammates and how they respond to you having success. I think that speaks to your character and who you are. So he’s worked his butt off, and he got his opportunity. He took advantage of it. Obviously, from a coaching standpoint, that takes a lot more weight than practice does. It’s a real game. It’s a real opportunity. So as a coach, you’ve got to evaluate, hey, when they get in, they do a really good job. It’s our responsibility to create more opportunities for him. So looking at it, he has a different dimension back there from a size standpoint. We’ve got to do a good job of continuing involving him in the offense because he created a really good opportunity for himself by how he played when he got in. So I think JDB and Joe and all those guys are doing a really good job with that.
