Here’s a Q-and-A with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Dan Werner following Wednesday’s practice. Hugh Freeze told us on Monday he’d name a starting quarterback today.
Q: On Bo Wallace and Barry Brunetti the last two days.
“They look good and are competing hard. They are both trying to do things right. Our big thing is who is going to take care of the football. Coach Freeze and I are going to sit down and talk about it and figure out what we are going to do.”
Q: Do you think the message of taking care of the football has gotten through?
“If not then they are hard-headed because we have definitely talked about it and not only talked but raised our voices a few times.’
Q: How do you approach that to where it doesn’t become a mental thing?
“It’s not like you can say “well lets not talk about it and keep it out of their minds” because if we are turning the ball over then we’ve got to do something. We’ve just got to drill it and drill it and if that guy can’t get it done then we will find somebody else who can.”
Q: On counteracting A&M’s speed on defense.
“Well we will try to use some misdirections and things and try to catch them off balance. They love to blitz so hopefully we can catch them out of position and we’ll do a lot of different motions and shifts hopefully that’ll catch them off balance.”
Q: Are you surprised by this defense not giving up much?
“It’s funny because this being their first year in the league they are an SEC defense. I remember teams back in the 80’s that had defenses like this. We knew before the season before we even saw any film on them that we were going to have our hands full with these guys.”
Q: Do they bring anything to the table that you don’t see in the SEC?
“No not really. Now-a-days there are always going to be certain blitzes that everybody likes to run. They do a lot of different ones, but nothing really just out of the ordinary.”
Q: On the protection now as opposed to 2-3 weeks ago.
“Well we weren’t playing Alabama and Texas A&M then so it’s obviously tougher and will keep on getting tougher going along in the SEC. We just have to buckle up and get after them.”
Denham Springs, La., native, Mississippian since 1989 with a stop in Meridian before arriving in Tupelo. Daily Journal beat writer since 1996, covering Ole Miss since 2002. Proud Northeast Louisiana alum. Follow me on Twitter @parrishalford and listen to Kory Keys and myself daily with The Ole Miss Beat on Rebel Sports Radio.
