Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Mike Leach Discusses This Week’s Preparation For Vanderbilt
November 02, 2020 | Football
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State's Mike Leach held his weekly press conference on Monday to preview the Bulldogs' homecoming matchup against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Below are the quotes from Leach's press conference.
Head Coach Mike Leach - Nov. 2, 2020
Q: Any update on K.J. Costello's status and will he be available come Saturday?
ML: "No update. We'll monitor it through the week."
Q: How does Election Day tomorrow, November 3, alter your plans this week?
ML: "Well, we have to practice today, which is usually their off day. Yeah, we did have to alter our schedule, and everybody else has to change their schedule too. I mean I want everybody to vote, but I'm not a huge fan of adjusting everybody's schedule and having National Election Day. Everybody should vote. Virtually everybody should vote, but I don't think they should cancel practice that day as a result. We're in school and everybody's going to work and everybody's responsible enough to go vote. Worse yet, they're going to do it every year and next year our elections here in the state of Mississippi don't even line up with that date. Anyway we move forward and look forward to practicing this afternoon."
Q: Did you see anything from the film this week that you can build on and what's the main thing to improve offensively?
ML: "Really the biggest thing we have to build on is our youth and enthusiasm. We do have some enthusiasm behind these young guys that get to go out there and play early, and they're excited to be out there. That's where people take the biggest strides is when they're freshman and sophomores. We need to do everything we can to help them take the biggest strides we can. I think those were the biggest positives. I didn't think anybody quit in the game. I do think that over time these guys learn in the offseasons. We need to log some offseasons in these guys. What is it? There's a study they say that people work on 40 percent and they have 60 percent potential remaining. We have to try to get as deep as we can into that extra 60 percent as we can, and that's what we're working on."
Q: What were your impressions of the offensive line play at Alabama?
ML: I thought we improved some. We had less assignment busts. I thought we could have played tougher at times. We still got the quarterback hit some, and we're still a work in progress. But I think we're getting better."
Q: Is the door completely closed on Kylin Hill returning to the field this season?
ML: "I haven't heard anything from him. The last I heard is what I told you last time. I heard that he was opting out. But I haven't heard anything further, and I haven't spoken to him."
Q: How have your guys taken to being a part of the democratic process in an election year?
ML: "I wish I could give you a better answer and gauge it better. I'm disappointed in anybody that doesn't vote. I think everybody should vote, and I'm disappointed in anybody who doesn't. I'm glad we got them registered, and gave some literally an education process on how it's done. Fortunately, I'm married, and my wife educates me on when to go. But I'm determined to go. As far as the details and all that, she works through the logistics and has for years, which I think has definitely helped me. I think that part's good. They were I would say - how would I gauge them - some enthusiastic. Generally the better description would be curious, interested and on to doing something in a lot of cases that they hadn't done before. I definitely think it's positive. You know, one of the things we battle in this country is too many people sit on their hands and aren't as active in government as they could be. The lowest rung on the ladder is go vote, so I think everybody should. I do applaud the fact that schools around the country were educating people on that. I think it's long overdue. Just like I think every junior high needs to go back to having civics classes like they did previously. Who in the world cancels civics? I can't even fathom that."
Q: What have you seen about Vanderbilt on tape that sticks out?
ML: "Well they give you several different looks. They're not afraid to blitz. They're kind of a scrappy group. Offensively, they do have a couple of tricks up their sleeves and a couple of key guys that you've got to keep an eye on. Like a lot of teams in the course of this year, because this has been kind of a disjointed year, from one week to the next you'll see things that you didn't see the previous week. We're kind of on the fast track given the schedule this week. I haven't seen as much of them as I've usually seen going into this press conference, but just a good, quality SEC opponent. We've got to prepare to the best of our ability and be our very best in order to play. The bigger thing is I'm worried about our growth because that's what we can impact and control."
Q: When you review Will Rogers' performance, how do you feel about it?
ML: "I think he does a good job. I mean you've got a guy that if COVID hadn't hit, he'd have been at the prom three months ago. I think that a guy that comes in and has the limited experience he does and does some quality things, I think it's been impressive. And he's got a good presence and demeanor with the huddle."
Q: What are the chances Rogers starts this weekend?
ML: "I'd say it's 50-50. That's what they were last weekend too."
Q: What keeps you encouraged about this team?
ML: "I think the enthusiasm that our team has. And also just to get as good as you possibly can one week after the next. Some of these guys are young enough that I'm really excited to go through the offseason spring and see what develops there as well."
Q: Has the transition gone the way that you thought it would?
ML: "I can't say it has, specifically. Like everybody's said and you guys are probably tired of hearing it, it's been a funny year. There's been a lot of starts and stops and interruptions. It's most-damaging if you're in a new program and in a young program. We're thrilled to death that we have the opportunity to play. To be perfectly honest, without our conference and maybe the ACC, they may not be even having football this year. So I'm thrilled to death that we get to play because our players definitely need the experience to develop both now and for the future. I'm excited about that. You know, you get as much done as you can each day. Keep growing and keep getting better. I think the best is yet to come, but we want that to come as quickly as it can. We do have an excited group. One thing when they graduate or when they leave, the thing they miss the most is the guys and the locker room. You can kind of feel that energy growing more and more in ours too."
Q: Do you expect to have Jo'quavious Marks this week and how would you assess how he's played his true freshman year?
ML: "I expect to have him. I think he's another guy that's kind of ahead of schedule, a young guy that plays well at an early stage in his career."
Q: How would you evaluate your receiver play and the progression from that group the last few weeks?
ML: "I would say below average. I think that we have some guys that have some talents and abilities, but we have trouble being able to focus consistently. We have to be able to focus consistently. Part of that is stuff just as simple as finishing routes and doing that with precision. We'll do them with precision once. The we'll do it precisely twice, but not the third time. Then the other thing is even stuff where you're trying to stretch the field. We'll have too many guys trying to make judgments on whether the ball is coming to them. If they don't think it's coming to them, they'll gear down on the route. Well then that negatively impacts the other people out there running routes and the whole dimension of the play. So, no, we definitely have to make some strides."
Q: With two scholarship quarterbacks and K.J. Costello's injury, how are you balancing reps this week?
ML: "Well as you mentioned it's getting easier and easier to balance. Less tipping points, easier to balance. I'm not saying it's a positive thing. We'll just split them up and go. It's about as easy as that, but a few less candidates."
Q: What's the locker room been like throughout practice is there a level of frustration or what is the mood?
ML: "Honestly it's kind of committed to improve. I mean not happy with the results, committed to improve. I think Kobe Jones does a really great job as far as keeping the energy and spirit of our locker room at a high level. To be honest with you, I think we'd improve even quicker if we had more Kobe Joneses. Just the guys that echo the message and lead by example type of thing."
Q: What are your thoughts about the Flying M and throwback uniforms and are your kids excited to suit up in it?
ML: "I like it. I'm not real conscious of it to be perfectly honest. It may sound strange, but I'm more conscious of it if I'm watching on TV. If I'm watching someone else on TV where I'm in a relaxed setting and I notice, 'Hey that's that old uniform,' or say 'Don Hudson wore that uniform,' or some deal like that. With regard to us I'm locked in to what's going on. I don't want to take any of the fun away from it because I am in favor of wearing the throwback uniforms. I think remembering your tradition or your past is significant. To be honest with you, I'm not very conscious of it.
"At Texas Tech there was a big argument over the helmet. I went with the black helmet, and some of the people that wanted different colored helmets got upset. Although most people wanted the black helmet. Then, there was arguments about whether red jerseys or black jerseys. Then I left it to the seniors. They had that little committee of seniors, 'You guys decide what uniforms we wear.' Which they did, and some of the seniors would get tired of it. There were about four seniors that cared and were kind of the fashion coordinators. They decided on the uniforms we wore.
"I got in a press conference and some fella says, 'Do you realize that you've worn nine different versions of the uniform and haven't worn the same uniform twice in the course of the season?' No, as a matter of fact, I did not notice that. I was very happy and comfortable not knowing that. So then they told me. I was happy letting the seniors go ahead and pick it out.
Then, when I went to Washington State, Bill Moos was a former team captain. He was the AD and played at Washington State. He just liked selecting uniforms. He says, 'I want to run some uniform ideas by you.' I said, 'Well why don't you just handle it? You pick the uniforms each game.' He happily picked the uniforms each game. I still am not really conscious of it. I can't entirely remember which ones we wore for which games. For the sake of our receivers and our quarterbacks, I tried to make sure I knew what colors our jerseys were going into the game. Here, to be perfectly honest, I don't know who selects the uniforms we wear here. I am a completely-satisfied customer with regard to the selections that we've had here up to this point, and I'm sure I will be Saturday."
Q: Despite the struggles so far this season, how much encouragement do you have that so many contributors on this team are true freshmen?
ML: "It's great for the future. The hard part is now. It's fantastic for the future. I don't have a roster in front of me, but our second Z is a young guy. Our Y, a young guy. Both running backs, young guys. One of our quarterbacks is a young guy. A JC [junior college] guy at X and a young guy behind him. And then you go through the offensive line, three to four young guys depending on who's playing and then one experienced guy. It bodes well for the future, but you scratch and claw right now. Now the other good news is they're getting reps right now that guys at other places wouldn't necessarily have because they'd be playing behind somebody. By the time they get to their junior year, they'll have, in some cases, two full years of experience."
Below are the quotes from Leach's press conference.
Head Coach Mike Leach - Nov. 2, 2020
Q: Any update on K.J. Costello's status and will he be available come Saturday?
ML: "No update. We'll monitor it through the week."
Q: How does Election Day tomorrow, November 3, alter your plans this week?
ML: "Well, we have to practice today, which is usually their off day. Yeah, we did have to alter our schedule, and everybody else has to change their schedule too. I mean I want everybody to vote, but I'm not a huge fan of adjusting everybody's schedule and having National Election Day. Everybody should vote. Virtually everybody should vote, but I don't think they should cancel practice that day as a result. We're in school and everybody's going to work and everybody's responsible enough to go vote. Worse yet, they're going to do it every year and next year our elections here in the state of Mississippi don't even line up with that date. Anyway we move forward and look forward to practicing this afternoon."
Q: Did you see anything from the film this week that you can build on and what's the main thing to improve offensively?
ML: "Really the biggest thing we have to build on is our youth and enthusiasm. We do have some enthusiasm behind these young guys that get to go out there and play early, and they're excited to be out there. That's where people take the biggest strides is when they're freshman and sophomores. We need to do everything we can to help them take the biggest strides we can. I think those were the biggest positives. I didn't think anybody quit in the game. I do think that over time these guys learn in the offseasons. We need to log some offseasons in these guys. What is it? There's a study they say that people work on 40 percent and they have 60 percent potential remaining. We have to try to get as deep as we can into that extra 60 percent as we can, and that's what we're working on."
Q: What were your impressions of the offensive line play at Alabama?
ML: I thought we improved some. We had less assignment busts. I thought we could have played tougher at times. We still got the quarterback hit some, and we're still a work in progress. But I think we're getting better."
Q: Is the door completely closed on Kylin Hill returning to the field this season?
ML: "I haven't heard anything from him. The last I heard is what I told you last time. I heard that he was opting out. But I haven't heard anything further, and I haven't spoken to him."
Q: How have your guys taken to being a part of the democratic process in an election year?
ML: "I wish I could give you a better answer and gauge it better. I'm disappointed in anybody that doesn't vote. I think everybody should vote, and I'm disappointed in anybody who doesn't. I'm glad we got them registered, and gave some literally an education process on how it's done. Fortunately, I'm married, and my wife educates me on when to go. But I'm determined to go. As far as the details and all that, she works through the logistics and has for years, which I think has definitely helped me. I think that part's good. They were I would say - how would I gauge them - some enthusiastic. Generally the better description would be curious, interested and on to doing something in a lot of cases that they hadn't done before. I definitely think it's positive. You know, one of the things we battle in this country is too many people sit on their hands and aren't as active in government as they could be. The lowest rung on the ladder is go vote, so I think everybody should. I do applaud the fact that schools around the country were educating people on that. I think it's long overdue. Just like I think every junior high needs to go back to having civics classes like they did previously. Who in the world cancels civics? I can't even fathom that."
Q: What have you seen about Vanderbilt on tape that sticks out?
ML: "Well they give you several different looks. They're not afraid to blitz. They're kind of a scrappy group. Offensively, they do have a couple of tricks up their sleeves and a couple of key guys that you've got to keep an eye on. Like a lot of teams in the course of this year, because this has been kind of a disjointed year, from one week to the next you'll see things that you didn't see the previous week. We're kind of on the fast track given the schedule this week. I haven't seen as much of them as I've usually seen going into this press conference, but just a good, quality SEC opponent. We've got to prepare to the best of our ability and be our very best in order to play. The bigger thing is I'm worried about our growth because that's what we can impact and control."
Q: When you review Will Rogers' performance, how do you feel about it?
ML: "I think he does a good job. I mean you've got a guy that if COVID hadn't hit, he'd have been at the prom three months ago. I think that a guy that comes in and has the limited experience he does and does some quality things, I think it's been impressive. And he's got a good presence and demeanor with the huddle."
Q: What are the chances Rogers starts this weekend?
ML: "I'd say it's 50-50. That's what they were last weekend too."
Q: What keeps you encouraged about this team?
ML: "I think the enthusiasm that our team has. And also just to get as good as you possibly can one week after the next. Some of these guys are young enough that I'm really excited to go through the offseason spring and see what develops there as well."
Q: Has the transition gone the way that you thought it would?
ML: "I can't say it has, specifically. Like everybody's said and you guys are probably tired of hearing it, it's been a funny year. There's been a lot of starts and stops and interruptions. It's most-damaging if you're in a new program and in a young program. We're thrilled to death that we have the opportunity to play. To be perfectly honest, without our conference and maybe the ACC, they may not be even having football this year. So I'm thrilled to death that we get to play because our players definitely need the experience to develop both now and for the future. I'm excited about that. You know, you get as much done as you can each day. Keep growing and keep getting better. I think the best is yet to come, but we want that to come as quickly as it can. We do have an excited group. One thing when they graduate or when they leave, the thing they miss the most is the guys and the locker room. You can kind of feel that energy growing more and more in ours too."
Q: Do you expect to have Jo'quavious Marks this week and how would you assess how he's played his true freshman year?
ML: "I expect to have him. I think he's another guy that's kind of ahead of schedule, a young guy that plays well at an early stage in his career."
Q: How would you evaluate your receiver play and the progression from that group the last few weeks?
ML: "I would say below average. I think that we have some guys that have some talents and abilities, but we have trouble being able to focus consistently. We have to be able to focus consistently. Part of that is stuff just as simple as finishing routes and doing that with precision. We'll do them with precision once. The we'll do it precisely twice, but not the third time. Then the other thing is even stuff where you're trying to stretch the field. We'll have too many guys trying to make judgments on whether the ball is coming to them. If they don't think it's coming to them, they'll gear down on the route. Well then that negatively impacts the other people out there running routes and the whole dimension of the play. So, no, we definitely have to make some strides."
Q: With two scholarship quarterbacks and K.J. Costello's injury, how are you balancing reps this week?
ML: "Well as you mentioned it's getting easier and easier to balance. Less tipping points, easier to balance. I'm not saying it's a positive thing. We'll just split them up and go. It's about as easy as that, but a few less candidates."
Q: What's the locker room been like throughout practice is there a level of frustration or what is the mood?
ML: "Honestly it's kind of committed to improve. I mean not happy with the results, committed to improve. I think Kobe Jones does a really great job as far as keeping the energy and spirit of our locker room at a high level. To be honest with you, I think we'd improve even quicker if we had more Kobe Joneses. Just the guys that echo the message and lead by example type of thing."
Q: What are your thoughts about the Flying M and throwback uniforms and are your kids excited to suit up in it?
ML: "I like it. I'm not real conscious of it to be perfectly honest. It may sound strange, but I'm more conscious of it if I'm watching on TV. If I'm watching someone else on TV where I'm in a relaxed setting and I notice, 'Hey that's that old uniform,' or say 'Don Hudson wore that uniform,' or some deal like that. With regard to us I'm locked in to what's going on. I don't want to take any of the fun away from it because I am in favor of wearing the throwback uniforms. I think remembering your tradition or your past is significant. To be honest with you, I'm not very conscious of it.
"At Texas Tech there was a big argument over the helmet. I went with the black helmet, and some of the people that wanted different colored helmets got upset. Although most people wanted the black helmet. Then, there was arguments about whether red jerseys or black jerseys. Then I left it to the seniors. They had that little committee of seniors, 'You guys decide what uniforms we wear.' Which they did, and some of the seniors would get tired of it. There were about four seniors that cared and were kind of the fashion coordinators. They decided on the uniforms we wore.
"I got in a press conference and some fella says, 'Do you realize that you've worn nine different versions of the uniform and haven't worn the same uniform twice in the course of the season?' No, as a matter of fact, I did not notice that. I was very happy and comfortable not knowing that. So then they told me. I was happy letting the seniors go ahead and pick it out.
Then, when I went to Washington State, Bill Moos was a former team captain. He was the AD and played at Washington State. He just liked selecting uniforms. He says, 'I want to run some uniform ideas by you.' I said, 'Well why don't you just handle it? You pick the uniforms each game.' He happily picked the uniforms each game. I still am not really conscious of it. I can't entirely remember which ones we wore for which games. For the sake of our receivers and our quarterbacks, I tried to make sure I knew what colors our jerseys were going into the game. Here, to be perfectly honest, I don't know who selects the uniforms we wear here. I am a completely-satisfied customer with regard to the selections that we've had here up to this point, and I'm sure I will be Saturday."
Q: Despite the struggles so far this season, how much encouragement do you have that so many contributors on this team are true freshmen?
ML: "It's great for the future. The hard part is now. It's fantastic for the future. I don't have a roster in front of me, but our second Z is a young guy. Our Y, a young guy. Both running backs, young guys. One of our quarterbacks is a young guy. A JC [junior college] guy at X and a young guy behind him. And then you go through the offensive line, three to four young guys depending on who's playing and then one experienced guy. It bodes well for the future, but you scratch and claw right now. Now the other good news is they're getting reps right now that guys at other places wouldn't necessarily have because they'd be playing behind somebody. By the time they get to their junior year, they'll have, in some cases, two full years of experience."
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