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STATE FOOTBALL NEWS |
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Mississippi
State Football News
September 26, 2006
Quotes from croom press conference
Opening Comments
“First let me say how proud I am of our football team for the win we had at UAB last week. I am very proud of the way they did it. I am very proud of the fact that the first quarter of the season, despite some adversity losing our starting quarterback, being less than productive than we expected on offense, our players continued to fight through these things and finally came up with a win. I thought we displayed a great deal of character in the win and a great deal of mental and physical toughness. I thought we played as a team and that was a key aspect in us winning the ballgame. We must eliminate some penalties and turnovers because it would have made life much easier for us in the game. The bottom line is that we found a way to win and we got better. Despite the losses, we have continued to get better in practice and gotten better in each ballgame. This week we are playing one of the better teams in the country. We are playing them in their backyard, but what a great opportunity – we are going to Baton Rouge, playing a national championship caliber football team. They are highly talented; they have great tradition and one of the great venues in college football.”
On keeping the players focused through the first four weeks of the season:
“As much as anything else it was making sure I did not get down on myself and on the plan we have for this program. It was not easy - in particular the Tuesday after the Tulane game was pretty tough for me because I thought we should have won that game. I got to thinking that I wasn’t having a whole lot of fun, but then my thoughts go back to the players – if I’m not having fun then they aren’t having fun. Last Tuesday in a quiet time session, I reached down within my own soul and said – hey, it’s time to have fun and be who you are - and that’s what I did last week. I went back to being me, not worrying about what people thought about our program or how we run the offense. I’ll tell you this now; I am going to be me from now on. I am going to have fun every day I go out there because I never know when I will get this opportunity again.”
On QB Michael Henig’s progress and the running back situation:
“Mike (Henig) is throwing the ball and he may be released for the game this week. The latest update that I have gotten from the trainers, if he is released then he will go into the game as our third quarterback because I do not know how much work he will get this week. As far as running backs, I hope (Arnil) Stallworth will get some work today but we do anticipate him playing. Brandon Thornton is a long shot right now (Derek) Ambrose is supposed to do some limited work today.”
On QB Ommar Conner’s progress:
“The difference is one year – experience – that is the difference. Coach Dye told me when he visited last year that you are not going have your program where it needs to be until you are playing a redshirt junior as your quarterback. He said it takes a guy three years in this conference to be a high-level quarterback. I don’t think there is a better example then the quarterback that they had at Auburn a couple of years ago when they had the undefeated season. The year before everyone wanted to run the young man out of town, the next year he takes them to an undefeated season. Omarr Conner is not the same quarterback that he was last year.”
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Mississippi
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