Bryan Harsin previews Ole Miss, gives roster updates

Harsin previewed Auburn vs Ole Miss on Monday afternoon.

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin spoke to the media on Monday afternoon, previewing the Tigers' upcoming matchup with the Ole Miss Rebels.

Here is everything Harsin had to say about Mississippi, Robby Ashford's development, and the offensive identity of the team.

Opening statement…

“We’ll jump right into Ole Miss. They’re 6-0 and the team is hot. They're playing really well. On the road it’s an 11 a.m. game and it’s going to be early for us. We have a little bit of a bus ride before we get to the stadium there. Just a little bit about their offense, (they’re scoring) about 40 points a game, third in the SEC. Total offense is 490 yards or so, fourth in the SEC. Rushing offense is second, 242 yards. Passing 248 yards, so you can see their balance and what they’re doing. Third downs, 53 percent, they’re first in the SEC. They’re doing a really good job on that side of the ball. Mostly 11 personnel. They are fast-tempo so we have to be ready for that. They’re going to use multiple players when they are out there in their system. Everybody, you have to be aware of who’s on the field. They might be doing some different things because they game plan you each and every game from what I’ve seen. They snap the ball with about 20 seconds remaining on the play clock. Quarterback Jaxson Dart, USC transfer, is a good athlete. He runs the ball well, throws the ball well, and he’s really tough. Quinshon (Judkins), their running back, he’s the real deal. Second in the SEC. The guy is playing well. He’s got 581 yards and eight touchdowns. Zach Evans, a TCU transfer, has really good speed and runs hard. He has 469 yards and six touchdowns. These guys are a one-two punch. Then Jonathan Mingo, their wide receiver, has 507 yards and three touchdowns. He's the top receiver in the SEC. Defensively they are really very high in their stats, fifth in the SEC in total defense. Scoring defense, a little over 14 points a game, that's third in the SEC and 11th nationally. Rushing defense, fourth in the SEC. Passing defense, ninth. Third-down defense they’re seventh in the SEC. Sacks, they've had 16. That’s third in the SEC so they're getting pressure with their D-line and also just some of the pressures they're bringing. They do a nice job with their schemes. Personnel, all three D-linemen, nickel, those guys are returning. Free safety is their strength. Really everybody all around the secondary is very good. Number 21, AJ Finley is a great player. Number three their nickel, Otis Reese is very, very good. Number 11, their middle linebacker, Austin Keys, that guy can play. They have a couple of guys that we had here before. JJ Pegues and Ladarius Tennison, those guys are playing for them and doing well, so we have to be prepared for that. Special teams wise they’re tied for sixth in blocked punts. They've had two. Their 19th in punt returns. Their specialists, Jonathan Cruz, a transfer from Charlotte, five-of-six field goals. Fraser Masin, 42-yard average as a punter. (Jordan) Watkins, a transfer from Louisville, their punt returner had a 22-yarder. That's been his longest this season. Kickoff returner Dayton Wade, a transfer from Western Kentucky, averaging 23 yards. The big thing is they blocked a couple punts. This team, like I said, they're hot. They have a lot of things going on. They're feeling it right now. They’re a very good opponent. It is going to be a challenge for us as we get ready for these guys to go on the road and again handle the noise, handle the travel. We haven’t handled all those things. We have an early ball game so it really comes back to us, what we have to do this week and our focus and how we get prepared to go out there and play another undefeated team.”

On sustaining drives on offense...

“It's always important; you want to keep the ball in your offense’s hands, and I think that's one of the things that has hurt our defense. You go three and out, three and out, three and out and you have got to think, just on the sideline, your operation. You come over after you get done, probably playing on special teams as well, then a punt return and offense gets the ball back, you go get a drink, you sit down, you make adjustments, and you are right back on the field. You want to give your defense a little bit of time to rest, but really to just go through some of the adjustments that the coaches in the box are seeing, so sustaining drives is huge, creating field position is huge, and then ultimately those drives turning into points. That has got to be something that we do a much better job of, and that's the consistency piece of just execution over and over. Giving our guys the best chance by our play calls, to keep ourselves on the field put ourselves in manageable situations. The penalties, we need to eliminate those because that creates a more difficult situation just down-and-distance. So, it's all those factors, but we want to sustain drives, stay on the field and really balance out the time of possession. The one thing for Ole Miss is that they go fast. That's not always the key factor in the game; for us, it's just about execution. It's about staying on the field and putting the ball in a position where we can sustain those drives, execute our third downs, create field position and ultimately get in the red zone and find ways to score.”

On sustaining the run game...

“I think (we need to run) the ball, but you have got to be able to balance it out to by throwing it. You don't want to get one-dimensional. You still have got to throw it and still need to be able to hit some easy throws. You have got to be able to hit some big plays. You need to be able to run the ball consistently, and like we talked about before the Georgia game, just being able to get some of those three-, four- or five-yard gains at times, too, and not the negative plays. So that comes back to us and just being better in those concepts, giving our guys the best chance to be successful in the schemes that we choose for them and to go out there and run so that we can stay ahead of the chains.”

On Robby Ashford’s growth...

“I think every quarterback, no matter who you are, throughout the season can improve. There are some guys playing at a really high level and they can all improve and get better, right? You're going to be playing stiffer competition as the season goes on. You have more film on tape of what you're capable of doing, so more teams are trying to dial into what you do well and take that away. I think his decision making has improved overall. We put the ball on the ground, and that was something we do not want to do. We want to take care of the football, but I think his decision making has gotten better. I think the operation starts with that you got to be able to operate, and it's not that simple. Just getting the play call, getting it in, making the checks, audibles, and the things we must do paying attention to the clock, making sure that we've got everything before the ball is snapped. What I've seen from him is when everybody's covered, he can pull it down and go make plays. He did that in the last game. We knew that would be a thing that would hurt Georgia and really any defense, when you have got a guy where everybody's covered, he can pull it down and make some plays with his legs. We saw that from both sides. Robby did it and we saw it from Stetson (Bennett), who was able to do some things with his feet as well. So that has helped us, and now it's not just him, but it's everybody. It's all the consistency across the board on the offensive side, and that goes back to us putting them in a position where those guys feel confident that they can execute the play successfully. We can stay ahead of the chains and just manage the offense and make sure that we're doing those things and then we have a chance to make some big plays. We'll do that as opportunities for plays to break down. The scramble, I think he's made some good decisions there and even in the last game, too, there were a couple of times he threw the ball away. That's not a bad choice and it wasn't a bad decision because there was nothing there and he was going to lose yards, so even sometimes, things don't go well. That decision, nobody likes it, but it's still the right decision.”

On how to improve ball security...

“I think that sometimes when you take off, the ball just comes out and it just came out, and I don't know if it just got knocked out necessarily, but the ball came out and that happens. I mean you carry a football a certain way and as a quarterback, you're going to palm the ball for a minute because you're trying to throw the ball and then at some point, you're going to tuck it away. There's that transition where you're going to go from palming the ball because you're moving and you might throw it, so you still have that grip and then you're going to tuck it and become a runner. In the in-between, that transition is where the ball came out. I don't think he's trying to be careless with it. I think he was in that transition and the ball slipped out of his hands. Sometimes you see a quarterback go back to throw and all of a sudden it slips out of his hands. It happens sometimes in practice; you wonder why it happens. I played the position, so I've done the same thing. It just happens, but at the same time those are things now we're clear on that it happens in games, but we can't let those things happen. So, now it did, and we can't go back, and we can't change that. So now as we move forward, what is a better option. So, now when he takes off, it's probably going to be tucked a lot sooner and is probably going to be protected better, because those things happen. Unfortunately, it happens to players, and they learn from that experience. It just happened to be on a drive, and it impacted us in a big game, because you turn the ball over. Those things become problematic and it's no different than if you're catching the ball and you're snatching that ball, ripping it down and taking it away from the defender. You're going up for it on defense and trying to take it away. It's all those things that you work on, and in the heat of the moment, it doesn’t always happen perfectly, but we’ve got to learn from that. We have got to take care of the ball, and so ball security, which has been an issue for us this year, we've got to continue to keep emphasizing that because that is the key to the game. You have got to take care of the football and every guy on this team knows that. Nobody's trying to not take care of the ball, but in order to win games, and to be a good football team, that's got to be the most important thing when you have that ball in your hands. So, we'll work on it, and he'll get better at it. That will continue to be an emphasis, and I know it's important to him. So, by no means does he run off the field shrug it off and like, ‘oh well.’ It hurts and he's going to work very hard on that to improve in that area.”

On the offense’s identity…

“Injuries happen, unfortunately. I mean, that's where your depth comes in, you want to have really good depth, that's why you're building your team. Every year, most of the time, you lose a quarter of your team, and you bring a quarter of your team in. In the middle is where your depth’s at, and probably your starters, and maybe some young guys. So, your backups have got to be ready to play and they’ve got to go in there and execute the game plan. You can't really pull back in the middle of a game. You’ve got to keep pushing forward. I think the identity right now, we want to be balanced, we want to run the ball, throw the ball, we want to have the play action off some of the run game, we want to be able to get on the perimeter, still be firm, and be able to run downhill inside the tackles, and utilize our personnel. So, that hasn't changed. Now, we've been very good at that at this point. Are we where we want to be right now? We're not, but that's what our identity is. So we're still working on building that identity. We have the vision for it, but we’ve got to actually do it. I think the game plans, what we put together each week, you don't get to every single play. Sometimes the game changes and you don't get to all the plays you had in there, you don't get to every single thing that you wanted to get to because maybe you're not in that field position, you're not in that down-and-distance. You can bump it up, but you really game-plan that for that moment. That's where sustaining drives, that's where getting more plays, that's where keeping the offense on the field is going to allow us more to get into that rhythm. If you watched a few of our drives this season early on, the LSU drive, some of those drives, that's what you want it to look like. I thought there was a good balance in there and we want to continue that.”

On the growth of the secondary…

“I think those guys are playing, they’re flying around number one, I think they're around in coverage, around the receivers. They're not giving those guys many opportunities just to be wide open or cutting a guy loose. We've gotten better at that. I think our D-line, some of the pressures, too, that we’ve put on the quarterbacks has helped, where they're not just standing back there and able to just scan the whole field and wait for a guy to open up. So I do think it's a combination of getting to the quarterback, and then also your secondary doing a good job. On some of the scramble stuff, too, we're plastering better, we're covering better, and we're getting better in the back end. I think that's one of the reasons why we've been able to maybe have some of those numbers. Now at the same time, you’ve still got to stop the run. So you want to be balanced on defense too. Don't give up the big plays. We're doing a good job there. But, at the same time, making sure that we're handling the run game.”

On handling the quarterback’s emotions as a coach…

“I think that's got to be really the same for where we want to be and that quarterback. You're the quarterback of the team, you're the leader, things get hard, guys get frustrated. But, at the same time, you got to come back, and you got to go get ready for the next drive. The process for a quarterback is when the drive is over, you go over to get a drink, get on the phone, and you start talking about adjustments. You start thinking about what the next series is going to look like, and then if you got a little bit of time, you get your guys fired up. Go tell them, ‘Hey, we're going to go out and score,’ or keep scoring, or ‘let's get back in the game,’ whatever that needs to be. I think just in your preparation, that's where the emotion and the game, if you prepared properly and you’ve experienced some of those things which he's experiencing right now, it's just a matter of getting a few more plays, and you're right back into it. You're going to have 75 plays, score, and be fine. You need five explosive plays, five big plays, so you don't know when they're coming. That's the reality of playing that position too. That drive didn't go well, we've been three and out four times in a row, come back and hit a big shot, touchdown. If you come right back again, bang, get another big shot, touchdown, we get a big run, Jarquez Hunter breaks three tackles and runs for a touchdown, we didn't expect that on the five-yard throw. That's really that type of thinking that you have to have. I think the emotion of the game, that's part of it. At the same time, you’ve still got to think and you got to keep yourself in a state of mind where you can go out there and execute because that will affect you too. That's not just him, that's really everybody, and trying to get that taught comes from experience, from guys trusting in what we're doing, and making sure that their preparation through the week, they understand we're close. That's one thing, too, when you go out there and the play isn't executed right or whatever happens on the play didn't work. Maybe they out-schemed us, but you understand why and it's like, ‘Okay, I got that, let's come back to that next time,’ or ‘Let's move away from that,’ or ‘Let's hit this play that's close to that, it's going to give us an advantage,’ you’ve got to be thinking in those terms. Otherwise, the emotion takes over and you're not thinking. In order to win a game, you’ve got to think through 60 minutes, you’ve got to really be dialed into what you have to do, especially in that position. So, he's learning. There's a fire in every competitor, and so there are moments when they're like, ‘Look, if you're upset, then you’ve got to take a second.’ But that's where, over time, that will go away. That will go away in the process, coming off a score, get over there. The same process: get on the phone, make adjustments, talk to your team, think about what you have to do get ready to get the ball back, and go.”

On adjusting the run scheme…

“Penetration slows the backs down, and depending on the run scheme, whatever it is, there are different schemes in there, but you don't want to give up penetration. I think that's what's happened to us at times. As far as adjusting, blocking is a fundamental of the game, probably the most important one. That goes back to your footwork, goes back to your aiming points, goes back to what the defense is trying to do to you. It goes back to just how you prepare yourself each and every week and how we get our guys prepared. Part of that is what we do when we are in pads every Tuesday and Wednesday, working on the run game and working on what we think the defense is going to try to give us. So, we’ve got to be better up front. You don't want to give up penetration. It's not always that you're moving and denting that defense all the time, but it gives your backs a chance when they can get to the line of scrimmage and be able to see and find a window. Sometimes it's two yards, four yards, and then you get some really good push, it can be 18. It can be big runs. That's the key to what we have to do up front is just not give up penetration, get those backs a chance to get started, and they'll do something with it.”

On improving the offensive line...

"You can do different things, and I think we do that. It's not because of talent. I think that's the number one thing. You're going to run your schemes based off what you think is best against the defense that you're playing, and then you have some of the schemes that you believe in. There's a philosophy that we have in the run game. Which is probably similar to quite a few teams. You see a lot of the same schemes, right? You see a lot of the same things in the NFL and the run game. And, you know, maybe it's a little bit different. When you've got a quarterback that can run, you've got a couple of guys you can get the ball to on fly sweeps, there's different ways to do it. But ultimately, your run game is going to come down to what your guys do up front and the fundamentals of how they play and block. And then working together on the double teams, working in the one-on-one situations, and I think knowing when you're in that situation is the key. Have I got help or am I single? That’s the difference. When you've got some help it's a little bit different of how you treat your footwork when you don't have help. It's one on one. A lot of times on the offensive line, you've got to win the one-on-one. That is what it comes down to. We've got guys that can do that. They're not perfect. We've got to help them, and there are some things we can do schematically that can help them. We know that, and we've got to do a better job of putting them in positions to be successful and at the same time, you still have to go out there and play. You've still got to go out there and execute those assignments, which our guys will do. They will do that. Which there were some good things that we did do, but now we've got to get all eleven guys doing that together. I think that's the key moving forward, is really focusing on that. But our guys, they work very hard at it. They'll get better at it. We're not where we need to be, but we've got to get back to work this week and improve in those areas."

On Ole Miss improvement from last year…

"Well, they were pretty good last year. They are better. Again, they have made improvements. You can see the guys are playing with confidence. I think they're playing fast. I think they're physical on that side of the ball. I think they're tackling well. Just look at the stats, it shows up with that right there. It's pretty good, from what I've seen. And like I said, they're on a roll right now. They've got momentum, and I think that impacts really the whole team. And certainly, as we look at their offense, we know they're going to do well on that side of the ball, and they're going to have a lot of firepower over there. Defensively, they're also very, very good. And that's something that we've seen. I felt like last year we played a good game against them last year. I thought that we did some really good things in the game, and we were balanced and we had the run and pass and all of that stuff in that one game working for us, but overall they've definitely improved. This is a good football team. That's why they're undefeated."

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