RebelSports.net - Rebs, Blazers discuss Ole Miss homecoming win

October 17, 2009

RebelSports.net Staff Report

From the post-game meeting rooms:

RebelSports.net note: Both teams' locker rooms were closed. No interviews are ever conducted in Ole Miss' locker room, though requested players and coaches were made available.

Ole Miss LB D.T. Shackelford: "We played good. Everyone played as one unit. We came out on Monday at practice giving it all we had. The outcome was good, and now we have to get ready for conference play. ?I feel good. I feel OK. It's not about me; it's about the team. We're just going to get ready for the next game."

Ole Miss CB Jeremy McGee: "I think we played good enough, but we should've played better. That's not the way we play defense. We play much better than that. I don't want to take anything away from the win, but we're a better defense than that. ?We have to work hard. Arkansas has a pretty good offense and a pretty good quarterback (Ryan Mallett)."

Ole Miss DE Kentrell Lockett: "We were slow at first. We came out flat. We picked it up and we started playing ball the way we know how. ?I think we had some good pressure. We contained (Joe Webb) a lot. He made plays. He did what he was supposed to do. He got it, got out and scrambled really well. We tried to bottle him up, and we succeeded sometimes and at times, he got the best of us."

"We're going to try to alter (Mallett's) passing in any type of way and just make him uncomfortable. We're going to try and get after him a little bit. No quarterback likes to get hit."

Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt: "(Punter) Tyler (Campbell) and (kickoff specialist) Andrew Ritter, those guys have been outstanding. I'm just really proud that we have them for the next four years and don't have to worry about kicking or punting. They're only going to get better. I think they get a little nervous sometimes; they try too hard. When they relax, they can boom it and it changes the real estate from one end of the field to the other."

Ole Miss WR Shay Hodge: "I think we did very good. It's good to see Jevan (Snead) get back on page and the running game to get going. It's fun to see all the young guys get touchdowns, because they're going to need it when we leave. ...I am looking forward to (the Arkansas game). They're a pretty good team, especially on offense. They played Florida pretty tough today. Obviously they're good on defense."

UAB QB Joe Webb: "We moved the ball pretty well on a pretty good defense, one of the best defenses in the nation. On the first couple of drives, we kind of stopped ourselves. ?On the first drive, the interception (by Ole Miss' Jeremy McGee) was pretty big and on the second drive, we missed a field goal. So we came out and pretty well and fought pretty well from the beginning. We just couldn't finish it, but that's football."

UAB DE Derek Slaughter: "They were a pretty good team up front. They came out and played hard and moved the ball. It was basically what we expected. We knew coming in that they would be a physical team. ?We didn't think our defense was going to give up that many points. At the same time, they executed and we didn't. That's really a big reason why they got as many points as they did."

UAB coach Neil Callaway: "Other than the kicking game, I thought we started off pretty good as a team. Obviously the opening kickoff wasn't very good. You have to play for 60 minutes. They obviously took it to us pretty good."

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