Sam, over the past few weeks,
defense has kind of stayed consistent and got better,
especially at second half at Auburn and how you'll handle --
What have y'all seen in practice,
or what is it that's starting to click
with y'all to find that consistency?
Mindset basically.
Like, you know, we read the articles.
Like, we see it, everything.
People say we can't stop the run.
We take that personally because, like,
people complain about our defense.
We have a really good defense.
It's just, are we willing to do it?
And everybody made up their mind.
Like, we had a team eating, made up their mind like,
"We going to do it," and as you see, we done it.
Sam, you've obviously had a monster year this year,
in particular, just quarterback pressuring
and things along those lines.
You talked earlier this year about,
you know, you kind of got a serious-of-mind thing going,
especially with you becoming a father.
How do you think you've helped yourself this year
just in your own words?
A lot of people like to talk about
how they think you've helped yourself,
but how do you think you've helped yourself
in relation to your future in football?
My mindset first of all.
I stopped playing, like, for the hate of the other team,
and I started playing for the brothers on my side,
you know, like, my teammates across from me, behind me.
Like, when I look at them guys, I'm like,
"They deserve my all," you know.
Even in practice, like, I tell them, like,
"Today we win."
Like, on Tuesday, four pass, we went Saturday today.
Every day, like, I do my job.
That's all I can do.
Sacks, yeah, fun, Saturday I didn't get a sack,
but if you watch the film, I did my job every rep.
I played 65 plays, 65 plays.
They got my all every rep because I love them boys.
Like, they're my brothers, you know.
It's going to get emotional Saturday
because this my last home game with them boys.
Some, I mean, luckily, hopefully,
I mean, I'll play with them again on Sundays,
but sometimes, like, like,
this is our last time playing with each other,
and, I mean, we came a long way from our first year,
and mindset, I stopped being greedy,
stopped trying to get mine and think about the team.
Sam, kind of as a follow-up to David,
so Ashanti comes in, makes two incredible plays back to back,
and I know you guys have given him incredible love as he,
you know, made those two plays, including the interception,
and obviously that had to make you feel good to see a teammate
who's had to kind of wait his time and get some reps
and not obviously as many as some of you guys
are playing every game.
Yeah, it's always good.
Third string, second string,
it's always good to see other players, like, win, you know?
That's all it's about. Like, everybody win.
It's not just about Sam.
It's not just about Matt Corral. It's about the team.
Like, everybody wear the Ole Miss
on a jersey is a part of Ole Miss,
and long as he win, Ole Miss win.
As long as Ole Miss win, we all win.
Sam, I thought Saturday night, that was the quickest,
fastest your defense have played all year.
I don't know if that was a mindset
or they backed you off last week as far as practice reps.
Kind of go into that, please.
Like I said, it was just a mindset.
I mean, you know, we was pumped up
because, like, we had a great team coming in.
Like, why not upset them?
I mean, this -- It's been crazy year, you know?
We have a chance to win out ten and two.
It's just the opportunity.
I feel like when you give the guys like we have
this year opportunity,
we going to take it every time, every time.
Sam, is this an important week from a leadership
standpoint from the older guys knowing you're playing not Texas
A&M but Vanderbilt team that's kind of struggled?
Yeah, every team, I mean, we got to have respect for every team.
We're going to play probably harder than we played at,
I mean, Texas A&M because it's the next game.
Texas A&M is done for, now on to the next.
We don't look at their record.
We look at them, their opponent,
and everybody that come in the vault, they got to get it.
They got to.
Sam, when you think back to January
when pretty much every senior on last year's team
decided to come back,
is this what you guys saw coming?
Was this kind of why you chose to come back,
or was there a personal reason?
Just what kind of went into that decision for you?
I can't remember honestly.
I'm just happy I came back. I don't know.
I really don't remember.
So having, I think, eight or nine of you guys,
fifth-year seniors, sixth-year seniors on this team,
how valuable has that been just from on-field chemistry,
experience, that sort of stuff building into this year?
I mean, it's -- I mean, I feel like it was important
because we know what we can do.
You know, last year, it was so many close games,
and, like, we call them old heads.
Like, we the old heads.
Basically, the old heads, like, we tell the younger guys,
"Bro, like, y'all don't understand
that feeling like, dang, we almost beat Bama.
Dang, we almost beat Auburn.
Dang, we almost beat these guys," like, but --
And now we have a chance to do it, so, like, why not do it?
Like, that's the whole point.
Like, why not do it?
Like, what's holding us back?
So we separated those things that's holding us back,
took them out of the equation, and now look where we at now.
Sam, I don't know if you've started
watching Vanderbilt film yet,
but what have you seen from that offensive line so far?
What stands out about that?
They're physical.
I mean, I mean, we watch some, but, like,
we haven't really picked up tendencies or anything.
We watched some, I mean, the run, the goal line.
They're physical on the goal line.
We got to step up on the goal line.
I mean, that's all I can say right now
because that's all we watched today.