Just five games in,
how's your transition to linebacker been treating you?
It's been a learning experience, but, nonetheless, fun.
I think it's - in my opinion, it's just better.
It fits me personally better.
What have you been learning about linebacker
that maybe you couldn't learn in practice?
You mean, like, as far as in the game?
I'd say, like, the game just move different.
Like, as a fan, you watch it,
you don't really know what's going on.
Everything seems to move fast.
But, you know, just knowing your assignment,
it slows the game down a lot.
So, it's different for us, you know, being in the game
than how it look on film.
Mark, we all know your story and how you came here
from SEMO and changed positions,
and now you're starting in the Southeastern Conference.
I mean, you have to pinch yourself sometimes
that this is how things ended up for you?
I mean, it's an incredible story.
Uh, I mean, for the most part, it's been a long journey, man.
I put a lot of work into it.
And just the whole time, man,
it was a lot of days I ain't see a lot of results.
So, it taught me how to be humble.
So, even now that I'm in the position,
you know, that I never thought I'd be in, like,
I just go back to the things that got me here.
Just stay humble and keep working,
you know, never be satisfied,
never get too high, never get too low.
So, when you were thinking about leaving Cape Girardeau
and you were trying to figure out
where your next step was going to be,
what was it about Ole Miss that made that your next place?
One of my closest friends, man, Otis Reese,
you know, me and O.T. been close ever since we first met,
you know, in high school.
And we would always be at home
working out together at each other's house.
And he was like, "Man, I think you would be a good fit,
you know, if you came over there to Ole Miss with me."
And I was like, you know,
I don't know, man, that's the SEC.
You know, like, I know they got guys, you know,
they don't need me coming from SEMO.
But it just came down to my faith
and just believing in the work that we put in.
So, when I got here, they were just all here from there.
So, I don't know.
Did you think you'd be playing running back here?
Did you ever think for a second that you and Otis
would be on the same defense, on the same side of the ball?
Nah.
I thought I was coming in to take Snoop's spot,
so, you know.
But, nah, I talked to Coach Smith,
you know, these guys, that's -
you know, it comes with being at a program like this.
They know what they see.
So, I just had to trust them that that was best for me
to move to linebacker, you know,
for me to be the best player I wanted to be.
So, I just had to trust and believe and keep working.
On Saturday, you guys have another big test
in front of you with Tennessee.
An offense very similar to ones
y'all faced in the last couple weeks
and very similar to your own offense.
What do you see on film?
What do you think the biggest challenge
is going to be facing them?
I'd say, on film, a lot of the similarities,
you know, to our offense, as you just said.
But I think the biggest challenges for us,
like, even not just this week, but it's us versus us.
So, like, I hate to go back in the past
but if you think about, like, 'Bama game, we watched the film
and break it down, every week, it's us versus us.
So, if we can go execute and we can pair the right way,
as our coaches always make sure we do,
we'll go out there and make sure we do
what we're coached to do at a high level.
It don't matter who we're playing.
You know, that's just the mindset
that we got to carry on the field.
Yesterday, Lane brought up, you know, missed tackles
as something that was a little bit frustrating.
How frustrating is that for you guys
and how do you kind of fix that in the middle of a season?
I mean, missed tackles, man, they come.
You just got to focus, make sure you have the right leverage.
But midseason, you know, we just got to lock in.
I think the way you erase a lot of that
is everybody running to the ball.
So, you know, that's just something
that we have to make sure we bring
to the table, everybody getting to the ball.
Even if, you know, they break one tackle,
then they get smacked by three or four more dudes, you know.
And they ain't going to want to break tackle
if we keep smacking them that I play running back.
They ain't going to want to keep running like that.
I've asked a couple of your teammates about this.
When you're playing a linebacker in this scheme,
in the three-two-six,
how difficult is it when every block's one-on-one
and the running back kind of has those holes?
Is it harder to play linebacker
when there are fewer players in the box?
I guess, numbers-wise, you can say, like, it's harder
because, you know, we have a lot of one-on-ones.
But, man, it just boils down to doing your job,
doing what we're coached to do,
taking on the blocks the right way,
making sure that we're in our right fit, you know.
And, you know, once you learn how to do the hard things, like,
people say this is a hard defense to play in,
so just imagine, like, what everybody else is doing,
it's going to be easy, like, if we ever do that.
So, you know, I don't see nothing wrong with it.
I'm going to take the hard road.
I mean, we all going to take the hard road.
I don't think we ever got to ask you about this,
just the target penalty in week one,
what was kind of your reaction to it
and how did you kind of spend the rest of that game?
It was tough.
I just remember going back to the sidelines,
just, you know, talking to God, man.
Just - I know He don't make no mistakes.
So, you know, in the moment, I wasn't thinking about nothing.
Like, I had forgot about the targeting calls.
But, you know, I just went in to make a physical play,
you know, to try to set the tone
for our defense and show everybody
how we were coming to play that year - this year.
And, you know, when they did that,
it was just - just trying to be the best way
I can from the sidelines for my teammates.
Following up on Nick's question there,
how does that affect you in terms of,
you know, being a defender out there on the field
and having to make quick and violent decisions
in terms of making the tackling?
And let's be honest, most of the targeting calls
we see every Saturday are not intentional.
They're happenstance.
But does that affect the way - can you allow that rule
to affect the way you play on defense?
It's hard, man.
I think, if you look at it out of the calls
and you look at just watch a lot of games in general,
the offensive guys,
the ball carriers are ducking their heads.
So, you know, if we don't meet force with force,
then they can hit us in the chest
and it's easier for them to run us over at that point.
So, I mean, as a defender,
you just got to play fast and violent, man.
Just try to keep your head up.
You know, it ain't fair, but that's just what we had to do.
We had to play ball. You can't cry about it.
You just got to move on.
I know a lot's been made of tempo,
and Tennessee runs -
I think it's 2.8-something plays per minute,
and Arkansas obviously kind of did
that sort of stuff, too.
As a defense, is there anything you can do
to sort of counteract tempo?
Like, how do you deal with teams
that are running that many plays?
Just make sure we align cleats in the dirt,
got the call every play.
Every time they set up, you know, we be ready,
knowing that they're going tempo.
And another thing, man, just hit them in the mouth
and get off the field.
That will stop tempo.