Practice was moved to the Saints indoor facility because of bad weather and will be in the Superdome tomorrow for the same reason, so I was not at practice today and will not be there tomorrow. But I did talk to Sumrall and Mensah today when the team got back to the Wilson Center.
SUMRALL
On how nice it is to be able to practice at Saints facility when there is lightning:
"Big time. I cannot thank them enough. I just texted Dennis Allen and Jay Romig both and just said thanks for allowing us. We would have lost half of our practice. I got the first lightning alert at like 9:30. We would have lost over half our practice if not more. We moved there today and it looks like tomorrow we'll probably go to the Dome. I don't want to wear out our welcome at either place, but it's nice to be able to have that as a resource and slide over there. And after the heat yesterday. Yesterday the heat index was 135 on the field. We had more cramps yesterday in practice than we've had all of training camp, so it was kind of nice to get that work yesterday in the heat and be able to go inside today and it's 77-something degrees and it felt pretty cold at times in there. Pretty nice."
On Kansas State QB scoring five rushing TDs against Texas Tech as a reserve last year:
"He can play. He's a major threat with his legs."
On how to combat that type of running ability from a QB:
"There's no way to simulate it. You can have somebody in the right spot against a guy like this. He's a really good player and he'll still go make a play, so we've got to be on high alert for him running the football all the time. I've told our staff third down doesn't mean it's a passing down. Third down may mean it's a quarterback draw or a power read with the quarterback running."
On if they will have a spy on him:
"There's something to it, but when you use a spy, the guy that's spying him has to be able to catch him. We've got some things that are built in to where a guy like this you may have to use two, a spy to his left and a spy to his right, and then you also have to have good rush lanes and you have to have good rush integrity in your lanes. We've got some stuff where there are some spies that can be implemented, but like I said, if you spy him with somebody my athletic ability, it's not going to go very well. You spy him with somebody that can run and you have a chance, but they still have to make the play, and that's what's so impressive about this kid. You can have somebody in the right spot, and with that ability, he can be better than the guy who's trying to catch him."
On John Rhys Plumlee doing exactly that to Tulane in first meeting two years ago:
"I was at Ole Miss when we recruited JRP, so I've seen that before with my own two eyes."
On running game against SLU:
"Early in the game we were just trying to get into a rhythm and I don't think we were necessarily clean up front early. It got better as the game went on. We talk a lot about the first game action for the quarterback. Well it was the first time as an O-line unit that group has played together. There is no Sincere. Cam Wire's not here. There are some moving parts that are new playing with each other, so even though they're experienced, they're not experienced with each other. It will take some time to get on the same page. It's nice to have a game like that where you can work out some of those kinds, but guys in spots played really well. Early in the game they did move on us a little and create some negative plays or some plays for a gain of 1 or 2 that they did a good job on. When you're committing to run the ball and people know they have to commit to stop the run, there are going to be times when you bang your head for 1- or 2-yard gain, and that's not a bad thing. You just have to be committed to seeing it through and then wearing some people down."
On false start penalties:
"Well, Derrick (Graham) got called for one false start. He was going down in a 3-point stance when the ball was snapped, so that should have been called. Now there was another play where the Southeastern left tackle and tight end moved a full second before the snap and they didn't call that one, so I'm like what is a false start? Rah Rah (Rashad Green) got called for not being on the line of scrimmage once and Reese Baker got called for not being on the line of scrimmage once. Both in my opinion were bogus calls, and they came back and said we got it right. It wasn't even close. We could call a penalty on every play if we're going to call that."
On Mensah's only offers being from Idaho State and Lindenwood other than Tulane:
"Recruiting is an inexact science. The recruiting process has become so sped up to where in some way we devalue what a guy does as a senior. He didn't have the laundry list of offers that you usually see for a Division I quarterback. I've echoed to our team a lot it doesn't matter how many stars you've got or how many offers you've got, it's how you perform. That's what matters. Sometimes guys with a lot of stars are great. Sometimes guys with no stars are really good players. It is amazing to think, his early success was one game versus an FCS team, but a guy that was under the radar for sure."
On message to bandits and DEs:
"Really this week the message to all those guys is you've got to play the run first because you don't get opportunities to rush the passer against a group like this unless you stop the run, so we have to stop the run first. We'll see who settles in. The message to a guy like Adin (Huntington) is the plays will come your way if you're just doing your job. Bad things happen when guys are trying to play outside themselves and go make a play instead of just playing really hard when the play happens. We'll see. Those bandits know we've got to be a little bit better, and hopefully soon we'll find our rhythm there of who the guys are. But up front all those guys have to stop the run first."
On Huntington's performance in game 1:
"Solid. He probably flashed the most in the game in pursuit of plays that weren't really at him, playing with effort away from the play, but he's disruptive, has great athletic ability and is very strong and powerful. He's still refining who he can be from a technique standpoint. I'm not saying he's not good. That's where he's got room to continue to grow."
