VIDEOS: Vanderbilt Week Football Media Availability

Coach Will Muschamp spoke with reporters via a Zoom call at his weekly news conference Tuesday. Players Keir Thomas, Zacch Pickens, John Dixon and Deshaun Fenwick addressed the media as well.

WILL MUSCHAMP TRANSCRIPT

– Thought we had a really good start to down Vanderbilt, probably had one of our better practices since we started the season. A lot of energy and competition which we need and look forward to having it again tomorrow. We need to have a good Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and head up to Nashville for a noon kick. We’re looking forward to game day and I’ll open up for any questions.

– [Reporter] Will, Izzy played a lot of safety last week, is that, I don’t know if it’s permanent. But is that a move that you guys are looking to do a lot more throughout the rest of the season?

– No, I don’t know that he was a hundred percent on his groin and we only played him at corner in the red zone to limit some of the running that he would probably have to do on the nine ball or something like that. So that was by design. He will play corner this week and he was really practiced, I want to say a little bit Tuesday, a little more on Wednesday and then practice the entire practice on Thursday, but we were a little concerned about them opening up and having to run long speed down on nine balls and things like that. So we played him at safety and out in the field situations and we played him in the red zone at corner ’cause of some of the height match-ups that you have with those guys.

– [Reporter] What are some of the challenges posed by this Vanderbilt offense? And are they still kind of pro style scheme that they’ve been the last few years?

– Well, I’ve got a lot of respect for Todd Fitch who’s our new Offensive Coordinator who was with skip Holtz at Louisiana Tech and has a very used to be here with coach Holtz. And, but he’s got a very varied background as far as pro style and spread systems. Obviously at Louisiana Tech, they’ve been really good on offense. And then he was at Boston College with Steve Addazio and they were more traditional two backs, looks as far as some of the things. So we’ve done a lot of research in order to prepare for the game. They give you some different variations of that. They jump in 12 personnel and they’re multiple formation without which creates an issues as far as match-ups and how you want to play that. Ben Brenham is a really good tight end that they’ve really used early in the season. Wakefield’s been a back that’s been there since we’ve been here. He’s been here a long time. We like him and Marla, we think are really good players and Cam Johnson in the slot plays really well for him. So again they do some really good things offensively, they post some issues for you.

– [Reporter] I know you’ve played two veteran quarterbacks in these opening two games. And just kind of what’s your overall assessment of the secondary. Do you feel like they’ve underperformed at all or just what’s your general assessment of the secondary?

– Well, I think that the bottom line is you give up 10 explosive passes in two games, that’s way too many. And that was something that is frustrating. And I think that you go and we’ve evaluated obviously all 10 plays multiple times in the last 48 hours. And the ball against Jamie against Tennessee’s a heck of a throw and catch, he’s in position to make the play, let’s get the ball off the guy, but sometimes they’re going to make some plays. And that was a heck of a catch by their guy. I think J.C.’s back shoulder ball against Pitts on the sideline was a well thrown ball. It’s a bang-bang play. And again, they’re going to make some plays like that but we practiced a throwback against Tennessee as something that we need to be able to see that. We get beaten underneath coverage, for a big gainer against Florida. We get beaten bumping run. We have a fleaflicker that we cover against Tennessee. The back leads out in the flat. We got to stay in the flat as a flat defender which is really on the linebackers, not on the secondary. A couple man situations where I feel like we’re in position to make a play on the ball. You got to get the ball off the guy. And that’s what we need is don’t make just the routine play. We need to get our hand on some balls to make some interceptions. We’ve had one pick all season and I feel like we’ve had some other opportunities to be in that position to make those plays. And that’s what we expect our guys to make. Right now we’re giving up eight yards in a 10 which is really high. We want to be at five yards or less. Our first two years here, I believe we were at 5.15 and like five, two, which is good. If you’re at five or less you’re probably leading the country, you’re in the top 15 or 20 in the country. And then last year I think we were right at six and I think we’re at six the year before that. So you can’t allow explosive plays and then when we have opportunities in 50/50 situations, we have to do a better job of getting the ball in the ground.

– [Reporter] A lot of people outside of that locker room, don’t realize when you go back and watch the film with those last two games, how close you guys really are being able to take that next step. Looking back at it, what do you think is either holding this team back? Or what do you think you guys got to do differently to be able to turn that page?

– Well, again, I think that in the first two ball games we’ve got some self-inflicted issues. You look at the Florida game, we had some drops off offensively, I think we stay on the field and we’re able to at least flip the field as far as field position obviously put yourself in a position to score. And that was frustrating, but we really game plan wise wanted to be able to convert and stay on the field as much as we could. And we were able to execute some of those things. We had 10 explosives against Tennessee offensive, which is really good. We’re willing to eight or more in each game and if you do that, you’re playing winning football. We needed to run the ball better. We improved in the second week against Florida, which has a good front as well. Now, as far as running the football, defensively, the explosive plays to me is the biggest issue that we really have been somewhat limited in the run game but more in the passing game that have created scores and created field position and created opportunities for the offense to move the football. So the explosive plays is an issue that we’ve got to continue to address defensively as much as anything, and then offensively, just staying on the field and not getting off rhythm because of ourselves. You look in the start of the third quarter, we get a three and out there defensively or offensively, we hit three runs, I think, and we’ve got three first downs to start the third quarter, we get a hold and call, we’ll get a fault start and we turn the ball over. So those are things we can’t overcome those right now. We’ve got to play cleaner football overall. I think we have 10 penalties for the year but we’ve got to clean some of those things up. But again, we had a really spirited practice, a lot of energy and competition today. And it tells a lot about the team and it tells a lot about the leadership of the team to know where we are right now. And I challenged our staff yesterday. I said, we’re going to need to bring the energy and juice. And we got on the field and that wasn’t the case our players did. And so that’s a pleasing part of it. And we’re looking forward to playing on Saturday.

– [Reporter] Well, hard coaches use the term learning how to win a lot. Number one, are you a believer in that as a concept and number two, if so, what does it mean to you?

– Well, I think that when you talk in terms of that, it’s those five, to seven to eight plays of putting yourself in a position to win in those situations. Now, part of that goes into coaching of putting your guys in a position to make a play and they have that opportunity. They need to make the play. So it’s twofold in my opinion, and I do think that you will yourself to win, you believe you’re going to win, you know you’re going to win, and that’s something that comes from confidence. And I do think that our guys need to keep playing and put themselves in those positions, as coaches, we need to put them in better positions. So when they have those opportunities to go win the game that’s what happens. And I think that I’ve been a part of that where there was no doubt when we hit the field we knew we were going to win the ballgame. There was absolutely no doubt. And we’ve got to continue to push to that here and that’s what we’re trying to do.

– [Reporter] What can you do as a head coach to effect that prior to a team or players having, an example of that on the field prior to it happening on the game field, how do you get them to believe it?

– In practice. We’re doing more good on good than we’ve ever done because of the situation we’re in to have more guys ready to play on Saturday afternoon and challenge guys to know that hey, you just won against a really good football player and had success on this route, had success in this coverage, had success in this blocking scheme, had success on this run. You just blocked. You just did a great job double team and a really good player. We need to build from that and create examples for our players, which we’re doing, to show them, to give them confidence, and that’s what it looks like. That’s what it feels like, that’s what it smells like and that’s what we need to do. And I think that’s something you got to continue to simulate for your players in practice and then understand when it gets to game day that doesn’t change. And why is Tom Brady the best one minute quarterback ever? ‘Cause he never changes. Nothing ever changes in one minute for him. He didn’t all of a sudden decide, he’s going to have a whole new route concept and he’s got to do this, he’s got to change this. He’s got to, no. He stays the same all the time. And that’s why, those are things that I talked to our team about a lot. We don’t change when the game’s on the line.

– [Reporter] Hey Coach. Kind of going off of that. Obviously a lot of the attention over the last couple of days has been that final drives, seven and a half minutes on offense. And I guess I’m wondering in the future, are you comfortable going faster maybe in that situation? I know the defense kind of dictates what you do obviously but are there maybe some play calls where you could go faster in the future?

– Well, I mean, I don’t know that it’s the play call. It’s just that the operation needed to be faster. And I said that when the game was over, we needed to be crisper in our operation and we need to be quicker to the line. I do think we got caught in some tough situations over the scramble. And then when you’re in my shoes and you get to the three minute mark and you got two time outs left, and you’re below three minutes, you’re going to have to onside kick unless you score quickly. And it gets blow two and a half minutes there’s no conversation you have to, ’cause they’re going to run between 44 and 48 seconds off. And just, we have a book on everybody in a four minute, what I call four minutes, when they’re trying to win the game on offense, and just end the game, running the football or throwing the football. Dan was going to probably approach it differently than the first week. The first week they’re going to run the ball three times. They’re going to make it expand all three time outs and we’re going to get the ball back with a minute and a half to go in the game. And that is exactly what happened, okay? And this situation probably was going to be different. So we didn’t want to expend any time outs. All right? ‘Cause Dan was going to probably be able to throw the football in those situations ’cause he wants to go win the game. ‘Cause in college football, when the clock stops on a first down it’s an eternity, it lasts forever. So they were going to approach that situation much differently. Had we scored, had we had tried the onside kick or kick the ball deep either one, depending on how much time was left in the game, ’cause that predicates what you do as far as kicking the ball deep or onside kicking it. And when we got to that point, you don’t want to expand any time outs when you’re inside three minutes, ’cause you got to be in a situation, if you don’t get the stop to be able to have some time outs in order to maybe possibly, if you don’t get the onside kick that they kicked the ball deep to you and you got a chance to at least go down the field and score. So once it ends under three minutes to two and a half minutes, there’s no question of what you got to be able to do with only two time outs as opposed to having three. But we didn’t get to that point, but we needed to have a quicker operation after we converted the fourth down, the fourth and four and we converted that we needed to speed up. And I believe I’ve said that and that’s what we needed to do, so.

– [Reporter] Two questions. Did John Dixon show you enough to retain his starting spot or is he kind of slide back into that starting corner this week?

– Collyn, we got to look at that and we did both today. I think that both at Israel safety and corner, but John is a guy that I thought that played extremely well. Tackled well in the perimeter, made some plays on the ball like we talk about those 50/50 balls. He had that opportunity there on our sideline. Let’s go finish that thing. That’s a game changing play. To be able to make that pick there, I believe it’s a two score game at that time, we ended up making them pump. But those are the plays there that we’ve got to make those plays. But now we’ve got a lot of confidence in John. We thought had a good training camp and thought he thinks he continues to progress. And we’ll make that decision later in the week

– [Reporter] You talked a little bit last year about needing to be more creative in the run game with Mike Bobo. Have you seen that and kind of how has that impacted what you guys were able to do on the ground?

– I think that we’re doing a really good job as far as getting in and out of different runs. We didn’t run the ball. It’s was one on the first ball game that we needed to, but against a good forwarder frontly, I thought we had some really good run concepts that kept them off balance. I thought our backs ran hard but I think that Mike was very creative in the run game, as far as the things we’re doing. And a lot of that song Colin. ’cause a lot of the things we’re doing are packaged, based on the look and based on getting us in the right front or on the right run based on the front and based on the declaration of the linebacker. And I thought that Colin did a really good job but we had a good plan in the run game.

– [Reporter] Following up on that. I’m assuming coach Bobo has always been that way as far as keeping that diverse in the run game and mixing things up going back to when he was at Georgia.

– I mean, they’ve always packaged the run game even when we played them way back then, more formations, more shifts, more motions more attempts to out leverage the defense based on a blocking service based on emotion, based on just different pre-snap issues that he tries to create window dressing in a lot of sense, but a lot that’s what’s different from, maybe, than he was when he was at Georgia.

– [Reporter] Will, talking about explosive plays, does the benchmark court change simply because there are so many quarterbacks out there today who go downfield more often and speedy receivers who take slant routes and break big plays. Does that change how you have to attack it or how you have to minimize it?

– Well, I think, Pete it goes back to match-ups, each week and you go back and look at the issues that the guys are created. Pitts was a match-up issue. Tony was a match-up issue. We felt like we were in good situations and at times we weren’t. So there was a couple of snaps, so obviously we’d like to have back. So again, I think that it’s all about match-ups, it’s all about whether you feel like you can win in man-to-man. Do we feel like we need to be a play more zone? Do we need to put somebody underneath somebody over the top? I mean, those are all questions that you’ve got to go into the game thinking and then try to take those guys away from you as best you can. Pitts had four catches, two of ’em were touchdowns. Two of them were first downs. Excuse me, the other two were first downs. So I mean, you say four catches, but they were critical catches at that. Tony had some plays in the game. So we didn’t do a good enough job, obviously, of taking away two weapons that we felt like in the game. So that’d be my answer to that question of last week.

– [Reporter] Will, Shi’s obviously been an explosive guy for you. What has he done differently this year, better this year than he has in some other years?

– I think more of the consistency of knowing he’s the guy, the consistency of knowing that he’s going to be targeted, and answering the consistency. And I think that we always felt like Shi had a tremendous amount of ability. There’s no question, there was never a question with us as far as that, but just the consistency down in down out, really challenged him coming off the first ball game to the second ball game, can you answer the bell? And obviously, he answered extremely well and we continue to believe he’ll do it again Saturday. And had a good practice today, practicing right, every single day, really creates consistency in your performance. And really proud of him and how he’s approached the season and how he’s gone about things.

– [Reporter] Just looking forward, have you guys made any tweaks this week to the basic way you guys think and handle clock management or you feel pretty comfortable with the way you guys approach that?

– I feel fine with what we, obviously we needed to play with a quicker tempo at the end of the game. And I’ve said it multiple times on the headsets. We had discussion after the fourth and for conversion, we needed to speed up the tempo. It wasn’t necessarily what was being called. We didn’t have as much urgency as we needed to have it at the line of scrimmage. But as far as the management situations, we haven’t changed how we approach and look at things. As far as those things, they change each week, based on who you’re playing. A four minute situation, meaning a team that’s got the lead, trying to grind and in the game. And our first ball game was much different than the NRR opponent in the second ball game, and how we would have handled that situation with that team. Those things always change week to week, based on who you’re facing, based on what is their history and what do they do. So as far as those things are concerned, we hit our one minute tomorrow. We’ll go through that operation again tomorrow as far as being down, either a touchdown or a field goal. And we always end a Wednesday practice with a one minute. Good on good. So again, we needed to have a better urgency, slash operation quicker after the fourth down conversion.

– [Reporter] What about the last drive in the third quarter, before Parker’s field goal? You had I think two plays in a row and a few plays that would go down to nine seconds, 10 seconds on the play clock. Wasn’t much urgency there. Have you looked at that and thought about any things you might’ve done differently?

– Well, we needed to get points on the board at that time and no different than the last drop. We needed to score a touchdown. So it wasn’t really about going fast and punting or going fast and not getting a first down. We got to get first downs, and we got to get points in those situations. And that’s why I go back to the last drop. The most important thing we had to do is score a touchdown. ‘Cause if we don’t score a touchdown, it doesn’t matter. And, there’s some things that we had to create, when you do go fast, you have a harder time hiding things. And obviously Shi’s a guy that’s going to get doubled. And when you get into a one minute situation, it’s a two by two set. He going to get doubled, as opposed to being able to motion and create some different things as far as those things are concerned. So we’ll go back and look at it.

– [Reporter] What are kind of the most important aspects that you and coach Bobo and your staff can kind of factor into trying to create more long plays in your offense?

– Well, I mean, I think Mike, we called several, Saturday. Those are things that we’re always looking for explosive plays ’cause it’s very difficult to have 12, 11 and nine play drives for touchdowns or field goals in this leg. Eventually something’s going to break down. There’s going to be a negative play that puts you behind the change. There may be a penalty. There’s going to be something that does not go right on the drive. So we’ve been able to maintain the ball because you look at last Saturday, we were really good on third down, we were right at close to 50% on third and fourth downs in the game. When you’re 11 or I think it was 23, you’re close to 50%, which you you’ll be as good as anybody in the country if you do that. So being able to maintain stay on track as far as the down and distance are concerned but we’ve got to create some explosive plays. And whether it’s taking some more shots down the field which we had some dialed up, we threw a couple, we missed a couple. And then because of protection or whatever the case may be, the read, they may have covered it down the field. We didn’t throw a couple.

– [Reporter] This year has been a crazy year and will continue to be. Can you talk about your approach to have and deploy an all SCC schedule where you’ve got to strap it on and bring it every week, and just cannot 40 let down. Look at Mississippi state last week though, and just how hard it is to have to bring it every week and not have it even a chance to catch your breath.

– Well, I think that’s why you want to come to the Southeastern conference, a place like South Carolina to play in the spotlight every week, against good teams every week and teams that you’ve got to bring it every single week. Exactly what you said Dick, you got to bring it every single week. There is no gimmes on our schedule and wasn’t last year either. So at the end of the day, that’s what you got to do but that’s why you come to a place like South Carolina, to go compete against the best.

– [Reporter] You’re not talking about injuries, but when you guys do get Jahmar Brown back what can he bring to this defense and athletically speaking, just how can he help you guys in some areas that you’ve maybe struggled in early?

– He played really well at the dime linebacker, and hopefully I’m hoping he’ll practice tomorrow. He moved around today. I have not talked to Clint Haggard to see how he did yet, but he did move around today a good bit. But he gives you some. When you have a dime linebacker that can cover in man coverage, that can cover in the slot, that can play in the deep part of the field, it just provides more disguise, it provides more multiple coverage, it gives you a better way to disguise and shows, split safety and play middlefield and just do some different things that you can’t do when you have a true linebacker playing there. And so he gives us a lot of flexibility defensively. He’s a really good box player in the box. He’s a physical guy. He’s got good instincts. He’s smart. So we need to get him back and get him back in the fold.

– [Reporter] Well, I know you and Coach Tanner talk a good bit, what are the conversations over the last week or so been like two weeks, what’s his message kind of been to you? And have you heard from President Caslen at all to give you any kind of words of encouragement or anything like that?

– Now, I saw President Caslen before the game Saturday, he wished us good luck. And then coach Tanner and I talk three or four times a week just about kind of where things are with the team. Obviously his experience as a coach obviously helps in those situations sometimes, and you lean on that. But he’s been nothing but supportive about what we’re doing and where we’re heading with things.

– [Reporter] To cut off topic here, but do you know Kirk Hollingsworth?

– Yeah.

– [Reporter] Just what are your reactions for him that this lengthy strength of attending games that he’s on? I mean, what were your first impressions of him when you met him?

– Well, I love Kirk. He’s a great Gamecock. Has got a smile on his face every single time you see the guy. And the guy loves the University of South Carolina, not just football, he loves everything about us as far as the university is concerned and Athletic Department’s concerned. Always positive, always upbeat, always excited at my radio show every Thursday night. But the guys is a great Gamecock, and a great example of, don’t let your circumstances define you. He’s got a positive attitude every single time you see him. And it’s wonderful to be around somebody that’s got a positive outlook that he has on life. I let him come to several of the scrimmages in the stadium there when we were in COVID situations. And he came in and was able to watch and he enjoys that part of anything, he can be a part of at the University of South Carolina. But his streak is unbelievable. I don’t know is, I guessed this week because of the… . Well, the hotel overlooks the stadium, so the way I look at it, he’s in the stadium, that’s the way I’m going to count it. But Kirk’s a great person. And I appreciate his support.

– [Reporter] Hey Will, wanted to check up on, what was the situation that led to Rick Sandy’s not playing any stamps on defense and Xavier Legette, I think he didn’t play in the second half.

– Yeah, Xavier tweaked is groin a little bit, he’s fine. But Rico came in and did a good job. So we wanted to give Rico an opportunity. And it became more of a passing game. And right now Jabari and Keir and Zacch are more athletic as far as being able to win inside in rush. And there was not a lot of run game that was going on as far as that’s concerned. And we felt like they gave us the best opportunity to get to the quarterback.

– [Reporter] I know you were concerned last week about the number of drop passes. Do you anticipate any personnel changes or you just plan to stick with the guys you got and try to coach ’em up for this week?

– Well, again, what we’re going to continue to look, and get some guys opportunity to receive the position. We’ll work through that as the week goes, we’ve been on the jugs more. I think sometimes you make more of a point of that, then it becomes more of an issue with the players. So we got to catch the ball better. We’ve talked in terms of catch into the tuck and we’ll continue to work through that.

– [Reporter] I know Tonka Hemingway and Jordan Burch are both playing behind guys, are veterans and productive players for you all, but are you all getting close to the point where you feel like you need to get those guys some more snaps?

– Yeah, they’re going to continue to play more, yeah. They’re both playing really well. What’s that?

– [Reporter] I was going to ask, what have you seen from each guy that’s really jumped out at you?

– Well, I think as much as anything, both of them are extremely talented. God’s blessed both these guys have a lot of ability, but they both are really smart, very intelligent. They catch on well, they’re very coachable, and everything that they do, they’re two of the best young men you’ll ever meet in your life, just far as just who they are as people. So we’re very fortunate to have both guys. Both guys are going to continue. The more snaps that they see, the faster they’re going to play. They’re going to be really good football players for us and they need to play more.

– [Reporter] Well, David kind of beat me to the punch to it, but Kirk’s been to every game since 1992. And I know you know Chris Fulmer, obviously provides you guys food. He’s been to every game since 1984, which is just crazy to just say.

– Amazing. Chris feeds the other teams sometimes but other than that, I love him.

– [Reporter] Yeah, he told me he was feeding Tennessee last week, unfortunately, or two weeks ago. But what I was going to ask you is, I’ve had a chance to speak with both of them. They think their streaks are unfortunately going to come to an end this week. What would you say to both of those guys and what they’ve meant to this program? And what would you say to Gamecock fans who have traveled outside of those two and want to be able to support you guys this week but an unfortunately with the circumstances at Vandy?

– Well, Chris and his wife are known for Ultimate Tailgaters is their business and it’s a great meal, our players and recruits and we feed it to our team a lot. And they are great Gamecocks. They’re unbelievable positive support for our program, for our players, for our staff. He and Kirk are both guys that I really appreciate their support. And since we’ve been here at the University of South Carolina, I hate that we’re in the situation we’re in. I mean, our parents can’t go to the game. And my mom lives in Mentone. She’s got about a two and a half hour drive. One of her best friends, a guy named Rob Hammond is a huge Vanderbilt fan and they can’t even go to the game. So it’s unfortunate the situation we’re in, but this is 2020, and this is where we are. And it’s unfortunate, but I would encourage both Chris and Kirk to go to the hotel. So we’ll technically count that as in the stadium so their streak will not be broken. And if I could find a gate somewhere in the stadium, coach Mason would probably let me bring ’em in somewhere. So we I may have talked to D Mace on the side there see if we can’t get something done.

– [Reporter] Yeah, well, now that you’ve had one home game, one road game, once during these COVID times, once the ball kicks off, is it all just the same or is it noticeably different for you as a coach to be playing with only 15,000 people in these big, usually crazy stadiums?

– I would say it’s football once it kicks off. Pre-game is a little different, just from the standpoint of just no noise. And then to be able to communicate with a player on the field is very unusual. And we’ve been able to do that a little bit more than we normally do as far as being able to yell something at them, as far as to remind them something about a check or maybe make sure they got the right check or whatever the case may be, which in more situations, you’re not able to do that. So that’s been very different. But other than that, when it kicks off it’s football to me, I don’t really notice anything different other than being able to communicate with a player.

– [Reporter] Hey Will. Looking at some of your stats, you guys have held really well on third downs, but it seems like you also haven’t faced a ton of third downs at times, especially against Florida. And I guess, what kind of goes in there? Is that explosives on earlier downs, is that a different question for the defense?

– It’s not getting the third down. And when you had opportunities, we had two third and long situations, we should have been off the field. We stopped them on a third and one and a half there at midfield, but it’s more more than anything, not getting to third down when you don’t have as many third downs. And generally, that goes back to especially in the first half explosive plays. Played better in the second half after the long touchdown.

– [Reporter] Will, you’ve obviously coached against Ted Roof before who’s at Vanderbilt now. I’m just curious, what do you remember about that Upstate games specifically last year and what do they kind of do to keep you guys kind of at bay?

– Well, they had some really good players. They had a good scheme. They played a lot of three down and moved a lot against us. We had a hard time in the run game of creating anything in the run game with some issues there. As far as those things are concerned, we gave up a touchdown. As far as the pick six was concerned, there right before half. But again, now Ted’s a really good coach. He’s got a lot of experience. He has faced coach Bobo multiple times when he was at Georgia Tech. I don’t know how many years, but I know Collyn, It was quite a few years that they faced each other. And then you kind of just always go back and look at some different. He also faced coach Bobo when he was at Auburn, and Ted was with Tracy Rockers at Auburn as well on that same staff that won a National Championship. But Ted’s a really good football coach, a lot of experience. And Derek, coach Mason’s background is defense as well. So they’ll do a good job.

– [Reporter] All right, two questions for you. One, have you ever coached a game in front of zero fans?

– No.

– [Reporter] Okay. Two, have you seen the forecast for Saturday? And when there’s a high chance of rain pretty much all afternoon, does that change anything that you guys want to do?

– Well, our preparation, we’re going to plan on tomorrow and Thursday and practicing with a wet ball. That we’ll dip the balls in water there and deal with those things offensively. So that’s something, and obviously we’ve got to do a great job with our manager staff as far as getting dry balls in the game, when we were able to do that. But we’ll continue to observe the situation that is kind of the weather that’s going to hit Nashville, and see what we need to do.