Less than a week before its first game and, like most teams in the nation, there are plenty of questions surrounding the Tiger football team.
Coach Tommy West attempted to address all these questions and then some at a preseason luncheon Monday afternoon.
And what ever answers he couldn’t provide will no doubt be answered Sept. 5 when The University of Memphis hosts rival Ole Miss at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium and on ESPN.
“I felt like we’re coming out of a productive solid camp,” West said. “This is a team. I probably pushed more than any other team I’ve had here. They’re not a great focus team. They’re a great effort team, but we’re not a great focus team. A lot of that has to do with being a young team with some inexperience in positions, and they needed to be pushed.”
The Tigers came out of preseason camp relatively intact.
The only injury casualties were corner back Javar Pollard (broken collarbone), defensive lineman Van Houston (knee surgery) and offensive lineman Jared McGowan (hand surgery).
Another major question mark surrounds the offensive line, the unit partially responsible for the success of the Tigers’ best answer — Heisman candidate DeAngelo Williams.
With four new starters, the unit was wrapped with uncertainty throughout spring workouts and into the preseason camp. One of the new men up front is Andrew Handy, who was a regular starter before red-shirting last season with a broken leg.
“But I feel really confident about our number-one offensive line,” West said. “We’re going to get a great test because I think (Ole Miss is) really strong at defensive line, and I think their two inside guys (Michael Bozeman and McKinley Boykin) are as good as any we’ll face this season.”
Defensively, Memphis will be looking for redemption.
Nearly last in the country in pass defense a year ago, the Tigers had trouble pressuring opposing quarterbacks and in defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn’s approach, if you can’t hurry the passer, then it leaves the corner backs on islands of man-to-man coverage.
“What I hope I see is a little bit of defensive temperance and a little different personality,” West said. “We start three senior defensive lineman (Marcus West, LaVale Washington and Rubio Phillips). We’ve got to play good on the defensive side (because) we’ve got to help our offense out to start with.”
Last year against Ole Miss, the Tiger defense frustrated the Rebels’ scrambling quarterback Micheal Spurlock with interceptions and broken passes that had Spurlock benched by the second half.
But All-Conference safety Wesley Smith said he doesn’t necessarily expect a repeat performance.
“I believe (he’ll be better),” Smith said. “I don’t think the old system (under former Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe) fit him. This system (under first-year coach Ed Orgeron) fits him better, because they’re not asking him to throw over the middle as much.”
But the biggest question isn’t the defense or the offensive line or the secondary.
It’s unproven quarterback Patrick Byrne.
Following in the shoes of record-setting passer Danny Wimprine isn’t an easy feat, but West assured that Byrne, a red-shirt junior, has the confidence of the entire staff and has distanced himself in preseason camps from freshmen Will Hudgens and Billy Barefield.
“He’s our starting quarterback,” West said. “If he throws a pick, I’m not going to jerk him out of the game. He’s going to make mistakes. I know that. He just better not make too many of them.”
