Welcome to the Q4TB Media Days.(Possibly a first)
First up to the podium is first year head coach of the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, Jeff Hickerson. This is Hickersons first season as a head coach in his career after serving 9 seasons on the staff at Lambuth University in his hometown of Jackson, TN. The first 4 he was the secondary coach, and the last 5 years he has been in charge of the entire defense. Hickerson was a graduate assistant on the MTSU staff in his college days. Hickerson turned 34 this summer, making him one of the youngest coaches in football. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Jeff Hickerson.
JH: Thank you, and I would like to start off thanking MTSU and athletic director Chris Massaro for this great opportunity. I could not ask for more than to come into a young program in their first year of a BCS conference. Lots of excitement around this and I am ready to go.
Reporter: What are you expectations the first year in the Big East? Many people seem to believe you will be toward the back of the conference.
JH: Thats yalls job to predict where we will finish. In that locker room, and in all of our players and coaches minds, we want to be the Big East champions when the season is over with. We can have a successful season without reaching that goal however, we have many other, what we call secondary goals, that can make this season just as successor in our minds as winning the Big East.
Reporter: How does it feel to be back at yoru alma mater as the head coach?
JH: I can not even describe the feeling, it is tremendous. To have a chance to lead the team I cheered for into battle as this great point int he programs history, it is truly an honor.
Reporter: How do you feel about the offense and defense, I know, general question, but just give a brief overview for us.
JH: Well, I will start with offense, and I guess most of you all think that starts with Dwight Dasher. Thats where most people go wrong. This offense will live or die with the offensive line, which we have a little work to do on honestly. Are we good on the line? Yes. Are we ready for Big East play every week? No. So as the offensive line goes, the offense goes. We have 3 very capable running backs to take some of the pressure off of Dwight. Phillip Tanner is back for his 5th and final season, as more of a power back, he has good speed however. Then we have DD Kyles and Ben Cunnigham who will both see some action, bot hare speedsters. Cunningham will probably see some action on special teams as well. We have some playmakers at receiver, once they catch the ball but that is the problem, we have to learn to catch the ball before we get all fancy. We will work on that. And then of course we have Dwight. He is a tremendous athlete and I am very blessed to have the opportunity to coach him his senior year.
Defensively, We are fine up front, Jamarri Lattimore and Dwight Smith will anchor us there. Jamarri is great at rushing the passer while Dwight is a big run stopper, however he can move for a tackle. Not too many concerns there, we will be ready up front. In the back, we have two solid safetys. Jeremy Kellem and Kevin Brown, no worries at all, in my opinion one of the top 10 safety tandems in the country. Corner and Linebacker is where our worries are. We will be young, inexpedienced, and raw. We are just hoping we will get older by week 1*draws a laugh from the crowd*. No, seriously we are very young there, but we will be ready come game time. We have some guys that will step up and lead when need be.
Reporter: Dwight Dasher, can he live up to expectations this season that he built last year in the New orleans Bowl?
JH: If your askign if he can do that every week, then no. That was an amazing game Dwight played. Can he do it again? Of course. He has the God given ability to do that without me even telling him what to do. That kid is special and has a great shot to have a tremendous year.
Reporter: How will you handle goign from being the favorite in the Sun Belt to all of a sudden a complete underdog and stranger in the Big East?
JH: We will cherish the underdog role, use it as motivation week in and week out. The stranger role, maybe we will catch some people off guard. We are no good! Hope the Big East coaches are listening*another laugh from crowd*
**Next to the podium, we have MTSU Senior QB Dwight Dasher and Senior Defensive Tackle Dwight Smith.
Reporter: This is for Dasher, how will you handle the pressure of living up to the hype surrounding you this season?
Dasher: I will let my teammates do their job and just follow the lead. The yare the ones who give me the opportunity to do what I do, you know? The lineman open up a hole, I run through it. I throw my receivers a pass, they catch it then make something happen.
Reporter: I have heard a lot abotu Dwight Dahser being a heisman candidate, even heard Coach Hickerson say it once or twice. What do you think abotu that?
Dasher: I dont know abotu all that, Im just gonna go do what I do, and at the end of the day if my name is on the list then so be it. Ill handle that when the time comes. That is not a goal of mine though, I just wanna win games.
Reporter: This one is for Smith, beign one of the leaders of a somewhat yougn defense, what are the expectations of yourselves?
Smith: Well, Coach Hickerson is defensve minded coach. So we have listened to everythign he has been telling us and we are bought into it. We feel that if we do what he tells us, we will be in the right positions and situations for us to achieve what we need to achieve to win games.
Reporter: Last question, for both of you, what are your expectations for the season?
Smith: Our expectations are high, we want to win games, whether we are playing a Sun Belt team or now a Big East team, we can control what we do, not what they do. If we do what we want, we will be alright.
Dasher: We wanna be Big East champs, I dunno if a team has ever won a conference title the first year it joined the conference. That would be cool to do, yea thats what we will do, win the conference*Dahser grins and the crowd laughs as Dahser and Smith get up from table and walk off with head coach Jeff Hickerson.*****
That is it for the MTSU Media Day.
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