It was a rookie mistake. Anyone could have made it. Someone asked Dan Mullen why he calls Ole Miss That School Up North.”Because they’re located north of us,” Mullen replied.
You can’t argue his geography, but his quarterback situation with incumbent Chris Relf was a hot topic for debate at SEC Media Days on Wednesday.
Of course, don’t try to ask Relf, who was present for media days, to tell you about it. He makes plenty of noise on the field, but the junior quarterback can be pretty shy with the media.
Junior safety Charles Mitchell said it’s no different in the locker room.
“He’s the same way,” Mitchell said. “He’s quiet everywhere. We have to run around to make him talk sometimes.”
However, Mullen said that after Relf led the Bulldogs to a 41-27 victory in November’s Egg Bowl the quarterback has become a new man.
“I think really after the last game of season, Chris has been a completely different person,” Mullen said. “His approach to workouts. His approach to offseason conditioning. His approach to academics. His whole approach and his demeanor changed. He really turned a corner having that success in the last game of the season.”
Mullen said that in the past Relf would show up, do the minimum and go back home. However, he said it is different now that Relf is playing more and has become a leader.
“He’s worked a lot on his fundamentals in throwing the football,” Mullen said. “Really worked hard at doing that. He also worked hard at the approach of coming in and trying to spend extra time, come talk to the coaches, sit in on meetings, watch extra film, studying the game. I think when I got there, Chris just thought, I show up when the meetings start, I go to practice, I play football, then I go home, doing all the little extra things.”
Mullen said that Relf has, at least mentally, become the quarterback he wants and needs to run his team and offense.
“Your quarterback position shouldn’t be the one that you’re having to push as a coach,” Mullen said. “Your quarterback position should be the one that’s pushing everybody else on the team. I can tell you this, I couldn’t tell you one time this offseason where I had to look at Chris Relf and say, You need to pick it up. He was the one that was winning a lot of the sprints. He’s the one that’s pushing for extra reps and everything that he did. He’s getting that demeanor that he has to be better than the other guys on the team if he’s going to be a leader.”
While he had plenty of nice things to say about his own team, Mullen went out of his way to a not-so-subtle jab at not only his neighbors to the north but the defending national champion Nick Saban as well.
Saban discussed his preference for the pro-style offense he runs and said it prepares players for the NFL much better than the spread offense that many coaches employ, Mullen being one of them.
Naturally, Mullen was given the opportunity to respond to Saban when he came to the stage in Birmingham.
“I’m not going to knock him,” Mullen said. “I don’t know his personal record. I’ve coached the spread offense and I have a lot of more first-round quarterbacks drafted than he has in his career as a head coach. Develop them for the NFL, I don’t know. In the last six years, I’ve had two of mine get drafted in the first round. I think it does develop those players pretty well to get there. Amazing, one was a five star recruit and one was a one star recruit. When you develop players as a coach, you develop players. One came to me, I guess, somebody in here probably rated him a five star, a superstar player. Somebody rated him as a one star. When I got him, I must have done a great job of coaching him to be a first pick in the draft.”
Mullen’s former boss Urban Meyer has known him for over a decade and joked about Mullen’s outgoing style when it comes to discussing his peers.
“I didn’t know that, Dan is outspoken? Dan is one of the most intelligent people, not coaches, intelligent people I’ve ever been around,” Meyer said. “If you ask, some people will look at that as outspoken. I think he gives direct answers, extremely well thought-out answers. I wasn’t in here during his talk or whatever. I think sometimes he comes across that way, but he’s just a very intelligent person. When you ask him a question, he’s going to answer you.”
Junior offensive lineman Quentin Saulsberry said that as a player he loves the personality Mullen brings to the team and program.
“I have to say that our swagger is different, and we have him to thank for that,” Saulsberry said. “That’s one thing that him and coach Hevesy, when they came from Florida, they told us you got to have a swagger about yourself. I have to say one thing back from what Deion Sanders used to say: look good, feel good, play good.”
With their portion of media days over and the second season of Dan Mullen football closer than ever, Saulsberry said there is one way to describe the team.
“[We’re] too legit to quit.