What Charles Huff said during Tuesday’s press conference

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On Tuesday, Charles Huff met with the media ahead of the first game of the season against UNLV. The head coach talked about multiple topics, but he didn’t share a ton about Saturday’s game against the Rebels.

Huff is keeping a lot of information about his team under wraps, and neither team released a depth chart earlier this week. 

The head coach also hasn’t publicly named a starting quarterback, and he said on Tuesday that the team hasn’t learned who the starter will be after storms affected their weekend.

Here’s what Huff said ahead of the first game of the season.

 Penny Hardaway spoke to the team on Sunday:

Both Huff and Hardaway mentioned at different times that the basketball coach would speak to the football team, and it appears that took place over the weekend. Hardaway spent the time talking about what it means to play for Memphis, and the football team posted a three-minute video of his speech.

“I’m no speaker, man,” Hardaway said. “I’m family. I’m going to let that be known first. At that dorm across the street, that’s where we grew our bond. So, I’m not coming here as a coach. I’m not coming in here representing Memphis even though I’m going to talk to yall about Memphis. It’s family. I feel like I’m a part of this because I have that man’s back 100 percent.”

The basketball coach, and former Tiger guard, spoke about how the city responds to the Memphis teams and even said that the players will be treated like royalty if they perform at a high level.

“You perform at a high level in this city, and [the fans] treat you like royalty,” Hardaway said. “The reason why is because this thing goes deeper than just tickets to a game. We’re going to ride. The city will ride with you as long as you are doing what you’re supposed to do.”

Huff likes the physicality and toughness of his team:

Huff has spent most of fall camp talking about the physicality and toughness of his group, and he continued to talk about that topic on Tuesday.

“I think we’re a physical team,” Huff said. “I think a big piece of that is it’s easy to fight your brother because you know him, but it’s hard to walk into a bar and just pick a guy out. You’ve got to be tough to do that. So, we’re going to have to go be physical and tough against some guys that we just may not know. I feel comfortable about it. What I’m more concerned with now is now that I know we’re physical, I know we’re tough, how do we respond?”

On Saturday, he’ll get his answer. The Tigers will have to be physical on both sides of the ball, but especially on the defensive side. 

The Rebels return running back Jai’Den Thomas, who ran for more than 1,000 yards last season, and they will likely look to get him involved early. 

Not naming starters to the public before the game:

Huff didn’t release a depth chart ahead of Saturday’s game, and the head coach said he doesn’t plan on revealing anything before Saturday’s game. He said a lot goes into it now and keeping the starters unknown will give the Tigers a better opportunity to be prepared.

“I understand from a fan perspective, don’t let my coach speak make you think like, I know the fans want know, but so does UNLV,” Huff said. “I was telling Terrence [Lollie] earlier there’s more to this now than there was 10 years ago. If I name announce that Johnny is a starter, the backup’s agent is calling and saying, ‘I can get you out of there.’ Is that going to happen Saturday? Yea, but let’s at least get to Saturday. That’s my philosophy. There’s more too this now. I understand that the fans want to know, and I want them to know, but there’s more to this.”

Obviously, the biggest question is the quarterback position, but there are other spots on the roster that are up for grabs, and it will be interesting to see who starts on Saturday.

Adding class of 2022 guys:

There has been a lot of talk about the class of 2022 players who are heading to the courts to get an extra year of eligibility after the NCAA implemented the five-for-five rule. Huff said his staff is keeping an eye on it, but they’re waiting for more legal advice.

“We are waiting for true legal advice,” Huff said. “We have a plan. If there’s any opportunity for me and my staff to improve our roster, we’re going to be aggressive with it. But, just like we talked about maybe a couple weeks ago with the 2022 class, some teams brought some guys back, and a week later or two weeks later, they were ineligible. We’re waiting for a little bit more stable legal advice before we start bringing guys in.”

The head coach said there are a lot of factors that go into the decision to add a player, but the two biggest factors are the legal aspect of it and how it will affect players currently on the roster.

Adding Randy Shannon to his staff:

Earlier this week, USA Today’s John Brice reported that Memphis is adding Randy Shannon to the staff as a senior defensive analyst and assistant to the head coach. Shannon has been coaching college football since 1991, and he has spent time at Miami, TCU, Arkansas, Florida, UCF and Florida State.

Huff said he has had a long relationship with Shannon, but when he brought him around the program, the players demanded he stick around.

“It really capped it off when he was here for about a week,” Huff said. “Mike Montgomery came in with about half the linebacker room and said, ‘coach, we’ve got to keep coach Shannon.”

Huff said Shannon knows the city well after recruiting it for so many years, and he pointed out the role the former head coach played in UCF’s transition from the Group of Six to the Power Four.

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