University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Coach Jay Hopson Weekly Media Conference (Sept. 26)
9/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss football coach Jay Hopson addressed the media Monday in his weekly news conference, recapping the UTEP game while also looking ahead to this week's opponent, Rice.
The Golden Eagles and Owls play at 6 p.m., Saturday, at Carlisle-Faulkner Field at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
Here are some of Hopson's comments from his conference:
Opening statement: "Definitely a good win. It was a hard-fought win. We know they are all big right now. Each and every week it's all conference play. We know every week is going to be a tough week. We battled hard. UTEP has an outstanding, great running back that certainly made us sweat there. It was good to come out with a W."
Talk about the progress from Troy to UTEP: "We just made fewer mistakes. The Troy game was kind of a comedy of mistakes and a ton of turnovers. We tackled better this week. I thought we were crisper offensively and overall it was just a better executed game."
On game plan changing with using multiple running backs: "Just two guys that are really good football players and two guys that can do some things. You want to be multiple, but you also want to get guys that are your players on the field. Both George (Payne) and Ito (Smith) are very talented young men. They can run, they can catch; they can do whatever. It just gives us a little bit more flexibility."
On Ito Smith progressing and being able to run and catch: "(He is a) very versatile athlete. Ito is one of those guys that you talk about as he is one of those backs that are just so rounded. There are some backs that can run the ball, but they can't catch. Ito is one of those who can catch, he can block, he's tough and he can run. There's really not a phase that he can't do, so that's certainly an advantage."
What do you see when he (Ito) jukes someone: "I like it when I see it. I like it a lot. He's hard to tackle one-on-one. Once you get him in space, he's a special player."
On Giving Different Players opportunities to play: "We gave a few guys an opportunity. That's part of football is creating competition and that's the reality of the game week in and week out. We played a lot people and we always do. Whether it's the receiving corps or the running back corps, I think you saw a little bit more of George and Ito because those are two guys that have been really good football players for us."
On Nick Mullens' performance: "He did a great job. Nick is a guy that directs our offense. We're still working on his new receivers. That time is coming down and it's getting better and better each week. He and D.J. made some critical catches and connections. I thought Allenzae's shot up the middle was a great throw and catch. It really gave us a charge. We really didn't have many opportunities in the third quarter. It seemed that we had a couple of turnovers that we have to eliminate but in the third quarter primarily, the defense was on the field almost the entire third quarter. We probably didn't have as many snaps in the second half as we would like. When we got to the fourth, we did a great job at the end in those last seven minutes running out the clock. That was good to see."
Talk about the defense of Dylan Bradley against UTEP as well as the season: "Dylan is a really good football player. He's played physical up front and he's a guy that every Saturday he's going to punch the clock and go to work. He's a guy that could've been our defensive player of the game every week. This week we gave it to Curtis Mikell. He had huge plays that were momentum shifter plays, but Dylan is a guy that for the first four games that he's the player of the week. He's had a really, really good first four games."
Huge plays or a specific play that helped seize momentum: "The pick-six was a huge play, but I think the pick by Curtis (Mikell) in the second quarter was a big play, too. It was a nice play and got us the ball back in the plus side of the field. Anytime you can get some turnovers, that's always a critical thing. We had a nice fumble and we got that back on the plus side of the field. The defense made some big plays there."
Struggling with penalties in first three games, was there a point of emphasis this week in penalties: "This week I was proud of our effort. We did a good job there. It's something we want to be every week, we want to be a penalty-free football team. That's something that we always stress in our journey and make sure we don't get penalties."
On Nick's clean performance to help him going forward: "Nick's a great football player. That's one guy on the team I don't ever worry about. I never go into a game worrying about Nick Mullens. He's a winner, he's tough, and he'll get it done. He's a guy that comes up with big plays for us that allows us to win."
Looking forward to Rice with C-USA opener at home, unique challenges with them: "They've played everybody tough and they are a team that lost in overtime last week and played Baylor strong. It's a team that we understand we have to ready to play and we know they are a good football team. They're talented, the quarterback makes plays. It's conference play and you know any time you play in conference play; whether it's on the road or at home, it is going to be a 60-minute war. That's the reality of playing in conference. We have to be ready. We have our plate full and gotta be ready to go."
Importance of performance at the first conference game against UTEP: "It's always good to get a win. Certainly a good win and a good start and you always want to get off to a good start but, we know we have a long season ahead. We have seven other tough conference games ahead so we have to let that one get behind us and move on to Rice because it's the only game right now. Definitely a good start but know we have a big challenge this weekend."
- @USMGoldenEagles/@SouthernMissFB -
