University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Football Coach Jay Hopson Media Conference – UTEP Week
9/23/2019 3:57:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss football coach Jay Hopson met with the media Monday morning in the Duff Athletic Center to discuss this week's Conference USA opening game against UTEP, as well as review its loss at No. 2 Alabama last weekend.
This weekend's game takes place this Saturday, at 6 p.m. It can be seen on ESPN+, and heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network from Learfield IMG College.
Here is some of what Hopson said to the media on Monday:
Opening Statement
"I said it after the game Saturday, give Alabama credit. They deserved the win. It's good to be back at the Rock, it's been a three-game road stretch out of four games. We fought hard, but they made plays and give them credit, they are a good football team. We've got to get ready for Conference play, and everything starts this week."
About the health of the team
"We're really fortunate. That [the health of the team] was one thing we were concerned about going into it. There's always a guy that's got a bang up here or there, but we've come out healthy and that's a good thing."
On De'Michael Harris
"He's playing well. I think we're doing some good things offensively, I think we're blocking well too and he's running the ball well. He's a versatile athlete that can do a lot of things. It's good to have him. I recruited De'Michael out of high school as a running back. He's that guy that can do it all; he's a natural athlete. He has a tremendous amount of speed, he's got good hands, he gives you a lot of flexibility. After Trivensky got hurt, that's when I pretty much came to that conclusion; that he's the answer. We still have the ability to put him in the backfield, we still have packages for him, but certainly after Trivensky got hurt we gave him that shot back there and he's taken it and run with it. De'Michael is a guy that's a competitor and he's a guy that just wants to compete and play. He's an old-school football player. He wants to do whatever he can do to help the team so that's what you love about him."
On UTEP
"UTEP is a good football team. You're going to hear me say it for eight-straight weeks. They're an excellent football team, they're well coached. They played Nevada tooth and nail Saturday; probably a couple turnovers were critical in that game, so we know we got a good football team coming to town. We've got to be ready to play; we've got to bring our A game. They're a football team that's physical, they run the ball well, they can throw it, they're just a football team that has our utmost respect. We know what's coming to town."
On the offensive package
"We have players that can do a lot of different things. It gives you some flexibility and diversity in your offensive package. We ran the ball fairly well [at Alabama] and we have guys that can do things with the football. It just gives you a new little element. "
On after watching the game over again
"Give Alabama credit, they deserved to win that football game. If we had counterpunched Mississippi State earlier in that game, I thought that game could've gone down to the last seconds. Alabama won the game on Saturday, but I really think we did some good things offensively. Jack directed our offense well, we ran the ball well and when we did, we threw the ball well. Tim Jones had an outstanding football game. What about Rachaun [Mitchell]? Jerry Jeudy is a pretty good football player, but he [defended] him up one-on-one; Ray is that type of football player. You go back and you look at things like that in the game. To me that's what you take out. Arguably, they're a team that's going to play for the National Championship again. So, when you go and look at it, you point out to your players, 'look what you did here', 'look what you did here'. You show them how in so many plays you're battling one-on-one with the guys that are considered the best in the country. You take a lot of positives out of the game. I thought Delmond [Landry]and Demarrio [Smith] up front and defensively played well again. Those guys really played well. Even Santrell [Latham] came in, I thought he played good at the end of the ball game. He was flying around there, making tackles. DQ Thomas, he showed up in the game with tackles, an interception; he played really well. Ky'el [Hemby] had a good game, I thought he played well. Offensively, I thought guys like Arvin and Drake played really well. We talked about Tim and De'Michael [Harris] and Jack [Abraham]…there were some good games, some good individual performances out there. You've got to take that as we get ready for Conference play and just say hey, look this is where you're at, let's get better and better and better. This is a football team that they're going to fight you for 60 and we kept battling to the end on that one so I'm looking forward to getting back into Conference play and get this thing started. That's what I take out of it looking at film: yes, Alabama won the game, yes Alabama deserved to win the game, but I felt like a lot of guys out there played some really good football.
On his takeaway from Saturday's contest
"Give Alabama credit. They made some plays. Our second drive, we moved the ball well. Defensively, we had a few eye violations and some things we've got to correct and a few gap integrity deals we've got to correct, but I'm leaving the game with a lot of positives. That's one of the things I'm really going to stress to our guys about today. We certainly want to be better and we want to be better the next week. I've been around coaching a long time; you've got to give credit where credit is due. Give those guys at Alabama credit, they've got a good football team, they got the W, they deserve the W, but I was proud of the way the guys fought."
On looking forward
"I just want to see us week in and week out play our best game. I just want to see us play well every Saturday and get better as the season goes on. That's coach speech, but that's what we've got to do. We've got to go out there and play good football, I think we will. I'm excited about this football team, I've said that earlier, I really am. There's a lot of positives, a lot of guys playing really good football."
On how the team will improve
"I think you're going to see this team just get better and better as the season goes on. I think you can see glimpses of some really good stuff out there. Offensively we have the capability to be explosive, I just think defensively you're going to see the team get better and better each week. I'm excited about this upcoming conference stretch. We can't just talk about it, we've got to go out there and play."
On DQ Thomas
"He's a football player. DQ is an excellent football player, I think he's a next-level player, I really do. He's a guy that has pretty much everything it takes to be a second-level defensive back, an NFL defensive back. He's strong, he's fast, he's quick, he's intelligent…He's a football player. We need him to continue that, we've got eight games left and we need him to play like that during the conference stretch.
On DQ playing under Picasso Nelson
"Picasso was a little banged up last year, so he actually had to play a lot and I think that helped tremendously. This spring he really caught our eye and we knew he was going to have an outstanding year. He just needs to continue that. Four games is not a season make but DQ is a humble guy and I think he understands that."
Players of the Week
"Defensively, it was DQ Thomas. Special teams wise we gave it to Zac Everett. Offensively is the one we're kind of in dilemma on right now, so I'll release that later. Our special teams' unit of the week was the kickoff coverage."
- @USMGoldenEagles/@SouthernMissFB -
