University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Coach Will Hall Media Availability - The Arkansas State Game
10/11/2022 2:15:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss football head coach Will Hall met with members of the media Tuesday morning following practice to discuss this weekend's Sun Belt Conference home opener against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
Game time is set for 6:30 p.m., Saturday, at M.M. Roberts Stadium/Carlisle-Faulkner Field. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ or heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network by Learfield.
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Here is some of what Hall said to the media on Tuesday:
Opening Statement…
"Good competition Tuesday with great weather. We've continued to have great weather, and I thank the Good Lord for that. There was a lot of juice and physicality early on in practice for a competition Tuesday like it should be. We were focusing on improving in all three phases. We got some things we've got to clean up and do better. We've got our whole season in front of us. We've got a huge matchup against Arkansas State. Big game for us. Big game for them. They're in their second year with their coach. We're in our second year. They've beaten an FCS and one FBS team just like we have. They've played a tough schedule just like we have. They've played some good football teams. I know they're coming in here and know all that. We've got to continue to focus on us and continue to improve. We've got a chance to have a good football team and have a good season if we continue to get better and improve. We had a really good day moving towards that today."
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On Additional Takeaways from Troy…
"Defensively we played really good for a long period of time. We had a few plays we'd like to have back: the third down pass interference coming out of halftime was big. Then we got second-and-2 right there and we don't get a first down. If we get those two plays, the whole thing could have been different. We had some opportunities in the kicking game to get our hats on people that could have sprung some big returns and we didn't make that happen. Credit to Troy for all that. Then offensively, we just didn't make a lot happen. We were really good in our quick passing game all night, but we didn't do very good with our downfield game from an execution standpoint in reading it, to a pass protection standpoint. We popped a few runs right there. We should have had more runs. We probably pulled some and threw it where that shouldn't have, and that's my fault. That's not Zach [Wilcke's] fault, I want people to understand. That's my fault and we'll correct that moving forward. The good thing is it is I think it all fixable. We've played some really good defenses. Tulane and Liberty and Troy are probably all going to end up top 25 in the nation on defense, some of them are going to be top 10. Then Miami obviously is a really talented defense. So, we've played some defenses, but that's no excuse. We've got to start performing at a higher level offensively and obviously there's a lot of urgency here to do that."
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On Missing Dynamic to the Run Game…
"There's been a missing dynamic to all of it offensively. I don't think 2022 college football, you can look at run or pass. I think you've got to be able to do both when you're a spread offense and do whatever they're daring you to do. We've played some defenses that really are daring us to throw it more. That's a lack of execution in all phases that's leading to that."
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On Particular Focus of the Offense for this Week…
"Yep, me. I've got to coach better, all the way around."
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On Arkansas State Quarterback James Blackman…
"He's dual-threat guy that's played a lot of college football for a lot of different coaches, which I always think is an advantage to a kid to be coach by a lot of people. It gives you a lot of different perspectives. He's been under some really good coaches and he's in his second year there with this staff and you can tell he's understanding their scheme. They've scored some points on some people and he's scary at times."
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On What Makes Domonic Quewon a Fit on the Defense…
"Number one is attitude and how he attacks every day. I'm just so proud of him because it's not every day that an older guy accepts a role like he's accepted. He's playing between 14 and 25 snaps a game defensively and then he's playing in the kicking game and he knows he's really good at that and he knows he's dynamic at that. I credit Coach [Austin] Armstrong to using his abilities that best suit him. He's really embraced his role. Instead of pouting about his role, he's said, 'man this is my role. This is my opportunity. It's my blessing. I'm going to take a hold of it.' He's just taken it and run with it and I think he's reaping the rewards of it. I'm just proud of him. He'd be the first to tell you that his statistics are a credit to him playing well but also other guys that are cutting the pocket and doing things that allow him to do it. He's just a really good human being that has a lot of skills—and we're doing a great job of using his skills—but he's also doing a great job of accepting that and running with it."
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On Zach Wilcke's Learning Experience at Troy…
"Great learning experience for him. When a freshman quarterback starts playing, and I've done this a bunch and had a lot of success with it, when he first starts playing, everybody is like, 'oh man. Look at this freshman. He's playing and he's making plays and he's good,' And there's no expectation level, and I'm not talking about from me, I'm talking about everybody around him and his friends and all that. Then he plays and he does pretty good, there's no expectations—it's all fun and games. Then, at some point, they start to realize, especially when you play at a place like Southern Miss, there's a lot of people counting on me. There's a whole lot of obligation and responsibility dumped on me and there's a moment where it hits them, and you always go through that. That started to hit Zach last week. I think he is handling it well, but we got to play better around Zach. He's got to play better, I've got to coach better, everybody has to do better and he's going to do that. If you look at our track record with the last one we played at another school, same thing, similar process. This is normal. We've just got to continue to improve and get better each day and each week."
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On Distributing the Ball to Receivers Other Than Jason Brownlee…
"That's just what Troy did. Troy dictated that. Zach read all of his pass plays that Brownlee caught correctly. He was the guy to go to, except for maybe one of them. Out of his 12 catches, 11 of them were read correctly. So, Troy was bailing back and giving us a lot of underneath stuff. There was a lot of hitches and a lot of quick game slants. They were rolling to our tight end to take the run away and sliding the backers so Brownlee was one-on-one backside and Zach took it. I thought that was a great job by him."
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 On Happiness with Depth at Running Back…
"I don't know if I'm happy with anything on offense, particularly me."
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On Steps the Offensive Line Needs to Take the Next Step…
"As a unit, we just all got to continue to play better. We've just got to continue to play better. We've got to accentuate the things we're good at. We haven't played bad on the o-line. We've played some good defenses. This is a collective group effort that we've got to play better at. The way you play good on the o-line, when you look around the country, is through skill guys making plays. We're not making enough plays to free them up. We're not doing enough things to do that. It's just a collective effort with everybody and it starts at the top with me."
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On Importance of a Good Offensive Showing this Weekend…
"That's always. Every week is big for us. We're building this program. We're not a great team right now. We have a chance to be, so we want to continue to improve and continue to get better. We got better in some things last week. We didn't improve in some things last week. Our kickoff cover was one of our best games we've played all year, we were phenomenal. We got in the red zone early and put it in the endzone right off the bat—that's been a big point of emphasis. We had our best third down game on offense, we were 6-for-14 and 1-of-1 on fourth down. So, we were 50 percent in conversion opportunities—that was our best game. There're some things we did better than we've done all year. We've got to put it all together and we've got to continue to work to do that."
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On Opening Playbook for a Freshman Quarterback…
"The playbook is open; we've just got to execute better. It's not that we need to do more, we need to do what we're doing better."
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On Frustration on Taking a Step Back After Progress…
"I don't know if we've had all that progress. We won a big game at Tulane, but it's good to see progress. You want to continue to improve, that's why you coach—to help kids reach their full potential and to help them get better. There are things we're improving on. We didn't win the game. We didn't do enough to win the game. So obviously, that's what the outside pieces focus on, but when you watch the tape with the kids, there's some things we did well, there's some things we can build on, there's some things we know we've got to do better, and we can and we will."
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Game time is set for 6:30 p.m., Saturday, at M.M. Roberts Stadium/Carlisle-Faulkner Field. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ or heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network by Learfield.
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Here is some of what Hall said to the media on Tuesday:
Opening Statement…
"Good competition Tuesday with great weather. We've continued to have great weather, and I thank the Good Lord for that. There was a lot of juice and physicality early on in practice for a competition Tuesday like it should be. We were focusing on improving in all three phases. We got some things we've got to clean up and do better. We've got our whole season in front of us. We've got a huge matchup against Arkansas State. Big game for us. Big game for them. They're in their second year with their coach. We're in our second year. They've beaten an FCS and one FBS team just like we have. They've played a tough schedule just like we have. They've played some good football teams. I know they're coming in here and know all that. We've got to continue to focus on us and continue to improve. We've got a chance to have a good football team and have a good season if we continue to get better and improve. We had a really good day moving towards that today."
Â
On Additional Takeaways from Troy…
"Defensively we played really good for a long period of time. We had a few plays we'd like to have back: the third down pass interference coming out of halftime was big. Then we got second-and-2 right there and we don't get a first down. If we get those two plays, the whole thing could have been different. We had some opportunities in the kicking game to get our hats on people that could have sprung some big returns and we didn't make that happen. Credit to Troy for all that. Then offensively, we just didn't make a lot happen. We were really good in our quick passing game all night, but we didn't do very good with our downfield game from an execution standpoint in reading it, to a pass protection standpoint. We popped a few runs right there. We should have had more runs. We probably pulled some and threw it where that shouldn't have, and that's my fault. That's not Zach [Wilcke's] fault, I want people to understand. That's my fault and we'll correct that moving forward. The good thing is it is I think it all fixable. We've played some really good defenses. Tulane and Liberty and Troy are probably all going to end up top 25 in the nation on defense, some of them are going to be top 10. Then Miami obviously is a really talented defense. So, we've played some defenses, but that's no excuse. We've got to start performing at a higher level offensively and obviously there's a lot of urgency here to do that."
Â
On Missing Dynamic to the Run Game…
"There's been a missing dynamic to all of it offensively. I don't think 2022 college football, you can look at run or pass. I think you've got to be able to do both when you're a spread offense and do whatever they're daring you to do. We've played some defenses that really are daring us to throw it more. That's a lack of execution in all phases that's leading to that."
Â
On Particular Focus of the Offense for this Week…
"Yep, me. I've got to coach better, all the way around."
Â
On Arkansas State Quarterback James Blackman…
"He's dual-threat guy that's played a lot of college football for a lot of different coaches, which I always think is an advantage to a kid to be coach by a lot of people. It gives you a lot of different perspectives. He's been under some really good coaches and he's in his second year there with this staff and you can tell he's understanding their scheme. They've scored some points on some people and he's scary at times."
Â
On What Makes Domonic Quewon a Fit on the Defense…
"Number one is attitude and how he attacks every day. I'm just so proud of him because it's not every day that an older guy accepts a role like he's accepted. He's playing between 14 and 25 snaps a game defensively and then he's playing in the kicking game and he knows he's really good at that and he knows he's dynamic at that. I credit Coach [Austin] Armstrong to using his abilities that best suit him. He's really embraced his role. Instead of pouting about his role, he's said, 'man this is my role. This is my opportunity. It's my blessing. I'm going to take a hold of it.' He's just taken it and run with it and I think he's reaping the rewards of it. I'm just proud of him. He'd be the first to tell you that his statistics are a credit to him playing well but also other guys that are cutting the pocket and doing things that allow him to do it. He's just a really good human being that has a lot of skills—and we're doing a great job of using his skills—but he's also doing a great job of accepting that and running with it."
Â
On Zach Wilcke's Learning Experience at Troy…
"Great learning experience for him. When a freshman quarterback starts playing, and I've done this a bunch and had a lot of success with it, when he first starts playing, everybody is like, 'oh man. Look at this freshman. He's playing and he's making plays and he's good,' And there's no expectation level, and I'm not talking about from me, I'm talking about everybody around him and his friends and all that. Then he plays and he does pretty good, there's no expectations—it's all fun and games. Then, at some point, they start to realize, especially when you play at a place like Southern Miss, there's a lot of people counting on me. There's a whole lot of obligation and responsibility dumped on me and there's a moment where it hits them, and you always go through that. That started to hit Zach last week. I think he is handling it well, but we got to play better around Zach. He's got to play better, I've got to coach better, everybody has to do better and he's going to do that. If you look at our track record with the last one we played at another school, same thing, similar process. This is normal. We've just got to continue to improve and get better each day and each week."
Â
On Distributing the Ball to Receivers Other Than Jason Brownlee…
"That's just what Troy did. Troy dictated that. Zach read all of his pass plays that Brownlee caught correctly. He was the guy to go to, except for maybe one of them. Out of his 12 catches, 11 of them were read correctly. So, Troy was bailing back and giving us a lot of underneath stuff. There was a lot of hitches and a lot of quick game slants. They were rolling to our tight end to take the run away and sliding the backers so Brownlee was one-on-one backside and Zach took it. I thought that was a great job by him."
Â
 On Happiness with Depth at Running Back…
"I don't know if I'm happy with anything on offense, particularly me."
Â
On Steps the Offensive Line Needs to Take the Next Step…
"As a unit, we just all got to continue to play better. We've just got to continue to play better. We've got to accentuate the things we're good at. We haven't played bad on the o-line. We've played some good defenses. This is a collective group effort that we've got to play better at. The way you play good on the o-line, when you look around the country, is through skill guys making plays. We're not making enough plays to free them up. We're not doing enough things to do that. It's just a collective effort with everybody and it starts at the top with me."
Â
On Importance of a Good Offensive Showing this Weekend…
"That's always. Every week is big for us. We're building this program. We're not a great team right now. We have a chance to be, so we want to continue to improve and continue to get better. We got better in some things last week. We didn't improve in some things last week. Our kickoff cover was one of our best games we've played all year, we were phenomenal. We got in the red zone early and put it in the endzone right off the bat—that's been a big point of emphasis. We had our best third down game on offense, we were 6-for-14 and 1-of-1 on fourth down. So, we were 50 percent in conversion opportunities—that was our best game. There're some things we did better than we've done all year. We've got to put it all together and we've got to continue to work to do that."
Â
On Opening Playbook for a Freshman Quarterback…
"The playbook is open; we've just got to execute better. It's not that we need to do more, we need to do what we're doing better."
Â
On Frustration on Taking a Step Back After Progress…
"I don't know if we've had all that progress. We won a big game at Tulane, but it's good to see progress. You want to continue to improve, that's why you coach—to help kids reach their full potential and to help them get better. There are things we're improving on. We didn't win the game. We didn't do enough to win the game. So obviously, that's what the outside pieces focus on, but when you watch the tape with the kids, there's some things we did well, there's some things we can build on, there's some things we know we've got to do better, and we can and we will."
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Players Mentioned
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