Coach Will Hall Media Availability - The Georgia State Game

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss' head football coach Will Hall met with members of the media on Tuesday morning following practice to discuss this Saturday's Sun Belt Conference matchup against Georgia State, as well as last Thursday's primetime win over Louisiana.

This week's game time is set for Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. 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.

Here is some of what Hall said to the media on Tuesday:

Video: https://youtu.be/_aVthH7b3mE

Opening Statement…
"Great competition Tuesday with awesome weather again, I thank the Good Lord for that. Really got after it today. Continue to see a lot of young guys grow and there's a high probability you're going to start seeing those some of those guys. We got four games left and we got a few games with some of those kids. So this week, next week, the next and the next, I think you're going to see some of those guys get some minutes. That could start happening this week, we might one more week depending on the situation at each individual position. Big week for us. We're playing a really good football team. They're [Georgia State] 3-5, but they've got to be the best 3-5 football team in America when you look at their schedule and who they've played. They've won three of their last four and they've beaten some really good teams—Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, Army—and then going to App and leading all the way through halftime. They're a really physical football team with an athletic quarterback that plays extremely hard. This is going to be a big big challenge for us to keep this thing going. We've got to keep improving and keep getting better."

On Having Won Seven of the Last 10 Games…
"We're getting better. You know, the big thing we're trying to look for is constant improvement, constant effort and intensity with recruiting and continuing to make this roster so much better. Just getting better as the year goes on, and you should get better as the year goes on because you practice. If you're not getting better through practice, then why are you practicing. Also, we're so young that we should be consistently getting better and you're seeing that. We're not a finished product. We're not doing things well in so many ways, but we are finding ways to win and I'm really proud of our kids."

On If Tiaquelin Mims Adds Anything to the Offense…
"Maybe, but I feel like not having [Jakarius] Caston loses something that we had too. Ty is a dynamic player, he's going to be a great player. Caston's a great player. We're going to be really good and have a whole lot of really good wideouts as long as we're here. We're at Southern Miss. Desmond Lindsey recruits that position primarily and so we're always going to be really good at wideout for a long time. We have some kids committed that can really play and we want to continue to add to that, but Ty is going to be going to be a great one. We knew that while we recruited him. We thought he might have been the best player in Alabama last year. He's going to be a really good one."

On Getting Caston and Mims on the Field Together…
"We got to always find ways to get our best out there, but the other thing is: Jason Brownlee is a really good player and Latreal Jones, "Frog," is a really good player, the ball just hasn't found him. I hope to get him the ball more as the season goes on. You get Brandon Hayes back from injury—nobody talks about that, but we also lost Brandon Hayes to injury, who was one of the most dynamic players on our team through all of fall camp—you get him back and we're going to be pretty loaded at wideout for a long time."

On Jakarius Caston's Injury Status…
"He's nursing an injury and trying to get back. It's a soft tissue injury and you have to manage those with resources. Guys that run and cut and jump and those things, when it's tweaked right there, it's just hard when they're not going full speed. He's just not quite there yet, but we hope he can be there by Saturday."

On Zach Wilcke's Step Forward Against Louisiana…
"Huge. The last two weeks. With the way he played in the first half against Texas State and the way he ended the game, he had the lull in the middle. And this game, he had the pick on the first play of the game, which was really bad, and then to bounce back and play the way he played the rest of the game was phenomenal. He made some big plays. He made some plays that were quarterback decision-making plays. The three completions to Brownlee were all quarterback decisions and then he gets it to a player and that guy makes plays. The touchdown to Brownlee in the red zone was just a phenomenal throw. He was getting hit as he threw it. He had some plays he'd like to have back, but he's really growing and understanding. I think he's really learning how to work, and he would tell you that. The responsibility and obligations of being the quarterback at a place that loves football so much like Southern Miss, he's starting to learn how to work to be able to prepare for that."

On the Offense's Balanced Attack…
"The big benefit is taking some pressure off of him [Zach Wilcke]. Letting him come off to the sideline and take a breather. I thought it was big for us on third down, because if you think you're a D-coordinator and we out there in that and it's 3rd-and-nine, do you play pass defense, do you play run defense. We caught them in pass defense on 3rd-and-10 and ran for a first down in a situation where we're probably taking two to get it. I think it really alleviates a lot of stress off of him. Also it gives us an advantage in the run game to keep our defense fresh and keep them off the field. And then if they want to load the box, we feel like Frank [Gore, Jr.] and Rambo [Antavious Willis] and them guys can throw it over the top and it creates one-on-one matchups with our receivers, which is something we haven't done much this year is take advantage of that. We went into this game knowing, if they're going to go one-on-one on all our wideouts, we're going to throw it. There's nothing better than a one-on-one matchup. You can't get any better than that in football. It's something we'll continue to utilize when we need to as we continue to develop this program."

On Malik Shorts' Involvement in Multiple Phases…
"He's doing a really good job. He starts on our punt team. He's a real team guy. He's a winner. He's won his whole life. Coming from Jeff Davis County [Jefferson Davis County High School] in Bassfield [Bassfield, Miss.] playing for the great Lance Mancuso. So he gets here and this program's kind of winning at first and then we take the dip, and that's really hard on a young man that's won his whole life. He just battled and he kept believing in this program, and now we are winning again. You can just see how much joy that brings him as a guy from the Pine Belt area to get Southern Miss back going. I'm just proud of how he's become as a human being and I think that's transitioned over to his play as well."

On Benefit of Playing on Thursday for National Audience…
"I think it is big, I think it's big anytime you can tell kids, 'Hey we're on ESPN, we're going to be on ESPN." We talk to our kids all the time about how much football matters here. When we recruit against other group of five schools, it's hard for any other group of five school to match what we have here. From the Eagle Walk to the attendance—we're top whatever in attendance and we haven't even been winning over the last few years—and then you look at history and traditions. So, that's what we're selling along with location and a staff that's used to winning and that has won everywhere they've been. It was big. I was proud we put our best foot forward. It was a huge day for our university in getting Dr. Joe Paul inducted and winning that game obviously over an unbelievable opponent, it was a big game for us."

On Handling Having Saturday Off…
"I watched football and hung out with my wife and kids and we gave the kids off. And yes we took a few days off because it will be our last days off for the rest of this year. We got four more games and then we got a bowl and then whatever else the good Lord may bring to us. It's our last off time for a long time, so we wanted to give the kids a day off and some time away from each other and then got back in here Monday and gained an extra day on Georgia State."

Coach Will Hall Media Availability - The Georgia State Game

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