University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Southern Miss Football Coach Will Hall Media Availability – Open Week
9/27/2022 3:36:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss football head coach Will Hall met with members of the media Tuesday morning following practice to discuss last weekend's 27-24 Battle for the Bell victory in New Orleans last weekend as well as this week's open date.
Here is some of what Hall said the media on Tuesday:
Opening Statement…
"A great Tuesday with great weather. I appreciate the good Lord for that. We got a lot of good work, especially with our young guys. We didn't work on Troy at all; we just worked on us. A lot of good on good for competition Thursday. Added some more reps for our young kids today to let them get a lot of work as we want to continue to grow them because we have some really good young talent that you saw versus Northwestern State that's continuing to grow and that could help us as this year goes on and they learn what to do. We really wanted to work those guys. We told everybody on the team to pick one thing out this week that they can get better at, and I certainly think that we saw a lot of that today. We saw a lot of improvement and had a good physical day. Inside drill was very physical."
On Injury Status of Swayze Bozeman and Ty Keyes…
"So, Swayze is going to be out for the year. It's a tough deal for him. He's a young man that does everything right all the time. Like we talk about, sometimes bad things happen to good people. We want to be there for him because he is a tremendous person. Ty is going to be day-to-day for a little while. We're checking him out and seeing kind of where he's going to be at. It depends on several things, and I can't really comment on it right now."
On Which Young Players Specifically are Coming on Strong…
"Cam [Cameron] Knox, Kenyon Clay, Kamron Barnes, those are three young kids that are really coming. Also, DJ Burgess and Jordan Martin. Tyrese Hopkins is not a young guy, but he's a guy that's coming on and we really think can add some more depth to us at jack linebacker. Those are the main ones off the top of my head right now—[Tiaquelin] Mims. Ty Mims is going to play; he's not going to redshirt."
On Value of Bye Week Before Sun Belt Conference Play…
"It's two-fold: part of it is you feel like you're on a roll winning two in a row, and you'd like to play again; part of it is we can breathe for a second and enjoy that win for a little longer and work on some things to get better. I've always enjoyed bye weeks as long as they're not too early in the season, and that comes at a good time because it's right before conference play, is the big thing for us. Whether we would have won or we lost, it's right before conference play so it allows us to kind of take our breath now. We've played four games and we know who we are and now we can really really hone in on that and improve on some things this week as we go into conference play."
On the Program's Step Forward on Saturday…
"Just huge. First, no turnovers. We put the ball on the ground one time, and we were able to get it back, but no turnovers. We forced a turnover. We made some huge plays in the kicking game. We made our kicks. All those things are what win big games. We completed passes for big gains and made explosive plays versus a ferocious defense that statistically has been like the '85 Bears all year long. We grew up a little bit offensively. After the first three drives we calmed down defensively and that was good to see—it's not talked about enough, that's the first time our defense has ever had anybody have any success on us early. Tulane had a lot of success early, and we calmed down, we kept our mind, we kept believing and then we had a lot of success after that. I think they had 190 yards on their first three drives, so the rest of the game we played great defense. We were great in the kicking game and then our offense got going midway through the second quarter and you could feel the juice that gave. We've got a chance to have a really good football team if we keep improving."
On if Tulane is the Most Physical Defense Faced so Far…
"Yeah, yeah. Miami is really talented, and Liberty has a pretty good football team too. But Tulane plays in a way where they're really experienced and older at every position. They're not playing any young guys; they're playing guys that have been playing college football for a long time. They just have a really good team with their culture and the way they fly around, I thought they were really good."
On Jordyn Mahaffey's Increased Playing Time at Defensive End…
"He's practicing well and he's playing well. So, we've got Kristin Booth, Brodarius Lewis and Jordyn Mahaffey playing the field end spot, which is a 4- and a 5-technique combined. He was banged up early with a shoulder injury and he's gotten healthy. Now they're all three playing, I think Booth played the most snaps, then Lewis, then Mahaffey is in there too. But Mahaffey brings an extreme physicality. He's a tough kid from West Marion [High School / Foxworth, Miss.] that played for Brad Duncan and then played for Coach [Steve] Buckley at Jones College. He really loves the true essence of football."
On Managing Bye Week Schedules…
"We want everybody to concentrate on getting better at one thing. We made them all write that down and tell their coaches. So, we want everybody in the program to improve at one thing this week. If we collectively improve at one thing, then we'll get better as a whole program. So that's number one: just trying to be simple in how we attack it with each kid, 'What is what you want to get better at this week.' Just one thing. And then we want to have a great competition Tuesday to keep our blade sharp. Thursday we'll transition over and do Troy, so we'll practice twice this week. We're going to lift three times. We want to get stronger and little bit better and keep our blade sharp, but also start concentrating on Troy and getting a little bit healthy and we'll be back on Monday and gain an extra day on Monday."
On Blocked Punt was from Film or In-Game Adjustments…
"No, that was something Greg Meyer saw and designed, and we executed it really well. Jay Jones got the block, but we had three other young men hit the perfect seams on the shift. They had three shield guys, we got four people on the shield, we hit the seams, so they went three-for-three and Jay Jones is the one that got free and then he had great technique. We work that drill once a week in taking it right off the punter's foot and it was a clinic tape. He's a young kid who's going to be a great player here. He'll be a name Southern Miss fans really learn and know. You can see the improvement in him, and it was great to see him make that play."
On if Trey Lowe or Jake Lange is the Current Backup Quarterback …
"We'll make that decision as we get more into Troy, and we'll watch this tape from today from competition Tuesday. Trey and Jake are competing for the two spot, and we've got the SuperBack right there too."
On Natrone Brooks' Importance to the Team…
"He is a guy that has a chip on his shoulder. He's been told his whole life he's too little to play. He played at a great football program at Starkville [High School] for Chris Jones, then he goes to Co-Lin [Community College] and plays for Glenn Davis. He wasn't highly recruited out of either place and comes here and now it's his third year here. He's an older kid that really understands football. He takes advantage of every opportunity. Really accumulates information. He's got just enough ability that, where if he maximizes it, he can be a good player. He's a young man that everybody ought to look up to as far as what can I become. He's somebody that when I talk to my two boys, Pete and Tripp, I use him as an example to them, because their daddy is not very big, so they're probably not going to be the biggest guy either. So, I say to them, Natrone Brooks that took everything the good Lord gave him and found a way to maximize it. He didn't look at his shortcomings and say, 'I can't do it because of this,' he said, 'well, here's what I do have. Let me maximize it' and I'm just really proud of him, he's a great human being too."
On What Win in New Orleans Does for Recruiting…
"We came here with a vision and a plan, and we've been selling that and that's been working really well for two years, but at some point, you've got to have success. If I'm a salesman, and I keep telling you how good my product is, and you get my product a few times and it's bad, eventually you're going to quit buying my product. Eventually my product has got to be good for you to keep buying it, and we're kind of at the point in our program now. We've had two great recruiting classes on selling a vision. We've got to start having a product to show for it and this win gives us more substance in our product to sell and gets us over another hump moving into our third class."
Here is some of what Hall said the media on Tuesday:
Opening Statement…
"A great Tuesday with great weather. I appreciate the good Lord for that. We got a lot of good work, especially with our young guys. We didn't work on Troy at all; we just worked on us. A lot of good on good for competition Thursday. Added some more reps for our young kids today to let them get a lot of work as we want to continue to grow them because we have some really good young talent that you saw versus Northwestern State that's continuing to grow and that could help us as this year goes on and they learn what to do. We really wanted to work those guys. We told everybody on the team to pick one thing out this week that they can get better at, and I certainly think that we saw a lot of that today. We saw a lot of improvement and had a good physical day. Inside drill was very physical."
On Injury Status of Swayze Bozeman and Ty Keyes…
"So, Swayze is going to be out for the year. It's a tough deal for him. He's a young man that does everything right all the time. Like we talk about, sometimes bad things happen to good people. We want to be there for him because he is a tremendous person. Ty is going to be day-to-day for a little while. We're checking him out and seeing kind of where he's going to be at. It depends on several things, and I can't really comment on it right now."
On Which Young Players Specifically are Coming on Strong…
"Cam [Cameron] Knox, Kenyon Clay, Kamron Barnes, those are three young kids that are really coming. Also, DJ Burgess and Jordan Martin. Tyrese Hopkins is not a young guy, but he's a guy that's coming on and we really think can add some more depth to us at jack linebacker. Those are the main ones off the top of my head right now—[Tiaquelin] Mims. Ty Mims is going to play; he's not going to redshirt."
On Value of Bye Week Before Sun Belt Conference Play…
"It's two-fold: part of it is you feel like you're on a roll winning two in a row, and you'd like to play again; part of it is we can breathe for a second and enjoy that win for a little longer and work on some things to get better. I've always enjoyed bye weeks as long as they're not too early in the season, and that comes at a good time because it's right before conference play, is the big thing for us. Whether we would have won or we lost, it's right before conference play so it allows us to kind of take our breath now. We've played four games and we know who we are and now we can really really hone in on that and improve on some things this week as we go into conference play."
On the Program's Step Forward on Saturday…
"Just huge. First, no turnovers. We put the ball on the ground one time, and we were able to get it back, but no turnovers. We forced a turnover. We made some huge plays in the kicking game. We made our kicks. All those things are what win big games. We completed passes for big gains and made explosive plays versus a ferocious defense that statistically has been like the '85 Bears all year long. We grew up a little bit offensively. After the first three drives we calmed down defensively and that was good to see—it's not talked about enough, that's the first time our defense has ever had anybody have any success on us early. Tulane had a lot of success early, and we calmed down, we kept our mind, we kept believing and then we had a lot of success after that. I think they had 190 yards on their first three drives, so the rest of the game we played great defense. We were great in the kicking game and then our offense got going midway through the second quarter and you could feel the juice that gave. We've got a chance to have a really good football team if we keep improving."
On if Tulane is the Most Physical Defense Faced so Far…
"Yeah, yeah. Miami is really talented, and Liberty has a pretty good football team too. But Tulane plays in a way where they're really experienced and older at every position. They're not playing any young guys; they're playing guys that have been playing college football for a long time. They just have a really good team with their culture and the way they fly around, I thought they were really good."
On Jordyn Mahaffey's Increased Playing Time at Defensive End…
"He's practicing well and he's playing well. So, we've got Kristin Booth, Brodarius Lewis and Jordyn Mahaffey playing the field end spot, which is a 4- and a 5-technique combined. He was banged up early with a shoulder injury and he's gotten healthy. Now they're all three playing, I think Booth played the most snaps, then Lewis, then Mahaffey is in there too. But Mahaffey brings an extreme physicality. He's a tough kid from West Marion [High School / Foxworth, Miss.] that played for Brad Duncan and then played for Coach [Steve] Buckley at Jones College. He really loves the true essence of football."
On Managing Bye Week Schedules…
"We want everybody to concentrate on getting better at one thing. We made them all write that down and tell their coaches. So, we want everybody in the program to improve at one thing this week. If we collectively improve at one thing, then we'll get better as a whole program. So that's number one: just trying to be simple in how we attack it with each kid, 'What is what you want to get better at this week.' Just one thing. And then we want to have a great competition Tuesday to keep our blade sharp. Thursday we'll transition over and do Troy, so we'll practice twice this week. We're going to lift three times. We want to get stronger and little bit better and keep our blade sharp, but also start concentrating on Troy and getting a little bit healthy and we'll be back on Monday and gain an extra day on Monday."
On Blocked Punt was from Film or In-Game Adjustments…
"No, that was something Greg Meyer saw and designed, and we executed it really well. Jay Jones got the block, but we had three other young men hit the perfect seams on the shift. They had three shield guys, we got four people on the shield, we hit the seams, so they went three-for-three and Jay Jones is the one that got free and then he had great technique. We work that drill once a week in taking it right off the punter's foot and it was a clinic tape. He's a young kid who's going to be a great player here. He'll be a name Southern Miss fans really learn and know. You can see the improvement in him, and it was great to see him make that play."
On if Trey Lowe or Jake Lange is the Current Backup Quarterback …
"We'll make that decision as we get more into Troy, and we'll watch this tape from today from competition Tuesday. Trey and Jake are competing for the two spot, and we've got the SuperBack right there too."
On Natrone Brooks' Importance to the Team…
"He is a guy that has a chip on his shoulder. He's been told his whole life he's too little to play. He played at a great football program at Starkville [High School] for Chris Jones, then he goes to Co-Lin [Community College] and plays for Glenn Davis. He wasn't highly recruited out of either place and comes here and now it's his third year here. He's an older kid that really understands football. He takes advantage of every opportunity. Really accumulates information. He's got just enough ability that, where if he maximizes it, he can be a good player. He's a young man that everybody ought to look up to as far as what can I become. He's somebody that when I talk to my two boys, Pete and Tripp, I use him as an example to them, because their daddy is not very big, so they're probably not going to be the biggest guy either. So, I say to them, Natrone Brooks that took everything the good Lord gave him and found a way to maximize it. He didn't look at his shortcomings and say, 'I can't do it because of this,' he said, 'well, here's what I do have. Let me maximize it' and I'm just really proud of him, he's a great human being too."
On What Win in New Orleans Does for Recruiting…
"We came here with a vision and a plan, and we've been selling that and that's been working really well for two years, but at some point, you've got to have success. If I'm a salesman, and I keep telling you how good my product is, and you get my product a few times and it's bad, eventually you're going to quit buying my product. Eventually my product has got to be good for you to keep buying it, and we're kind of at the point in our program now. We've had two great recruiting classes on selling a vision. We've got to start having a product to show for it and this win gives us more substance in our product to sell and gets us over another hump moving into our third class."
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