University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Will Hall Media Conference - Miami Game Week
9/6/2022 5:05:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Football head coach Will Hall met with members of the media Tuesday morning following practice to discuss the upcoming matchup against Miami and to reflect on Saturday's season opener against Liberty.
Southern Miss travels to Miami for a 11 a.m. CT kickoff in Miami Gardens, Fla., at Hard Rock Stadium. The game can be streamed through ESPN+ and also be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Network from Learfield.
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Here is some of what Hall said the media on Tuesday:
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Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW91sR5tMLU
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Opening Statement…
"Just a great competition Tuesday today. Our kids really brought a lot of energy and juice. It was great to get out on the grass and really get after each other. We took some steps in the right direction. Zach Wilcke had a really good day, and like I said after the game the other night, we're pushing him along to play him as soon as he's ready—that could be this week. He's really taken some steps forward over the last few weeks. I thought our kids really got better. I saw some great physicalness in inside drill, thought our backs ran the ball well, our wide outs caught it as well as our tight ends. On the back end, I thought we've had a lot of leadership with Jay Stanley and Malik [Shorts] and Cam [Cameron Harrell] and Tylan [Knight] and Daylen Gill. Again, I thought I guys really got after it today—It was good to see. We got some good special teams work and we're continuing to build this program. We're really disappointed in the fact that we couldn't get that done this past week, and we've got to learn from that. I've been telling y'all all season, we've got to learn how to stop doing those things that have hindered this program for so long, and we're going to. We've pulled this wagon up a really steep mountain and eventually we're going to get it over and when it's over, it's going to roll down really fast. But that last pull is probably the most difficult, and we've got to have everybody on deck pulling that thing right now. I'm just really proud of our kids today—I thought we got better."
Â
On Execution in the Red Zone Saturday…
"We thought we were good. We got the ball first-and-goal at the five and then had a 4 9/10-yard run down to the one and then we ran quarterback sneak and scored. Unfortunately, we didn't get credit for that, so then we ran quarterback sneak again and they adjusted their front, and it was just a bad play by Ty [Keyes]. He ran up the middle and all he needed to do was go right—they had nobody right—on a quarterback sneak. It was probably the first two quarterback sneaks he's ever run live in his life, and it was just a bad deal by him, or we score again. I had a bad play call on the last one—bad play call on that one. First and goal on the five and you get 4 9/10 yards and then you score, and then we had a poorly executed play and then a bad call. So that was disappointing to see, but it is what it is. They're a really good football team and sometimes it's hard to score two times on one drive, and that's an excuse—it is what it is. We've got to score more than once, but we definitely got in on the quarterback sneak."
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On Ty Keyes' Status…Â
"He was out there today getting reps. First and foremost, Ty is a young kid that we love a lot and we want the future for him more so than the present. We'll never sacrifice a kid's future and put that in jeopardy over the present. He wants to play, and we're going through the protocol of that with the health people—Todd McCall, our athletic trainer—to get that sorted out."
Â
On Zach Wilcke's Status as Taking Over as Quarterback No. 2…Â
"We're trying to get him ready to. He's obviously the most talented of the group, and he's young. I've had five all-conference freshman quarterbacks in my career, one of them [Michael Pratt] is at Tulane right now and is a great player, and we didn't play him until game three of that year. It was actually right here in The Rock. We're going to play Zach when Zach is ready to play, and we're not going to jeopardize his career until he is ready."
Â
On Frank Gore, Jr.'s Return to Hometown Against Miami…Â
"You'd have to ask him. I know Frank loves Southern Miss like I do. I love Southern Miss, Frank loves Southern Miss. We love this place. We're trying to build this place. We're pouring everything we got into it. It's back home for him and I'm sure he'll have a bunch of people there. That'd be great for you to talk to him about because he's a passionate kid that is a lover and loves to impact people, and I'm sure it's going to mean a lot to him"
Â
On Miami's Offense…Â
"Coach Cristobal [Miami head coach, Mario Cristobal] and Coach Mirabal [Miami assistant head coach and offensive line coach, Alex Mirabal] are two of the best o-line coaches in the country. They've always done a great job in the trenches. They want to establish the run. I know both of them real well and have great respect for them. They're going to always try and establish the run. They have a really good quarterback and a lot of athletes, and they'll be a tremendous challenge for us."
Â
On Frank Gore, Jr.'s Importance to the Program…Â
"He's just a winner. We're kind of kindred spirits in that we're both not the biggest guys—we've got a chip on our shoulder and we're trying to prove people wrong. He's willing to do whatever it takes. After the game, he was one of the leaders telling everybody, 'Hey guys. We're so much better than we used to be. We've got talent now. That's an inexcusable way to lose a game—to turn it over like that—and we've got to correct these mistakes and we've got a long season.' We've got to continue to build this place, because technically, Frank is just a sophomore and most of the kids that played that night on offense—outside of Jason Brownlee and Paul Gainer, Jr. and Tykeem Doss—they're all back. They're young and playing football and we've got to continue to coach them and get them better."
Â
On Building Buy-In with Frank Gore, Jr…Â
"He would probably tell you, and I would too, that it was a little rocky at first, but most great relationships are. Most great relationships have to go through some adversity to really find out how much you love each other—maybe kind of like me and our fans right now. We're kind of going through a little adversity to find out how much we love each other. I love Southern Miss and I love our fanbase and I am working as hard as any human being can do to build this great program back. I love how passionate our fans are and I appreciate them and we're going to work through this together and there is going to be some really really great days in the future as we build this thing."
Â
On Ty Keyes' Teachable Moments from Saturday…Â
"He had two disastrous plays and then he had a lot of great plays. He had some great runs, which we knew he would do. He slipped one time making a safety miss, which could've even been a bigger one. He had two great deep ball throws to Brandon Hayes and Jason Brownlee. He just had a pick on the seam ball to Brownlee where he threw it right to linebacker. A really bad play, a great effort play—he tackled the guy, which was good. Then the tipped pass was just a great play by their defensive lineman. It was a bad situation to be in. He should've checked out of the play, we should've never the play with blitz right there. And then we've got to make not-a-bad-play worse. We can't make a bad play a disastrous play. Outside of those two plays, he played a really really good game. Now those were two really bad plays that we've got to learn from because they hurt us."
Â
On Wideouts' Four Touches Collectively…Â
"Tough deal with the way the game went on. We went with the SuperBack to start the second half and went right down the field and scored and it became very apparent that they were going to have a hard time moving the ball on us. We knew we were playing great defense and it became apparent that we could move the ball on them doing that. So I came into a mode of 'Let's try and win a football game' more so than try and be cute. So we stayed with the SuperBack and just tried to win a big game. If we don't turn it over, we do. We scored to take the lead with 1:50 left and we were down inside the five and fumbled and we missed a field goal. We moved the ball enough to win the game in the circumstances we were in and just didn't get it done and we've got to correct those mistakes."
Â
On If Antavious Willis Scored in the First Quarter…Â
"No, but I think we scored the time before that on a quarterback sneak thought. The quarterback sneak was 100% a touchdown. I'm as sure that quarterback sneak was a touchdown as I am that we're black and gold."
Â
On Benefit of Playing Two Freshman Tackles…Â
"It was good and Kyron Barnes played really good. He's going to be a really good player. He's got a lot of potential. Great kid and he played really good. Calvin McMillian is coming along too. I thought Calvin had a great attitude today and really worked hard."
Â
On Seeing the SuperBack This Week…Â
"You should expect it some throughout the rest of the year. It's just who we are right now with young quarterbacks and developing them. It takes some pressure off them and gives other teams something to prepare for."
Â
On Keeping Wide Receivers Bought In Despite Quarterback Issues…Â
"They're all bought in. They're working with Ty and Wilcke. They know and understand. They love Southern Miss. Jason Brownlee loves Southern Miss. Jason Brownlee could've gone a bunch of places this year in the offseason with the portal and everything, but he stayed here because he loves Southern Miss and loves this place like we all do."
Â
On Offensive Matchup Against Miami's Defense…Â
"It's going to be a tremendous challenge. They're really talented. Their defensive coordinator [Kevin Steele] has been all of the really big places in the world and coached at all those places and has always done good. They've got a lot beef up front on the defensive line and they're really athletic. They've got all the credentials to be a great defense and we've got to go down there and put our best foot forward."
Â
On Inability to Play Desired Offense…Â
"Well, that's my fault, I've been here two years so I take credit for that. We are going to be able to. We just had a quarterback go down, and we could've kept playing offense that way too. We just went to the SuperBack, and it worked so well that we stayed with it. That's all that was. We didn't go into the game saying we're going to go SuperBack the whole second half and we didn't say we were going to go with the SuperBack when Ty got hurt. That was not the plan. It was just working so good that we stayed with it."
Â
Southern Miss travels to Miami for a 11 a.m. CT kickoff in Miami Gardens, Fla., at Hard Rock Stadium. The game can be streamed through ESPN+ and also be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Network from Learfield.
Â
Here is some of what Hall said the media on Tuesday:
Â
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW91sR5tMLU
Â
Opening Statement…
"Just a great competition Tuesday today. Our kids really brought a lot of energy and juice. It was great to get out on the grass and really get after each other. We took some steps in the right direction. Zach Wilcke had a really good day, and like I said after the game the other night, we're pushing him along to play him as soon as he's ready—that could be this week. He's really taken some steps forward over the last few weeks. I thought our kids really got better. I saw some great physicalness in inside drill, thought our backs ran the ball well, our wide outs caught it as well as our tight ends. On the back end, I thought we've had a lot of leadership with Jay Stanley and Malik [Shorts] and Cam [Cameron Harrell] and Tylan [Knight] and Daylen Gill. Again, I thought I guys really got after it today—It was good to see. We got some good special teams work and we're continuing to build this program. We're really disappointed in the fact that we couldn't get that done this past week, and we've got to learn from that. I've been telling y'all all season, we've got to learn how to stop doing those things that have hindered this program for so long, and we're going to. We've pulled this wagon up a really steep mountain and eventually we're going to get it over and when it's over, it's going to roll down really fast. But that last pull is probably the most difficult, and we've got to have everybody on deck pulling that thing right now. I'm just really proud of our kids today—I thought we got better."
Â
On Execution in the Red Zone Saturday…
"We thought we were good. We got the ball first-and-goal at the five and then had a 4 9/10-yard run down to the one and then we ran quarterback sneak and scored. Unfortunately, we didn't get credit for that, so then we ran quarterback sneak again and they adjusted their front, and it was just a bad play by Ty [Keyes]. He ran up the middle and all he needed to do was go right—they had nobody right—on a quarterback sneak. It was probably the first two quarterback sneaks he's ever run live in his life, and it was just a bad deal by him, or we score again. I had a bad play call on the last one—bad play call on that one. First and goal on the five and you get 4 9/10 yards and then you score, and then we had a poorly executed play and then a bad call. So that was disappointing to see, but it is what it is. They're a really good football team and sometimes it's hard to score two times on one drive, and that's an excuse—it is what it is. We've got to score more than once, but we definitely got in on the quarterback sneak."
Â
On Ty Keyes' Status…Â
"He was out there today getting reps. First and foremost, Ty is a young kid that we love a lot and we want the future for him more so than the present. We'll never sacrifice a kid's future and put that in jeopardy over the present. He wants to play, and we're going through the protocol of that with the health people—Todd McCall, our athletic trainer—to get that sorted out."
Â
On Zach Wilcke's Status as Taking Over as Quarterback No. 2…Â
"We're trying to get him ready to. He's obviously the most talented of the group, and he's young. I've had five all-conference freshman quarterbacks in my career, one of them [Michael Pratt] is at Tulane right now and is a great player, and we didn't play him until game three of that year. It was actually right here in The Rock. We're going to play Zach when Zach is ready to play, and we're not going to jeopardize his career until he is ready."
Â
On Frank Gore, Jr.'s Return to Hometown Against Miami…Â
"You'd have to ask him. I know Frank loves Southern Miss like I do. I love Southern Miss, Frank loves Southern Miss. We love this place. We're trying to build this place. We're pouring everything we got into it. It's back home for him and I'm sure he'll have a bunch of people there. That'd be great for you to talk to him about because he's a passionate kid that is a lover and loves to impact people, and I'm sure it's going to mean a lot to him"
Â
On Miami's Offense…Â
"Coach Cristobal [Miami head coach, Mario Cristobal] and Coach Mirabal [Miami assistant head coach and offensive line coach, Alex Mirabal] are two of the best o-line coaches in the country. They've always done a great job in the trenches. They want to establish the run. I know both of them real well and have great respect for them. They're going to always try and establish the run. They have a really good quarterback and a lot of athletes, and they'll be a tremendous challenge for us."
Â
On Frank Gore, Jr.'s Importance to the Program…Â
"He's just a winner. We're kind of kindred spirits in that we're both not the biggest guys—we've got a chip on our shoulder and we're trying to prove people wrong. He's willing to do whatever it takes. After the game, he was one of the leaders telling everybody, 'Hey guys. We're so much better than we used to be. We've got talent now. That's an inexcusable way to lose a game—to turn it over like that—and we've got to correct these mistakes and we've got a long season.' We've got to continue to build this place, because technically, Frank is just a sophomore and most of the kids that played that night on offense—outside of Jason Brownlee and Paul Gainer, Jr. and Tykeem Doss—they're all back. They're young and playing football and we've got to continue to coach them and get them better."
Â
On Building Buy-In with Frank Gore, Jr…Â
"He would probably tell you, and I would too, that it was a little rocky at first, but most great relationships are. Most great relationships have to go through some adversity to really find out how much you love each other—maybe kind of like me and our fans right now. We're kind of going through a little adversity to find out how much we love each other. I love Southern Miss and I love our fanbase and I am working as hard as any human being can do to build this great program back. I love how passionate our fans are and I appreciate them and we're going to work through this together and there is going to be some really really great days in the future as we build this thing."
Â
On Ty Keyes' Teachable Moments from Saturday…Â
"He had two disastrous plays and then he had a lot of great plays. He had some great runs, which we knew he would do. He slipped one time making a safety miss, which could've even been a bigger one. He had two great deep ball throws to Brandon Hayes and Jason Brownlee. He just had a pick on the seam ball to Brownlee where he threw it right to linebacker. A really bad play, a great effort play—he tackled the guy, which was good. Then the tipped pass was just a great play by their defensive lineman. It was a bad situation to be in. He should've checked out of the play, we should've never the play with blitz right there. And then we've got to make not-a-bad-play worse. We can't make a bad play a disastrous play. Outside of those two plays, he played a really really good game. Now those were two really bad plays that we've got to learn from because they hurt us."
Â
On Wideouts' Four Touches Collectively…Â
"Tough deal with the way the game went on. We went with the SuperBack to start the second half and went right down the field and scored and it became very apparent that they were going to have a hard time moving the ball on us. We knew we were playing great defense and it became apparent that we could move the ball on them doing that. So I came into a mode of 'Let's try and win a football game' more so than try and be cute. So we stayed with the SuperBack and just tried to win a big game. If we don't turn it over, we do. We scored to take the lead with 1:50 left and we were down inside the five and fumbled and we missed a field goal. We moved the ball enough to win the game in the circumstances we were in and just didn't get it done and we've got to correct those mistakes."
Â
On If Antavious Willis Scored in the First Quarter…Â
"No, but I think we scored the time before that on a quarterback sneak thought. The quarterback sneak was 100% a touchdown. I'm as sure that quarterback sneak was a touchdown as I am that we're black and gold."
Â
On Benefit of Playing Two Freshman Tackles…Â
"It was good and Kyron Barnes played really good. He's going to be a really good player. He's got a lot of potential. Great kid and he played really good. Calvin McMillian is coming along too. I thought Calvin had a great attitude today and really worked hard."
Â
On Seeing the SuperBack This Week…Â
"You should expect it some throughout the rest of the year. It's just who we are right now with young quarterbacks and developing them. It takes some pressure off them and gives other teams something to prepare for."
Â
On Keeping Wide Receivers Bought In Despite Quarterback Issues…Â
"They're all bought in. They're working with Ty and Wilcke. They know and understand. They love Southern Miss. Jason Brownlee loves Southern Miss. Jason Brownlee could've gone a bunch of places this year in the offseason with the portal and everything, but he stayed here because he loves Southern Miss and loves this place like we all do."
Â
On Offensive Matchup Against Miami's Defense…Â
"It's going to be a tremendous challenge. They're really talented. Their defensive coordinator [Kevin Steele] has been all of the really big places in the world and coached at all those places and has always done good. They've got a lot beef up front on the defensive line and they're really athletic. They've got all the credentials to be a great defense and we've got to go down there and put our best foot forward."
Â
On Inability to Play Desired Offense…Â
"Well, that's my fault, I've been here two years so I take credit for that. We are going to be able to. We just had a quarterback go down, and we could've kept playing offense that way too. We just went to the SuperBack, and it worked so well that we stayed with it. That's all that was. We didn't go into the game saying we're going to go SuperBack the whole second half and we didn't say we were going to go with the SuperBack when Ty got hurt. That was not the plan. It was just working so good that we stayed with it."
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Players Mentioned
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