University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Kicking Game Coming into Focus
8/15/2023 1:50:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss football team returned to practice Tuesday morning on the game field at The Rock and went through another hot day as they finished with the 11th session of fall camp.
"We got some great situational work today as y'all saw from two-minute drill to some third down transitioning to tempo for our defensive substitutions and our kids handled that really well," said third-year coach Will Hall to the media. "Our coaches and all our people that are a part of it executed it really well. It was just another good day of work. We got some good kickoff return work today. Some good punt down in the low red [zone].
"Our punt, on the plus side of the field, we were trying to pooch it and down it. Saw some great punts by Bryce Lofton (Sand Hill, Miss./Copiah-Lincoln CC). Markel McLaurin (Friendship, Miss. / Jones College) downed one on the one-yard line, it was beautiful. We've got some guys that are continuing to improve and we've just got to keep on trucking, baby."
The Golden Eagles have three practices left in fall camp with a workout schedule tomorrow and Friday with the second preseason scrimmage slated for Saturday, Aug. 19. Hall said there are still some things he wants to accomplish with the final three days of camp.
"We'll go in shells tomorrow," said Hall. "We won't tackle. We tackled again today - we tackle on Tuesdays and Saturdays here. We'll do some more situational work. We'll get down into the high red [zone] a little bit tomorrow and we're going to work some two-point plays tomorrow. Then, we'll be off on Thursday. Friday, we'll come back with some more situational work—probably some end-of-game situations with no time. Those will be lighter days where we won't tackle. Saturday, we'll scrimmage again. It'll be a traditional Southern Miss-Will Hall type scrimmage. It'll be blood and guts and we'll get after it. [It's] going to be a lot of fun."
Following practice, Hall talked about the specialists who are battling for starting jobs, starting with redshirt sophomore punter Bryce Lofton.
"We're excited about Bryce," said Hall. "Bryce has the resume of guys that have been really good for us for a long time. He's a kid from Pisgah [High School] that went to junior college and had a great junior college career. He came here and redshirted and learned and now it's his turn.
"(Former Golden Eagle punter) Mason Hunt did the same thing, you know what I mean, and we've had a bunch of guys through the years be that way for us wherever we've been, me and Coach [Greg] Meyer. So, he's got the ability and he's doing a good job now and we're excited to watch him play this year."
The Golden Eagles will also have to replace a starting place kicker and there is still work to be done for someone to win that job.
"Right now if you look statistically, it's not over, because we're still in fall camp, but Connor Gibbs (Metairie, La. / Metairie Park Country Day School) is the kickoff guy," said Hall. "He's really booming it, I mean he was hitting them four-and-five [yards] deep consistently and had one nine-[yards]-deep today, and [Andrew] Stein (Slidell, La./Northshore HS) has got a slight edge in the PAT-field goal department from an accuracy standpoint when you look at the numbers throughout—that was going into today, but, you know, we've still got three more days. You know how I am, we're going to lay it down and every rep is going to count, not just the beginning."
The season opens at home Saturday, Sept. 2, against Alcorn State and tickets are still available for that game as well as the final five home games this fall. Fans can contact purchase home season or single game tickets at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or visit the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office on campus weekdays during normal business hours.
"We got some great situational work today as y'all saw from two-minute drill to some third down transitioning to tempo for our defensive substitutions and our kids handled that really well," said third-year coach Will Hall to the media. "Our coaches and all our people that are a part of it executed it really well. It was just another good day of work. We got some good kickoff return work today. Some good punt down in the low red [zone].
"Our punt, on the plus side of the field, we were trying to pooch it and down it. Saw some great punts by Bryce Lofton (Sand Hill, Miss./Copiah-Lincoln CC). Markel McLaurin (Friendship, Miss. / Jones College) downed one on the one-yard line, it was beautiful. We've got some guys that are continuing to improve and we've just got to keep on trucking, baby."
The Golden Eagles have three practices left in fall camp with a workout schedule tomorrow and Friday with the second preseason scrimmage slated for Saturday, Aug. 19. Hall said there are still some things he wants to accomplish with the final three days of camp.
"We'll go in shells tomorrow," said Hall. "We won't tackle. We tackled again today - we tackle on Tuesdays and Saturdays here. We'll do some more situational work. We'll get down into the high red [zone] a little bit tomorrow and we're going to work some two-point plays tomorrow. Then, we'll be off on Thursday. Friday, we'll come back with some more situational work—probably some end-of-game situations with no time. Those will be lighter days where we won't tackle. Saturday, we'll scrimmage again. It'll be a traditional Southern Miss-Will Hall type scrimmage. It'll be blood and guts and we'll get after it. [It's] going to be a lot of fun."
Following practice, Hall talked about the specialists who are battling for starting jobs, starting with redshirt sophomore punter Bryce Lofton.
"We're excited about Bryce," said Hall. "Bryce has the resume of guys that have been really good for us for a long time. He's a kid from Pisgah [High School] that went to junior college and had a great junior college career. He came here and redshirted and learned and now it's his turn.
"(Former Golden Eagle punter) Mason Hunt did the same thing, you know what I mean, and we've had a bunch of guys through the years be that way for us wherever we've been, me and Coach [Greg] Meyer. So, he's got the ability and he's doing a good job now and we're excited to watch him play this year."
The Golden Eagles will also have to replace a starting place kicker and there is still work to be done for someone to win that job.
"Right now if you look statistically, it's not over, because we're still in fall camp, but Connor Gibbs (Metairie, La. / Metairie Park Country Day School) is the kickoff guy," said Hall. "He's really booming it, I mean he was hitting them four-and-five [yards] deep consistently and had one nine-[yards]-deep today, and [Andrew] Stein (Slidell, La./Northshore HS) has got a slight edge in the PAT-field goal department from an accuracy standpoint when you look at the numbers throughout—that was going into today, but, you know, we've still got three more days. You know how I am, we're going to lay it down and every rep is going to count, not just the beginning."
The season opens at home Saturday, Sept. 2, against Alcorn State and tickets are still available for that game as well as the final five home games this fall. Fans can contact purchase home season or single game tickets at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or visit the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office on campus weekdays during normal business hours.
Players Mentioned
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