University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Will Hall Media Availability - The Tulane Game
9/12/2023 11:45:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss head football coach Will Hall met with members of the media following practice on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the Joe P. Park Practice Field. Hall discussed last week's game against Florida State and previewed the Saturday, Sept. 16, matchup against rival Tulane.
The 34th Battle for the Bell begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, at The Rock. Saturday's contest will be broadcast to a national audience on ESPNU and can also be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network or on the Southern Miss Gameday App. Tickets for all remaining home and away games are still available and available for purchase at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office on campus.
Here is some of what Hall said to the media:
Opening Statement…
"Great Tuesday. Great weather, I thank the Good Lord for that. [We] had a lot of energy and juice today. Our kids are excited to get back out there. We're excited for this week. Huge rivalry game against the best group of five team in America right now, coming off of their performance last year. I've got a lot of respect for their program and their head coach, their coordinators, their quarterback and just how they do things. I was blessed to a part of it for two years and I'm very thankful for that. This game means a lot to a lot of people at Southern Miss and our kids certainly understand that – our staff does – and we're looking to respond this week and have a great week of practice and show that we have a good football team because we know we do."
On Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt's chances on playing…
"If there's any way possible Michael can play, Michael will play. Michael's a winner in every sense of the word. If he can't play, then nobody on planet earth can play. That's all I know. I don't know anything else except that. I know Michael. I know what Michael's about. If Michael can play, Michael will play."
On Tulane backup quarterback Kai Horton…
"He's really good, really good. I thought he played great versus Houston last year. I thought he played decent versus Cincinnati two years ago as a true freshman. I thought he played really well versus Ole Miss to give them a chance. I thought he played good in some other games he played in. Then the guy behind him, Justin Ibieta, is a super talented individual too, maybe the most talented one over there, that's had labrum surgery and I don't think yet his shoulder is 100 percent healed yet too. They've got a good quarterback room right there."
On playing two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum and how it affects team identity…
"We know what our identity is. We're going to be a multiple personnel team that uses some tempo at times that mixes run and pass and takes what the defense gives you. Florida State don't give you anything. They didn't to us and it is what it is. We've got a good offensive football team and we're going to be good. We're looking forward to the rest of the year."
On Dreke Clark's contribution to the team…
"He's a good player. He's a really good football player that's going to have a great career here. The first two games have played out to where we took Frank [Gore, Jr.] (Miami, Fla. / Killian HS) our early because we've got a long season and didn't want to get him banged up and hurt when a game had already been decided. I anticipate Frank will play four quarters this week and Dreke's [Rodrigues "Dreke" Clark] (Starkville, Miss. / Memphis) is there to spell him. Chandler Pittman (Magee, Miss. / Magee HS) is a really good football player that you saw too that you saw we got the ball in his hands the other night one time. We tried several times. We'll get it is his hands a lot this week. JQ Gray (Hattiesburg, Miss. / Oak Grove HS) is a young guy that's coming on and Rambo [Antavious Willis] (Camden, Miss. / Velma Jackson HS) is a guy that can make plays. We've got a good running back room. Kenyon Clay (Union, Miss. / Union HS) is about to be back from injury. There's a chance he can play this week. The preseason is over. We played a half against Alcorn. We played a half against Florida State. Frank's load will increase significantly moving forward."
On why he targeted Dreke Clark in the transfer portal…
"I recruited him at Memphis and then we recruited him here. He was first team All-State at Starkville, an unbelievable running back in the state of Mississippi. Highly-recruited kid out of high school that we were able to sign at Memphis while I was there. When he got in the portal, it was a no brainer for us. He's a Southern Miss guy all the way with how he acts, how he loves football and how he can play. He's doing really well in the kicking game too."
On expectations from Tulane defensive coordinator Shiel Wood…
"He's done a good job. We've gone against Shiel several times through the years when he was at Army and we were at Tulane. Last year he was at Troy. He's a good defensive coach that's very sound in what he does. Very rarely out of position. Now he's with [Tulane head coach] Willie Fritz and Willie Fritz' teams play hard. Our fans will see a similar style defense from the standpoint of their sound in how they play, they can apply pressure in multiple ways and they play really hard. Our programs are built very similar in that fashion."
On offensive line's performance against Florida State…
"They battled and played. There were some real positives to come out of that game. Number one was our O-line, number two was our young tight ends and number three was our corners. O-line has been a question mark here for so many years. We said going into the year we thought we had that fixed. I don't think there's any doubt that we do. With Cole's [Cole Cavallo] (Tight End / Slidell, La. / Northshore HS) injury, it's forced these young tight ends to get better faster and they have. That's going to be a positive as the year goes on. Then we said going into the year these corners are really talented but they're unproven. Well they got tested by the best of the best Saturday and they rose to the occasion. We can build off that and grow from there and use that moving forward as we go into a huge rivalry game against a great team and then on into Sun Belt play. The goal for this year is to put ourselves in contention to win the Sun Belt West [Division]. We've got one more out of conference game before we get into that. We want to continue to grow and continue to get better and we want to respond the right way. We've got to play really well against a great opponent or we'll get embarrassed. They're a really good team."
On timeline for Cole Cavallo's return…
"I don't. You'd have to ask Todd McCall."
On what it means to have Tulane at home in The Rock…
"It's great. Last year they were the best group of five team. They proved that over and over. They beat a really good South Alabama team soundly. They had Ole Miss, they had them. A call here or there differently, and they win that football game. They outplayed them really. Really good football team. Great to have them here at The Rock. It's great to have that rivalry renewed, I commend both administrations. We want to win."
On Tulane's defensive line performance against Ole Miss…
"They just out schemed them. They chopped up the front and cut up the front, had a lot of great run stunts. Ole Miss kept running the same schemes at them and they kept running the same stunts and getting in the backfield. They just had them outnumbered right there at the point of attack in the run game and did a great job schematically in how they attacked Ole Miss."
The 34th Battle for the Bell begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, at The Rock. Saturday's contest will be broadcast to a national audience on ESPNU and can also be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network or on the Southern Miss Gameday App. Tickets for all remaining home and away games are still available and available for purchase at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office on campus.
Here is some of what Hall said to the media:
Opening Statement…
"Great Tuesday. Great weather, I thank the Good Lord for that. [We] had a lot of energy and juice today. Our kids are excited to get back out there. We're excited for this week. Huge rivalry game against the best group of five team in America right now, coming off of their performance last year. I've got a lot of respect for their program and their head coach, their coordinators, their quarterback and just how they do things. I was blessed to a part of it for two years and I'm very thankful for that. This game means a lot to a lot of people at Southern Miss and our kids certainly understand that – our staff does – and we're looking to respond this week and have a great week of practice and show that we have a good football team because we know we do."
On Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt's chances on playing…
"If there's any way possible Michael can play, Michael will play. Michael's a winner in every sense of the word. If he can't play, then nobody on planet earth can play. That's all I know. I don't know anything else except that. I know Michael. I know what Michael's about. If Michael can play, Michael will play."
On Tulane backup quarterback Kai Horton…
"He's really good, really good. I thought he played great versus Houston last year. I thought he played decent versus Cincinnati two years ago as a true freshman. I thought he played really well versus Ole Miss to give them a chance. I thought he played good in some other games he played in. Then the guy behind him, Justin Ibieta, is a super talented individual too, maybe the most talented one over there, that's had labrum surgery and I don't think yet his shoulder is 100 percent healed yet too. They've got a good quarterback room right there."
On playing two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum and how it affects team identity…
"We know what our identity is. We're going to be a multiple personnel team that uses some tempo at times that mixes run and pass and takes what the defense gives you. Florida State don't give you anything. They didn't to us and it is what it is. We've got a good offensive football team and we're going to be good. We're looking forward to the rest of the year."
On Dreke Clark's contribution to the team…
"He's a good player. He's a really good football player that's going to have a great career here. The first two games have played out to where we took Frank [Gore, Jr.] (Miami, Fla. / Killian HS) our early because we've got a long season and didn't want to get him banged up and hurt when a game had already been decided. I anticipate Frank will play four quarters this week and Dreke's [Rodrigues "Dreke" Clark] (Starkville, Miss. / Memphis) is there to spell him. Chandler Pittman (Magee, Miss. / Magee HS) is a really good football player that you saw too that you saw we got the ball in his hands the other night one time. We tried several times. We'll get it is his hands a lot this week. JQ Gray (Hattiesburg, Miss. / Oak Grove HS) is a young guy that's coming on and Rambo [Antavious Willis] (Camden, Miss. / Velma Jackson HS) is a guy that can make plays. We've got a good running back room. Kenyon Clay (Union, Miss. / Union HS) is about to be back from injury. There's a chance he can play this week. The preseason is over. We played a half against Alcorn. We played a half against Florida State. Frank's load will increase significantly moving forward."
On why he targeted Dreke Clark in the transfer portal…
"I recruited him at Memphis and then we recruited him here. He was first team All-State at Starkville, an unbelievable running back in the state of Mississippi. Highly-recruited kid out of high school that we were able to sign at Memphis while I was there. When he got in the portal, it was a no brainer for us. He's a Southern Miss guy all the way with how he acts, how he loves football and how he can play. He's doing really well in the kicking game too."
On expectations from Tulane defensive coordinator Shiel Wood…
"He's done a good job. We've gone against Shiel several times through the years when he was at Army and we were at Tulane. Last year he was at Troy. He's a good defensive coach that's very sound in what he does. Very rarely out of position. Now he's with [Tulane head coach] Willie Fritz and Willie Fritz' teams play hard. Our fans will see a similar style defense from the standpoint of their sound in how they play, they can apply pressure in multiple ways and they play really hard. Our programs are built very similar in that fashion."
On offensive line's performance against Florida State…
"They battled and played. There were some real positives to come out of that game. Number one was our O-line, number two was our young tight ends and number three was our corners. O-line has been a question mark here for so many years. We said going into the year we thought we had that fixed. I don't think there's any doubt that we do. With Cole's [Cole Cavallo] (Tight End / Slidell, La. / Northshore HS) injury, it's forced these young tight ends to get better faster and they have. That's going to be a positive as the year goes on. Then we said going into the year these corners are really talented but they're unproven. Well they got tested by the best of the best Saturday and they rose to the occasion. We can build off that and grow from there and use that moving forward as we go into a huge rivalry game against a great team and then on into Sun Belt play. The goal for this year is to put ourselves in contention to win the Sun Belt West [Division]. We've got one more out of conference game before we get into that. We want to continue to grow and continue to get better and we want to respond the right way. We've got to play really well against a great opponent or we'll get embarrassed. They're a really good team."
On timeline for Cole Cavallo's return…
"I don't. You'd have to ask Todd McCall."
On what it means to have Tulane at home in The Rock…
"It's great. Last year they were the best group of five team. They proved that over and over. They beat a really good South Alabama team soundly. They had Ole Miss, they had them. A call here or there differently, and they win that football game. They outplayed them really. Really good football team. Great to have them here at The Rock. It's great to have that rivalry renewed, I commend both administrations. We want to win."
On Tulane's defensive line performance against Ole Miss…
"They just out schemed them. They chopped up the front and cut up the front, had a lot of great run stunts. Ole Miss kept running the same schemes at them and they kept running the same stunts and getting in the backfield. They just had them outnumbered right there at the point of attack in the run game and did a great job schematically in how they attacked Ole Miss."
– @SouthernMissFB | @USMGoldenEagles –
Players Mentioned
TE
/ Football
RB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
RB
/ Football2026 National Signing Day Press Conference with Blake Anderson
Wednesday, February 04
Southern Miss 2026 National Signing Day
Wednesday, February 04
Christian Ostrander Preseason Press Conference
Monday, January 19
Blake Anderson Introductory Press Conference
Monday, December 15