Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Will Hall Media Availability – The ULM Game
10/8/2024 11:34:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Golden Eagle football coach Will Hall spoke with members of the media following practice on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the Joe P. Park Practice Field. Hall discussed Southern Miss' discussed this weekend's road tilt at ULM.
The Golden Eagles (1-4) take on the Warhawks (4-1) for only the third in Monroe. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 12, at Malone Stadium. Fans can take in the broadcast on ESPN+ or tune in to Rock 104.5 FM, Southern Miss' Flagship Station, to hear the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, and Lee Roberts on the Southern Miss Sports Network radio broadcast.
Here is what Hall said to the media:
Opening Statement:
"What an awesome day. There was great juice and energy by our guys. It was beautiful weather today and I thank the good Lord for that. We've got a really good opponent this week. They are 4-1 and they have done a phenomenal job. I've got a lot of respect for Coach [Bryant] Vincent, and a lot of guys on their staff I've known for a long time. They've done a great job playing really good complementary football and played really good defense with timely turnovers and takeaways. They have been really sound in the kicking game, and they have been able to win some really good games, particularly this past week, beating a James Madison team that's had some really good seasons through the past few years. It's a big challenge for us and we're excited for it. We like how our team's working. We like the positives that are showing and we think we're going to play some really good football.
On ULM's defense:
"It's a sum of its parts. There's not one standout, but they play really hard at d-line, linebacker and safety. They get up in your face at corner and make their plays, and they just play good defense. When you make a mistake, they'll get a takeaway and it's usually a big one. James Madison last week had the ball in the red zone, and Monroe had just muffed a punt, and they forced a turnover and ran all the way back for a touchdown to change that score. They got some timely turnovers in games that have really been big. They've got their mojo going and they are playing well."
On ULM's defensive line:
They mix their fronts up. You'll see mostly four down, but you'll see some three down. Going back to the C-USA days, when Bill Clark was at UAB and built all those programs, their defensive coordinator [Earnest Hill] was there, and of course Coach Vincent was there. You're looking at a Bill Clark family tree defense. I've got great respect for him and we go way back. They'll chop the front up when they need to, and they'll place it three down when they need to."
More on ULM:
"They were not a bad football team last year either so they brought in a bunch of new players, but they had some guys there that could play. Last year, they got beat maybe by around a 60-yard field goal by App State. They were in a bunch of games last year and they were close. Coach Vincent has come in and brought some new players and they've had a great start to the season."
On getting offense more involved:
"We're just not playing good offense altogether. We've got to play better as a total group and that's going to happen…We'd like to get everybody more touches. We snapped it 40 times, we had one game where we had 31 snaps and only played one half. We've played five games, but we've only played four games almost from our snap count perspective. Now, why is that? We've got to get more third downs and then we have got to get off the field more on defense on third down. We've got a really low snap count number for a five-game football team. When your snap counts low, then your touches are lower, but we must execute better in totality, and we're fixing to. We've got to make more off schedule plays. When you look all over college football all the way to the Ravens and Bengals game, they are won on off scheduled plays with both of those quarterbacks. We've got to make more off schedule plays at quarterback-that's football. I know our quarterbacks are going to be healthy this week, and so we're expecting to make more of those, which can inject life into you too. Things aren't just perfect because football's not played in a vacuum, and we've had to play it in a vacuum for the last two weeks because of our limited mobility at quarterback.
On running back Kenyon Clay's performance:
"It's not a surprise to me. The kid is going to be an unbelievable football player and he has a chance to be special, and Dreke [Clark] too. If you go back and watch the last several games, Drake and him are very rarely tackled by the first guy. They make at least one guy and sometimes two guys miss. They are probably playing as well as anyone on our football team."
On making defensive corrections last week vs. Louisiana:
"We feel like that's who we are. We've got to carry that over and we can't lose that. We still think we can improve a little bit with our eye discipline and safety. We're playing a team that really wants to establish the run again, much like Louisiana did, so we think there's some carryover. We should have Jay Jones back and Dylan Lawrence back, which will help, but I like the way we're progressing, and I like the growth we have made. We've got to get to third and longer more. We were perfect in that situation, but really bad in third and four or less. To do that, we have to get more knock back tackles on first down, so we've got to find a way to do that without losing our identity of getting the ball, not giving up big plays and red zone defense. We said at the beginning of the year that's where we are going to live and die is in the red zone on our defensive football team, and it was good to see us play better red zone defense this past week."
The Golden Eagles (1-4) take on the Warhawks (4-1) for only the third in Monroe. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 12, at Malone Stadium. Fans can take in the broadcast on ESPN+ or tune in to Rock 104.5 FM, Southern Miss' Flagship Station, to hear the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, and Lee Roberts on the Southern Miss Sports Network radio broadcast.
Here is what Hall said to the media:
Opening Statement:
"What an awesome day. There was great juice and energy by our guys. It was beautiful weather today and I thank the good Lord for that. We've got a really good opponent this week. They are 4-1 and they have done a phenomenal job. I've got a lot of respect for Coach [Bryant] Vincent, and a lot of guys on their staff I've known for a long time. They've done a great job playing really good complementary football and played really good defense with timely turnovers and takeaways. They have been really sound in the kicking game, and they have been able to win some really good games, particularly this past week, beating a James Madison team that's had some really good seasons through the past few years. It's a big challenge for us and we're excited for it. We like how our team's working. We like the positives that are showing and we think we're going to play some really good football.
On ULM's defense:
"It's a sum of its parts. There's not one standout, but they play really hard at d-line, linebacker and safety. They get up in your face at corner and make their plays, and they just play good defense. When you make a mistake, they'll get a takeaway and it's usually a big one. James Madison last week had the ball in the red zone, and Monroe had just muffed a punt, and they forced a turnover and ran all the way back for a touchdown to change that score. They got some timely turnovers in games that have really been big. They've got their mojo going and they are playing well."
On ULM's defensive line:
They mix their fronts up. You'll see mostly four down, but you'll see some three down. Going back to the C-USA days, when Bill Clark was at UAB and built all those programs, their defensive coordinator [Earnest Hill] was there, and of course Coach Vincent was there. You're looking at a Bill Clark family tree defense. I've got great respect for him and we go way back. They'll chop the front up when they need to, and they'll place it three down when they need to."
More on ULM:
"They were not a bad football team last year either so they brought in a bunch of new players, but they had some guys there that could play. Last year, they got beat maybe by around a 60-yard field goal by App State. They were in a bunch of games last year and they were close. Coach Vincent has come in and brought some new players and they've had a great start to the season."
On getting offense more involved:
"We're just not playing good offense altogether. We've got to play better as a total group and that's going to happen…We'd like to get everybody more touches. We snapped it 40 times, we had one game where we had 31 snaps and only played one half. We've played five games, but we've only played four games almost from our snap count perspective. Now, why is that? We've got to get more third downs and then we have got to get off the field more on defense on third down. We've got a really low snap count number for a five-game football team. When your snap counts low, then your touches are lower, but we must execute better in totality, and we're fixing to. We've got to make more off schedule plays. When you look all over college football all the way to the Ravens and Bengals game, they are won on off scheduled plays with both of those quarterbacks. We've got to make more off schedule plays at quarterback-that's football. I know our quarterbacks are going to be healthy this week, and so we're expecting to make more of those, which can inject life into you too. Things aren't just perfect because football's not played in a vacuum, and we've had to play it in a vacuum for the last two weeks because of our limited mobility at quarterback.
On running back Kenyon Clay's performance:
"It's not a surprise to me. The kid is going to be an unbelievable football player and he has a chance to be special, and Dreke [Clark] too. If you go back and watch the last several games, Drake and him are very rarely tackled by the first guy. They make at least one guy and sometimes two guys miss. They are probably playing as well as anyone on our football team."
On making defensive corrections last week vs. Louisiana:
"We feel like that's who we are. We've got to carry that over and we can't lose that. We still think we can improve a little bit with our eye discipline and safety. We're playing a team that really wants to establish the run again, much like Louisiana did, so we think there's some carryover. We should have Jay Jones back and Dylan Lawrence back, which will help, but I like the way we're progressing, and I like the growth we have made. We've got to get to third and longer more. We were perfect in that situation, but really bad in third and four or less. To do that, we have to get more knock back tackles on first down, so we've got to find a way to do that without losing our identity of getting the ball, not giving up big plays and red zone defense. We said at the beginning of the year that's where we are going to live and die is in the red zone on our defensive football team, and it was good to see us play better red zone defense this past week."
- @USMGoldenEagles/@SouthernMissFB -
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