Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference - The Louisiana Game

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss head football coach Charles Huff addressed the media on Tuesday, Oct. 14, ahead of the Golden Eagles' matchup at Louisiana.

Southern Miss (4-2, 2-0 Sun Belt) looks for its second-straight road win of the season over the Cajuns (2-4, 1-1 Sun Belt) on Saturday, Oct. 18, at Our Lady of the Lourdes in Lafayette, La. The game will be televised on ESPN+ with Dan McDonald (Play-by-Play) and Eric Mouton (Color) anchoring the broadcast beginning at 4 p.m. CT.

Fans can also take in the game on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network or on the Southern Miss Game Day App with John Cox (Play-by-Play), Lee Roberts (Color) and Jason Baker (Sideline) on the call. Pregame coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. CT.

Here is what Huff said to the media:

Opening Statement…
"Welcome everybody. Appreciate you guys being here. Obviously, great team win last Thursday in a tough environment. Somebody ended up telling me it's one of the top five hardest places to play or winningest stadiums in college football. So for us to go down there and battle out a tough win against a really good team was really good. Players showed a lot of grit, players showed a lot of ability to respond. We showed what preparation and finishing the week when preparation can do for us, then we had a great opportunity to get some recruiting done with the two extra days, Friday, Saturday, to get out and see some high school games from junior college games, so that was really good. Then we enter this week, another huge challenge against a really good opponent, UL defending West Division champs pick preseason number one in the West. Obviously, with a lot of returning players, I think Coach Desormeaux and his staff the longest tenured head coach in the conference, I believe, and that didn't happen by just being around. The program has done a really good job for a really long time. I think they do a phenomenal job of developing players, recruiting the right players. It seems like they have guys that are there forever, which is a testament to them being able to retain good talent, while also being able to develop that talent. I think him and his staff do a really good job of putting their guys in position to be successful. They have a unique, but a very culture-driven system. Year after year, they kind of do the same things and do it well. At a really high level, players come in, they learn the culture, they learn how to do things their way. They all buy in, obviously, with this year's team, I got an appropriate fear for them. We talked about in the team meeting, probably one of the most dangerous teams that we'll play all year, because they're starting to get a lot of the players back that were injured. So, kind of what you see at the beginning of the year, you can't really expect to see on Saturday, and a lot of those players have played a lot of football, so it's not going to take them a long time to get back into the flow of playing really good. In theory, they still got a whole half a season left. They can drastically turn their season around, starting with one win at a time, and putting themselves in a really good position. So, we got a lot of work to do to go on the road again, to play a really good football team in an extremely tough environment."

Coach Huff on playing through all four quarters…
"Yeah, we haven't been able to play a complete game yet, so that's why I say we got a lot of work to do. Part of that is the opponent. They make plays, they're on scholarship, they have the will to win as well. Part of that is some things that we've got to do better throughout the game, to eliminate opportunities for teams to get back in games or get ahead of us in games. Part of that is just growing. I think there's a lot that we can do on our end. We talked last week, and one of the big things was making sure we finished the week of preparation, right? What do you do at the back end of your week of preparation? You know, most times on Thursday after practice, the physical part is done, right? You're into now rehab. You're into reviewing film, you're into, final checks and balances, those types of things. But that part of the week is just as important as the beginning, and I told them after Thursday's practice, in order for us to go finish the game, we got to finish the week. I thought they did that, which allowed us to finish the game in the right manner. Obviously, we're still searching for putting all four quarters together. Collectively, there's been games where offensively, we've done really good things in both halves or in separate halves. Defensively, both halves or separate halves. Special teams wise, both have separate halves. For us to continue to move forward, we got to put it all together. And that's the goal, moving forward."

Huff on Quarterback pressure in last week's matchup at Georgia Southern…
"With a combination of good coaches and good players, at some point, they figure it out. What we wanted to do was make sure that we were as opportunistic, while we could be, to put them in a little different position, I thought they did a really good job the second half the score really said kind of okay, let's throw it to get back in it. I thought they did a really good job of still mixing in enough runs that we couldn't get into true seven on seven, and they balanced that really well. Obviously, we allowed them to do that, which kept some of their drives alive. We allowed some huge third down conversions that probably could have stunted some of that offensively, we allowed them to get back in it by kind of spinning our wheels in the mud that third quarter. So, there's a combination of things. But when you play good players and good teams and good coaches, they're not going to go into the locker room and say, okay, guys, let's get ready for next week. So for us, we've got to continue to kind of figure out, okay, which way are they going to go coming out the second half based on what we've done, what they've done, how do we adjust on that? Sometimes its player-driven, what are our players able to do at this moment? Who's playing well, who's not banged up, who's, you know, got some touches, who's got some reps? But I thought JC [French IV] and the staff did a really good job of figuring it out. You know, they didn't kind of get frustrated and kind of say, all right, screw it. I thought coach Helton did the heck of a job. He didn't say, okay, let's try another quarterback. So, when you play good teams and good players, you know you got it. You've got to battle for 60 minutes, and that's why we always say it's a 60-minute game. Whatever happened in the first half could flip around and happen in the second half for another
team. So, we've got to continue to create ways for our players as coaches to be more effective in those types of games, in second halves and closing things out. The level of who you're playing, what they may be able to do will dictate what you have to do."

Huff on OL Broderick Roman…
"Every week we go in, we say, we give him a couple reps here, a couple reps there, and then he looks at us, he's like, no, I'm not coming out, then we think, we can get him out. We go from okay, let's start rotating some guys to oh, crap, the game's not over, let's try to score. So we've been in a little bit of a different scenario where we could get him out, but I think Broderick's done a great job his toughness. I played the center position, so that position is, it's kind of like being a catcher in baseball, man, you're it's dirty, it's gritty. You get stepped on, you get nicked up. Obviously, you have a huge piece of communication. That's one of the reasons why we try not to rotate that position as much. Communication on the O-line starts with that position. He's got a really good feel for Coach Coughlin's calls, Coach Coughlin's thoughts. He's a really good translator. I know we have our iPads on the sideline now, but still the verbal communication from the players when they come off the field is still important. He's able to communicate what happened. What was called, why it was called, what he saw. Sometimes you get players, they see ghost. Why'd you do that? Well, there's 13 guys out there. Okay, well, there weren't 13 guys, but what did you really see? But he does a great job of translating exactly what he saw. His toughness shows up. He's kind of the lynchpin of that group; he's one of those guys who's been in college since the flood. You know, he's been through all the different ups and downs of college season. Does a really good job of taking care of his body, takes a lot of pride in going in, doesn't look to come out of practice, doesn't look to take a rep off. Takes a lot of pride in being there until the end, and I think that toughness has kind of been the glue that has really started to gel that group up front, because we've moved a lot of other pieces around, but he's been the one kind of staple that's really kind of held it together."

Huff on UL Quarterback Lunch Winfield…
"Obviously there's limited film on him, so we've had to go back and watch some high school stuff as well, just to see his capabilities. He presents a lot of problems because, one, there's not a lot of film. It's kind of like a pitcher that just got called up from AAA. You don't know what he's going to throw, but you know. He throws 99 and 100 he doesn't really have necessarily a film library that this is what he does, or this is what he likes. I think Coach Des and the staff have done a really good job. Obviously, you come in in the fourth quarter of that one game and phenomenal comeback. Credit to him and the team for doing that, then you go into a bye week, so it's kind of like, okay, in the bye week, are they adding some things? Are they trying to figure out what he can do? And then you come out and play JMU, where it's like, okay, did they add some things during the week that he loved or wasn't quite sharp on that we're going to see because it's two weeks out? Did they go into it and say, okay, screw it. What do we need to do to get ready to be JMU? He's been in now, and this will be his first home start, but he's been on the mound now going on three times. So, the more you go out there, the more comfortable you get. The game slows down the more you're out there. That's why I say they're a dangerous team, because he's getting more comfortable. I think his staff is getting more comfortable with what he can do, and guys around him are getting more comfortable with what he can do. Throw all of that on top of being a supreme athlete, if he pulls it down and gets out, he can take it the distance, which limits some of the things you can do, coverage wise, which limits how you play some of the runs. You have got to have four sets of eyes on him, because he's a legitimate threat. Limit some of the pass rush when you do get to a chance to he's got to pass you limit some of the pass rush. You limit how you can rush. I think their O-line is doing a really good job of allowing him to see what he needs to see. In the past game, I think Coach Des is doing a great job of putting him in position to make plays that he's capable of making, and as you watch these games, he's getting better, which is a scary thing I love. I would have loved to catch him right after the fourth quarter, play the game the next day, but he's getting better, so we have to continue to understand from a defensive schematic standpoint where our weakness is, how do we protect our weaknesses? What do we need to do differently? There are some things that we're going to have to do differently. We haven't played a true runner this season like a legitimate player who can go 80. We've played some guys that can scramble. We've played some guys that are mobile, but this guy is like Lamar Jackson. He can turn into a running back, a receiver, an athlete like that, and he can throw really well. Throws a good deep ball, I think he throws on time. There's some throws he throws where his guys catch him in stride so that it's going to stress us, and it's going to stress us a lot. We're going to have to do a really good job this week in practice, of trying to replicate all the variables. The one thing you can't replicate is instinct, and that's what I think he has, a very good instinct for his natural athleticism, as well as throwing the ball."

Huff on what really stood out from last week…
Yeah, I think it's, it's a little bit of cohesion. I think Jeffrey, and all the backs with Jeffrey especially, he's starting to come into his own. He's starting to find a little bit of a rhythm. When you really look back on it, he hasn't played a lot of football. If you really look back, you know, it wasn't like he was a 5000 yard back at Mississippi State, or he played, you know, four or five years good back, good athlete, obviously going through the spring here, the O line was half of what it is now, because we got the other half of those guys in June, going through the summer, you really don't have pads on. Then you get into fall camp and you're going against your defense, which is really good. So it takes a while, then you start out with an SEC team. All that to say, I think Jeffrey and the O line are starting to kind of play together. He's starting to get a good feel for how they block, how long they hold blocks. What does the reads mean to him? It's still his first year in the system, so you're really talking understanding? Yeah, I know what to do on this run, but how does it react? And I think he's starting to get little more comfortable. I think he's starting to add some of his natural running back ability to the scheme. And I think as we continue to do more, and I think as we continue to play consistent up front, he's going to continue to do well, and then that allows all the other backs to kind of have backs are kind of like. Like hitters in baseball, like when they come back to the sideline, like what you see, you know, hey, well, I pressed it and I kind of stuttered a little bit and it opened up, or I gave it a little more time. Or, hey, you know, we collected the edge on this play last time. You know. Hey, if they in this front, you know, we should be able to get in the B gap or C gap, or whatever it is. So I think the more Jeffrey gets comfortable with the O line and the cohesion, the more the other backs are going to be able to do the same thing

Huff on if a schematic advantage is why we are 4th in the nation in turnover margin…
Oh, I always think when you got good players, you can you can call the game. It starts with the players. I think we put an intentional focus on turnovers. This week's going to be a challenge, because I think they lead the conference in forced fumbles. We start every practice with a turnover circuit. Then there's another 10 minutes devoted right after that circuit to tackling and punching the ball and blocking on the perimeter and protecting the ball. So we're putting a lot of intentional focus on taking care of the ball on offense and ball disruption on defense. You combine that with good players, and then you put them in positions that they are able to take the ball away. I don't think we've done a good job for the amount of time that we've put in of punching it away, punching it out, but you kind of ride a balance. If you want to be a good tackling team, you got to get close to the guy and get him on the ground. There are still some ball attacks that we've had that have been really good. The ball just didn't come out. But I think it's a combination of good players and intentional focus. We put a lot of time into ball security and ball disruption. Now it's something that, I mean, you can work it every day for 20 days and not see a return on it, but we put a lot of focus on this week's going to be a challenge on its own offense, probably the first team that we've played that are as intentional about punching at it as we are. I think the other thing is, when we do a lot of good on good work in the summer, a lot of good on good work in camp and during the season, when you are playing other good players. You know, Braylon is not out there trying to throw interceptions, so you got to be really intentional if you want to try and pick him off. The other receivers are running really crisp route. So you got to have an understanding of coverage and windows. You know, who's rolling into this window? What area do I have? Why I'm in? Why am I in this area? Schematically, we try to teach our defense from an offensive perspective. You know, some defenses say you would just drop to the hook curl. Well, where's the receiver in relationship to where you need to drop? Where is the route tree going to put these group of receivers in relation to where you're going to drop? Which gives us a chance to be a little bit more opportunistic with where we are on the field, deploying guys, combined with the intentional focus we put on matched all up with really good players. The DBs laugh at Rashard all the time because he probably should be leading the country in picks. He's probably leading the conference in PB use, which I tell him, does nothing for us. It's 2nd and 10 if you break a pass up, it's our ball if you pick it off. There's a lot of opportunities that our guys are making really good plays and getting their hands on the ball. I think it's a combination of things. At the same time as we talk about how good we've done, we spend as much time talking about if we don't do that well, in these next six games, it could be the other story, you know, where all of a sudden we're the worst in the conference and turnover. So I think it's a combination.

Huff on the remaining conference schedule ahead…
Yeah, I've, won this conference. I've been in this conference a long time. It's one week at a time. Man, there's a few things that I do know. If you want to be good in this conference, you got to take care of the football. You got to play well on the road. If you can do those two things alone, you got a chance that when the dust settles to be in the conversation. But every year I've been in it, man, it's crazy. It's a competitive league from top to bottom. On any given Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday, any team in this league can beat you. We spend a lot of time on the mental disposition of your preparation, because that determines how you walk into the arena. 18 to 22 year old kids. You say, well man they played very well last week. Well, did his girlfriend break up with him? Did his mom call and his dog sick? Did he wake up this morning and his emotional meter was just low. You don't know that's why we are in the most volatile business in the world, but we spent so much time on the mental disposition of your preparation. Because if you prepare with the right mentality, you should walk into the arena very confident, which should allow you to play a lot more consistent. I think when you see the ebbs and flows, it typically reverts back to your preparation. So you got to take it one week at a time. You can't look at a team's record, you know, I don't even look at the, we call them the statue, the rankings, because they don't really mean anything, because if we go down here and crap the bed, well, that changes everything for every other team in the conference, every other team on our schedule. So we've got to focus on today. Try to get the mental disposition right to go out and have the best Tuesday practice we've ever had. Find a way to finish Tuesday with the right rehab study hall, film study. Try to do it again tomorrow, try to go on the road in a tough environment and play well enough to win. As a young head coach, I used to be so focused on we didn't win by enough, or we didn't play well enough each week. You just want one more point than the opponent, like I get it. Trust me. I know, I know you would FanDuel, and I know your espn.com bets, John, I know that. But for us, it doesn't really matter. It just give us one more point than the opponent, to give us a chance to go back, make corrections and improve. Are we striving to play a complete game. Absolutely. Are we striving to play consistent? Absolutely. So is the other team. But what do we need to do this week, starting with today, to go play well enough on Saturday to win, then next week, we'll try it again, because at the end of the year, it's not a well you only won by it's what's the win column, what's the loss column. And I think the more we can get our guys to be more focused on the now, instead of the big picture, obviously you have to plan, right? You got to get travel ready. You got to have a game set, times, all those things. But if we can get our guys in the locker room to focus on the now, I think we'll play a lot more consistent.

Huff on the familiarity playing ULM this Saturday with returning players and coaches…
Well, only half of that 21 actually played in the game, so the other half were on the sideline cheering. Because, you know, some of those guys were younger guys, but I think anytime you have familiarity with the arena, it helps, right? Where do you go? Where do you stay? What's the hotel like? How far is the locker room from the field? What's the turf? Like, all of those things when we were there last time they were just finishing the renovation. No, they weren't even finished. They were kind of in the middle of the renovation, which is a phenomenal venue for them. I think anytime you can get some familiarity, it creates a little bit of a comfort zone, and comfort zone not being content, but comfort zone being less anxiety. Still of the 21 guys, there was the 10, there's still 60 other players that have not. So there's still a huge chunk of guys that when we talk about, you know, you guys bring up the other plays a lot, which I totally understand when we talk about, maybe something that happened last year. For example, last week I'm on the sideline, and I am literally like, this is deja vu. I've seen this movie before, and then there's 60 guys that beside me, like, what's wrong, coach, we're going to win. And I'm like, You know what? You're right? You weren't here last year. So I fully understand why you have no idea why I'm sweating right now, so it's a little bit of a balance. But I do think anytime you can get some familiarity, we're getting into the western part of our schedule, which most of our guys now have some experience with, these teams, even the guys that were here last year, even the guys that have come from other places, you kind of got a little bit more experience or knowledge of your conference foes, if that makes sense. So I think it helps. But there's still a void of 60 or 50, whatever, guys who like Brock Roman has never been there. He's a big piece of what we do. So there's still a balance. But I think anytime there's at least a few guys in the locker room that can say, you know, hey, that, you know, they got three stalls in the bathroom instead of two, you know. I mean, I think anytime you can get that type of information or comfort level in the locker room, I think it helps.

Huff on special teams and Creighton Wilbanks...
"Huge opportunity. We talk all the time about being ready for your opportunity when it comes. Creighton [Wilbanks] has done a really good job. All through the summer, fall camp, and all through the season, he and Reed [Harradine] have kind of been 50-50 in practice. You know, Reed hit three and He hit three. And what we saw is just consistency. You know, not the strongest leg as Reed, but just consistency. So when we started to make the decision of kind of breaking up some of these duties, we felt he was ready. Didn't want to roll him out there for probably the biggest kick of his career as a true freshman. But it was good. It was good. Good opportunity. He stepped up. I thought he did a really good job of managing the moment, it wasn't too big, it wasn't too small. He actually came off like I smoked it, easy big guy. You may have been good from 43 yards, but you hit it good. But I just think it goes back to his confidence because of his preparation. And I think Coach Bolden has done a really good job all through camp of making the kicking room and the specialist room, true competition. It was never, hey, Reed's the kicker and nobody else can ever kick. It was never Jack [Murley]'s the punter and nobody else can ever punt. It was, hey, look, Reed, you get your three, all right, you know, Craig, get your three. Hey, Jack, hit your three. So it was always the opportunity for those guys to feel like I have to be ready, and he was ready in the moment, really, really huge, probably biggest kick of the year for us to this point. I thought he did a really good job. Hopefully that builds a lot of confidence in his preparation, and moving forward, we'll probably need him again."

Huff on who has impressed him on the defensive line...
"Obviously, there are some who jump out because of their statistical numbers. You know, [J'Mond] Tapp has done a phenomenal job. Jameer Lewis has done a phenomenal job. JJ [Hawkins] has done a phenomenal job. I think those guys have done a great job. I think the unsung heroes of that group are probably Brodarius [Lewis] and Isaiah Gibson [Sr.], because their sturdiness inside allows the edge guys to go, quote unquote make money, make sacs and make the big plays. There's a lot of times where Tapp and JJ and Jamir and all those ends are playing so fast and they're upfield and the quarterback can't move because Isaiah and Brodarius have done such a good job of containing the pocket, and we're going to have to do that this week. We have to change the way we rush this week a little bit, but overall, I think they've played well. I think our defensive line has created some of the ability for us to get turnovers, because the ball has got to come out. You know, quarterbacks don't feel like they can stand back there and hang on to it, because we're able to create pressure with four without blitzing a guy and leaving some voids, and especially when we get in long yardage situations, we're able to compress the pocket enough to where the quarterbacks have got to get the ball out, and then they've we've rotated a bunch of guys there. Mason Clinton has come in do a really good job. Jaden McKinney has done a good job. Garrick Ponder has done a good job. Eric Thomas [Jr.] has done a good job. Like we're able to rotate about nine guys right now, which we still probably have another three guys who have kind of been in Triple-A, in the bullpen, that I think will really start to show up these next few weeks. Because when you build it the right way, you need D-line and O-line depth to make it through the season. So there are some guys you know, Isaiah Gibson and Brodarius have a lot of reps on them. Well, we've got another two or three guys that have been working, working, working. If they can go in and take 7, 8, 9, 10 reps off of those guys. How much better will they be two or three games down the road? So I'm really impressed with that group. I think Coach Mathies does a really good job with those guys. The game plan changes a little bit each week, every four down, every three down, but he's done a really good job of getting all of the guys to understand their role, and they've played really consistently. They are going to have to play extremely well Saturday because of the combination of run game plus quarterback athleticism in order for us to be successful."

Huff on Braylon Braxton's confidence and how it has grown...
"I'll say this man, he's probably grown, and I've seen him for two years, his confidence has grown tremendously. I think the biggest thing for Braylon [Braxton], and we've probably all seen it, the best thing for Braylon was switching systems again, because you hear about the sophomore slump, right, or the second year slump now that we're in transfer portal world. Typically that comes because the quarterback is in the same system again, and you get naturally human comfortable. I know install one. I know the formations. I know the signals, not in a negative way just when you guys go to work, you know where the bathroom is, just a natural comfort from routine. I think switching systems again forced Braylon to start over from the learning process. Pair that with his maturity, he reaally dove into learning this, like I'm a freshman, and I'm going to put the time in to learn it. What that created was that created a certain level of confidence, that created a certain level of routine, that created a certain level of I have to study, and I've got to review install one tonight, because I don't know install one versus, oh its my second year, and I'm good with instar one. I know tomorrow we're running, you know, these three base passes, and we're good. And a lot of times that sophomore slump is not because someone gets the big head or someone gets cocky. It's natural. How many times do you think a quarterback in the second or third year is honestly opening the playbook at night, taking notes on install one? Probably not a lot. Well, when you're learning it again, it forces you to do that because you don't know it. And I think that allowed Braylon to get centered again this summer, or this spring when we started, which allowed him to create a routine of studying, throwing, asking questions, watching film, which compared to, you know, all put on top of all his experience, created a certain level of confidence that he's going into games, feeling extremely confident with the guys he has around him, feeling extremely confident of what Coach Anderson is asking him to do, and feeling confident enough to, I'm the quarterback of the team but I don't have to go out here and win the game. And sometimes at that quarterback position, you kind of feel like I've got to do it all. No, I can hand it off to [Jeffery] Pittman. I can check it down to one of the tight ends, hey, I can take off and run and get six. I don't have to win the game. And I think he's playing at a really high level. I think he has grown tremendously. There are some throws that he's making now that last year, I would have been like, no, don't throw it. There are some decisions that he's making now that last year we wouldn't have given him the freedom to do. He's done a phenomenal job. I've told a lot of people, he has probably grown the most as a quarterback that I've been around in year two. Now some of the guys are in different scenarios, but phenomenal. And then again, I think switching places forced him to become a true influencer, a true leader. I've got to go meet this new D line. I've got to go meet these new players. I've got to spend time with these new players. It's not, oh, we know everybody on the team. I'm hanging out here and play video games. And you know, I'll see the punters. When I see the punters. No, I have to actually get out of my apartment. I've got to go spend time with the punters. I got to go spend time with the running backs. I've got to make an intentional effort to get to know everybody. And I think that forced him to become more of a leader. I think that forced him to become more of a dominant presence for the team. I think he's handled it great. Really proud of him. Wish he had another six years, really do, but really proud of his progress. Obviously, he's got to continue to play well, and we've got to continue to put him in good positions. The players around him have done a phenomenal job, the receivers, the O-line, the tight ends. But yeah, wish he had six more years. I don't know if we can petition the NCAA just for more years for no reason maybe, who's probably his lawyer, you should give him a call. That guy's really good. So appreciate everybody. I look forward to seeing you guys down at Lafayette."

Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference - The Louisiana Game

Players Mentioned

Braylon Braxton

Mason Clinton

Jameer Lewis

Jaden McKinney

Garrick Ponder

Broderick Roman

Creighton Wilbanks

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