University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference – The Georgia Southern Game
10/7/2025 2:49:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss head football coach Charles Huff addressed the media on Tuesday, Oct. 7, ahead of the Golden Eagles' matchup at Georgia Southern.
Southern Miss (3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) looks for its first road win of the season over the Eagles (2-3, 0-1 Sun Belt) on Thursday, Oct. 9, at Allen E. Paulson Stadium at Evans Family Field in Statesboro, Ga. The game will be televised to a national audience on ESPN2 with Jay Alter (Play-by-Play) and Rocky Boiman (Color) anchoring the broadcast beginning at 7 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 5:30 p.m. CT.
Here is what Huff said to the media:
Opening Statement…
"Appreciate you guys getting here on a Tuesday afternoon. Midweek games are a little bit different change in our schedule but really excited about the opportunity to go down and face a really good opponent in Georgia Southern. Got a huge amount of respect for Coach [Clay] Helton, not only what he's done at Georgia Southern, but what he's done in his career. He and his family are obviously very well known in the football world, have done some good things. A lot of respect for him. His team's well coached. We have an appropriate fear for these guys. These guys are a good football team. Obviously, with the transfer portal, there's some guys that we have familiarity with, as far as playing last year at another place, but there are some new guys that are making some plays. You can kind of see the identity of a Coach Helton football team, which is really complex offensive, really physical and big on the defensive side, and then well coached in a special teams game. So, it's going to be a huge challenge for us. Obviously, going on the road. Paulson stadium is one of the best college football atmospheres in all of college sports. They do a really good job, especially on a Thursday night. I'm sure the fans will be excited. The team has obviously done some good things at home, so they play well at home, so we've got to be prepared for that. Offensively, they stress you. I think I said it before: anytime you get a quarterback, you got a chance. JC French has been in the system multiple years, and has done a really good job. You can tell he fully understands the system. The coaches have done a really good job of helping him become more comfortable with the system by giving him some flexibility to check plays and make certain throws. Doesn't make a lot of mistakes, has the ability to move in the pocket, has enough mobility to keep you balanced. You can't just rush past him, because he can step up and take off. He's a physical runner. He put his shoulder down, he'll die for extra yards, so there's a lot of respect for him as a player. Then defensively, they're big, so when they create size matchups for you, it creates a little bit of an issue, far as moving guys in the run game, protecting guys you start to see as the game goes on, these guys wear you down. So, they start making more and more tackles behind the line of scrimmage, so we've got to do a really good job. We've had a phenomenal week of practice. Now we've got to take it into the arena, and the arena changes a little bit when you go on the road. It changes a little bit with a Thursday game. So, we've been talking to our guys all week that today is Thursday in our game week, although it's Tuesday. Balancing that, you know, logistically with classes and well, it's Tuesday, but it's really Thursday. What do I do on my Tuesday routine from an academic standpoint, what do I do on my Thursday routine from a game standpoint? I think our guys have handled it well, and now we've got to go play."
Q: Southern Miss and Georgia Southern haven't met before in the Sun Belt, but I know that you have experience going into this stadium. What about that place is so hard to play at, because historically they're really good?
"Yeah, I think, you know, a lot of times when you say a stadium is difficult to play at, you're really giving respect to the fans and the community. When you look at Georgia Southern football for a really long time, they've had a long passionate fan base, all the way back to their I-AA days, all the way back to the triple option days, that community really embraces the program. When you talk about playing in a tough environment, you're talking about students, a community that really is passionate about their football team, and that's what happens. They come and support their football team. The stadium layout is really good. The fans are kind of right on top of the student sections, right behind the visiting bench. Obviously, from a student involvement standpoint, they get a lot of engagement with their students at these games. They do a really good job of creating noise. They do a really good job of making it difficult to hear. I think again, the community has been so passionate about this program for a long time that there's a lot of invested interest in Georgia Southern football, very similar to here, right? Doesn't matter, you know, I remember playing here at The Rock, you know, at the other place, and the record wasn't great, but there was still passionate fan bases here. I think that's what happens. It's one of the reasons why I think football in the south is important to people and Georgia Southern that community has really embraced that university and that football program, and they show up and support."
Follow Up: Braylon has already played there, is that big for y'all just for him to know what the environment is like? It's different on a Thursday night primetime game, versus I think it was a 2:30 kick when y'all played last year?
"No, it was Thursday night primetime game, kind of like you ever seen the movie Freddie Krueger? That's what I've been like going over the last week and a half of like, you know, every time I wake up I'm sweating because there's, like, this image of two something on the clock, and you're up 23-0, and you don't do a good job as a coach of getting your team to finish. And although probably helped us play well the rest of the season, it wasn't a great experience, but Braylon, having played there, is going to be huge as a quarterback. You know, whenever you get into a different arena and a different environment, it was a lot so you kind of look at the other side of it. It was probably 90 percent of our team, including myself, first time going to LA Tech. It's probably the opposite. Now we've probably got 70-80% of our team and organization that have been to Georgia Southern so there's not as much. Now, there's a couple guys, obviously, you know, from the past team that had been there, but a lot of us have never been there, so for a lot of us it was extremely new. But there's a little bit more familiarity with this environment, this arena. I think it has a little bit to do with it. Ultimately, if your mental disposition is right, you can play in a parking lot, if you come in with the right mentality. If you come in understanding that obviously, you know no one's going to be there cheering for you. You know when you make a play, it's not going to be as loud as it is in The Rock. If you understand that all the things that are in your control are still the same, what time you go to bed? What do you eat? How do you get ready for the game? All those things are still in your control. What happens is, when you don't have the right mental disposition now and suddenly, the environment starts to control you. If you do a really good job with your mental disposition and controlling what you control, you control the environment. I think obviously having adolescents, kids, that's tough. It's tough to do stuff to do with adults, but we're trying to get our guys to have the right mental disposition, so regardless of the score, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the environment, we prepare and train and perform with such a routine and discipline that other things don't matter. Does it have an effect? Yeah, it has an effect, because there's a huge boost of momentum that goes on when there's a play made on the other side. There's a huge boost of momentum that goes on when we make a play here in The Rock, but momentum doesn't make the next play. Your mental disposition, your fundamentals, your discipline and your techniques, makes the next play. So getting our guys to focus on that would be a big piece of what we try to do this week."
Q: Off of that on disposition, probably a lesson learned from the LA Tech game. You said y'all had a great week of practice, have you seen that trickle down from you guys, your coaching staff, your players, your leaders?
"I say, it's tough as a coach because we don't have a bad team, so it's hard to get the players to understand the difference between having a really good week of practice and then just having a solid week of practice, because there's not a lot of dropped balls, there's not a lot of Mas, there's not a lot of guys going the wrong way. Now that we can reflect on the two, they can clearly see the difference, and the leaders have taken charge of making sure the energy is right at practice, making sure guys are watching film after practice, making sure guys are doing their walkthroughs, you know, at the start of every practice, you know, one of the seniors, Braylon or Chris Jones or [Josh] Moten or Mike Montgomery or Jabari [Ishmael], they bring the team up, and they make a you know, they look, we got to practice right today. We got to have the right energy, and it's worked, and I've kind of let them do that, because I believe if I've got to be the one that's got to stoke the fire every practice every game, then it's going to burn out. But if it's something that they understand and they feel, I think it's got a chance to last. Where I was disappointed last week or two weeks ago, is I didn't do it soon enough. I kind of watched, oh, we're catching the ball. We have a mature team. I don't know if you guys ever, if you guys ever go to an NFL game, an NFL pregame is like a pillow fight. I mean, it's, you know, Odell is going to make a one-handed catch, and Patrick Mahomes is going to throw his ball. But those guys are professionals, so getting ready to play for them is different than a college kid. Well sometimes, if you have a mature team, getting ready to play might not be going live every period, or somebody going to the ground. As you're learning your team, as a coach, you're kind of like, okay, are we mature enough to prepare with the right mentality, catch the ball, go the right way, or do we need to have that balance of energy, passion, intensity, focus, detail, communication, volume balanced with yes, we can catch the ball, yes, we can go the right way. I think there's a balance, you know, there's some teams where, you know, I know there's some coaches that start every practice with an Oklahoma drill. Well, I don't need to do that with my group, but there's a balance. You know, if you have got a group that you need to do that with, to each his own, but there's a balance. I think the more you get to know your team, the more you go through the season with your team, you kind of know what they need. For me, I'm able to help the coaches, kind of because I look at it from 50,000 feet, so the coach has got, you know, seven or eight guys in his room. He's looking at my seven or eight guys, my guys are ready to play. Well, when you're looking at it from 50,000 feet, I'm looking at 115 guys. We're not ready to play, or we are ready to play because of these things. So, I think it was a good learning experience, depending on how practice goes today, we probably had this best week we've had since we've been here. I thought the best week we had was Jacksonville State. I think the bye came at a good time, because they came back with a different type of snap in their eyes. Obviously, everyone knows this is a conference game, you know, so it matters just a little bit more to me. I tell them all, all of them matter, because we could be, if we only won conference game, we'd be 1-4, which would not be good. But I think, I think they're learning how to prepare. The tough part is just getting, you know, kids, to understand, because you prepare at a high level does not guarantee that you go play at a high level. You must be able to transfer it from the practice field and the meeting room to the arena."
Q: Speaking to that, you mentioned you guys had a really good against Jax State, especially in the run. I'm wondering how the off week affected that momentum, maybe it didn't?
"No, I think again, it's hard to play in our program. It's really hard, it's hard work. There's always something to do. We maximize every possible hour and minute that we're allowed to do. There's not a lot of, you know, have fun, you know, joke around, like we work. So I think the break kind of really came at a good time. Another thing that probably goes unwritten, going into a bye week off a win helps. Everybody kind of walk around with a little bit more energy. You get a little bit more rest, mentally, you're in a little bit better spot. So, it was good for our guys, and I think again, as competitors, sometimes when you get a chance to take a deep breath and you're watching football, it kind of gets you ready to get back into football. I do think, although very unique, having bye week/Thursday game helped, because we really didn't have a chance to come back and kind of all right, let's get the let's get loose again. Let's get ready for game. Saturday was like, okay, when you come back, we got it ready to go, so I think that helped a little bit. I think also our kind of plan or routine, as far as how we've structured practice from the beginning of this season. You know, we kind of do we do things in our program, every three weeks, we kind of adjust what we do at practice, how many reps, how long we're out there, what do we do, what drills? So, each every set of three weeks, we've kind of adjusted a little bit. I think the bye week felt a good time for the adjustments that we needed to make, which allowed us to install some new things schematically, which allowed us to fix some things schematically, with drills and with periods to match it right. We can go on the board and say, all right, we're running The Annexation of Puerto Rico. But if you don't get out there and drill it, you don't get out there and work it in a group, you don't get to put in a team, you probably don't have much carryover. So, we're really good in the way that we were able to kind of install, regroup, restructure what we do going into this game."
Q: Looking back, in the first five games Kadinn Morris has earned a lot of trust with Braylon. How do you think he can grow moving forward and really help the offense with what you guys have with so many weapons?
"Yeah, anytime you talk tight ends being involved in the passing game, the better you are running the ball is going to help you. Because they're usually involved in the run game, and they cause issues when they're really, really good blockers and good pass catchers, because you're watching him. Does he block? Does he release? Okay he blocked but he released, so it puts the defense in a little bit of a bind. So I think the more we're able to run the ball with efficiency is going to help the tight end passing game come open. Very seldom are we running the tight ends on, you know, straight go balls or receiver routes. It's typically that intermediate passing game. Well, that intermediate passing game usually comes off play action. Obviously, we've got some things on the edge that help them, but you know, when you're able to run the ball, the play action in the middle of the field opens up a little bit more. So, us being able to run the ball with a lot more efficiency, I wouldn't say a lot more, but more efficiency. I think we've gotten better each week, if you kind of just look at what we're doing, if we continue to improve our run game, I think that'll help our tight ends and Kadinn [Morris] for sure."
Q: You spoke last week and eluded to it this week about getting to a point in the season with your team where you're finding this is what you're good at, this is what guys does so-and-so. Can you relate that timeline to previous coaching experiences for you?
"It's all thrown off because I've never been in a situation where you get 80 new players and everyone kind of keeps reminding me like, well you brought 21 guys from the other place. Well, them knuckleheads make mistakes too. Like, like your kids, just because you move from, you know, your house to your dad's house, like, they still don't take out the trash. So you still have got to develop them. You still have got to, yes, they know where to go, what to do, you know when to be at certain meetings and structure, but they still have to develop. You've still got to mature them. You've still got to help them with their off the field issues. So it's not just okay, you 21 guys are perfect. I don't have to coach you guys, I have to coach the other guys. Well, they need coaching too. So I've never been in a situation where it's been 80 brand new. So it's hard to say, well, last year we were at this point, you know, and we felt really good about it. I do have a feel; I think this team is probably developing and coming together a lot faster than most. I think that has a lot to do with our approach. I think that has a lot to do with they've gone to this one portal window, when you get your guys in, we got a lot of our guys in in December, so I think the more time you have with them helps. And again, I think when you start to have success, everyone gets a little bit more interested. That's just the reality of it. So it's hard to kind of compare, because I've never been in, transfer portals new so we were at Alabama, you know, you're talking about guys that been in the system for three and four years. At the other place, you know, we're talking about guys that majority of team had been in the system for three or four years. So with this one it's a little bit different, but I do think we're starting to really take leaps and bounds instead of steps. If that matters, if that makes sense, a big one is going to be Thursday night. I mean, this program hasn't won on the road in I mean, 700-plus days. And I told them after practice yesterday, this family hasn't won on the road. You know, a lot of some of the guys have been here before. Some of them haven't. This family hasn't won on the road. This family has never won four games. So there's a lot of things that Thursday night is going to help us kind of really find out where we are and how do we move forward, what do we learn? And it's not going to be easy. This is not just going over to Hattiesburg High School to try to win, but it'll be a challenge, and I think our guys are up for it."
Q: You guys have that Thursday game, there's not many on that day, on ESPN2. I wonder how you guys can use the opportunity to grow the program and create exposure nationally with the opportunity.
"I think anytime we get a chance to show Southern Miss in a positive light, it's our duty to represent it in the highest possible ability, whether that's Dr. Paul getting an opportunity to go speak at an event, and there's your news station and other news station, whether that's Jeremy McClain and his staff being able to be visible, you know, we're just another lens or representation of a great university. Obviously, ours is magnified because there's a result tied to it, but we get an opportunity to go represent this great university that's been great to us in front of a national stage. That adds to it. You don't want to go lay an egg on ESPN, you know. So that adds to the to the ability to focus and prepare the right way. Ultimately, we still got to go play a game in between white lines, and we still got to execute and find a way to play with really good discipline. But it does give us an opportunity to represent this university on the national light. There's some people that will never see us play again, except for Thursday night, just because they're going to be watching the game, and they like football, they're going to turn it on, and they may never track us the rest of the year or see us the rest of the year. So this is a great opportunity to show the world Southern Miss football and our university has a lot of positives to offer. Hopefully it will allow us to continue to represent the university in a positive light. Obviously, football gets magnified because of the sport, but this university deserves us to go out and represent them in a really good way."
Q: Another iteration of 4-2-5 you'll face this week, are they doing the same stuff for the most part as they did the last time you were there? Have they changed what they're doing on the back end?
"They've got a new defensive coordinator from the last time. Obviously, the structure is similar, 4-2-5 is 4-2-5, they kind of would look like us. How they package plays, what they do on third down matters. We're probably, you know, they got a bye week. I mean, I've been around groups that put a whole new defense in during a bye week, as far as, not necessarily scheme, but, you know, sets. So we've kind of been preparing for, we don't want to call it chasing ghosts, but I got a lot of respect for Coach Helton. He's not sitting around with his feet up saying we're good, I can promise you that. So I know he's challenging his coaches to find different ways to be successful. They've been successful with some things. We all as coaches know that there's tendencies, and you can't keep doing the same thing every week, because obviously teams look at what you do. They know, just like we know we have some deficiencies. You know, we can't just close our blind eye to some of the things that have hurt us. We've got to find a way to fix it. So we're anticipating seeing a lot of difference on both sides of the ball. Just because that's what good coaches do. They got a bye week, they got a national spotlight game, they got an opportunity to represent their university. They're not going to roll out the same game plan they had last week. So we've kind of been, as much as possible, you don't want to chase ghosts, but hey, what could they do? You know, I mean, what could be the next step for them, trying to give our guys some extra looks with some of this extra time that we've had of, hey this could show up, and this is how we would respond to it."
Q: Kind of an out there question, you spoke to finding things you're not necessarily good at and are better at some things, is it a process sometimes of, okay, we're not good at this, let's window dress it somewhat to make it more functional or are we just going to totally separate into something else?
"I think there's some things you can fix during the game, there's some things you can fix the next week, and there's some things you can't fix till you get better or different players in it's just the reality of it. When I say you can't fix it, meaning if there are certain defenses or offenses that require a guy that runs 4.2, and we don't have a guy that runs 4.2 when we can't fix that problem right now for whatever reason, if there are certain offenses and defenses that require, you know, us to cover a pattern a different way, you've got to kind of say, okay do we cover the pattern a different way for this one time, or do we rely on the banked reps that we've had 1,000 times? So there's give and take, right? Every defense has a void. Every offense has a void. So there's sometimes we're going to call a defense and they're going to find the void. That's football. What we are trying to eliminate are the fundamental mistakes, missing tackles in the open field, not getting off blocks, eye discipline, if we're playing man, I got to cover my man offensively, taking care of the football, blocking on the perimeter, eliminating some of these false starts and pre-snap penalties. Those are the things that we're trying to clean up, because those are controllable. Obviously, like you said, there's some things that you know, maybe our run game is better right or left, or our run game is better on the edge, and you try to window dress how you get to it, to try and use your strengths, but there are some things that you just got to kind of say, okay we're not good at this. Let's scrap it. Let's do this. It's a little bit easier on offense to do that, on defensive you can't say, okay, don't run inside zone at us, because we're not good at it. You know, just run outside zone. So there's different, I guess you'd say philosophies both ways. But I think for us we're constantly, we call it self-scout, we're constantly self-scouting ourselves to figure out, what do we do well, what do we need to continue to work on? And then how are we going to get exposed if we don't fix it, change it, or move on from it."
Q: Where, who and how on the offensive line have you seen them get better?
"You know, I told the guys, it's crazy. We had to come to Jesus with that group in August, because I didn't think they were physical enough. I didn't think they were, I didn't want them cutting our guys and but you got to have like, to me, offensive lineman. You got to shower every other day like you got to have a little stink to you figuratively, not literally. You got to have a little edge. And I didn't think they did. And they responded really well. And I told him yesterday, actually, I told them, like, since that moment, you guys have worked your way into being one of the most consistent groups on the team. That's not just practice, that's meetings, that's the weight room, that's film review. And I think what has happened, Coach [Sean] Coughlin has done a phenomenal job, because we're playing musical chairs right now with some guys, and there were no glaring issues. I think, obviously, Blake Bustard has done a really good job coming in under the circumstances. Greg Nunnery is probably one of the most drastically improved young men, from the time he was from time we got here, till now, and I'm not just talking about playing, he's always had athletic ability, but just he walks around with a smile now, like he's confident now, he's starting to, like, kind of come into his own. You know, [Broderick] Roman, Carlos Slayden, Luke [Rogers], Cooper [Frazier] have been in there. [Hayes] Creel has been in there. Like we've had so many guys, [Aloali'i] Maui has been in there, we've had so many guys that we've had to kind of move around, which is a good thing. We've got guys to move around, and you really haven't seen a drastic drop off. And I think I credit Coach Coughlin, I credit Coach [Michael] Gibbs, I credit Coach [Blake] Anderson. You know, you know your deficiencies, you know your strengths, so you call the game to your strengths. I think that's built confidence with that group. Now, don't get me wrong, there's still things they need to improve on. Somebody's going to get banged up here in the next three, four weeks, whatever it is, maybe today at practice or somebody else is going to have to step up. But I think they've done a really good job of embracing the no name, no face. We just work, we grind, we get back on the bus, we go home, we show up, we work, we grind, and it's paying off. And I told them the other day, I said it's paying off the work that you guys are doing in the dark that no one's going to see. They don't get Sun Belt Players of the Week. They don't get you guys writing stories about the one drive block that sprung the long run. And that's typical, right? We've lived that forever, but I told them, I think they're doing a really good job of consistently working to go perform well."
Q: As far as special teams, how do you feel how that unit has grown and where do you think the trust level is with Reed and Jack?
"I think getting Jack [Murley] back will help, obviously, he had a family situation that he's back now, and that'll help, because that'll allow Reed [Harradine] to kind of focus on, you know, what he does well, I think Reed did a great job for us, kind of double dutying that will allow him to focus on what he does well, which will allow Jack to focus on what he does. Well, they're different style kickers. When I say kickers, meaning punters. So it changed a little bit how we cover, change a little bit how we align. Gives us some flexibility now, because we know they both can do it, and it also has allowed us to we've been able to play a bunch of guys on those units. So there's some blind depth being created, which you guys don't understand what that means. Like, there's some guys that are playing on those units that if they have to go in the game because they've played on those units, they're going to have a little bit more experience. You know, there's some linebackers that are playing a lot on everyone talks about Chris [Jones] and Mike [Montgomery], and they're doing a phenomenal job. But if you ask them, [Joseph] Harper, [Avery] Sledge and [Mathis] Haygood are humping just as hard, they're playing on special teams. So when they do get in, they get their 10 or 15 reps on defense. They're a little bit more experienced than they would be if they weren't playing some of our DBS are doing the same thing. So I think it's helping us. Obviously, now we got to start to kind of really hone in on who plays on what unit, who's really good at certain things, but the first couple of games, special teams has given us an opportunity to create some blind depth, and we've been able to create some plays. You know, we blocked the punt a couple weeks ago. We got some punt returns that are starting to go. We haven't had as many opportunities in the kick return game just because of where the game's gone now, but I feel really good about where we are."
Southern Miss (3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) looks for its first road win of the season over the Eagles (2-3, 0-1 Sun Belt) on Thursday, Oct. 9, at Allen E. Paulson Stadium at Evans Family Field in Statesboro, Ga. The game will be televised to a national audience on ESPN2 with Jay Alter (Play-by-Play) and Rocky Boiman (Color) anchoring the broadcast beginning at 7 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 5:30 p.m. CT.
Here is what Huff said to the media:
Opening Statement…
"Appreciate you guys getting here on a Tuesday afternoon. Midweek games are a little bit different change in our schedule but really excited about the opportunity to go down and face a really good opponent in Georgia Southern. Got a huge amount of respect for Coach [Clay] Helton, not only what he's done at Georgia Southern, but what he's done in his career. He and his family are obviously very well known in the football world, have done some good things. A lot of respect for him. His team's well coached. We have an appropriate fear for these guys. These guys are a good football team. Obviously, with the transfer portal, there's some guys that we have familiarity with, as far as playing last year at another place, but there are some new guys that are making some plays. You can kind of see the identity of a Coach Helton football team, which is really complex offensive, really physical and big on the defensive side, and then well coached in a special teams game. So, it's going to be a huge challenge for us. Obviously, going on the road. Paulson stadium is one of the best college football atmospheres in all of college sports. They do a really good job, especially on a Thursday night. I'm sure the fans will be excited. The team has obviously done some good things at home, so they play well at home, so we've got to be prepared for that. Offensively, they stress you. I think I said it before: anytime you get a quarterback, you got a chance. JC French has been in the system multiple years, and has done a really good job. You can tell he fully understands the system. The coaches have done a really good job of helping him become more comfortable with the system by giving him some flexibility to check plays and make certain throws. Doesn't make a lot of mistakes, has the ability to move in the pocket, has enough mobility to keep you balanced. You can't just rush past him, because he can step up and take off. He's a physical runner. He put his shoulder down, he'll die for extra yards, so there's a lot of respect for him as a player. Then defensively, they're big, so when they create size matchups for you, it creates a little bit of an issue, far as moving guys in the run game, protecting guys you start to see as the game goes on, these guys wear you down. So, they start making more and more tackles behind the line of scrimmage, so we've got to do a really good job. We've had a phenomenal week of practice. Now we've got to take it into the arena, and the arena changes a little bit when you go on the road. It changes a little bit with a Thursday game. So, we've been talking to our guys all week that today is Thursday in our game week, although it's Tuesday. Balancing that, you know, logistically with classes and well, it's Tuesday, but it's really Thursday. What do I do on my Tuesday routine from an academic standpoint, what do I do on my Thursday routine from a game standpoint? I think our guys have handled it well, and now we've got to go play."
Q: Southern Miss and Georgia Southern haven't met before in the Sun Belt, but I know that you have experience going into this stadium. What about that place is so hard to play at, because historically they're really good?
"Yeah, I think, you know, a lot of times when you say a stadium is difficult to play at, you're really giving respect to the fans and the community. When you look at Georgia Southern football for a really long time, they've had a long passionate fan base, all the way back to their I-AA days, all the way back to the triple option days, that community really embraces the program. When you talk about playing in a tough environment, you're talking about students, a community that really is passionate about their football team, and that's what happens. They come and support their football team. The stadium layout is really good. The fans are kind of right on top of the student sections, right behind the visiting bench. Obviously, from a student involvement standpoint, they get a lot of engagement with their students at these games. They do a really good job of creating noise. They do a really good job of making it difficult to hear. I think again, the community has been so passionate about this program for a long time that there's a lot of invested interest in Georgia Southern football, very similar to here, right? Doesn't matter, you know, I remember playing here at The Rock, you know, at the other place, and the record wasn't great, but there was still passionate fan bases here. I think that's what happens. It's one of the reasons why I think football in the south is important to people and Georgia Southern that community has really embraced that university and that football program, and they show up and support."
Follow Up: Braylon has already played there, is that big for y'all just for him to know what the environment is like? It's different on a Thursday night primetime game, versus I think it was a 2:30 kick when y'all played last year?
"No, it was Thursday night primetime game, kind of like you ever seen the movie Freddie Krueger? That's what I've been like going over the last week and a half of like, you know, every time I wake up I'm sweating because there's, like, this image of two something on the clock, and you're up 23-0, and you don't do a good job as a coach of getting your team to finish. And although probably helped us play well the rest of the season, it wasn't a great experience, but Braylon, having played there, is going to be huge as a quarterback. You know, whenever you get into a different arena and a different environment, it was a lot so you kind of look at the other side of it. It was probably 90 percent of our team, including myself, first time going to LA Tech. It's probably the opposite. Now we've probably got 70-80% of our team and organization that have been to Georgia Southern so there's not as much. Now, there's a couple guys, obviously, you know, from the past team that had been there, but a lot of us have never been there, so for a lot of us it was extremely new. But there's a little bit more familiarity with this environment, this arena. I think it has a little bit to do with it. Ultimately, if your mental disposition is right, you can play in a parking lot, if you come in with the right mentality. If you come in understanding that obviously, you know no one's going to be there cheering for you. You know when you make a play, it's not going to be as loud as it is in The Rock. If you understand that all the things that are in your control are still the same, what time you go to bed? What do you eat? How do you get ready for the game? All those things are still in your control. What happens is, when you don't have the right mental disposition now and suddenly, the environment starts to control you. If you do a really good job with your mental disposition and controlling what you control, you control the environment. I think obviously having adolescents, kids, that's tough. It's tough to do stuff to do with adults, but we're trying to get our guys to have the right mental disposition, so regardless of the score, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the environment, we prepare and train and perform with such a routine and discipline that other things don't matter. Does it have an effect? Yeah, it has an effect, because there's a huge boost of momentum that goes on when there's a play made on the other side. There's a huge boost of momentum that goes on when we make a play here in The Rock, but momentum doesn't make the next play. Your mental disposition, your fundamentals, your discipline and your techniques, makes the next play. So getting our guys to focus on that would be a big piece of what we try to do this week."
Q: Off of that on disposition, probably a lesson learned from the LA Tech game. You said y'all had a great week of practice, have you seen that trickle down from you guys, your coaching staff, your players, your leaders?
"I say, it's tough as a coach because we don't have a bad team, so it's hard to get the players to understand the difference between having a really good week of practice and then just having a solid week of practice, because there's not a lot of dropped balls, there's not a lot of Mas, there's not a lot of guys going the wrong way. Now that we can reflect on the two, they can clearly see the difference, and the leaders have taken charge of making sure the energy is right at practice, making sure guys are watching film after practice, making sure guys are doing their walkthroughs, you know, at the start of every practice, you know, one of the seniors, Braylon or Chris Jones or [Josh] Moten or Mike Montgomery or Jabari [Ishmael], they bring the team up, and they make a you know, they look, we got to practice right today. We got to have the right energy, and it's worked, and I've kind of let them do that, because I believe if I've got to be the one that's got to stoke the fire every practice every game, then it's going to burn out. But if it's something that they understand and they feel, I think it's got a chance to last. Where I was disappointed last week or two weeks ago, is I didn't do it soon enough. I kind of watched, oh, we're catching the ball. We have a mature team. I don't know if you guys ever, if you guys ever go to an NFL game, an NFL pregame is like a pillow fight. I mean, it's, you know, Odell is going to make a one-handed catch, and Patrick Mahomes is going to throw his ball. But those guys are professionals, so getting ready to play for them is different than a college kid. Well sometimes, if you have a mature team, getting ready to play might not be going live every period, or somebody going to the ground. As you're learning your team, as a coach, you're kind of like, okay, are we mature enough to prepare with the right mentality, catch the ball, go the right way, or do we need to have that balance of energy, passion, intensity, focus, detail, communication, volume balanced with yes, we can catch the ball, yes, we can go the right way. I think there's a balance, you know, there's some teams where, you know, I know there's some coaches that start every practice with an Oklahoma drill. Well, I don't need to do that with my group, but there's a balance. You know, if you have got a group that you need to do that with, to each his own, but there's a balance. I think the more you get to know your team, the more you go through the season with your team, you kind of know what they need. For me, I'm able to help the coaches, kind of because I look at it from 50,000 feet, so the coach has got, you know, seven or eight guys in his room. He's looking at my seven or eight guys, my guys are ready to play. Well, when you're looking at it from 50,000 feet, I'm looking at 115 guys. We're not ready to play, or we are ready to play because of these things. So, I think it was a good learning experience, depending on how practice goes today, we probably had this best week we've had since we've been here. I thought the best week we had was Jacksonville State. I think the bye came at a good time, because they came back with a different type of snap in their eyes. Obviously, everyone knows this is a conference game, you know, so it matters just a little bit more to me. I tell them all, all of them matter, because we could be, if we only won conference game, we'd be 1-4, which would not be good. But I think, I think they're learning how to prepare. The tough part is just getting, you know, kids, to understand, because you prepare at a high level does not guarantee that you go play at a high level. You must be able to transfer it from the practice field and the meeting room to the arena."
Q: Speaking to that, you mentioned you guys had a really good against Jax State, especially in the run. I'm wondering how the off week affected that momentum, maybe it didn't?
"No, I think again, it's hard to play in our program. It's really hard, it's hard work. There's always something to do. We maximize every possible hour and minute that we're allowed to do. There's not a lot of, you know, have fun, you know, joke around, like we work. So I think the break kind of really came at a good time. Another thing that probably goes unwritten, going into a bye week off a win helps. Everybody kind of walk around with a little bit more energy. You get a little bit more rest, mentally, you're in a little bit better spot. So, it was good for our guys, and I think again, as competitors, sometimes when you get a chance to take a deep breath and you're watching football, it kind of gets you ready to get back into football. I do think, although very unique, having bye week/Thursday game helped, because we really didn't have a chance to come back and kind of all right, let's get the let's get loose again. Let's get ready for game. Saturday was like, okay, when you come back, we got it ready to go, so I think that helped a little bit. I think also our kind of plan or routine, as far as how we've structured practice from the beginning of this season. You know, we kind of do we do things in our program, every three weeks, we kind of adjust what we do at practice, how many reps, how long we're out there, what do we do, what drills? So, each every set of three weeks, we've kind of adjusted a little bit. I think the bye week felt a good time for the adjustments that we needed to make, which allowed us to install some new things schematically, which allowed us to fix some things schematically, with drills and with periods to match it right. We can go on the board and say, all right, we're running The Annexation of Puerto Rico. But if you don't get out there and drill it, you don't get out there and work it in a group, you don't get to put in a team, you probably don't have much carryover. So, we're really good in the way that we were able to kind of install, regroup, restructure what we do going into this game."
Q: Looking back, in the first five games Kadinn Morris has earned a lot of trust with Braylon. How do you think he can grow moving forward and really help the offense with what you guys have with so many weapons?
"Yeah, anytime you talk tight ends being involved in the passing game, the better you are running the ball is going to help you. Because they're usually involved in the run game, and they cause issues when they're really, really good blockers and good pass catchers, because you're watching him. Does he block? Does he release? Okay he blocked but he released, so it puts the defense in a little bit of a bind. So I think the more we're able to run the ball with efficiency is going to help the tight end passing game come open. Very seldom are we running the tight ends on, you know, straight go balls or receiver routes. It's typically that intermediate passing game. Well, that intermediate passing game usually comes off play action. Obviously, we've got some things on the edge that help them, but you know, when you're able to run the ball, the play action in the middle of the field opens up a little bit more. So, us being able to run the ball with a lot more efficiency, I wouldn't say a lot more, but more efficiency. I think we've gotten better each week, if you kind of just look at what we're doing, if we continue to improve our run game, I think that'll help our tight ends and Kadinn [Morris] for sure."
Q: You spoke last week and eluded to it this week about getting to a point in the season with your team where you're finding this is what you're good at, this is what guys does so-and-so. Can you relate that timeline to previous coaching experiences for you?
"It's all thrown off because I've never been in a situation where you get 80 new players and everyone kind of keeps reminding me like, well you brought 21 guys from the other place. Well, them knuckleheads make mistakes too. Like, like your kids, just because you move from, you know, your house to your dad's house, like, they still don't take out the trash. So you still have got to develop them. You still have got to, yes, they know where to go, what to do, you know when to be at certain meetings and structure, but they still have to develop. You've still got to mature them. You've still got to help them with their off the field issues. So it's not just okay, you 21 guys are perfect. I don't have to coach you guys, I have to coach the other guys. Well, they need coaching too. So I've never been in a situation where it's been 80 brand new. So it's hard to say, well, last year we were at this point, you know, and we felt really good about it. I do have a feel; I think this team is probably developing and coming together a lot faster than most. I think that has a lot to do with our approach. I think that has a lot to do with they've gone to this one portal window, when you get your guys in, we got a lot of our guys in in December, so I think the more time you have with them helps. And again, I think when you start to have success, everyone gets a little bit more interested. That's just the reality of it. So it's hard to kind of compare, because I've never been in, transfer portals new so we were at Alabama, you know, you're talking about guys that been in the system for three and four years. At the other place, you know, we're talking about guys that majority of team had been in the system for three or four years. So with this one it's a little bit different, but I do think we're starting to really take leaps and bounds instead of steps. If that matters, if that makes sense, a big one is going to be Thursday night. I mean, this program hasn't won on the road in I mean, 700-plus days. And I told them after practice yesterday, this family hasn't won on the road. You know, a lot of some of the guys have been here before. Some of them haven't. This family hasn't won on the road. This family has never won four games. So there's a lot of things that Thursday night is going to help us kind of really find out where we are and how do we move forward, what do we learn? And it's not going to be easy. This is not just going over to Hattiesburg High School to try to win, but it'll be a challenge, and I think our guys are up for it."
Q: You guys have that Thursday game, there's not many on that day, on ESPN2. I wonder how you guys can use the opportunity to grow the program and create exposure nationally with the opportunity.
"I think anytime we get a chance to show Southern Miss in a positive light, it's our duty to represent it in the highest possible ability, whether that's Dr. Paul getting an opportunity to go speak at an event, and there's your news station and other news station, whether that's Jeremy McClain and his staff being able to be visible, you know, we're just another lens or representation of a great university. Obviously, ours is magnified because there's a result tied to it, but we get an opportunity to go represent this great university that's been great to us in front of a national stage. That adds to it. You don't want to go lay an egg on ESPN, you know. So that adds to the to the ability to focus and prepare the right way. Ultimately, we still got to go play a game in between white lines, and we still got to execute and find a way to play with really good discipline. But it does give us an opportunity to represent this university on the national light. There's some people that will never see us play again, except for Thursday night, just because they're going to be watching the game, and they like football, they're going to turn it on, and they may never track us the rest of the year or see us the rest of the year. So this is a great opportunity to show the world Southern Miss football and our university has a lot of positives to offer. Hopefully it will allow us to continue to represent the university in a positive light. Obviously, football gets magnified because of the sport, but this university deserves us to go out and represent them in a really good way."
Q: Another iteration of 4-2-5 you'll face this week, are they doing the same stuff for the most part as they did the last time you were there? Have they changed what they're doing on the back end?
"They've got a new defensive coordinator from the last time. Obviously, the structure is similar, 4-2-5 is 4-2-5, they kind of would look like us. How they package plays, what they do on third down matters. We're probably, you know, they got a bye week. I mean, I've been around groups that put a whole new defense in during a bye week, as far as, not necessarily scheme, but, you know, sets. So we've kind of been preparing for, we don't want to call it chasing ghosts, but I got a lot of respect for Coach Helton. He's not sitting around with his feet up saying we're good, I can promise you that. So I know he's challenging his coaches to find different ways to be successful. They've been successful with some things. We all as coaches know that there's tendencies, and you can't keep doing the same thing every week, because obviously teams look at what you do. They know, just like we know we have some deficiencies. You know, we can't just close our blind eye to some of the things that have hurt us. We've got to find a way to fix it. So we're anticipating seeing a lot of difference on both sides of the ball. Just because that's what good coaches do. They got a bye week, they got a national spotlight game, they got an opportunity to represent their university. They're not going to roll out the same game plan they had last week. So we've kind of been, as much as possible, you don't want to chase ghosts, but hey, what could they do? You know, I mean, what could be the next step for them, trying to give our guys some extra looks with some of this extra time that we've had of, hey this could show up, and this is how we would respond to it."
Q: Kind of an out there question, you spoke to finding things you're not necessarily good at and are better at some things, is it a process sometimes of, okay, we're not good at this, let's window dress it somewhat to make it more functional or are we just going to totally separate into something else?
"I think there's some things you can fix during the game, there's some things you can fix the next week, and there's some things you can't fix till you get better or different players in it's just the reality of it. When I say you can't fix it, meaning if there are certain defenses or offenses that require a guy that runs 4.2, and we don't have a guy that runs 4.2 when we can't fix that problem right now for whatever reason, if there are certain offenses and defenses that require, you know, us to cover a pattern a different way, you've got to kind of say, okay do we cover the pattern a different way for this one time, or do we rely on the banked reps that we've had 1,000 times? So there's give and take, right? Every defense has a void. Every offense has a void. So there's sometimes we're going to call a defense and they're going to find the void. That's football. What we are trying to eliminate are the fundamental mistakes, missing tackles in the open field, not getting off blocks, eye discipline, if we're playing man, I got to cover my man offensively, taking care of the football, blocking on the perimeter, eliminating some of these false starts and pre-snap penalties. Those are the things that we're trying to clean up, because those are controllable. Obviously, like you said, there's some things that you know, maybe our run game is better right or left, or our run game is better on the edge, and you try to window dress how you get to it, to try and use your strengths, but there are some things that you just got to kind of say, okay we're not good at this. Let's scrap it. Let's do this. It's a little bit easier on offense to do that, on defensive you can't say, okay, don't run inside zone at us, because we're not good at it. You know, just run outside zone. So there's different, I guess you'd say philosophies both ways. But I think for us we're constantly, we call it self-scout, we're constantly self-scouting ourselves to figure out, what do we do well, what do we need to continue to work on? And then how are we going to get exposed if we don't fix it, change it, or move on from it."
Q: Where, who and how on the offensive line have you seen them get better?
"You know, I told the guys, it's crazy. We had to come to Jesus with that group in August, because I didn't think they were physical enough. I didn't think they were, I didn't want them cutting our guys and but you got to have like, to me, offensive lineman. You got to shower every other day like you got to have a little stink to you figuratively, not literally. You got to have a little edge. And I didn't think they did. And they responded really well. And I told him yesterday, actually, I told them, like, since that moment, you guys have worked your way into being one of the most consistent groups on the team. That's not just practice, that's meetings, that's the weight room, that's film review. And I think what has happened, Coach [Sean] Coughlin has done a phenomenal job, because we're playing musical chairs right now with some guys, and there were no glaring issues. I think, obviously, Blake Bustard has done a really good job coming in under the circumstances. Greg Nunnery is probably one of the most drastically improved young men, from the time he was from time we got here, till now, and I'm not just talking about playing, he's always had athletic ability, but just he walks around with a smile now, like he's confident now, he's starting to, like, kind of come into his own. You know, [Broderick] Roman, Carlos Slayden, Luke [Rogers], Cooper [Frazier] have been in there. [Hayes] Creel has been in there. Like we've had so many guys, [Aloali'i] Maui has been in there, we've had so many guys that we've had to kind of move around, which is a good thing. We've got guys to move around, and you really haven't seen a drastic drop off. And I think I credit Coach Coughlin, I credit Coach [Michael] Gibbs, I credit Coach [Blake] Anderson. You know, you know your deficiencies, you know your strengths, so you call the game to your strengths. I think that's built confidence with that group. Now, don't get me wrong, there's still things they need to improve on. Somebody's going to get banged up here in the next three, four weeks, whatever it is, maybe today at practice or somebody else is going to have to step up. But I think they've done a really good job of embracing the no name, no face. We just work, we grind, we get back on the bus, we go home, we show up, we work, we grind, and it's paying off. And I told them the other day, I said it's paying off the work that you guys are doing in the dark that no one's going to see. They don't get Sun Belt Players of the Week. They don't get you guys writing stories about the one drive block that sprung the long run. And that's typical, right? We've lived that forever, but I told them, I think they're doing a really good job of consistently working to go perform well."
Q: As far as special teams, how do you feel how that unit has grown and where do you think the trust level is with Reed and Jack?
"I think getting Jack [Murley] back will help, obviously, he had a family situation that he's back now, and that'll help, because that'll allow Reed [Harradine] to kind of focus on, you know, what he does well, I think Reed did a great job for us, kind of double dutying that will allow him to focus on what he does well, which will allow Jack to focus on what he does. Well, they're different style kickers. When I say kickers, meaning punters. So it changed a little bit how we cover, change a little bit how we align. Gives us some flexibility now, because we know they both can do it, and it also has allowed us to we've been able to play a bunch of guys on those units. So there's some blind depth being created, which you guys don't understand what that means. Like, there's some guys that are playing on those units that if they have to go in the game because they've played on those units, they're going to have a little bit more experience. You know, there's some linebackers that are playing a lot on everyone talks about Chris [Jones] and Mike [Montgomery], and they're doing a phenomenal job. But if you ask them, [Joseph] Harper, [Avery] Sledge and [Mathis] Haygood are humping just as hard, they're playing on special teams. So when they do get in, they get their 10 or 15 reps on defense. They're a little bit more experienced than they would be if they weren't playing some of our DBS are doing the same thing. So I think it's helping us. Obviously, now we got to start to kind of really hone in on who plays on what unit, who's really good at certain things, but the first couple of games, special teams has given us an opportunity to create some blind depth, and we've been able to create some plays. You know, we blocked the punt a couple weeks ago. We got some punt returns that are starting to go. We haven't had as many opportunities in the kick return game just because of where the game's gone now, but I feel really good about where we are."
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