University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference – The Jackson State Game
9/2/2025 2:19:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss head coach Charles Huff addressed the media on Tuesday, Sept. 2, ahead of the Golden Eagles' week two game against Jackson State this Saturday.
Southern Miss (0-1) looks for its first win against of the 2025 campaign and Charles Huff against the in-state Tigers (1-0). Jason Baker (Play-by-Play) and Austin Davis (Analyst) will anchor the broadcast on ESPN+ beginning at 4 p.m. while the Southern Miss Sports Network's pregame show begins at 2:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, and analyst Shawn Jones on the call.
Fans can still purchase tickets to the game and secure tickets for the rest of the 2025 season by visiting SouthernMiss.com/Tickets.
Here is what Huff said to the media:
Opening Statement… (0:00)
"Good afternoon. Appreciate everybody being here. Appreciate you guys continuing to cover us and support our programs holistically. Really appreciate that. Obviously, new week, new challenge, new opportunity. Every week creates a different challenge. That's the beauty of what we do. We get an opportunity every week to go out and kind of focus on improving with a new challenge in front of us, Jackson State, have an appropriate fear for our opponent, which is the respect to go out and prepare extremely well with the focus on being and improving in all phases. There were some positives from last week's game, but there were definitely some things that we got to get corrected and corrected fast in order to continue to move forward in the manner we want to.
Jackson State, I think I read something today, they're on 11-game win streak. Definitely a winning culture, which creates a lot of confidence. That's something that we're trying to create here. And obviously you have to win games to do that. It works on your temperament. It works on, you know, how you respond. There's winning. Winning cures a lot, you know, and they've done a really good job. [Jackson State head coach T.C.] Taylor has done a phenomenal job of instilling that in his team and his program, his organization, the fan base, expects to win. His program expects to win, which makes him a difficult opponent. Quarterback is a really good player. The skill guys are competitive when the ball is in the air, quarterback can make all the throws. They've got players that have all the skill sets that you're looking for. They've got outside guys with length and speed, they've got inside guys with short area quickness and change of direction that can really make it really difficult to get them on the ground. The O line is really big, which creates an opportunity for them to run the ball. I think they ran for close to 200-plus, 200 yards last week, which is a phenomenal feat, not only the running backs, having the ability to get their foot in the ground and use their vision, but also the O line creating those holes and kind of we talked about last week, when you have that kind of size up front, you kind of wear on people, which is typically when you start getting the big runs, the explosive runs, when you have good backs. So defensively, really stout and powerful. O line, I mean, D line, excuse me, number zero [Jeremiah Williams] didn't play last week, but we anticipate him being back. All American. Really good defensive lineman. They got a lot of guys. They rotate lot of guys with length and speed. Number six [Quincy Ivory] on the edge does a really good job in the past rush, I believe he had two sacks or two and a half sacks last week, getting after the passer. They got a really good scheme which keeps the ball in front of them and pressures the ball, gets enough hats to the ball when they need to. They're able to kind of mix some things up on the back end. Their back end guys are sound number 15, [Kam] Salas, does a really good job of coming down with violent intentions. Really good tackler in space. So, it's going to be a challenge. We need to improve quickly. That's everyone, coaches, players, everyone involved in order to have a chance to go out this week and play really well."
Q: Coach, after week one you've gone through the experience, the prep week, the game itself, you've seen the film, can you speak to what your message is to your guys this week through practice and especially in terms of cleaning things up? (3:17)
"I thought we had a good week. There were a lot of distractions last week in house, not first game and all those things, but in house, there were a lot of things that we were working through that we got to be able to get over and focus on the main thing. You know, you're talking a new season, first game opponent you really don't have any film on. So, what are you studying versus what are you anticipating? We really didn't have a depth chart, you know, that was kind of, you know, fluid. So, you know, guys with the uncertainty of, how many plays am I going to play? All those things are distractions. You know, as part of it, as coaches, we try and, you know, talk them through, you know, focusing on the main thing. But they're still 18 to 22 year olds, so trying to get them to understand that, you know, every day you got to come out and try to perform to the best of your ability. There were some positives. I thought we had a really good week of preparation. I thought last Tuesday was probably one of our better practices.
I told them after the game, last Tuesday was our best practice. Well, what did we do with the other 30? You know, that doesn't mean they were bad, but to me, every day you got to come out and change your best and learning how to stack days on top of days on top of days. A lot of the young men speaking of last week, this week, it plays into the same thing. Had a lot of relationship connection, you know, to last week's opponent. Same thing in state. A lot of these guys played high school with these guys.
Some of these guys, family members are alumni of that university, so it creates a different level of challenge, but we got to be able to really focus in on the things that you need to do to win. All those other things are important. All those other things understandable, but they don't affect winning. If I went to high school with the left guard, doesn't affect how I play or winning.
If my mom or dad went to that university and got a great degree, it doesn't affect me playing well and winning. Whether I'm a first team or second teamer, special teams guy. Don't know if I'm going to play. It shouldn't affect my preparation. And what ultimately matters last week was a good opportunity to learn that. Hopefully this week we improve on that."
Q: What do you want to improve on offensively going into this week? (5:45)
"Obviously we want to be able to run the ball a little bit. I mean, I think you have to run the ball effectively. I don't have a number. I'm not a you know, hey, we want to be 50-50, or we want to be balanced. I think each week, you know, kind of dictates your focus in running the ball. Last week, we didn't think we were going to be able to just line up and, you know, rush for 360 yards. So, we had different ways to try to be effective in the run game. I think we can improve on that this week. I think we can still be able to get the ball on the perimeter. I think we still can run the ball downhill a little bit with the balance of what is the defense telling us to do. We went back and looked at the film. There were some opportunities that we had Saturday that we didn't take advantage of in the run game, particularly. And then, obviously, you always want to take care of the ball. You know, I thought for three and a half quarters, I thought we took care of the ball well. And taking care of the ball is not just turnovers. Taking care of the ball is getting some YAC or some yards after carry or after catch, right? That eliminates third and one you get a first down, those little gains of another yard, two yards, three yards, eliminates fourth down. We did not do a great job in short yardage. Obviously, the play itself matters, but what did we do on first second down where we could have had another yard or two yards? So, protecting the ball has a lot to do with that, making sure that we are hatting the right way.
This group here, you can't have a free runner because they're violent, they're physical, they'll knock the ball off you, to knock you back, trying to eliminate negative plays offensively, that helps in your short yardage. Some of that is player driven, meaning, hey, I got to block the right guys. We got to cover the right guys. We can't let them, you know, knock us back. We can't let them, you know, run through those type of things. Some of those things are fundamental. If I got a slant, I got to run a slant. If I got a, you know, a base block, I got a base block. Sometimes, Saturday, we didn't execute what we were supposed to do, which put pressure on another area. So, there's a couple things that we've talked about. Obviously, each week you want to kind of go out and just show improvement. I don't have a number, you know? Hey, I don't. I don't care if we rush for six yards or 600 yards, you know. Do we improve on the things we're being asked to do if we don't call many runs, or we call RPOs, and the defense says, throw it. We're not going to have 100 yards rushing, but if we call runs, we should be able to block them efficiently and be successful."
Q: What do you want to see the defensive line continue to improve [on] this week? (8:22)
"I thought we probably missed some tackles. We had some opportunities to tackle for some tackles for loss, which changed the whole perspective of offensively what you're doing, and we missed some of those. I thought we did a good job of striking blocks. We need to tear off now and get free. I thought we did some really good movement things that we were trying to do, and we kind of got collected on some things are kind of bottled up. And probably the second half, you kind of saw the ball start to roll off the table, and everybody's like, 'Oh, you don't have an edge on your defense.' No, that 663, 100 pound guy just took our guy and did that. Some of that, some of it was, hey, we got some stunts and some twists and some things where we got to get a guy popped outside. We're getting grabbed. We got to get off blocks, so probably tearing off blocks and then securing those tackles for loss. We get a chance to get in the backfield, which Jackson State is not going to allow it to happen often, but we get a chance to get in the backfield. We got to get a guy on the ground, then holistically, just making sure we're communicating and getting set. You know, there were a couple of times that were, were the calls in the linebacker's process. And, okay, now I say it to the D line, they're getting set just as they're going tempo. So, there's, there's a few things, mechanic wise, for the D line, I thought we got a chance to play a bunch of guys, which gives us some confidence going forward, that there are more guys who can play winning football. Those guys got to continue to have good weeks of practice and understand the game plan. It's always going to be different, you know. So this week's game plan will be different than last week's. So, being able to execute that is a big piece of it off of that"
Q: Off of that, particularly in that second half, when they [Mississippi State] were getting to the perimeter a little bit, your inside backers and your safeties, what were your thoughts on run fit? (10:09)
"Yeah, they change a little bit in the second half, what they were doing in the first half, we were playing the exact same defense. They changed a little bit what they were doing, which now puts a little bit more stress on the guys outside of the box and your safeties, where we ran into the issue in the second half. First half we were getting off those blocks. So now you got your safety fitting, and you got an inside backer or a D lineman coming. We're getting the ball on the ground. Second half, we weren't getting both guys there. And now it's the safety. You miss a tackle. Now it's a six yard run.
I was joking with Chris Jones. He probably had; I don't know what was it? John 10-15, tackles. Well, he missed about eight, so he could be the leading tackler in the country, you know. So, there was some opportunities there, you know, where we got a chance to we knew what we were doing was going to be a four yard roll off the table. We didn't anticipate it being a 12 yard roll off the table. You know, you got to give and take some. We were trying to take away some of the inside runs so the ball didn't hit the middle of the defense. We wanted the ball to go a little bit lateral. In the first half, when it was going lateral, we were running getting it knocked down. Safeties were fitting fast. In the second half, we didn't get as much of that. Obviously, they made some adjustments on how they were running the ball, some of the formations that they were using. So, we got to continue to adjust. And then ultimately, as coaches, because we have a part in it too, we got to decide, okay, if we can no longer execute for whatever reason, you know, not as strong as we were wearing down whatever it is, what do we go to so that we can still give our team a chance to execute? If that makes sense."
Q: Were there some things last week that you noticed, okay, we need chemistry here or these couple quarters help with chemistry there, things like that? (11:59)
"I thought we were pretty good. Obviously, there's always things, you know, I thought we played 50 players on special teams, 50 different players got a chance to play on all six units. So that was good. It wasn't a complete not to say the word, it wasn't a complete cluster to see guys out there. The one time we don't have a guy out there, he was hurt. He was in the tent, and as we were getting the information, we were headed to the field. But other than that, I thought it was good. I thought the connectivity was good. I thought what we were hearing on the sidelines were good. I just think there was opportunities there, we needed to make a play to kind of generate or swing momentum. We weren't able to do it, partly coaching wise, we got to try and figure out some better plays to get our guys that play, or to get that momentum. You know, big play in the game is JJ [Hawkins] (Lawrenceville, Ga.) knocks the ball off the quarterback and they fall on it. Well, I mean, we get the ball in the 17 right there and it changes the narrative. We come out of the half. We hit a big return, and we stall out, we don't get fourth down. Well, that changes the narrative, if we can continue those things. So overall, I thought, you know, kind of like you say our connectivity and things flowed well. There's always little things that I want to continue to improve on, from a coaching standpoint, to put our players in better position. You know, I told them after the game, it's all on me. I fully understand that. I take extreme ownership, but as the leader, it's also up to me to make sure everyone knows how they can improve. Ultimately, I have to make the final decision. Ultimately, whether they do or don't, falls on me. I got big shoulders. I understand that. But as the leader, you take generals in the army, they still have to give some orders to help people perform better. And I've got to do a better job of giving those orders. I got to do a better job of kind of making, you know, players, put players in better position. But overall, I thought it was pretty good."
Q: Saturday was also Jack [Murley's] first American football game, you spoke on special teams. For it being his first American football game, what were your thoughts on that? (14:19)
"We had a plan. Actually, the plan going into the game was to let Reed [Harradine] (Birmingham, Ala.) punt the first couple just to make sure Jack [Murley] (Cranbourne North, Victoria, Austrailia) was cool, calm and collected. But when we got out there for pregame and the beginning of the game, he said, No, coach, I'm good. I don't know what a rugby game is like in Australia, but whatever he went to as a kid and watched sports in an arena, he was cool, calm, collected, the response he gave me the first kick he had, I thought he rushed a little bit, and when he came to the sideline, I asked him, he said, 'Coach, I saw him kind of loading up with pressure on the right side, so I wanted to get it out.' That's a response that a veteran punter would give you. So, I thought it was good. Obviously, we want to continue. He's got some, I don't like to call him tricks, but he's got some ways that he can kick the ball to be an advantage. We didn't kind of cut him loose on that because we wanted to just let him get out there and do his job, which I thought he did a decent job, but he's got a level of maturity. I guess, when you're 30 and married, that's one thing you should have, if you don't have experience, is maturity. But I thought for the first time. I mean, you're talking, I don't know 36-30,000 people out there. I don't know how many miles or hours it is to Australia, but I mean, far away from home, there wasn't a ton of family in the stands. There wasn't someone that he could go to and say, What is this like? So I thought he managed it well. I think he'll continue to improve. And he'd like to have a couple of them back. But I thought he did. I thought he did well for his first time."
Q: To the depth piece, I know there were some unknowns going in to game one. Did you come away feeling like you have some depth pieces you feel a little better about? Like a [Jaden] McKinney? (16:07)
"Yeah, we do again. Depth against the SEC school, and the depth against the Sun Belt, we feel a little bit differently. And the depth that we feel good about, some of those guys played a good bit versus on Saturday, some of those guys, physically are able to play, but just aren't there from a reaction standpoint of, hey, we're calling this play. This is your reaction. Here's your adjustment. I think they will improve. We probably had a little bit more in defensively to try to combat a little bit of the physical deficit. So, we had some mechanics and some things in to try and balance that. As the level of talent kind of gets closer, we can kind of play a little bit more, you know, straight football. We always want to have answers. But I think as we get closer to, you know, our level of competition, I think we're going to have a lot of depth at the O and D lines. And when I say a lot of death, I'm not talking 20 guys, but to me, if you can roll 9, 10 or 11 guys in at D-line. Now, will they all play an even amount of plays? No. You know, Jameer Lewis (McComb, Miss.) for example. Really good, really good player. Probably pass rush specialist. He probably plays more when the guy's not 6-6, 330. He's going to have a bigger role. Guys like [Jaden] McKinney (Collierville, Tenn.) like you said, he probably plays more when the guy's not 6-6, 330. But I think what they the skills that they have, will be able to use. There's some defensive things that those guys are really, really good at, that are going to fit some other schemes that are really going to help us. But I think getting those guys in the game, even if it was a small sample size, Garrick Ponder [Saint Petersburg, Fla.), he's a guy that's done a really good job. He got in the game, did some things. They all have things they need to improve on. But I think as we go, I think we've got a lot of guys who will continue to develop. I think we got a lot of guys that, you know, you're going to get to that point in the season where somebody's played a lot of reps and you got to take some off. I think those guys will be able to really help us."
Q: It was a really physical game obviously; do you feel about your health coming out of that? (18:35)
"That's always the number one, you know, concern. You know, you go play those games and they're a battle, and your kids battle really, really hard, physically, we're in a great spot. I feel good about everybody that you know had a bump or bruise, everybody that had a bump or bruise practice yesterday. So that's a positive. Now we have to make decisions when we get to the end of the week, you know, are they whatever percentage you know, 80 percent, 90 percent is it better that, you know, we take some reps off of him and give it to his backup. You know, those things. But as far as being alive, we're alive, which is a big piece to moving forward."
Q: How about the running game, did you like the running game and where do you want to get better at? (19:34)
"Yeah, I think what we were trying do I was, I was comfortable with, I won't say pleased, because I think we can still improve. But what we were trying to do, from a running game standpoint, I was comfortable with. I think as we continue to grow, there are more runs, run types that we can get into that may better fit some of our backs. You run into those kind of tight spots, like, hey, we can run this play, but if our O-line can't block it, then it's maybe not the best play. But I thought what we were trying to do, we gave our guys a chance. There's still some things we got to clean up, even in the basic stuff we were trying to do and that we will continue to grow that which will give us a better chance to be more effective running the ball. I didn't go into the game thinking that, you know, hey, we're going to pound it, pound it, pound it. You know. We were going into the game thinking, okay, how can we effectively be good on first and second down, you know, to get to third and medium, which probably for the first time in my career, we we've we lost a game, but hit our third down goal, which is usually the reason you don't, but the reason we did is because it was a lot of third and mediums. We didn't have a lot of third and 10s. The area where we were least effective in the run game was probably short yardage and that had combination to do with, obviously good, good defense, fundamental issues of what we were trying to do coaching wise, making sure we're putting them in the best situation. So, all things that are controllable, all things that we can go back and fix. But I think we will see more of the running game as the season goes on and the competition draws near. This week they're big up front too. I mean, so we are not going to be able to just three yards in a cloud of dust. Type of deal. We're going to have to find ways to effectively run the ball, which to me, is not just turning around and handing it to the running back or letting the quarterback run. It's the entire system working to be effective."
Closing Statement…
"Thanks guys. I look forward to seeing everybody out there. Last week's atmosphere was phenomenal. I am overjoyed for the response that we've gotten and really excited about this week coming up as well. To The Top."
Southern Miss (0-1) looks for its first win against of the 2025 campaign and Charles Huff against the in-state Tigers (1-0). Jason Baker (Play-by-Play) and Austin Davis (Analyst) will anchor the broadcast on ESPN+ beginning at 4 p.m. while the Southern Miss Sports Network's pregame show begins at 2:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, and analyst Shawn Jones on the call.
Fans can still purchase tickets to the game and secure tickets for the rest of the 2025 season by visiting SouthernMiss.com/Tickets.
Here is what Huff said to the media:
Opening Statement… (0:00)
"Good afternoon. Appreciate everybody being here. Appreciate you guys continuing to cover us and support our programs holistically. Really appreciate that. Obviously, new week, new challenge, new opportunity. Every week creates a different challenge. That's the beauty of what we do. We get an opportunity every week to go out and kind of focus on improving with a new challenge in front of us, Jackson State, have an appropriate fear for our opponent, which is the respect to go out and prepare extremely well with the focus on being and improving in all phases. There were some positives from last week's game, but there were definitely some things that we got to get corrected and corrected fast in order to continue to move forward in the manner we want to.
Jackson State, I think I read something today, they're on 11-game win streak. Definitely a winning culture, which creates a lot of confidence. That's something that we're trying to create here. And obviously you have to win games to do that. It works on your temperament. It works on, you know, how you respond. There's winning. Winning cures a lot, you know, and they've done a really good job. [Jackson State head coach T.C.] Taylor has done a phenomenal job of instilling that in his team and his program, his organization, the fan base, expects to win. His program expects to win, which makes him a difficult opponent. Quarterback is a really good player. The skill guys are competitive when the ball is in the air, quarterback can make all the throws. They've got players that have all the skill sets that you're looking for. They've got outside guys with length and speed, they've got inside guys with short area quickness and change of direction that can really make it really difficult to get them on the ground. The O line is really big, which creates an opportunity for them to run the ball. I think they ran for close to 200-plus, 200 yards last week, which is a phenomenal feat, not only the running backs, having the ability to get their foot in the ground and use their vision, but also the O line creating those holes and kind of we talked about last week, when you have that kind of size up front, you kind of wear on people, which is typically when you start getting the big runs, the explosive runs, when you have good backs. So defensively, really stout and powerful. O line, I mean, D line, excuse me, number zero [Jeremiah Williams] didn't play last week, but we anticipate him being back. All American. Really good defensive lineman. They got a lot of guys. They rotate lot of guys with length and speed. Number six [Quincy Ivory] on the edge does a really good job in the past rush, I believe he had two sacks or two and a half sacks last week, getting after the passer. They got a really good scheme which keeps the ball in front of them and pressures the ball, gets enough hats to the ball when they need to. They're able to kind of mix some things up on the back end. Their back end guys are sound number 15, [Kam] Salas, does a really good job of coming down with violent intentions. Really good tackler in space. So, it's going to be a challenge. We need to improve quickly. That's everyone, coaches, players, everyone involved in order to have a chance to go out this week and play really well."
Q: Coach, after week one you've gone through the experience, the prep week, the game itself, you've seen the film, can you speak to what your message is to your guys this week through practice and especially in terms of cleaning things up? (3:17)
"I thought we had a good week. There were a lot of distractions last week in house, not first game and all those things, but in house, there were a lot of things that we were working through that we got to be able to get over and focus on the main thing. You know, you're talking a new season, first game opponent you really don't have any film on. So, what are you studying versus what are you anticipating? We really didn't have a depth chart, you know, that was kind of, you know, fluid. So, you know, guys with the uncertainty of, how many plays am I going to play? All those things are distractions. You know, as part of it, as coaches, we try and, you know, talk them through, you know, focusing on the main thing. But they're still 18 to 22 year olds, so trying to get them to understand that, you know, every day you got to come out and try to perform to the best of your ability. There were some positives. I thought we had a really good week of preparation. I thought last Tuesday was probably one of our better practices.
I told them after the game, last Tuesday was our best practice. Well, what did we do with the other 30? You know, that doesn't mean they were bad, but to me, every day you got to come out and change your best and learning how to stack days on top of days on top of days. A lot of the young men speaking of last week, this week, it plays into the same thing. Had a lot of relationship connection, you know, to last week's opponent. Same thing in state. A lot of these guys played high school with these guys.
Some of these guys, family members are alumni of that university, so it creates a different level of challenge, but we got to be able to really focus in on the things that you need to do to win. All those other things are important. All those other things understandable, but they don't affect winning. If I went to high school with the left guard, doesn't affect how I play or winning.
If my mom or dad went to that university and got a great degree, it doesn't affect me playing well and winning. Whether I'm a first team or second teamer, special teams guy. Don't know if I'm going to play. It shouldn't affect my preparation. And what ultimately matters last week was a good opportunity to learn that. Hopefully this week we improve on that."
Q: What do you want to improve on offensively going into this week? (5:45)
"Obviously we want to be able to run the ball a little bit. I mean, I think you have to run the ball effectively. I don't have a number. I'm not a you know, hey, we want to be 50-50, or we want to be balanced. I think each week, you know, kind of dictates your focus in running the ball. Last week, we didn't think we were going to be able to just line up and, you know, rush for 360 yards. So, we had different ways to try to be effective in the run game. I think we can improve on that this week. I think we can still be able to get the ball on the perimeter. I think we still can run the ball downhill a little bit with the balance of what is the defense telling us to do. We went back and looked at the film. There were some opportunities that we had Saturday that we didn't take advantage of in the run game, particularly. And then, obviously, you always want to take care of the ball. You know, I thought for three and a half quarters, I thought we took care of the ball well. And taking care of the ball is not just turnovers. Taking care of the ball is getting some YAC or some yards after carry or after catch, right? That eliminates third and one you get a first down, those little gains of another yard, two yards, three yards, eliminates fourth down. We did not do a great job in short yardage. Obviously, the play itself matters, but what did we do on first second down where we could have had another yard or two yards? So, protecting the ball has a lot to do with that, making sure that we are hatting the right way.
This group here, you can't have a free runner because they're violent, they're physical, they'll knock the ball off you, to knock you back, trying to eliminate negative plays offensively, that helps in your short yardage. Some of that is player driven, meaning, hey, I got to block the right guys. We got to cover the right guys. We can't let them, you know, knock us back. We can't let them, you know, run through those type of things. Some of those things are fundamental. If I got a slant, I got to run a slant. If I got a, you know, a base block, I got a base block. Sometimes, Saturday, we didn't execute what we were supposed to do, which put pressure on another area. So, there's a couple things that we've talked about. Obviously, each week you want to kind of go out and just show improvement. I don't have a number, you know? Hey, I don't. I don't care if we rush for six yards or 600 yards, you know. Do we improve on the things we're being asked to do if we don't call many runs, or we call RPOs, and the defense says, throw it. We're not going to have 100 yards rushing, but if we call runs, we should be able to block them efficiently and be successful."
Q: What do you want to see the defensive line continue to improve [on] this week? (8:22)
"I thought we probably missed some tackles. We had some opportunities to tackle for some tackles for loss, which changed the whole perspective of offensively what you're doing, and we missed some of those. I thought we did a good job of striking blocks. We need to tear off now and get free. I thought we did some really good movement things that we were trying to do, and we kind of got collected on some things are kind of bottled up. And probably the second half, you kind of saw the ball start to roll off the table, and everybody's like, 'Oh, you don't have an edge on your defense.' No, that 663, 100 pound guy just took our guy and did that. Some of that, some of it was, hey, we got some stunts and some twists and some things where we got to get a guy popped outside. We're getting grabbed. We got to get off blocks, so probably tearing off blocks and then securing those tackles for loss. We get a chance to get in the backfield, which Jackson State is not going to allow it to happen often, but we get a chance to get in the backfield. We got to get a guy on the ground, then holistically, just making sure we're communicating and getting set. You know, there were a couple of times that were, were the calls in the linebacker's process. And, okay, now I say it to the D line, they're getting set just as they're going tempo. So, there's, there's a few things, mechanic wise, for the D line, I thought we got a chance to play a bunch of guys, which gives us some confidence going forward, that there are more guys who can play winning football. Those guys got to continue to have good weeks of practice and understand the game plan. It's always going to be different, you know. So this week's game plan will be different than last week's. So, being able to execute that is a big piece of it off of that"
Q: Off of that, particularly in that second half, when they [Mississippi State] were getting to the perimeter a little bit, your inside backers and your safeties, what were your thoughts on run fit? (10:09)
"Yeah, they change a little bit in the second half, what they were doing in the first half, we were playing the exact same defense. They changed a little bit what they were doing, which now puts a little bit more stress on the guys outside of the box and your safeties, where we ran into the issue in the second half. First half we were getting off those blocks. So now you got your safety fitting, and you got an inside backer or a D lineman coming. We're getting the ball on the ground. Second half, we weren't getting both guys there. And now it's the safety. You miss a tackle. Now it's a six yard run.
I was joking with Chris Jones. He probably had; I don't know what was it? John 10-15, tackles. Well, he missed about eight, so he could be the leading tackler in the country, you know. So, there was some opportunities there, you know, where we got a chance to we knew what we were doing was going to be a four yard roll off the table. We didn't anticipate it being a 12 yard roll off the table. You know, you got to give and take some. We were trying to take away some of the inside runs so the ball didn't hit the middle of the defense. We wanted the ball to go a little bit lateral. In the first half, when it was going lateral, we were running getting it knocked down. Safeties were fitting fast. In the second half, we didn't get as much of that. Obviously, they made some adjustments on how they were running the ball, some of the formations that they were using. So, we got to continue to adjust. And then ultimately, as coaches, because we have a part in it too, we got to decide, okay, if we can no longer execute for whatever reason, you know, not as strong as we were wearing down whatever it is, what do we go to so that we can still give our team a chance to execute? If that makes sense."
Q: Were there some things last week that you noticed, okay, we need chemistry here or these couple quarters help with chemistry there, things like that? (11:59)
"I thought we were pretty good. Obviously, there's always things, you know, I thought we played 50 players on special teams, 50 different players got a chance to play on all six units. So that was good. It wasn't a complete not to say the word, it wasn't a complete cluster to see guys out there. The one time we don't have a guy out there, he was hurt. He was in the tent, and as we were getting the information, we were headed to the field. But other than that, I thought it was good. I thought the connectivity was good. I thought what we were hearing on the sidelines were good. I just think there was opportunities there, we needed to make a play to kind of generate or swing momentum. We weren't able to do it, partly coaching wise, we got to try and figure out some better plays to get our guys that play, or to get that momentum. You know, big play in the game is JJ [Hawkins] (Lawrenceville, Ga.) knocks the ball off the quarterback and they fall on it. Well, I mean, we get the ball in the 17 right there and it changes the narrative. We come out of the half. We hit a big return, and we stall out, we don't get fourth down. Well, that changes the narrative, if we can continue those things. So overall, I thought, you know, kind of like you say our connectivity and things flowed well. There's always little things that I want to continue to improve on, from a coaching standpoint, to put our players in better position. You know, I told them after the game, it's all on me. I fully understand that. I take extreme ownership, but as the leader, it's also up to me to make sure everyone knows how they can improve. Ultimately, I have to make the final decision. Ultimately, whether they do or don't, falls on me. I got big shoulders. I understand that. But as the leader, you take generals in the army, they still have to give some orders to help people perform better. And I've got to do a better job of giving those orders. I got to do a better job of kind of making, you know, players, put players in better position. But overall, I thought it was pretty good."
Q: Saturday was also Jack [Murley's] first American football game, you spoke on special teams. For it being his first American football game, what were your thoughts on that? (14:19)
"We had a plan. Actually, the plan going into the game was to let Reed [Harradine] (Birmingham, Ala.) punt the first couple just to make sure Jack [Murley] (Cranbourne North, Victoria, Austrailia) was cool, calm and collected. But when we got out there for pregame and the beginning of the game, he said, No, coach, I'm good. I don't know what a rugby game is like in Australia, but whatever he went to as a kid and watched sports in an arena, he was cool, calm, collected, the response he gave me the first kick he had, I thought he rushed a little bit, and when he came to the sideline, I asked him, he said, 'Coach, I saw him kind of loading up with pressure on the right side, so I wanted to get it out.' That's a response that a veteran punter would give you. So, I thought it was good. Obviously, we want to continue. He's got some, I don't like to call him tricks, but he's got some ways that he can kick the ball to be an advantage. We didn't kind of cut him loose on that because we wanted to just let him get out there and do his job, which I thought he did a decent job, but he's got a level of maturity. I guess, when you're 30 and married, that's one thing you should have, if you don't have experience, is maturity. But I thought for the first time. I mean, you're talking, I don't know 36-30,000 people out there. I don't know how many miles or hours it is to Australia, but I mean, far away from home, there wasn't a ton of family in the stands. There wasn't someone that he could go to and say, What is this like? So I thought he managed it well. I think he'll continue to improve. And he'd like to have a couple of them back. But I thought he did. I thought he did well for his first time."
Q: To the depth piece, I know there were some unknowns going in to game one. Did you come away feeling like you have some depth pieces you feel a little better about? Like a [Jaden] McKinney? (16:07)
"Yeah, we do again. Depth against the SEC school, and the depth against the Sun Belt, we feel a little bit differently. And the depth that we feel good about, some of those guys played a good bit versus on Saturday, some of those guys, physically are able to play, but just aren't there from a reaction standpoint of, hey, we're calling this play. This is your reaction. Here's your adjustment. I think they will improve. We probably had a little bit more in defensively to try to combat a little bit of the physical deficit. So, we had some mechanics and some things in to try and balance that. As the level of talent kind of gets closer, we can kind of play a little bit more, you know, straight football. We always want to have answers. But I think as we get closer to, you know, our level of competition, I think we're going to have a lot of depth at the O and D lines. And when I say a lot of death, I'm not talking 20 guys, but to me, if you can roll 9, 10 or 11 guys in at D-line. Now, will they all play an even amount of plays? No. You know, Jameer Lewis (McComb, Miss.) for example. Really good, really good player. Probably pass rush specialist. He probably plays more when the guy's not 6-6, 330. He's going to have a bigger role. Guys like [Jaden] McKinney (Collierville, Tenn.) like you said, he probably plays more when the guy's not 6-6, 330. But I think what they the skills that they have, will be able to use. There's some defensive things that those guys are really, really good at, that are going to fit some other schemes that are really going to help us. But I think getting those guys in the game, even if it was a small sample size, Garrick Ponder [Saint Petersburg, Fla.), he's a guy that's done a really good job. He got in the game, did some things. They all have things they need to improve on. But I think as we go, I think we've got a lot of guys who will continue to develop. I think we got a lot of guys that, you know, you're going to get to that point in the season where somebody's played a lot of reps and you got to take some off. I think those guys will be able to really help us."
Q: It was a really physical game obviously; do you feel about your health coming out of that? (18:35)
"That's always the number one, you know, concern. You know, you go play those games and they're a battle, and your kids battle really, really hard, physically, we're in a great spot. I feel good about everybody that you know had a bump or bruise, everybody that had a bump or bruise practice yesterday. So that's a positive. Now we have to make decisions when we get to the end of the week, you know, are they whatever percentage you know, 80 percent, 90 percent is it better that, you know, we take some reps off of him and give it to his backup. You know, those things. But as far as being alive, we're alive, which is a big piece to moving forward."
Q: How about the running game, did you like the running game and where do you want to get better at? (19:34)
"Yeah, I think what we were trying do I was, I was comfortable with, I won't say pleased, because I think we can still improve. But what we were trying to do, from a running game standpoint, I was comfortable with. I think as we continue to grow, there are more runs, run types that we can get into that may better fit some of our backs. You run into those kind of tight spots, like, hey, we can run this play, but if our O-line can't block it, then it's maybe not the best play. But I thought what we were trying to do, we gave our guys a chance. There's still some things we got to clean up, even in the basic stuff we were trying to do and that we will continue to grow that which will give us a better chance to be more effective running the ball. I didn't go into the game thinking that, you know, hey, we're going to pound it, pound it, pound it. You know. We were going into the game thinking, okay, how can we effectively be good on first and second down, you know, to get to third and medium, which probably for the first time in my career, we we've we lost a game, but hit our third down goal, which is usually the reason you don't, but the reason we did is because it was a lot of third and mediums. We didn't have a lot of third and 10s. The area where we were least effective in the run game was probably short yardage and that had combination to do with, obviously good, good defense, fundamental issues of what we were trying to do coaching wise, making sure we're putting them in the best situation. So, all things that are controllable, all things that we can go back and fix. But I think we will see more of the running game as the season goes on and the competition draws near. This week they're big up front too. I mean, so we are not going to be able to just three yards in a cloud of dust. Type of deal. We're going to have to find ways to effectively run the ball, which to me, is not just turning around and handing it to the running back or letting the quarterback run. It's the entire system working to be effective."
Closing Statement…
"Thanks guys. I look forward to seeing everybody out there. Last week's atmosphere was phenomenal. I am overjoyed for the response that we've gotten and really excited about this week coming up as well. To The Top."
– #FlipTheScript | #SMTTT –
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