Marshall University Athletics
Quotes/Notes/Video from October 30 Press Conference
10/31/2018 1:21:00 AM | Football
Marshall at Southern Miss Saturday afternoon
Opening statement:
Captains this week will be Levi Brown and Jordan Dowrey on Offense, and on defense it will be Malik Gant and Malik Thompson. Malik Thompson is just a guy who continues to have a tremendous senior year. I am proud of the way he has gone about his business and he is a really good player for us right now. As you all know, we have a great challenge going down to Southern Mississippi. You guys have all been there, they have great tradition. The thing about that Southern Miss team is that they are one of the top teams in our league in total offense and one of the top teams in total defense as well. You don't have those kind of stats out there if you do not have good players. They have excellent players. They have a quarterback who has thrown for a lot of yards, a defense that has been very stingy in the red zone, and statistically, one of, if not the top defense in our league. Anytime you go on the road you have to take your toughness and your leadership. Those four guys I mentioned earlier are going to have to continue to do that, as well as the rest of our team. We have to have a great week of preparation. We are kind of a day ahead of things. We had a Tuesday practice last night, today's is Wednesday, and then we will have two Thursdays before we hit the road. I know we are excited and our players are excited. We look forward to the challenge.
On the match-up:
As you mentioned, this is the one team that I know of that we have played every year since I have been here. We have been there multiple times. As far as tradition is concerned in our league, you think of us and Southern Mississippi probably have the most history as far as football is concerned. They are an excellent team as I mentioned before and Jay has done a nice job down there. It will be a great challenge for us that we are looking forward to.
On USM's year so far:
Stats don't meant a whole lot at times but if you look at them statistically, you don't put the numbers up that they do if you don't have good players on offense and defense. Another thing is … you guys have been following them back when they were beating Alabama and those other teams … they are located in probably one of the most talent-rich areas in the country. Junior college football in the state of Mississippi may be the best there is. They have a lot of good high school players in that area as well so they should be talented. They do a good job of recruiting, as I'm sure Jay does, they have good players in every position. As I mentioned before, they are a talented team that turnovers have been a problem for them and that is a big reason why they have lost a couple of games. If they can get that corrected they are going to be a handful. It is going to be all about us going down there and playing really well in all three phases and to continue what we have done the last couple of games.
On taking care of the ball:
I think that any game you go into, number one, you have to play great defense. That's where it starts. You hear me say it all the time. The last couple of weeks we have played great defense. We have taken away the strength of that particular team, whether it be the vertical throws against Old Dominion or the run game against FAU. The thing, offensively, that we talk about is just taking care of the ball and we've done that. And we've won the special teams battle. I think every game you play comes down to doing those things. If you can do that, then I think you have a great shot at winning the game. That will be no different Saturday.
On the bye week:
We have a lot of guys that are back now. I don't foresee anyone not playing Saturday at this point. If we had a game this past Saturday, there would have been three or four guys that wouldn't have played in that game. So I don't think that there is any question that the open date helped us a lot as far as getting guys back and healthy. We have a four game stretch now, a four game stretch where every game is a championship game at this point. It is important that we get ready to go play them all, starting, of course, with Southern Miss.
On Alex Thomson:
I think he has grown as a player and become more comfortable in every game he has played. I think everyone has seen improvement from game one to game two, and then game three. I expect the same kind of improvement going into game four. He is a competitive guy who works extremely hard at what he does. I thought he threw the ball extremely well last night at practice. I see him getting better every week and he is going to have to continue to do that this week as well.
On Isaiah Green:
He is back out there. He is back out at practice and throwing the ball a little bit. However, Alex, right now, is our quarterback and we will continue to move forward in that direction.
On running game:
It is always critical. You have to be able to take advantage of what they give you and I think, the last couple of weeks, we have done that. We have been able to run the football at times and get into the fourth quarter the last two games with the ability to put those games away. That being said, we have the ability to run it and now we have to throw it a little better, which I think we will. We should be fine.
On both defenses:
They play tremendous defense if you look at them statistically. They are one of the top defenses in our league. We take great pride in what we do here defensively. I am sure that both defenses will play extremely well. Offensively, we work really hard at taking care of the ball and taking advantage of what they give us. It is going to be a battle and a physical game, it always is. Anytime we play Southern Miss, it is an extremely physical game. It won't be any different on Saturday.
Captains this week will be Levi Brown and Jordan Dowrey on Offense, and on defense it will be Malik Gant and Malik Thompson. Malik Thompson is just a guy who continues to have a tremendous senior year. I am proud of the way he has gone about his business and he is a really good player for us right now. As you all know, we have a great challenge going down to Southern Mississippi. You guys have all been there, they have great tradition. The thing about that Southern Miss team is that they are one of the top teams in our league in total offense and one of the top teams in total defense as well. You don't have those kind of stats out there if you do not have good players. They have excellent players. They have a quarterback who has thrown for a lot of yards, a defense that has been very stingy in the red zone, and statistically, one of, if not the top defense in our league. Anytime you go on the road you have to take your toughness and your leadership. Those four guys I mentioned earlier are going to have to continue to do that, as well as the rest of our team. We have to have a great week of preparation. We are kind of a day ahead of things. We had a Tuesday practice last night, today's is Wednesday, and then we will have two Thursdays before we hit the road. I know we are excited and our players are excited. We look forward to the challenge.
On the match-up:
As you mentioned, this is the one team that I know of that we have played every year since I have been here. We have been there multiple times. As far as tradition is concerned in our league, you think of us and Southern Mississippi probably have the most history as far as football is concerned. They are an excellent team as I mentioned before and Jay has done a nice job down there. It will be a great challenge for us that we are looking forward to.
On USM's year so far:
Stats don't meant a whole lot at times but if you look at them statistically, you don't put the numbers up that they do if you don't have good players on offense and defense. Another thing is … you guys have been following them back when they were beating Alabama and those other teams … they are located in probably one of the most talent-rich areas in the country. Junior college football in the state of Mississippi may be the best there is. They have a lot of good high school players in that area as well so they should be talented. They do a good job of recruiting, as I'm sure Jay does, they have good players in every position. As I mentioned before, they are a talented team that turnovers have been a problem for them and that is a big reason why they have lost a couple of games. If they can get that corrected they are going to be a handful. It is going to be all about us going down there and playing really well in all three phases and to continue what we have done the last couple of games.
On taking care of the ball:
I think that any game you go into, number one, you have to play great defense. That's where it starts. You hear me say it all the time. The last couple of weeks we have played great defense. We have taken away the strength of that particular team, whether it be the vertical throws against Old Dominion or the run game against FAU. The thing, offensively, that we talk about is just taking care of the ball and we've done that. And we've won the special teams battle. I think every game you play comes down to doing those things. If you can do that, then I think you have a great shot at winning the game. That will be no different Saturday.
On the bye week:
We have a lot of guys that are back now. I don't foresee anyone not playing Saturday at this point. If we had a game this past Saturday, there would have been three or four guys that wouldn't have played in that game. So I don't think that there is any question that the open date helped us a lot as far as getting guys back and healthy. We have a four game stretch now, a four game stretch where every game is a championship game at this point. It is important that we get ready to go play them all, starting, of course, with Southern Miss.
On Alex Thomson:
I think he has grown as a player and become more comfortable in every game he has played. I think everyone has seen improvement from game one to game two, and then game three. I expect the same kind of improvement going into game four. He is a competitive guy who works extremely hard at what he does. I thought he threw the ball extremely well last night at practice. I see him getting better every week and he is going to have to continue to do that this week as well.
On Isaiah Green:
He is back out there. He is back out at practice and throwing the ball a little bit. However, Alex, right now, is our quarterback and we will continue to move forward in that direction.
On running game:
It is always critical. You have to be able to take advantage of what they give you and I think, the last couple of weeks, we have done that. We have been able to run the football at times and get into the fourth quarter the last two games with the ability to put those games away. That being said, we have the ability to run it and now we have to throw it a little better, which I think we will. We should be fine.
On both defenses:
They play tremendous defense if you look at them statistically. They are one of the top defenses in our league. We take great pride in what we do here defensively. I am sure that both defenses will play extremely well. Offensively, we work really hard at taking care of the ball and taking advantage of what they give us. It is going to be a battle and a physical game, it always is. Anytime we play Southern Miss, it is an extremely physical game. It won't be any different on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
OL
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OL
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S
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QB
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DL
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QB
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