Nick Hill Press Conference Transcript

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OPENING STATEMENT

It was good to get a win. Winning never gets old, and you have to enjoy them all. It was good to see the guys go on the road and get a victory. It's been well documented that it had been 12 games since we went on the road and got a win. It was big for our team and big for our program to go down there and do that. Those are the expectations. We expect to get more road wins in the future, but it was good to get the first one. We did what we had to to win the football game. We were led by our defense. Anytime you can create three turnovers on defense, one on special teams and hold the other team under 300 yards of total offense, you hope you can get a victory. Our offense did what they had to do to win. That was the game play, to slow it down, play well on defense and play well on special teams. We didn't want to turn the ball over and we turned it over twice; there are a lot of things we can get better at, but we ran the ball well enough to set up play-action passes and a few explosive plays. They challenged us. It was tough to run the ball in there. We ran it against some tough boxes. It was tough sledding when there are eight or nine guys in the box. But we committed to doing it, and in the fourth quarter, we took the air out of the ball. On special teams, we were good in some phases and not good in others. Our kickoff team has to be better; we let them have a short field several times. But our punt team was a big part of us winning the football game. It starts with our protection and then Lane (Reazin), but then also guys like Matt DeSomer, who won our Be A Man Player of the Week award. Matt was a huge part of that game. We have game-winning plays, and he made two of them—a tackle on punt, and then to be able to pop the ball loose on that long punt that they fumbled. He hustled and is the first guy down there, then he pops it to Ryan Neal. He only played on special teams. He's played a lot on offense, and he's on defense now, but he played offense in the first game. He doesn't come in and complains. He accepts his role. Whatever the team needs him to do that week, he does it. He's big for our program. On kick return, D.J. Davis set the tone and gave us a lot of short fields for our offense. The first week, we played a lot of players and built some depth, but SEMO really challenged us in some areas. That will be good for us to learn from, and hopefully improve from Week 2 to Week 3.

We're looking forward to a great week of preparation. Looking ahead to Memphis, it's an awesome opportunity to go on the road and play a top team in the country. I don't know if they're ranked in the top-25, but that's what type of program that Coach Norvell is building and the type of players that we're going to play against. We have our work cut out for us. That's a talented football team across the board with the way they have recruited. They have talent at every single position. Their quarterback will probably play on Sundays. They're super-talented. They spread you out. Coach Norvell is an offensive coach. He does a great job—and not in just one phase of the game. I have always studied Coach Norvell as someone who does a great job because it's not just one phase. They run the football. They throw the football. They have a lot of run-pass options, and they have a quarterback who can do that well. They're good in the screen game. If you're stopping one thing, they can adjust and get to another phase that they're really good at, too. We're going to have to do a great job of slowing them down, trying to make them uncomfortable a little bit. He's going to make his plays. They have playmakers. We're going to have to be sound. We're not going to be able to turn the ball over, just like I'll say all season when we go on the road in conference season. Our expectations are to go down there and play well. You're not going to get on the bus unless it's the same mentality as every week—we're going to prepare to go win a football game. Our guys will look forward to this game. It's a big stage. We'll talk about the Liberty Bowl. A lot of big-time players have played in big-time games there in that bowl. It's a great opportunity for our program.

On punter Lane Reazin…

He has improved. We just have to consistently keep doing that. Through two games, he's hit some good balls. Our protection has been good. Dan, our true freshman snapper, has done a good job. We just have to keep operating at a high, high level on punt. It's maybe the biggest play in football. It dictates the game. Lane is more confident. He was a freshman last year and got thrown into the fire. We have a little bit different punt formation and protection that I think has helped him out. He's just a year more confident. He went through his ups and downs last year. We talked about that as a team after spring ball, all the way through summer and then fall camp. You're not going to win many football games if you look back at the end of the year and you're last (in the MVFC) in net punting. It sets up the other team. It's not good football. We had to get better at that, and we addressed it. Through two games, we're better, but it's just going to get more difficult—explosive returners. We're going to have to keep protecting, and Lane is going to have to keep consistently kicking good balls.

On punting to Memphis…

We feel good about our cover units. Lane has to do a good job—which he has—of placing the ball where we don't have to defend the entire field. If you hit it in the middle of the field where he has the whole field to work with, I don't want to hit it to him there. If we can pin him where we can cover a quarter of a field, that's something we want to do with all the returners. We'll see talented returns all year in our league. They're probably back there because they're the best of the 105 guys. That's a pretty good athlete you see each and every week back there. Lane has to do a good job of pinning, and we have to do a good job of covering.

On Darrell James…

Just keep being consistent. He's been consistent through spring ball, through the summer, and through training camp. This is just the result of him coming out every single day. I don't think he's had really a bad practice really since camp started. He runs full-speed routes. That's what happens when you get on the same page as the quarterback. He did some good things in Week 1. Whatever the game plan calls for, all our guys need to be ready. Over the past couple years, we have had four or five guys with multiple catches and 100 yards in one game, then the next game somebody else has to step up. It's still like that, but Darrell has consistently been good for us. He's a big, strong kid. He's good in the run game. He's good at blocking. That's how you get on the field and stay on the field.

On D.J. Davis and the run game...

We didn't really have an explosive run, which we have to be better at. It's good for our offensive line to see that we just need to finish. We have to finish blocks and finish runs. Those 3- or 4-yard gains can become 11- or 12-yard games. Then you'd like to hit one if you rush the ball 38 times. D.J. can do that; he was close on a couple, but close isn't going to get it done. It was nothing that D.J. did; they tackled well and he was close on a couple. We need to be more explosive in the run game. We're not going to change up our scheme, but there wasn't a lot of space out there. We didn't really spread them out. If you break one tackle, there's somebody else that's going to be there.

On Memphis's defense…

They're multiple. There are some odd fronts. As a coordinator, our old defense was similar to that. We'll see that in our league, too. A lot of teams, including us, will create an odd front, then be in an even front. They (Memphis) can jump in and out of different fronts, then they have a talented back end. They will play some cover one. They pressured UCLA. We will have to be prepared for a lot of things. But as you go through our league, that will prepare you. You just have to dive into the field and see every look that you think you'll get, and be ready for something you haven't seen yet. Then go out and execute.

On Sam Straub's efficiency…

We did what we had to do and set some things up in the run game, but he has to be more efficient on third down. We missed on four third downs in the second half that would have allowed us to have some more explosive plays. They were probably there, but we just missed. The pick that we threw, we set the pressure the wrong way, which allows them to get pressure and the ball gets tipped into the air. Those are little things that we have to be sharper at. They probably overuse the line, 'We improve the most from Week 1 to Week 2.' Sam plays a quarter-and-a-half in Week 1. He was put into some different situations (in Week 2) where you would like to see him grow from that and get better from Week 2 to Week 3, then continue to get better. In the second half, I thought we could have been more efficient at some things, and he knows that. He has to dive into the film and get better.

Do you credit the interceptions to the secondary or to the pass rush?

A little bit of both. They'll be challenged this week. We're not really big into how many yards we're giving up, but creating takeaways, being disruptive, and getting pressure on the quarterback always helps. If you look at our turnovers, a couple have been because of pressures. And a couple of our sacks are coverage sacks, where there's not a place to go with the ball. Each week creates something different. That was SEMO; this is Memphis. Coach Norvell is great at diving into the game plan. We'll see things that we haven't seen because he'll see what we did against SEMO and put in a wrinkle for us. We have to be sound in our technique and see it, get lined up and get the call, rule things out. A lot of times, it comes down to playing man-to-man in the secondary. Accept the challenge. They have good receivers. They have a good quarterback who can extend plays. He's a good athlete. So sometimes, you have to cover for a little while. It will be a challenge.

On Memphis's misdirection…

They get a lot of guys in space. They have a good screen game. They test your eyes and where you're supposed to be. That's what that offense does. If you look up-and-down their scores, they're usually high scoring. They can put up some points against some really good teams. As an offensive coordinator, you're going to set things up to get your best guys the ball. They do a good job of that—screen game, run game, throw game, run-pass option game; they have a little bit of everything. We need to be sound in our technique and understand the defense that's called. Stay in it, run it and execute it.

On depth…

Anytime you play in these (FBS) games, that's all anybody talks about. They have more scholarship football players. They get 85 and we get 63. Late in the half, they're rolling out fresh players that can play. But we feel good about our depth. We've played in these games before, and we've won these games before. You just have to go compete for four quarters. You're going to play football in the Liberty Bowl. Execute a game plan. Have fun. But winning is fun, so execute at a high level. That's the expectation for this team. Today is (the players') day off, but when they come in tomorrow, we'll go at this game just like we do the rest of the games. Execute at a high level. If we don't do that, that's not what we set out to do. This isn't, 'Hey, this is our FBS game. Let's go have fun. All our families are going and we're headed to Memphis.' That's for the families and for the fans, and I'm excited to go down there. We have a ton of alumni from Memphis. It's not that far of a trip for us. These are exciting games for our alumni and past players. I know I have a lot of teammates that are from Memphis that will be at the game. They're meeting us there for the walk-through. They're excited we're coming. That's what these games are fun for, and that's what you come here (to SIU) for—to play in big games and test yourself against some of the best in the country. This is a team that was just playing on ABC and got a win over a top-25 team and maybe the first pick in the NFL Draft with Rosen. Now, you get to go out there and do it and see where you stand.

Last year, Jeremy Chinn took Ryan Neal's starting job, and now they're both playing really well for you this year.

That's where you want to get with your program. No spot is safe. You earn it every single day. That's the expectation for tomorrow. I should see the best practice that we've had. You push yourself to be at your best. When we get to that point with all our players, our program can take off. Ryan Neal was like that. He has started a lot of games here. He's like DeSomer. He never complains. He started playing his best football at the end of the year. He was still playing a lot even though he wasn't starting. We're playing them both now, one at free (safety) and one at strong (safety). I was happy to see Ryan get the conference's Defensive Player of the Week. He's a senior who has played a lot here. He's bought into the program. He's totally committed to his teammates. He's a great leader for us. It's the same thing with Chinn. He really only played in seven games last year. The way he studies—I just saw him in the hallway here, and he already has a notebook full of notes with what he's seen. He's wise beyond his years. He's a true sophomore who has played in nine games now, but when you see him play, he's so 'attention to detail.' It really bothers him when he doesn't get something right or when he's late on a call or didn't see a tackle over or unbalanced formation. That's when you're a special player, and I feel like Jeremy is that.

On blitzing…

We probably brought some more pressures. We have different pressure packages each week. You don't roll out there and call a game off the top of your head. You study their tendencies and their formations and what their players do the best. Then you put a game plan together based on what you think will attack them the most. We're probably more aggressive this year. That comes with trust with the players. They're older in the scheme. When you blitz a lot, everybody has to be on the same page. If you bring five or six guys, that usually means you're in some kind of man-to-man defense, and you have to see it and disguise it. So it's riskier. If you're not in the right spot, or if you're not gap sound when you blitz, you give up big plays. So some people like to play soft and keep it all in front. You have to mix it up. Everybody knows that, and everybody does that.

On Chucky Sullivan…

He did a good job. He forced a fumble. They said the forward progress was stopped, but the ball was out on that. He was coming from the middle of the field, and that play was on the sideline. Chucky is raw, but he's 110 percent all the time. Sometimes, that gets him in trouble, but you would rather have him that way than the other way around, as far as coaching him to fly around. As he grows, he will start to get the understanding of the game. He flies around and plays hard. He's fun to have on the team. He's just a true freshman, and we're excited about Chucky.

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Chinn

D.J. Davis

Matt DeSomer

Darrell James

Ryan Neal

Lane Reazin

Sam Straub

Scoreboard

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