Coach talks QB competition, new coaches, running game
Nick Suss
Mississippi Clarion Ledger USA TODAY NETWORK
HATTIESBURG — The Southern Miss football team has high hopes and expectations heading into 2019, coming off a 6-5 season where the Golden Eagles finished one overtime loss away from appearing in the Conference USA championship game.
One week into fall camp, we spoke with Southern Miss head football coach Jay Hopson in a one-on-one interview, breaking down his team's roster, competitions and motivations for the year. In part one of our interview, Hopson spoke about the quarterback competition between Jack Abraham and Tate Whatley, new offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner's contributions to the team, plans for a more productive rushing attack and much more.
A complete transcript of the Q&A with Hopson is below. Be sure to check back for part two, where we discuss the depth of talent on defense, Hopson's view on expanded transfer rules and why Hopson's message to his team revolves around being one play better than the team was last season.
Question: One week into camp, what have you liked from your team?
Hopson: We're competing hard. That's something as a coach that you like. It's the first few days of camp, so after 30 years of doing this stuff, I know those first few days there's always the good, bad and ugly. You just want to make sure guys are fine-tuning their assignments, their fundamentals, the little things. That's what you look for in this acquisition period. But I do think our guys are progressing at a fast rate. They've got to continue that through camp. I think that's critical now with the fewer practices we have, we're down to 25 from 29. It's important that they're learning quickly and getting ready.
Q: Have the team and the new coaches gelled together?
JH: No doubt. Most of our transition is on offense. Everybody defensively is pretty much back. I think they're working extremely well together. I think [new offensive coordinator Buster] Faulkner is doing an extremely nice job with our guys offensively. Right now we've got everybody finally healthy. There's always the woes where guys have bumps and bruises, but everybody's pretty healthy. So I think we're progressing well there.
Q: What should fans expect from a Buster Faulkner offense?
JH: I think Buster's a guy that he's a very serious coach. Attention to detail guy. I think our offense is responding well to that. I think our receivers are doing extremely well. I feel like we've got good competition on the offensive line. Those are going to be some fun battles to watch up front. I think the guys are battling hard. And I think our quarterbacks, Jack [Abraham] and Tate [Whatley] have had really good days. And I've been proud and pleased with our youngsters. Jaden [Johnson] and Chandler [Rogers] are doing some really good things.
Q: Is it hard keeping competition going with so many returning starters on offense?
JH: I think it's pretty easy. They can look over the side and see that 'You know what? This guy's a pretty good football player.' Players recognize that another guy is pretty good, so they know it's legitimate. It's easy for a coach to talk about competition. Like you mentioned, you can say 'Oh, he's a returning starter.' But it really means something when they know 100 percent when they look at that other guy and go 'You know what? This guy's pretty darn good. I'm not so sure he's not one of the best ones out here.' Then all of a sudden competition means something because they see it. I think at a few positions, we have legit competition at a lot of places across the board.
Q: Speaking of competition, how have Jack and Tate handled the QB battle?
JH: They're doing really well. To me, I've just seen them both grow tremendously. Buster is doing a good job with them and I think they're responding well. They're having good days out there. I've been really pleased with our quarterback play the first five days.
Q: Can you envision a world where the season starts without you naming a starting quarterback?
JH: We'll name a starter for sure. But the bottom line is sometimes the guy who is named the backup deserves to play a little bit. It's football. Our starter is going to be our starter. He's not going to be looking over his shoulder once that's declared. But on the other end, if the other guy can play a little football, he's going to play a little football. And if he's very productive, well guess what: that's the competition about it. If you create competition, I think that's what makes the guy that's been declared the starter stay on his Ps and Qs. It's no different than Joe Montana and Steve Young. Joe Montana was one of the best that ever played, but I promise you that coaching staff was saying 'There's competition for that job.' The fans were probably sitting there saying 'Joe Montana is the guy.' But at the end of the day, if the coaches recognize there's two good players for a position, you've got to let them compete. The guy that does the best job, he's got the win.
Q: How vital is it having so many returning weapons at receiver to help these quarterbacks in the competition?
JH: I think it helps. For sure. I do feel like we have guys that can do things with the football. That's a critical ingredient to being explosive on offense. You have to have guys that can make plays. And I think we have that.
Q: Wide receiver Quez Watkins missed the spring with eligibility issues. How is he doing now, and is he all cleared for the season?
JH: He's doing really good. He's [cleared] and he's practicing really well. I think he's having a good camp.
Q: How is the running game progressing this fall after a rough season last year?
JH: That's something that we certainly talked about heavily in the offseason and something that we took pride in the first two years we were here. Last year we didn't run the ball as well as we like to. That's something that we're going to try to get back on track this year.
Q: Looking back on the running game last year, were you able to identify anything in particular that wasn't working?
JH: It's football. All parties always have a piece of the blame. It's like that old saying 'If you point one finger, there's always three pointing back at you.' The bottom line is every person has part of the blame. The players, coaches, equipment managers and janitors. We've just got to make sure we run the football better this year.
Q: You're returning five starters on the offensive line, but you said there'll be a lot of competition there. What's happening up front?
JH: We brought in a lot. I think we signed seven on the offensive line. And we're letting those guys battle and compete. It'll shake out in a couple weeks when we find out who our starting five are. But that's not the only position there's competition at. Defensive line wise, we talked about maybe having a starting eight. I think competition up front is a good thing. We went through injuries last year on the offensive line. I think we wanted to build a lot of depth. We're getting back to close to 85 on scholarship again. Last year we played at 70, the year before it was 68. So we're getting back close to 85 scholarship numbers. I think the depth will help us and I think competition is going to make us better. There are some guys that have played some football and some young guys that are showing a lot of athleticism and aggressiveness. The top five will be the five.
Check back for part two of our exclusive Q&A with Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson. Contact Nick Suss at 601408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter
Nick Suss
Mississippi Clarion Ledger USA TODAY NETWORK
HATTIESBURG — The Southern Miss football team has high hopes and expectations heading into 2019, coming off a 6-5 season where the Golden Eagles finished one overtime loss away from appearing in the Conference USA championship game.
One week into fall camp, we spoke with Southern Miss head football coach Jay Hopson in a one-on-one interview, breaking down his team's roster, competitions and motivations for the year. In part one of our interview, Hopson spoke about the quarterback competition between Jack Abraham and Tate Whatley, new offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner's contributions to the team, plans for a more productive rushing attack and much more.
A complete transcript of the Q&A with Hopson is below. Be sure to check back for part two, where we discuss the depth of talent on defense, Hopson's view on expanded transfer rules and why Hopson's message to his team revolves around being one play better than the team was last season.
Question: One week into camp, what have you liked from your team?
Hopson: We're competing hard. That's something as a coach that you like. It's the first few days of camp, so after 30 years of doing this stuff, I know those first few days there's always the good, bad and ugly. You just want to make sure guys are fine-tuning their assignments, their fundamentals, the little things. That's what you look for in this acquisition period. But I do think our guys are progressing at a fast rate. They've got to continue that through camp. I think that's critical now with the fewer practices we have, we're down to 25 from 29. It's important that they're learning quickly and getting ready.
Q: Have the team and the new coaches gelled together?
JH: No doubt. Most of our transition is on offense. Everybody defensively is pretty much back. I think they're working extremely well together. I think [new offensive coordinator Buster] Faulkner is doing an extremely nice job with our guys offensively. Right now we've got everybody finally healthy. There's always the woes where guys have bumps and bruises, but everybody's pretty healthy. So I think we're progressing well there.
Q: What should fans expect from a Buster Faulkner offense?
JH: I think Buster's a guy that he's a very serious coach. Attention to detail guy. I think our offense is responding well to that. I think our receivers are doing extremely well. I feel like we've got good competition on the offensive line. Those are going to be some fun battles to watch up front. I think the guys are battling hard. And I think our quarterbacks, Jack [Abraham] and Tate [Whatley] have had really good days. And I've been proud and pleased with our youngsters. Jaden [Johnson] and Chandler [Rogers] are doing some really good things.
Q: Is it hard keeping competition going with so many returning starters on offense?
JH: I think it's pretty easy. They can look over the side and see that 'You know what? This guy's a pretty good football player.' Players recognize that another guy is pretty good, so they know it's legitimate. It's easy for a coach to talk about competition. Like you mentioned, you can say 'Oh, he's a returning starter.' But it really means something when they know 100 percent when they look at that other guy and go 'You know what? This guy's pretty darn good. I'm not so sure he's not one of the best ones out here.' Then all of a sudden competition means something because they see it. I think at a few positions, we have legit competition at a lot of places across the board.
Q: Speaking of competition, how have Jack and Tate handled the QB battle?
JH: They're doing really well. To me, I've just seen them both grow tremendously. Buster is doing a good job with them and I think they're responding well. They're having good days out there. I've been really pleased with our quarterback play the first five days.
Q: Can you envision a world where the season starts without you naming a starting quarterback?
JH: We'll name a starter for sure. But the bottom line is sometimes the guy who is named the backup deserves to play a little bit. It's football. Our starter is going to be our starter. He's not going to be looking over his shoulder once that's declared. But on the other end, if the other guy can play a little football, he's going to play a little football. And if he's very productive, well guess what: that's the competition about it. If you create competition, I think that's what makes the guy that's been declared the starter stay on his Ps and Qs. It's no different than Joe Montana and Steve Young. Joe Montana was one of the best that ever played, but I promise you that coaching staff was saying 'There's competition for that job.' The fans were probably sitting there saying 'Joe Montana is the guy.' But at the end of the day, if the coaches recognize there's two good players for a position, you've got to let them compete. The guy that does the best job, he's got the win.
Q: How vital is it having so many returning weapons at receiver to help these quarterbacks in the competition?
JH: I think it helps. For sure. I do feel like we have guys that can do things with the football. That's a critical ingredient to being explosive on offense. You have to have guys that can make plays. And I think we have that.
Q: Wide receiver Quez Watkins missed the spring with eligibility issues. How is he doing now, and is he all cleared for the season?
JH: He's doing really good. He's [cleared] and he's practicing really well. I think he's having a good camp.
Q: How is the running game progressing this fall after a rough season last year?
JH: That's something that we certainly talked about heavily in the offseason and something that we took pride in the first two years we were here. Last year we didn't run the ball as well as we like to. That's something that we're going to try to get back on track this year.
Q: Looking back on the running game last year, were you able to identify anything in particular that wasn't working?
JH: It's football. All parties always have a piece of the blame. It's like that old saying 'If you point one finger, there's always three pointing back at you.' The bottom line is every person has part of the blame. The players, coaches, equipment managers and janitors. We've just got to make sure we run the football better this year.
Q: You're returning five starters on the offensive line, but you said there'll be a lot of competition there. What's happening up front?
JH: We brought in a lot. I think we signed seven on the offensive line. And we're letting those guys battle and compete. It'll shake out in a couple weeks when we find out who our starting five are. But that's not the only position there's competition at. Defensive line wise, we talked about maybe having a starting eight. I think competition up front is a good thing. We went through injuries last year on the offensive line. I think we wanted to build a lot of depth. We're getting back to close to 85 on scholarship again. Last year we played at 70, the year before it was 68. So we're getting back close to 85 scholarship numbers. I think the depth will help us and I think competition is going to make us better. There are some guys that have played some football and some young guys that are showing a lot of athleticism and aggressiveness. The top five will be the five.
Check back for part two of our exclusive Q&A with Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson. Contact Nick Suss at 601408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter
