Southern Miss Golden Eagles College Football Pregame Quote, 09/16/2019

It certainly was a hard-fought game and a good win. We knew we were playing a really good football team in Troy and our guys showed a lot of resilience. We kept battling back. It was one of those games where it’s a just a back-and-forth battle the whole way. I thought we certainly did some good things offensively. Special teams wise we made some critical plays and, overall, it was a good team win. We’ll take it every day and on Sunday.

Players of the Week:

Offensively: Jack Abraham

Defensively: Hayes Maples

Special Teams: Jaylond Adams

Hopson on what he learned about his team:

I knew they would battle and I even felt like last week ‚Äì everyone might think I’m crazy ‚Äì but I felt like with six minutes to go in the game we had the ball around the 40-yard line and thought ‘uh oh, we’re about to make this one fun.’ They’re going to battle, but I knew that though. The great thing to see was the counter. In the third and fourth quarter, we always counterpunched. I felt like that was something in the Mississippi State game we didn’t do early. We just kept battling and fighting, and we’re able to come up with a win.

On (RB/WR) Neil McLaurin’s touchdown pass:

Those plays are plays that you pull out of the hat every now and then. There’s not a lot of rhyme and reason. Neil’s capable of a lot of things. He’s a good player, he really is. He’s a guy that can do that, and we’ve done that before with him. Again, he’s a guy we certainly know is capable in a lot of areas.

Hopson on the running game:

We were running the ball well. We’re getting better every week, but that’s what we have to do. This week is no exception because we are playing an outstanding football team. I said this last week, and the week before, I want to see us get better every week. That’s what we have to do to be successful. I saw a lot of good things on Saturday, and I saw some things we’ve got to correct. It certainly wasn’t a perfect ballgame by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a win, and it’s good to teach off of those weeks.

On the change in Troy’s offensive tempo:

Technically, we have to be a bit better in our coverage areas. Give their quarterback credit; he’s a good player. We knew he was really good and he proved it. He’s a good player, and they had good receivers. Again, that’s something we’re going to start working today. We didn’t bring our A-game in that area, and we have to play better this week.

Hopson on Jack Abraham’s progression from last season to this season:

He’s really maturing, and he’s running the offense better. With a guy like Jack, I think you’re just going to see him get better and better. I said a long time ago that he kind of reminded me of Nick [Mullens] when he first got here, but he was a little bit younger. That only comes with time, and I was only here with Nick towards the end. He’s a guy that’s just maturing and getting better and better. He’s a student of the game. Jack eats and sleeps football. Hopefully, he’ll continue on his progression, and he’ll get better every game.

On Quez Watkins and Jaylond Adams tandem:

I don’t think [there has been a better tandem since I’ve been here]. Quez and Jaylond had great games, but there are five or six guys out there are dangerous guys. We might have seven. That’s a good thing to have offensively. We have plenty more that can go to the house. All those guys have the athleticism, the speed times, and everything else to prove it to me. Again, we’ve got guys that we can spread the ball around to. That’s always a fun thing and makes you a better offense.

On preparing for Alabama:

We’ve got to make sure we play great in all phases ‚Äì offensively, defensively and special teams. It’s no secret we’re playing an outstanding football team, a great football team. We’re going to have to certainly be on our A-plus game this week, and that starts today. We’ll make sure we’re preparing, practicing, and paying attention to details. There’s no team that is going to have our respect more than Alabama.

Hopson on depth at middle linebacker:

We’ve got a lot of guys, but Racheem [Boothe] is a guy we plan on him playing. Our depth at linebacker are guys that are at the same depth. We’ve got Swayze [Bozeman], we’ve got all those guys. We’re going to continue to play. All those guys play a lot of reps, so I think they all are deserving to be put in the game.

On the Southern Miss running back group:

You’ve got to have three in college football. If you don’t have three, then you’re pretty much rolling the dice. Those guys take shots, so we need to have three guys up and running always.

On redshirt freshman Hayes Maples recent play and his first career start against Troy:

Hayes Maples is a football player. He’s a guy that has looked very well in games.