Jacksonville State Football
Weekly Press Conference
October 25 2024 – Liberty Week
 
Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
 
On the offensive line improvement  
"We've gotten better up front and I think this last game (MTSU), was probably the most consistent we've been up front with the o-line. Anytime you can rush for whatever we did for, they're doing something pretty good up front and you add in your quarterback to the run game, which is always part of what we do. He's running really well, and Trey been phenomenal. He gets better and better each week. He's in his first year in the system. He's comfortable what we're doing now, but I think every game we play, he gets even more comfortable. I've said it before, you're not going to be able to run for that many yards without really good perimeter blocking. Our tight ends take a lot of pride along with our wide receivers, so it's definitely a group effort."
 
On Liberty
"Very athletic, same as we've seen last year. Really across the board. I mean, obviously on offense, they've got a lot of athletes, but their athleticism on defense last year when we played them stood out, and they're just as athletic this year as well, so it'll be a big challenge. Our guys know how important it is. I think you look at Liberty against Kennesaw,, I'm just now watching their film. They played great, executed really well, got some momentum going and got a great win for them. But it's, it's still Liberty and it was 17 or 18 in a row for a reason and playing at their place, so our guys have got a lot of respect for their program and know what a challenge it'll be."
 
On playing in the midweek
 "Like for today is a Monday for us, it's the day the players are off. You forget what kind of day it is,  but once you get into that routine, it's actually easier. It's not as difficult you when you first go into it, or when you have the five day window, like when we played New Mexico State.. This is the last one and it is kind of neat, you know you're not playing on Saturday, we're practicing, but when you have an hour or two to watch, like I say, other coaches suffer. You know, it's not fun to watch and suffer because a lot of friends of mine, but it is. It's a little bit unique, but it's going to be good to go back to a Saturday games as well. I think, especially for our fans, it's hard. I think it's a lot of places and it's hard for some folks to get to the midweek games, whether working wise or what have you. Saturday is always a little better thing for that. But we've got one more of these, and this will be a great environment. I've never seen their facilities, look like fantastic facilities. I'm sure there will be a big turnout for this one."
 
On the team responding after Kennesaw State beat Liberty
"Because they beat us pretty good last year, our guys have a lot of respect for them. I don't know what their schedule was before Kennesaw, they had an open time when they the App State game got canceled. So if they had, like us, an open week, we look at our next opponent They were probably already looking at us somewhat too when you have an extra open date. They're the defending conference champions. They're still the same team, so we're going to get their best version. Our guys got a lot of respect for their program. We've got to play better and our guys know that. It's not that you don't want to look at too far ahead, but it's for first place in the league, right? So right now we're, we're still in a position where every game we're playing for is playing for first place in the league."

On exposure from the midweek games
"I think generally in recruiting, we do. I think there's so many options to watch, like every game is on TV, I think people scroll. I think when you're a midweek game, there's not as many options, and there's not as much scrolling going on. They're paying attention, maybe a little bit more, if they love football. So I think there's a game every night college or pro from now until the end of November, or something like that. I think it has helped the exposure. I hope it helped, has helped the exposure for our for our school as well, which would be a great thing. I think Jax State is a great school, so I hope it helps the enrollment as well, but certainly has helped our program. I've talked colleagues of mine and said, Yeah, we got a chance to see which I normally wouldn't, So that's been good."