Jacksonville State Football
Weekly Press Conference
September 17, 2024 – Southern Miss Week
 
Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
 
Opening comments
"We still haven't been creating enough turnovers, but you're making progress. I'm the worst and we've got to have patience. with seven or eight new starters, or whatever it is on defense, and then a new system. Every week, I see a little bit of improvement and a little bit of steps that we're taking, which is good. We have one more non-conference game, and then getting to our eight conference games, I thought there's ways we got better, but and it was a long trip, long game. Now we're getting ready to be back home finally and playing a very athletic, good team at our place. So it should be a good turnout."
 
On Southern Miss
"A typical Southern Miss team, really big defense alignment up front. They've always been known for that athletic skill guys on offense. The coaching staff has a lot of experience there. I got a lot of respect for Will (Hall) and his staff and the guys they have."
 
On the Southern Miss quarterbacks
"They played two, three in the last game. Rodemaker (Todd) was a transfer and a big, strong guy that can throw the ball. When they put in No. 3, he was, was off the charts. I mean, he was really impressive as well. I don't know whether at depth wise, or what their thoughts process is, doing it and defensively you can't have two different game plans. You kind of do what you do and then adjust to certain plays. If they're going do some quarterback runs or whatever, No. 3 is in there. We have to be ready for that."
 
On QB Tyler Huff
"I think he's played really well, particularly for his first few games in our system. He wasn't here in spring practice, he was doing his duty before. He had the summer, which we were limited there, and then, basically fall camp and three games. Every week I see more and more of him being comfortable with what we're doing and that's a good thing. I think we've got, we've got a deep quarterback room with some experience, and I thought that was going to be a strength for us and I still do."
 
On the team morale
"I think it's good. I want our guys to hurt for 24 hours if we lose or if we don't play well, either way, I want them to be upset about it and think about but then after the 24 hours, we have to turn the page and get ready to go. They they're more resilient and easier pop back into thing than coaches are. Coaches are the ones that I don't give pep talks to they understand that. But our guys know it's long season. I said we didn't play a conference game yet. We only been home one time, and I expect this to play a lot better in this home game than we did in the last month. That we didn't play well in the last one."
   

Jack Dawson, Sr., P
 
On his background
"I was pretty much sitting at home one day just scrolling through Instagram, and just saw pro kicker Australia was on Instagram, kind of looked into it, I haven't looked back since then. So it's been amazing experience since getting over here, going through all of it."
 
On taking pride in his craft
"I just kind of try and look forward to each game, especially my first couple of years here, I look up my stats every game and they weren't as good as I wanted to I think just maturing in the system and not looking at that and growing has actually allowed me to become a much better punter instead of looking back and thinking about the previous kick, instead of just letting them grow back, and just keep moving on."
 
On having fun on the sidelines
"I'm an old guy. I've actually worked jobs that start at 5 A.M. going through bags at the airport and stuff. I know what the real world is like, so being here is almost like a holiday. It's just every day I wake up and you know something new is going to happen. It's just such an enjoyable experience. It's awesome."
   

Tyler Huff, Sr., QB
 
On grasping the offense
"It is very different. It's just a fast tempo kind of offensively, how we run it here. I've always been in a slow, methodical, huddle up, get the perfect play kind of thing, so there's a big learning curve. Everything is like on the snap, post snap and a lot faster processing that is needed. I will say it did take a little bit of time going though camp and actually getting real reps, seeing everybody move. It's a little bit different, but I think I got to be grasping. Now
 
On passing to 10 different receivers at EMU
"This is the most talented football team I've ever been a part of, obviously, a very good group. I think we've probably got 20-30, guys to go out there and do the same thing. I have faith in every body and we practice really hard. Everybody gets reps for everybody, so, I'm throwing it to everybody."
 
On football and his military service
"I haven't done a whole lot military wise. I am in the reserves and I have been in some leadership positions.  I'm a second lieutenant, so my role is platoon leader and I would be in charge of 40-50, soldiers. But again, being on reserves, you never really get that much leadership role or leadership time where you're actually in charge of all of them. So honestly, I haven't experienced too much of that crossover. Obviously, a lot more football, 180 guys in the room and everybody's looking at you."
 
On coming to Jax State
"I'm not a big guy and really didn't wow anybody on film. I wasn't really recruited. It was here, Arkansas State, or go be a backup, at a power five but I came to Jax State. Obviously it is a winning program and I wanted to play for a legendary coach. I knew there was opportunity for me to come in and play, so I think it was just good spot for me. I'm very grateful being here and I know we're behind the eight ball for sure. Being 0-3 is definitely not what anybody wanted, but I think we're, we're taking steps in the right direction, but just takes time to get over the hump."