Mark Stoops (Vicky Graff Photo)
Southern Mississippi is a four-touchdown underdog in Saturday night’s game at Kentucky.
Southern Miss coach Will Hall shared a few thoughts about the Wildcats at his weekly press conference.
On Kentucky’s Offense…
Hall”: The whole team is big and long. When Coach (Mark) Stoops got there, you can tell they made a conscious decision to recruit size and length. If they are going to sacrifice something, they aren’t going to sacrifice that. You see that across their whole offensive front, defensive front, their edge guys, tight ends, to their outside and inside backers. That’s the thing that stands out with them, along with their kickoff returner, No. 7 Barion Brown.
“They are a good football team. Everything you read, they think it’s the best roster that they have ever had there. They are a tremendous opponent at their venue and our guys are looking forward to it.”
On Kentucky’s Defensive Line…
Hall”: It’s going to be a great test. (Deone) Walker is obviously a great player and we have a tremendous amount of respect for him. It’s about fundamentals, technique and effort. You have to rely on fundamentals and technique and you have to play with great effort. That’s the only way to win any type of competitive battle. We feel like we compete every day here and we are going to definitely compete on Saturday when we go to Lexington. But he’s a great football player and he will be a tremendous opponent for us.”
On the environment of the first game in Lexington…
Hall”: We do have some new players, but I would say we’ve got less new players than a lot of people. We are probably in the top five to 10 percent of roster carryover in the country, so the majority of the team that will travel to Kentucky understands our culture and understands what it takes. A lot of those kids at one point in their lives have played in SEC venues, so I don’t think our kids will be in awe of that by any means. We are going to have respect for that, but we are not going to be in awe of that.
“We understand at the end of the day, it’s football. It’s like the movie ‘Hoosiers.’ They throw that thing up there and drop it down, the rim is 10 feet tall, no matter where you play basketball. This is football on turf and our kids are going to play football, and we’re looking forward to it.”
