JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As the Eagles return back to Burke-Tarr Stadium for Homecoming 2021, Carson-Newman head coach Mike Clowney addressed the media before a Saturday afternoon contest between the Eagles and Lions.
Mike Clowney Opening Statement: Homecoming, man, we're looking forward to Homecoming. It's always a great environment for the kids to play in. It is always exciting to see all of our other family members come back and spend a little bit of time with us. It's always exciting and as far as the game, Mars Hill is having a really good year this year. I think Tim (Clifton) has done a great job of getting those guys getting prepared to play. He's been able to put an older group of players on the field who are playing pretty well together right now.
Q1 Mars Hill has all but two starters back on defense from 2019. Same rings true on offense as everyone started last year, minus the wide receivers. It's clear what that does for a program.
It speaks volume because it talks about the overall program in general from the athletic standpoint to academic standpoint. Being able to keep kids on campus so they can continue to grow and learn in your program and learn and execute how you want them to do so. It's something that is vital to any program success.
Q2 Jimmy Urzua is an interesting case at quarterback, completing only 49 percent of his passes with a 5:1 TD to INT ratio. What has he done to be a little sporadic but still get the job done at a high level?
That's the thing that you'll see is pretty traditional with Mars Hill. They'll take some shots, have some good receivers so they're going to make some big plays throughout the season. That's where you see a lot of his yardage, but at the same time, he's been a steady head in finding those guys and put the ball where it needs to be when it counts.
Q3 You look at your team who could have easily given up the ghost heading into last weekend, but stuck together. How proud of you of this team for sticking together through the adversity of this month and year?
That's one thing we always talk about, which is we don't know what that is. That's one thing with this football team is their resiliency and perseverance. We always talk about things from a spiritual standpoint, and that's one thing we learn that is very vital of learning how to push through hard times. It's not fun, but it's a lesson for these kids to take with them for the rest of their lives. Despite the circumstances, we strive to be optimistic and try to find the positives in situations as we continue to work to make it better. That way, at some point, we can reach the milestone we want to reach.
Q4 How gratifying will it be when these guys can see the fruits of their labor beyond instances such as "hey, your steps were right on this play"?
I think it will be really gratifying. Whenever you work so hard at something, you want to see that success. I don't really know how they'll respond but hopefully they respond in a way that's enthusiastic and exciting but that's one thing we talked about yesterday of what do we really expect. We're not going into a football game expecting things to not go well. That's one thing that comes out of the game last week where every time we show up, we show up to win and show up to make plays. Every time we have an opportunity, we need to capitalize on that opportunity. I thought we played really well together, sticking to our ONE theme last week, but now we have to take that ONE and put it in places to make plays and exceed at a level we feel like we should be exceeding at.
Q5 Alonzo Houston has developed into a loaded bullet this year. What has he meant to your defense week-in and week-out as he's everywhere on the field?
We talk about Alonzo and how he was a wrestler. You've been in those situations, like in wrestling where you're one-on-one. Sometimes times get tough and there's nowhere to go. If things are going to get fixed, you have to fix it. I think he's learned how to take that mentality from being on the mat and take it into football. You don't really focus on what is going around you; you deal with what you're dealing with in the moment and you respond how you need to respond in the moment. Now he's been able to see the fruit of that as he has been able to get in position to make tackles and be able to make plays. One play last week was when the quarterback broke out and he's on the corner, we have Alonzo chasing him. He's faster than Alonzo but Alonzo does a great job of working on the outside pad and Rondrow Peebles is flooding inside to make the quarterback decide to go out-of-bounds.
Q6 Is there a message to the team right now to maybe go out there and "let it all rip" instead of sitting there and processing how to play good football?
We talked about that in our meeting yesterday. There is a point where you get to that point where you're running out of time and it's time to be desperate. It's time to be desperate and respond to try and get some things done.
Q7 What are some goals you want your team to have over the final three weeks of the year?
I think you want us to, number one, begin making plays we should make. Then, you want to see us begin to excel beyond that and go beyond expectations with making some plays that maybe seen as "wild plays." You look at those two games made by Newberry late in the game and man, those are really good plays on third down and I believe we have a capability of doing that. So, you want to see our guys really reach and strain and go out there to get that. Of course, we want to win. We wouldn't do this everyday if we didn't want to win, but go play with a sense of desperation without losing our composure. That's one big thing is being able to see those two things come together of us playing at a high level and high emotion but at the same time be able to control ourselves and do what we need to do.
Q8 It feels like you guys haven't been able to catch a break at any point this season. How do you handle that as a coach when your players potentially sense that we are doing everything right, but the ball has not bounced our way? Is it fair to say your kickoff units have hit that level?
Only thing we can do is be where we're supposed to be when we're supposed to be there. It's amazing how many times you do that and the ball winds up bouncing your way. There's a lot of that we need to continue to work on going to do the little things. Watching us on film at the point where we're getting better but at the advanced level of play, we still aren't there yet. I think once we get to that point, then we will see a little bit more click and fall in our corner. We have to get to that level and grow to that point.
I think our kickoff return for sure. They're just a fun group who we talk about over, over, and over again. Coach Goss told a guy "you better pick that up or you'll get fired," and the player took it personally because he really wants to be on that unit. That desire and that want to for that unit, with talent on the back end that helps.
Q9 A lot of the return game success has come without Devon Moore on the field. How proud of you as this "next man up" mentality as you are without the "fastest man in college football"?
That's one thing you do like with young football teams. They don't look around to see where the other guys are, but instead look at it as "oh, I get to play." They look at it as a chance and opportunity to go out and play and respond accordingly. That's one big positive we've had with this year and having a lot of guys get the opportunity to go out and play on the field. Seemingly playing with "house money," they now want to let it go and go play.
Q10 One main change Mars Hill has made over the last two years is their defense. They were giving up nearly 400 yards a game in 2019. Now, it's a shade over 300 with only 57 yards allowed on the ground per game. What changes have you seen, besides getting old, that have allowed them to be as good as they have been defensively?
They've gotten bigger up front. They do a good job at linebacker and they don't make mistakes. That's a critical thing in football. I remember when I was a wrestler and going to watch Rock Hill wrestling in South Carolina. You watch wrestling and you often think "they're not really doing anything phenomenal. They just had a counter for every move." That's one thing you see in Mars Hill right now. They just don't make mistakes and what they do, they do well.
