Mike Clowney Opening Statement: Coach Clifton over at Mars Hill, they do a fabulous job. Right now, they're five and one. They are a good football team and a good group of athletes. They'll be a good and fun challenge for us this week.
Q1: Community Appreciation Day here at Burke-Tarr Stadium. Teachers get in free, first responders get in free, and pastors and church admin staff get in free. How important is it to kind of recognize those linchpins, I guess, to this area?
I think that's something fabulous that we've started doing here. When you're out in this community, the people in this community support us and support our kids. It's fun just to be able to go to Walmart, and our kids come back from Walmart saying they talked to this person or that person. That vibe in the community is energetic, and so for us to be able to reach back out to a community that reaches out to us, I think it's something that's very noble.
Q2: Mars Hill lost quite a bit from last year, but they haven't missed beat. I suppose that's typically the case of the Tim Clifton offense, but it feels like their defense is what is carrying them on this most recent run. What sticks out to you about what they're doing on that side of the ball?
That's where those guys, that staff, they've been there for a long time. Coach Clifton and Coach Barnette are working together, and defensively, you can just tell that they've kind of been rooted in that system for a long period of time. They do a good job, and they don't make a lot of mistakes. They run to the football, and they've got a good physical bunch.
Q3: Landon Honeycutt feels like he's been there forever. He's sixth among active players in Division II in tackles. It's the same deal for tackles for loss. He's got 40 of those through his career. What makes him one of the great linebackers in this league?
You can just tell that he understands the game, and he's taking time to learn the game and learn the position. Through that, he's able to put himself in position to make plays.
Q4: For your own side, you got the win against Erskine on Saturday, but boy did you have to pretty that one up a little bit. How do you use that as a teachable moment about winning ugly but winning?
I think that's one thing that sometimes happens, and the thing that you want to be able to do is you want to be able to finish the game and win it. It's a whole lot more fun to be able to communicate after that. The thing that we talked about, even yesterday, was just when lose, you've got to deal with the frustration from the loss and then still fix problems. When you win, you get to fix problems, and hopefully there's a little bit less frustration. So, the big thing for us is just going out and making sure that we've got the right mindset going into the football game to attack every play from the standpoint that we need to attack it from to be successful.
Q5: Offensively, you've talked in recent weeks about establishing the run game. You go against the Mars Hill team this week that has only given up 100 yards to one team, and that was Erskine of all teams. What's it take to establish the ground game against a really stout defense, number seven in the country rushing?
We've still got to play better behind our pass. I think we can get lower and try to gain some traction there to be able to run the football. Then, the execution part of it is being able to hit the right gap when it's open and taking advantage of the opportunities that we create for ourselves. That's something that we've got to continue to work on as a unit. It doesn't matter what they've done and accomplished. Going into the game, we still have to find a way to be two-dimensional as an offense.
Q6: Simeon Thompson's one of the better deep threats in this league and certainly hurt you last year at their place. He became just the second guy in the last 20 years of the 200- yard receiving game against Carson-Newman. What sticks out to you about him and his skill set, knowing that there's a whole lot of other guys in that receiving corps at Mars Hill who are just as talented?
That's something that they've become more stable of, just kind of super talented wide receivers. We did get hurt a lot last year, and going back and watching that film, there are a lot of things going on, but I didn't realize how much they hurt us on the deep ball. So, we've got to make sure that we're prepared and we're ready to compete. They did a really good job of setting us up on some routes, setting us up outside and coming back in, so we've got to do a good job of playing with proper leverage, understanding that, and then competing when the ball's in the air.
Q7: Four weeks left, and three of them at home. Break down the progress of this team as it's gone on this journey. It feels like you've been closer more often than not this year, but still looking. I think the phrase you used this past week was kicked down the door. Break down where this team is.
I think the big thing for us that we talked about, even from the beginning of the season is that we knew defensively, a lot of these guys have been here and been in the system and played for a while. So, it's about them really taking that next step defensively, and I think that the next step for them is being able to win football games for us. I think that's something that those guys have taken on as a challenge. Offensively, we've had to adjust a little bit from last year, so then offensively, taking those next steps is making sure that every week we play, perform, and execute better than we did the week before, regardless of who the competition is. I think, for the most part, we've done that you. A lot of the problems we created for ourselves last week against Erskine were kind of in the special teams' game, but those are the guys that hand the ball on offense, and we've got to make sure that we don't get in situations to where we're pressing to make plays, and we're just playing things the way they're designed to happen and the way they are coached every single day.
Q8: Who's somebody here of late that sticks out to you, they're making a lot of strides toward the back half of the season?
It was finally good to see Jayden Sullins get into the end zone. He's worked his tail off all off-season to try to be able to do several different things for us. Being able to get Jelan Pearson in the game some last week, you know, he's a guy who's been here for forever and kind of constantly had a couple little nagging things going on with him. Cade Meeks, we've talked about week in and week out and his development as a player offensively. Then, Kendall Williams, he's been a good player ever since he's been here, but it's fun to see him continue to raise the level. It was fun watching Major Williams have a breakout big game last week and doing a couple things different from what we've asked him to do. Jomier Augustine, we talked about last week, kind of interjecting himself into the lineup, and it's getting to the point to where he started making some plays, and we've got some things there that we still need to continue to work to clean up. Then, Jeterryous Jones and the guys up front. We talked about Jaheim Wilson last week, and Jacorey Long just continues to grow and develop. Across the board, when you're in the big team meeting room, it's just fun to look at a lot of these guys and know that they're taking the proper steps. If we continue to do that, we'll continue to find the results that we want.
Q9: Anything else?
Well, I think we've got a special person that works in our office that has a birthday coming up, and she likes throwing us under the bus when it's our birthday, so I think it's time and adequate for us to do the same thing. Ms. Mill, we want to wish you a Happy Birthday.
