VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Press Conference 

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman wraps up non-conference play at West Virginia State Thursday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. Below are Ashley Ingram's pregame remarks to the media about the West Virginia State Yellowjackets

OPENING STATEMENT:

INGRAM: 

Well, we're going up to play a very good football team who obviously went on the road and beat Barton. Physical football team did a great job stopping the run against Barton. Did a great job running the football wit over 200 yards rushing. Joel Felder is a great football player, all conference player. I think he's a Florida international transfer. Obviously, Coach Pennington has been at West Virginia State for a few years now, has done a great job there. So it's going to be a big challenge to go on the road and againbst a quality opponent.

Q1: You bring up the Felder. What jumps off the tape about him?

INGRAM: He's athletic, he's physical. The other thing is he's got a passion for playing football. He's kind of fun to watch.

Q2: You've had two weeks to process Reinhardt and get ready for this one. How have you spent it?

INGRAM: I haven't processed Reinhardt very much. We just moved forward. We've watched the game offensively just to see what we can do to improve. We're still taking baby steps in offense, and we're trying to grow daily, and we're just excited to get out there again and see what kind of progress we've made.

Q3: You said after the Reinhardt game that you played for freshman offensive lineman for the first time in your tenure as a coach. Some of those suspensions back that you suspended for game one, how do you anticipate that aids things for a line that still cleared the way for 388 yards rushing?

INGRAM:  Yeah, I think it's going to help us. Obviously, we get Christian Jones back, who's a very good player; I think is an all conference type player, maybe an All-American type player at left tackle. We're excited to get him back. Amil Savage at right guard, who played a lot of football here last year, excited to have those guys back. We'll have some more experience. And then we've got those other guys who now can be backups and provide some depth. So I think it's a good thing all the way around.

Q4: You trotted out three quarterbacks that all three moved the ball well against Reinhardt. You get a fourth one back in Teddy Gleaton, what's the plan for that position against State?

INGRAM: Yeah, we got Teddy back. Teddy was going to be the starter going into game one. Teddy will start. We're excited to have him back. And then obviously, we feel good about the depth we built at that position.

Q5: So what's he bringing to the table that's different? Than what we saw from Trey, Zane and Gavin.

INGRAM: You know, Teddy has been in the system, so this would be really his fourth year in the system. You know, he was at the Naval Academy prep school before the Naval Academy, so just familiarity with the system. He's a big kid, probably close to 220 pounds, who's going to be a physical runner, and he can throw the football really well, too, so I'm excited to get him out there.

Q6: Where do you want to see the most growth from week one to week two?

INGRAM: I think everywhere. I know we played great on defense, but I think we can play better. Obviously, we gave up a touchdown in the special teams. We've got to do a better job covering kicks. Offensively, I think we could be more efficient. I think we can run the ball with the fullback much better. I think we've gotten more in the passing game that we can do. So I don't think there's an area that we, you know, we were going to be complacent with or feel comfortable with.

Q7: Is that a natural progression of just the installation of this offense here?

INGRAM: I think it's anything. I think the more you do it, the more nuanced you can be. What we want to do is be able to line up because there's going to be days we don't know what our opponents are going to play against us. Defensively, we don't know what West Virginia State's going to do against us. So we've got to be ready for anything. And I think the more we practice and the more we play, I think going to give us opportunities to be prepared for whatever defenses throw at us.

Q8: Is there a degree of comfort in the unknown, though, because teams haven't seen,  there will be teams in the SAC that haven't seen this type of offense since probably 2016, Brevard.

INGRAM: I think as long as we're efficient and we can do our part, yeah, I think that could be a great advantage for us. We've just got to get to the point where we can attack any defense that's thrown up against us. We got to make sure we're ready, and it's got to happen instantaneous. You know, we're going to line up the first play of the game against West Virginia State, and we're not going to know what they line up in until we see it. So we've got to be ready to go from the jump.

Q9: Defensively, you kind of alluded to it that you want better from that side, which is a tough ask for a unit that gave up the fifth fewest yards in school history. But who surprised you on that side? Or was there a surprise on that side of the ball?

INGRAM: Chico Mason played great. Jet Jones played great. I think the front played great.  I think they all played great. When you only give up. I think before the last drive of the game, we had held them to 50 yards offense, and that was a good football program. We're going to see a much greater challenge this week. This group's going to really try to line up and run the football at us. They've got a 6'5", 230 pound quarterback who's a transfer from Charleston Southern, who's played games there, who started games there. So we're going to have a challenge.

Q10: Keys to success.

INGRAM: Probably like always, we got to take care of the football, we've got to be efficient on offense. We have to control the tempo of the game. We've got to control the flow of the game. When we have opportunities to score, we've got to score. And then obviously, defensively, we've got to eliminate the big play. And we cannot allow them to run the football down our throat because if they do that, they'll dictate the tempo of play.

Q11: Anything else?

INGRAM: No, we're just excited to play play and just kind of see where we're at. I think most teams progress the most from game one to game two, and we had an open week, so hopefully we made some big jumps.

Carson-Newman kicks off at Dickerson Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. against West Virginia State. Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5 p.m. with the AEC Countdown to Kickoff on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.