VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Press Conference 

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman opens up SAC play against No. 24/23 Wingate on Sept. 21. Below are Ashley Ingram's pregame remarks to the media about the Wingate Bulldogs.  

OPENING STATEMENT:

INGRAM: 

Wingate is a very talented team. They're very experienced. I think five of their seven guys up front are graduate students or seniors. Coach Jordan's done a great job. They've had a lot of continuity and their staff over the last decade or so. Just an impressive team, a team that's not going to beat themselves, honestly, a team that in a lot of ways we'd like to emulate kind of their maturity and their discipline and their toughness, we will certainly have a big challenge in front of us.

Q1: What sticks out to you about what makes them so good?

INGRAM: They have very talented players, and have had a lot of continuity on the defensive staff. Obviously, they just promoted their defensive coordinator to head coach. They promoted their defensive line coach to defensive coordinator. Both of them, I think, have combined 25 plus years. When you get good players who are older, they have a system, they know what they want to do, that creates an impressive team. 

Q3: Fleming, reigning SAC defensive player of the year. He's third among all players in all divisions in career sacks among active players, and he's five and a half away from setting the SAC career record for sacks. What makes him a load to deal with up front?

INGRAM:  He's talented, he's an older guy, he's got experience. He's tough. He's one of those guys, when you turn the film on, you notice him right away. So, yeah, I wish he would have transferred, went somewhere else, but I guess he chose to stay. No, but he's impressive. He's just a very, very good football player.

Q4: Back to back, 50 point games to start a season one with a new offense is crazy enough as a is. It's never happened in the history of this football program. Are you, are you surprised? Are you, what is your feeling about how this team has performed through two weeks?

INGRAM: I'm pleased with what we're doing. We're still growing. We're not even close to being the kind of offense or the kind of football team that we aspire to be. But, you know, it'd be hard to say. I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in maybe some of the, you know, we had too many penalties last week. We had some balls on the ground, but to come out of the gate and play well, yeah, I'm excited about that. Now, that being said, I think our challenge this week from Wingate is another level. So if we can continue to have success against these guys, you know, maybe I'd be a little more impressed.

Q5: Did the penalties against WV State drive you insane.

INGRAM: Well, it didn't drive me insane, but I didn't like it, so I did the math and I shared this with the team yesterday. I coached at the Naval Academy, 191 games, and we averaged 3.77 penalties a game. And to have 13 did not sit well with me. We just won't beat good teams if we continue to do that, we will not beat the team we're playing this weekend. If we're having the self inflicted wounds and things like that.

Q6: How do you instill that?

INGRAM: I think the thing, like everything is the guys have to understand what the standard is and what's going to be acceptable, what's not acceptable. And I think if we're demanding and we point them out to them, we show them, and if we don't get them corrected, then those people don't get to play. I think that's ultimately the way it is. And putting a young man on the field, it really comes down to trust. Do you trust the guy that he's going to do what he's supposed to do? Do you trust a guy that he's going to do his job? Do you trust a guy that is not going to get you beat? And if a guy's going to get us beat, we're not going to put him out there.

Q7: How have your A-Backs exploded into this offense? 

INGRAM: We've made some big plays. So it's been great. Again, we're still wanting to get the full back going a little more, obviously, like to get a little more out of our qbs, but it's been great. You know, we can get the ball pitched and we can block on the perimeter. Really, when you have those explosive plays, it's a QB that's got the ball to the right guy. It's a wide receiver and a slot that's done their job on the perimeter. So this is the ultimate team offense. So it's been great and hopefully we keep having success.

Q8: You want to get the full back going. How much of that is based on how Reinhardt and West Virginia State defended you?

INGRAM: I think it's some of that. And then I think the other part of it is we're just kind of in the infancy of this offense. And some of those, some of the plays that we'd like to get going, we're just really maybe not good enough at them right now. So we're kind of limited to what we're doing.

Q9: Wingate's QB Brooks Bentley is among the nation's leaders in completion percentage last year, continued that trend this year. What sticks out to you about his skillset?

INGRAM: He seems to me like he's just a reflection of the program. They're efficient, they're tough minded. They're not going to make a lot of mistakes. They're going to kind of take what you give them. So it seems to me like he's just a reflection of the program. I think he's a very talented player. Obviously a young guy that's come in and won a lot of games.  I think they won eight games or more every year since 2016. He's another impressive person in an impressive program.

Q10: It is the reunion weekend for the 84 championship team.  What's it mean to you as a first year head coach to have a lot of alums back who are invested in this program?

INGRAM: Well, when you talk about Carson-Newman football, you certainly five national championships is what you think about and you think of Coach Spark's legacy. But really that's probably the reason I came to Carson Newman is there's a tradition of excellence here, there's a history here, and we're not going to run from it. We're kind of running to it. So ultimately we want to put a program on the field that can play at that level and compete at that level. So it'll be great to see a lot of those guys. I've met quite a few of them. I'm sure there'll be some guys in town that I have not had the opportunity to meet. I'm thrilled they come back.  

Q11: Anything else?

INGRAM: I just hope we can put on a good show for them.

Kickoff between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for 1 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at noon with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.  A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloFB.