VIDEO: Ashley Ingram Press Conference 

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - No. 23/18 Carson-Newman hits the road looking to improve upon a 5-0 start when it heads to Mars Hill for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday.  Below are Ashley Ingram's pregame remarks to the media about the Mars Hill Lions

OPENING STATEMENT:

INGRAM:  Coach Tim Clifton does a great job. He's been there for a really long time. He's got a very talented team. This defense is experienced, they are athletic, they are fast, they're dangerous. So obviously, I have my concerns about them. They've got an experienced quarterback, they've got great skill on offense. So we will certainly have our hands full.

Q1:  Midpoint of the regular season. Obviously, 5-0 is about as good a start as you could ask for. When you started this thing, what were your expectations as you reflect back on the first half of the year?

INGRAM:   I just wanted to kind of build a team and get the guys to play together, and we wanted to continue to just kind of progress as the season went on. I try my very best, but I'm human like everyone else, but I try my best to just kind of go a day at a time or a week at a time and a game at a time. Certainly we'll have time to reflect, but I think we're in a good spot. But what I do know is we've got a very good opponent on the road this Saturday, and we'll have our hands full, so we've got to have a great week of preparation.

Q2:   Mars Hill's faced about as much adversity as anybody because of what Helene brought through. For probably the better part of five days. They were cut off from just even being able to communicate. The consequence of that is they've only been able to get three games in. Small sample size is unexpected when you're playing in week six. Has that affected preparation?

INGRAM:   No, it hasn't. I mean, we think we've got enough film on them and they have enough experience that we have an idea who they are. They played a great schedule so far. They've played really tough competition. We'll have a team that's fresh. I think they'll be super excited to play at home after all the region's gone through. I'm sure there'll be a nice crowd there, so we'll have to bid our best to have a chance.

Q3:   JR Martin. As good of a playmaker as I think you could find under center. What do you see on table about him?

INGRAM:  He's just a player, you know, he finds a way to extend plays. He can beat you with his legs, he can beat you with his arm. Obviously he's a great leader. He's a heck of a football player and when you got a quarterback you always have a chance. He's certainly a guy that we've got to try to do a good job stopping defensively.

Q4:   I know it's your first year, but it feels like Tristant Rankin has been in that defensive backfield for the better part of a decade. Number three among active players in interceptions. I know you're not chucking the ball all over the field, but last week against Barton you saw Barringer make 16 tackles. How do you have to be mindful of their All-American defensive back?

INGRAM:  He's just a great player so he can make plays. He has three pick sixes in his career. He'll be physical in the run game. He'll be tough to beat with man coverage and things like that. So we certainly have to be aware of him. But there's a lot of other guys on that defense that are old, they're experienced, they're talented, they're athletic. So we've got our work cut out for us.

Q5:  You've made a lot of noise and we've made a lot of noise about the quality of Turk Daniels play on the offensive line. But another freshman started on Saturday against Barton. Tre Edwards at right tackle. What have you seen from him? To thrust another freshman into a starting role on the offensive line?

INGRAM:  He's just a big kid. He's got a lot of talent. He has a huge upside. Now obviously , he's got a long ways to go, so he did some good things, but you know, he's a guy that's like a lot of them, just a work in progress. But I think he has a chance to be a really good football player for us as well.

Q6:  How is he similar, different compared to a Turk?

INGRAM:  Just a little different skill set. He's a bigger kid, he's a longer kid, you know, has some mass. The offense probably just didn't come as quickly to him as things did to Turk, but he's doing well.

Q7:   You said when you came here you want to be one of the least penalized teams in America and you're sitting in 80th. Is that sticking your craw a little bit?

INGRAM:   We need to clean it up, but it is what it is. We've found a way to win games. The bigger thing that we've done well and we didn't do it great the other day is we've taken care of the football. We had one turnover going into the game. Obviously, we turned it over twice. I think if you look at stats that matter, you know, that's a big stat. You know, turnovers, obviously, scoring first, leading at halftime. There's some different things you can look at, but turnovers typically has a bigger effect on the game than penalties. We certainly need to clean that up. I want to be a disciplined team. I want to be a mentally tough team. And when you have a lot of penalties, to me, it's not showing the kind of mental toughness that we need to have.

Q8: Are the turnovers you've had liveable.  

INGRAM:   No, they're not. I thought that Jayden's the other day was not having a sense of urgency with ball security. The ball got away from his body. I thought that Zane's was just pure carelessness with the football and those things we have to eliminate.

Q9:   You started this season, third down conversion percentage hovering around 30-35%. These last two weeks are at 75. What do you owe that to?

INGRAM:  I haven't gone back and studied it, but I would assume it's probably because we're just in more attainable situations on third down. So running the ball well or moving the ball on first and second down obviously helps the third down part. The more we play, the more comfortable we get within the offense and hopefully we'll continue to grow. As an offense.

Q10: Is the offense moving the ball consistently the by-product of time passing and players just naturally getting better at it? 

INGRAM:  I think it's just a result of work. You know, we just. We work at it and we're getting more reps and hopefully we'll continue to improve, but I think we have made some, some improvements in our run game. We're still not even close to where we want to be, but we're just making improvements as we go.

Q11: Anything else? 

INGRAM:  We're just excited to play. We have a huge challenge in front of us, and we're just excited to get up there and play against a really quality Mars Hill football team.

Kickoff between the Eagles and Lions 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 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.