Southern Miss Head Coach Larry Fedora

WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Opening Statement:

"Looking back over the game, watching the film, (the Memphis game) was probably a more complete game for us in all three phases. By no means was it perfect; we have a lot of room for improvement. There were points left on the field offensively, especially early in the game. Defensively, we gave up around 70 yards rushing on two plays where we had multiple missed tackles. They really should have been plays that were made in the backfield. One should have only been a 2-yard gain. We had the one missed play on the busted coverage, on the fade they hit. Other than that, we played the fade well like we wanted to going into the game. We created two turnovers. We wanted to create three going into the game, but I thought overall defensively we played well. We're close to being a good defense. If we tackle well, we will be good on defense. Special teams were obviously very special. The punt return team, obviously, did a great job on their return. The kickoff team flipped the field for us a couple of times and did a nice job. Our punt team didn't allow anything to happen. Our kickoff coverage team was very good. We had a personnel problem on our field goal unit that we'll get straightened out. Other than that, we felt like this was the most complete game we had played up until this point."

On the health of the team:

"Kyle Burkhart, from what I understand, is fine. (As for defensive back) Michael McGee, they are doing an MRI today to see what the problem is. I would say that (McGee) is probably doubtful at this point. Other than that, we're just banged up like you're going to be after going from the first week in August with no open date."

On freshman punt returner Tracey Lampley:

"First of all, every time he touches the ball, he makes something happen. In any game where he's touched the ball, he's made something happen. I was giving him a hard time because we actually were set up on the first punt return and he fair caught it. If he hadn't of fair caught it, we had everything we wanted there. So, we had an opportunity to do it a couple of times. Really all he had to do was catch the ball and run. Those guys did a great job of setting that up and were in perfect position. He had to make the one guy miss at the end of the run and that's not hard for him to do. We're very pleased with where he's at. I think he's averaging 18 yards a return and I think he's still got plenty more in him. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes another one the distance.

"When (Offensive Coordinator Darryl Wyatt) was recruiting him, he said 'I think this kid can be really dynamic in the return game.' You're always looking for someone who can be explosive in that area to make plays. It's something that's very natural for him. It's not something that he has to work at and he just has a knack for it.

"He can do a lot of things. He's very versatile. He can catch the ball like a wide receiver. He's got that kind of body control and that confidence in his hands. He's very good at running the ball, so we're going to have a lot of fun with him over the next four years and finding ways to put the ball in his hands."

On impressions of Tulane:

"They're coached well, for one thing. Starting with their defense, they don't do 1,000 things. They do two or three different things and they are good at what they do. Their kids are always in the right place, they play hard, and they are coached well. They are very sound in what they do. I haven't had a chance at this point to really study the offense yet or had a chance to talk to Coach (Todd Bradford), but I know they consistently always run the ball very well. I know they have a running back who is doing very well, and they have a very good receiver. If that guy is catching the ball around 40 catches at this point in the season, he's got to have a quarterback that's getting him the ball."

On sophomore receiver DeAndre Brown:

"I think he's just now getting close to getting back. First of all, endurance wise and being able to play hard for a majority of snaps, I think he's back to that. I think his hand-eye coordination is back to where it was. I think he has total confidence in his legs. That's not a factor. I think the change in quarterback and again having to time things up is still something we're working on. He's starting to feel a whole lot more comfortable now. (His conditioning) is pretty good."

On a rivalry with Tulane:

"I don't know (about the player's feelings about a rivalry). We talked last night as a team. We want to be 1-0 after this week. Our season started last week. Our goal was to be 1-0; now, we want to be 1-0 this week. It's more about focusing on ourselves more than anything. We will game plan for Tulane and prepare ourselves for Tulane. I can't tell you if the kids feel like it's a rivalry or not. I just don't know."

On the performance of quarterback Martevious Young:

"I think each and every week, every rep he is going to get is going to be a new experience for him. If you go back to (quarterback Austin Davis)'s first five games as a quarterback and look and you're going to see how he progressed through the year. It's going to be the same type of deal because Martevious hasn't experienced those things. No matter what you see on film and what you hear from the other quarterback, until you experience it or until you actually do it, that's why they say there is no substitute for experience. He's going to experience those things."

On the performance of the red-zone defense:

"It kept them out of the end zone. That's the key. Make them kick field goals and any time you do that, you have a chance. No matter what all the stats are, when you look at the final score, all that matters is who scored more than the other team. Defensively, they know that their job is to hold them to one less point, and offensively, our job is to score one more point. If we do those things, we'll all be happy at the end of the night."