Tulane's Hall Reflects on Hard-Fought Win; "Proud" of His Players

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"Huge win for our players," head coach Will Hall began his opening statement with this Saturday evening.

This opening statement followed a tough, grind-it-out win over the South Alabama Jaguars, led by Bishop Davenport, who caused all sorts of nightmares for the Wave defense.

Tulane didn't play a perfect game, but timely contributions from Garrett Mmahat and Jaylin Lucas provided a very impressive offense. Kadin Semonza looked sharp and poised, and boy did he know how to maneuver in that pocket.

Hall delivered a very positive and player-oriented press conference.

Proud Opening Statement

Coach Hall began his statement referring to the returning players from last year, and how they were able to step up and fill their roles effectively, despite not being the starter last year, "This game tonight, gave (the returning players) an opportunity to make plays when we had to make plays to win the game."

"I know it wasn't always pretty," he continued. This was reflected in the first half, when the tackling woes began to plague the Wave defense once again. It was also jarring when the Wave thought they had themselves a scoop n' score, only for it to be called back after ruling that Davenport was down.

What coach Hall loved to see, was that no matter what the situation was, his players were constantly ready for the next play.

"I thought our kids never wavered," coach Hall assured.

"These are guys who have fought and earned their way up to Tulane, and I'm just proud of them for holding on to what they believe in, and making the plays late to win a big game."

Although it wasn’t in his opening statement, when coach Hall was asked what his first win meant, he said, “This is about our players,” he chuckled, “it’ll never be about me for the rest of my life.”

Overcoming Adversity

During South Alabama's opening drive, linebacker Chris Rodgers went down with an apparent lower leg injury. The senior was seen on the sidelines out of pads with a boot on his left foot.

"He's one of the best players in our league," Hall bragged on Rodgers. "To lose him early is not something you obviously want. Chris and I talked as we were walking off the field. He knows God's got a plan. We're going to see how serious the injury is. Whatever it is, we'll address it with our athletic training staff."

USA Praise

Coach Hall still had issues with his team's performance.

"Now look, we've got things we've got to fix, let's not kid ourselves. We've got to tackle better, we've got to execute (early and better offensively)," Hall spoke.

"We've got to make our daggum field goals." Coach Hall isn't wrong in this area either, as the Wave are one of three this year, including a missed 45-yarder Saturday night.

It wasn't all Tulane wrong-doings, however, as the new head coach had plenty of praise for the Jaguars QB.

"Utmost respect for Bishop Davenport. My biggest regret was that I didn't get to talk to him after the game," Coach Hall reflected. Bishop's ability to extend plays and keep the team alive was heard in Hall's praises.

"(Davenport) kept them alive on so many third downs, (and) he is such a dynamic player, leader, and winner."

Coach Hall finished his opening statement, "I don't think it could have played out any better for those young men to give them confidence."

Individual Praise and Discipline

Coach Hall commended the entire team, but primarily Semonza, Lucas, and Mmahat.

He began with Semonza, “Yeah he’s a quarterback man… opening drive of the game, he was money… if we don’t have the route bust right there, we’re going to drive it down the field and probably score.”

”Then the last drive of the game, boom, boom, boom, boom, (he made) conversion downs.”

He wasn’t done either, “I’m really proud of Kadin (Semonza), I’m proud of what he stands for, I’m proud of who he is, (and) he is a really good football player.”

Coach Hall was then subsequently asked about Jaylin Lucas and his stellar performance (11 carries, 214-yards, and 1 touchdown), “If (Lucas) gets space, he’s gone.” That praise leaked into the offensive line’s performance, which was notably better against the Jags.

"Credit to our O-line and tight ends," Hall told the media about making room for Lucas. "Obviously, they were much maligned after last week's game. And they deserved it. And they knew it. And they owned that. I thought they came out and played so much better. We created space for Jaylin. I think if he was here right now, he'd give a tip of the hat to (fellow running back) Johnnie Daniels, who made some crucial blocks."

Speaking of that O-line, what definitely cleaned up was the discipline and penalties, as the Wave cut the penalties to 4, and it could’ve been two barring a back-to-back false start.

When we asked about how he felt about the penalty improvement, Hall said, “That’s why we practice… I was very confident that was going to be fixed… that was an aberration, not a reputation.”

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