ABILENE, Texas – To kickoff Homecoming weekend at McMurry University, the football program held a press conference Thursday afternoon inside the Athletics Annex. The War Hawks will host Southwestern University on Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Wilford Moore Stadium.
McMurry head coach Jordan Neal, freshman quarterback Hagen Garvin and sophomore defensive lineman Marc Jackson each fielded questions from the local media ahead of Saturday's contest.
The War Hawks (0-6, 0-5 American Southwest Conference) seek their first win this week after a near-upset bid against East Texas Baptist last week, where McMurry fell 21-19 on the road.
This will be McMurry's 89th homecoming game in school history. The War Hawks hold an all-time record of 45-41-2 during Homecoming. Furthermore, this is McMurry's sixth time playing Southwestern on homecoming, but also the first time since 1946.
Press Conference Video l Game Notes l Gameday Coverage l Homecoming Info
Below are some of the highlights from the press conference:
Coach Neal's opening statement
It's been a really good week so far. I'm proud of our team and the way that our guys have worked hard. I'm thankful that we don't have practice today on this gloomy day with it raining all day long. It was good scheduling on our part. Proud of our players, proud of our coaches and proud of our progress and the way that we've improved.
It was a tough lost=s last week against ETBU, being right there with several opportunities to win that game, but as I told the team, we don't want to be excited about moral victories. We want to win a game and do what it takes to come out on top on a Saturday afternoon. But it's been good to measure our success by the incremental improvement we made, and a lot of that has to do with these two players (Garvin and Jackson) and the rest of our players.
Coach Neal on taking a step forward at ETBU
I don't know if it would've felt the same way if we hadn't have played against such a great team. East Texas Baptist is a really good football team and are really well-coached. They've got an expectation to go out and win. They have some tradition as they've won the conference a couple of times or have tied for the conference championship in the past. They have pride in their program, so for us to go out and play like we did, especially on defense…we played really timely football, got stops where we needed to, we showed a lot of toughness and resilience.
Coach Neal scouting Southwestern's option offense
They want to run the ball at you. If they can go through the entire game without throwing a pass, then they will do that. It definitely starts with stopping the run and it's all about eye discipline, reading keys and not trying to do too much.
Coach Neal on coaching a homecoming game at McMurry
I told the team yesterday that McMurry does Homecoming bigger and better than anywhere I've ever heard of at this level. All the traditions, all of the things that were started a long, long time ago that are still going. I just think it's awesome. I love the way that the alumni come back and love their school and are proud of McMurry. They want to come and see the football team play well, so there's a bit of added pressure there.
One of the things we anticipated going into the season was this game being homecoming and it being a big deal, so our motivational theme for the week was mental toughness…primarily when it comes to Homecoming, it means that you can't allow distractions to disturb your peace of mind. Our guys have a job to do and have something they need to focus on, and they can't let outside noise prevent them from doing their job…I don't anticipate that being a problem; I think our guys will be ready to play.
Hagen Garvin on having a good run game at ETBU to take off the pressure
It helps a lot. When you're able to run the ball efficiently against a great team like ETBU, it really opens up things in the passing game and gets the defense thinking a lot. To keep them guessing really helps me as a quarterback and it helps our receivers, and our offensive linemen, especially.
Hagen Garvin on having two collegiate starts under his belt
Mary Hardin-Baylor was a very fast game for me. I'm wasn't quite used to the college level yet, but Coach Neal told me that you have to learn fast here. So that's what I tried to do. When I got to the start at ETBU, I got in a groove and got a little more used to it, so everything slowed down a lot for me.
Hagen Garvin on having to step in for Xavier Alexander
Like my Dad (his former high school coach Gary Garvin) always told me, "You go somewhere, you play." You always have to be ready, and I just try to stay mentally focused every single week, whether it's third string, second string, whatever. It doesn't matter what position you play, you have to stay mentally focused. I think when Coach Neal told me it was time to go, I think I was mentally ready.
Now, it's a matter of getting a little more experience and learn fast. We're a young team, and like Coach Neal, I don't like to use that as an excuse at all, but we have some learning to do. We're going to keep learning and keep getting better every week until we get to the top.
Hagen Garvin on his dad, Gary Garvin, being a high school head coach
My dad has been a head coach ever since I was born…him being a coach, I've been around football forever, so I have an insight to the game that maybe a lot of kids haven't had the opportunity to have. I'm blessed to be able to have had that opportunity. I've met some great people through it, and I think because of that, it's helped me a lot with growing up quicker and learning the game faster.
Coach Neal on Garvin's background
You know, to this day, I'm still jealous of kids who are coaches' kids. My dad was not a coach, but he coached my little league team and was an athlete growing up so he knew a lot and I got a little bit of that. Being a coaches' kid is a huge advantage and that's something when you recruit, you identify. You know what you're going to get in terms of someone that's responsible, somebody that loves the game, somebody that's been around it…like a field house gym rat. Hagen is that for us, too. He's always there and he's always doing extra work. He's eager to learn more, and we love that.
Marc Jackson on stopping Southwestern's unusual option offense
On the defensive side, we've seen the option a couple of times. It's not easy, but it's also not too hard to beat. So we're just going to try to eliminate the run and make them stretch it out to where they have to pass it.
Marc Jackson on having a new defense with familiar teammates
It feels the same except with some new coaches asking us to do a couple of new things. When you get on the field, it's not too much different because you have so many familiar faces encouraging each other, so it's not too hard.
Marc Jackson on preparing for homecoming games
On homecoming as a football player, you don't really get to do a lot of the traditions that the students do. But the bonfire and maybe one more thing might be all you get to participate in (as a player). It's fun and it's cool, but it's sort of a distraction. When you get to the game, you have to let all of that pass and focus on what you have to do.
