Neal Brown Press Conference - UMass Game - Troy University Athletics

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Opening Statement…

"We are off a bye week. It seems like a long time since we have played at home. When we hit Saturday it will be 17 days since the last time we suited up. We have a weird schedule; two games in 28 days. We have had a productive bye week. We took a totally different approach than we did the last bye week. Coming off the Idaho trio we really focused on getting our body and mind well and refreshed. This week, we really practiced hard and focused on getting better. Us, in our current state is not good enough to reach our goals. We don't feel like we played our best against Georgia State or South Alabama. We practiced hard and we feel like we made some good strides. We have to continue to get better. We are looking forward to getting back out in front of our home crowd, it feels like it has been a while.

UMass is coming in. They are an improving team. They are playing as an independent this year. They have had several close losses against some really good teams this year. They are very well coached and will be a good challenge. Last year, they got better as the year went and had a couple of wins down the stretch. Personally for me, UMass is a special place, that's where I finished my career, and I have two degrees from there. The head coach, Mark Whipple, is the guy that I played for. He has had a huge influence on me. He allowed me to come up and really develop as a man going away from home for the first time. Professionally, he hired me as a graduate assistant. He is a huge role model and mentor for me and played a huge role in my life. Their director of operations, Paul Gorham, hired me for my first full time job at Sacred Heart. I grew more professionally in that year as a quarterbacks and receivers coach than I did at any point. There are several other guys on staff that I either played with or was a graduate assistant with. This game and this program isn't about me, but UMass is a special place for me.

Offensively, (Mark) Whipple, their head coach calls their plays and does a tremendous job. He is a gifted play caller and puts a lot of stress on defense. We are going to see a lot of things this week that we have not seen. They do a great job of creating big plays down the field in the passing game. Their quarterback is a leftie and he has been impressive at the starting role. He has thrown a lot of touchdown passes with minimal turnovers. The running back, Marquis Young, is solid. He is really good in the passing game as well. The tight end, Adam Breneman, is a special. I think he is a guy that will play at the next level. He had 100-plus yards receiving last week. They have another receiver, Andy Isabella, who is smart and shifty. They use him in a lot of different ways.

Defensively, I have a lot of respect for their defensive coordinator Tom Masella. He is very multiple and has a lot of different looks. They create a lot of negative plays. They have a lot of tackles for loss and sacks. They are solid inside. I think those guys use their hands really well. Their leading tackler, is used in a lot of different ways and is really active. He is a solid football player. No. 41, Da'Shaun Downey is a pass rusher that comes off the edge and has a great ball get-off. He has been able to rush the passer and get to the quarterback in every game they have played. Khary Bailey-Smith is a safety and is around the ball a lot. He can run, and was a good kickoff returner last year. They have moved their pieces around a lot in the secondary and I think they have found a rhythm. They are playing a lot better over the past two or three weeks.

Special teams, their punter is really talented. He is someone that we have to account for and he is someone that has done a good job flipping fields. Their long snapper is a three-year starter and he is really good as well. They have a kickoff returner, Isaiah Rogers, who is a true freshman. He is fearless and will hit it up the middle and does a nice job.

We are ready to get back to work. We have 34 days left in our season; from today until the Georgia Southern game. Seasons are made in November and I think the narrative of our season is yet to be written. We are off to a good start and we are proud of that, but from here on out is what is going to be the tale of the tape for us."

On injury status…
"Other than the guys that have been out, we will be at full force going into this game. We should be as healthy as we have at any point during the season."

On bye week stopping momentum…
"That's the hand we were dealt. It is an odd schedule playing two games in 28 days and both of those games happened within a five-day window. We just take it and move on. We didn't play particularly well against South or Georgia State. I think a lot of that had to do with coming off the Idaho trip. It was good for us last week. We were really physical in practice and really focused on the things that we have to do to beat the people left on our schedule."

On change in practice during bye week…
"(Myself) and Todd Watson, who is our Director of Operations, spent a lot of time in May while the coaches are on the road recruiting, planning out the season. We had three long trips in the first five games. We played some physical football games during those five games. We knew we needed to get healthy and get rest. So this week, we had a totally different scenario. We played two games coming off of a previous bye week. We felt like we had to make some improvements. It had to be a week where we got better."

On short turnaround after a bye week…
"The only abnormal game is that Thursday night game against Arkansas State. We are preparing this week the same as we normally prepare. We will see where we are at going into that short week against Arkansas State."

On fans and atmosphere in Mobile…
"That was tremendous. That was the best road showing that we have had in my six years here at Troy, no question. I want to see the same energy and enthusiasm at all of our games. That is going to be the challenge to the students here as we get back to getting back on campus later in the week. We have a big game here on Saturday and an opportunity to get to 7-1 on the season. We have three home games here in the next three weeks, so we need to bring that same energy and enthusiasm from our students. We need to create a really big home atmosphere here for the next three games."

On the late no- conference matchup…
"Our approach is that we treat them all the same. We don't ever spend a ton of time on our opponent other than what we are going to do schematically, we focus on ourselves. Right now, we have a good idea of what our strengths and weaknesses are. UMass happens to be our next game and it also happens to be a non-conference game. The preparation is the same as if it was a league game."

On #RankTroy movement…
"I am pro anything that gets our name out there. The rankings are going to take care of itself as long as we continue to win and produce and play at a high level. That is a by product of those things. It is a fun thing. Social media is all about spreading your brand. Anytime the Troy football brand is out there and is gaining some attention, I think that is a positive."

On Troy gaining respect in the polls…
"It has been so long since we have played. If you want to continue to see our numbers improve, we have to go out there and play well and win. It is not something that we play much attention to. We don't talk about it to the players or the coaches. We would love the opportunity to be ranked because of the attention it brings to the program."

On the Sun Belt Conference…
"I think our league is improving and the coaching is getting better and improving every year. It is more competitive top to bottom than it has been before. I think App State is the team that has separated themselves a little bit. Arkansas State is probably the hottest team in our conference right now. We are fighting and we understand that we still have to play the best teams in our league. The narrative of our season is still unwritten. How we perform over these next five weeks will really determine if we are pretenders or contenders. In our current state, we are not good enough to win our league. That has been the message to our team and they have bought into that. We have asked them to live with their "edge" for 34 days, and if they do that then we have a chance to be standing at the end."

Troy University Athletics

Neal Brown Press Conference - UMass Game

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