RUSTON – Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz, junior wide receiver Griffin Hebert and sophomore defensive lineman Deshon Hall spoke with the media Tuesday in advance of LA Tech's home opener against Houston Baptist on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. (CT) at Joe Aillet Stadium.
 
Head Coach Skip Holtz
 
On Saturday's 31-30 win at Southern Miss:
"Wow. What a win. What a win Saturday night in Hattiesburg. I couldn't be more proud of this team not just because of what they did on the field, but everything they had to overcome to get there. That's what makes this win such an incredible accomplishment by this group of young men. To have the adversity that they had. We talked a lot in the early part of the week that Southern Miss had already played at two-and-a-half weeks. We hadn't got on the field yet. Had to cancel the Baylor game. Had the hurricane. With no practice for two weeks and guys coming back spotty during the week and having limited practice time and preparation time to go play the game. I told the staff that 20 years from now they're going to be in coaching and they're going to have a situation that is going to seem very dire and very uphill and they're going to say, 'Guys, this was nothing. In 2020, let me tell you about what we had with this football team that we had to go play in Hattiesburg.'
 
"I made the comment beforehand we were going to learn a lot about this football team. I couldn't be more proud of what we learned about them. We learned that we are not very fundamentally sound right now. That we have a long way to go. We don't tackle well enough as a defense. We learned a lot of fundamental things. But the things that make me so proud were the way that they hung together. The way that they faced adversity. Down 17 points late in the third quarter, and nobody flinched. Nobody panicked. Nobody hit the panic button. They supported each other. The defensive huddles, you look around and the offensive guys are in it. At the end of the game, I'm on the phone with coach (David) Blackwell saying, 'Look, I had to call timeout. I wanted to preserve the 10-second run off if there was a penalty. So, they're going to get the ball with time back, so you need to get prepared for the last play. The Hail Mary. Get the defense together.' And he said, 'Coach, I don't know where they are. They're all in the offensive huddle. They're all out on the field with the offense right now.' It was encouraging to see the way these guys really came together and didn't panic. We were down 17 points. We got in the offensive huddle and one of the offensive players said, 'Hey guys. We just take this down and punch it in, we're only down 10 in the fourth quarter. I was just really proud of the way they handled it, the leadership and the maturity that this team showed. There were some great individual efforts. Just incredible individual effort.
 
"I'm really proud of this football team. I'm really proud of the way they stood up. I'm really proud of the way they overcame adversity. There wasn't a lot of talk about who wasn't there. There was a lot of talk about who was there. The trust they had in a guy like Tyler Grubbs and Cedric Woods and Jacob Barnes being the kicker. There was a lot of confidence in each other. That was the team we were taking. We didn't have add-ins. Obviously, with some of the rules and regulations and trying to be so safe with our social responsibilities with COVID, we couldn't add anybody. We took the team we did, and they went and found a way to get it done. I'm very, very proud of the football team and the players for the leadership and the way they came together to get that win. A great team win. In my coaching career, probably one of my more rewarding victories to watch that group of young men, knowing what they had up against them and the lack of preparation time that they had. The lack of conditioning time, the lack of prep time, practice time, and to see what they did on the road was an awesome feeling."
 
On freshman linebacker Tyler Grubbs:
"Two weeks ago, he was the fourth team Mike linebacker. Through COVID, contact, awaiting NCAA waiver in a transfer in Kody Fulp and with none of those players able to play, he was promoted to the starting Mike. He was unbelievable, truly. 16 tackles. He had one missed tackle with 16 tackles is a pretty good batting average when you talk about the way he played. He is old school. He reminds me a lot of a linebacker I knew in college named Michael Stonebreaker who was from New Orleans. Just a throwback and old-time football player. He's tough. He's not flashy. He doesn't have tape all over his body, messages up his sleeve, streamers coming out the back of his pants, socks have to be different. Give him a pair of old-school Spot-Bilt spikes, a pair of shoulder pads and a helmet and he'll go play tackle in the parking lot. He's just an old-school, throwback football player. He doesn't celebrate. He makes a tackle, he doesn't show a lot of emotion. But, the performance that he put in, it was deserving to be the national defensive freshman of the week. What he did in that game was truly remarkable. I don't think anybody could tell you I saw it coming. I don't think anybody could tell you, 'Oh, year. We knew he was going to be all that.' And that's why I made the comment that I'm not sure what to expect of this football team. I don't know is he going to get big-eyed? Is he going to miss 15 tackles? We didn't have a lot of information to go on. I certainly think he stood up and showed that moment wasn't too big for him. I'm really proud of the way that he handled it and what he was able to do. He earned a lot of respect from guys in that locker room for the job that he did on that football field on Saturday."
 
On how quickly he knew junior wide receiver Griffin Hebert's foot was down in his final touchdown catch at Southern Miss:
"I had a really bad view. I've always said the sideline is the worst seat in the house. It was such a bang-bang play. Luke (Anthony) started to scramble to his left. My eyes went down the field. I saw Griffin going across the back of the endzone. I saw the backside linebacker start to run forward toward Luke. The ball went up and I saw Griffin catch up, but Luke kind of had to float it. So, as soon as he caught it, the two guys hit him. I couldn't tell whether his foot was down. The one thing I saw was Smoke Harris was right in front of the play, and when the officials said no, he immediately started pointing to the foot and went over to make his case with the official. I was thinking, 'Boy, I hope Smoke's right. I hope he had a better view than I did.' The first view that was put on the jumbotron, you couldn't see his feet. I really had no idea, was talking in the box and was really hoping he was in, but I did not have a lot of hope that he was going to be in. When I knew was when they showed a view on the jumbotron. The field angle they showed you could clearly see not only his foot and his toe was down, but his heel was that far from the backline and it was indisputable evidence and that's when I knew it was good. How fortunate we were to have that angle. Earlier in the game, there was a fourth down that I was right on the sidelines that they ran a quarterback sneak that I didn't feel like Jack Abraham's head even got to the line of scrimmage, let alone over for a first down. I immediately called a time out and wanted it reviewed. There wasn't a camera angle that was decisive that showed what I saw, so it couldn't be overturned. My thought when this was going on was I just hope there is a camera angle that picks this up that is going to show his foot inbounds. Fortunately, the one that clearly showed that was the one that was on the ground. We were really fortunate because there was somebody's head in the way that if he was six inches to the right, we wouldn't have got that camera angle. It's like what my father told me. He said, 'Well, Skip, in your opening game, you coached well enough to be 0-1. But, your mother looking down from heaven over you, she was 1-0 today because she gave you that camera angle you needed to win the game. We were blessed to be able to have that camera angle to show. And what an unbelievable play by Griffin Hebert to get his foot down."
 
On Houston Baptist:
"I'm looking forward to a little bit of normalcy this week. Maybe for this team that will be a bad thing, but for a coach, that's what you are trying to create is a little bit of a structure in your program. We're back on track. Our normal week where we met and put the film to bed on Sunday. 24 hours to enjoy the victory. Monday became looking at film and let's get ready for Houston Baptist. A lot of players came in and watched film on their own. We know we have a heck of a challenge. They lost to Texas Tech, 35-33, and had their opportunities in that game. They have a really dynamic offense. They have a great quarterback (Bailey Zappe) who threw for 480 yards against North Texas in their season opener loss. He threw for 567 yards against Texas Tech the next week. He's thrown for 1,100 yards in two games. They are very dynamic and explosive. Their quarterback and their wide receivers. It becomes an air raid. They're throwing the ball 70 times a game. It's going to be an incredible challenge for our secondary which is very young and definitely going to be tested. Last week, we had Jack Abraham. This week, with probably one of the more explosive offenses in the entire country right now whether you talk about FCS or FBS. Offensively, they're a team that make you score. They make you score a lot of points on offense because you know they're going to score on defense. You're not going to win this game, 17-10. They're really good. Their defensive front is very physical. They're a four-down front. Their linebackers are very active and really good. I really like their safeties and how they break on the ball and what they do downhill. They're a group that if you have weaknesses, they can expose you. You're going to have to execute in order to put points up, but we're going to have to score a lot of points to try and help protect our defense. We say every week that you're trying to win a football game, our job is to score one more point than they do. Some games you're going to have to win 10-9 like the bowl game last year where it was 7-0 until late in the fourth quarter. Some games you may have to win 35-33 like Texas Tech did last week against Houston Baptist. It's a game we definitely have a challenge. We've got to come back and this game's got to be about us. This game's got to be about improving. Not that we won our first game. Like I said, as proud as I was of the first game's success, this team and what they did, I watched film and you cringe at where we are fundamentally and execution-wise and all the things that we can do so much better to be able to go out and execute on the field. That's where our real emphasis has to be as when we walk out on the practice field Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is we have to get better as a football team if we want to achieve any of the goals that we have on our board right now. If we want to achieve those goals, we have to get better and we have to improve. That's what this is going to be about. This week is about our improvement. Saturday is going to be about going and playing the game and trying to score one more point than they do."
 
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