September 9, 2025

Ashley Ingram pre-Mars Hill press conference transcripts

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman heads to Mars Hill for its first road game of 2025 and a 1 p.m. kick Saturday. Below are Ashley Ingram's pregame remarks to the media about the Lions.

OPENING STATEMENT:

INGRAM: We have a big challenge this week. Mars Hill's got a really good football team. They've got a great quarterback. Obviously. Coach Barnette's been in the program for a long time. Really defensively, they played great against us last year, and we were obviously very fortunate to get away with a win. Hopefully we can play better and hopefully we can go up there and represent.

Q1: I know your sample size personally is small, but do you see any differences from last year to this year with a one game sample size against Winston-Salem State from what they're doing post Tim Clifton?

INGRAM: Obviously, defensively, as always, they're very athletic. They run to the football, play with a purpose. They've got a lot of talent on the defensive side. Offensively, really good at quarterback, as we all know, really good at running back with John Gullette. So just a very challenging situation to go up there and play. Travel day of the game and play a very good football team that's well coached.

Q2: You alluded to JR Martin. Feels like he's been around for forever and an eternity. What sticks out to you about his skill set at quarterback for the Lions?

INGRAM:  I think one of our coaches said it best. He's like a magician back there. He stays alive. He can make the throws when he needs to make the throws, but when he needs to use his feet and run, he can do that. He presents a lot of problems and a lot of challenges.

Q3: You've had a couple extra days to get ready for this one playing on Thursday. How did you use the extra time?

INGRAM: Well, we came back and we practiced Friday and then we practiced again Monday. So we, you know, we essentially got kind of a jump start on it, but we'll need all of it. The thing about JR Is he's played so much football, he's played so long, no matter what we throw at him, he will have seen it, he will understand what's going on. So we're going to have to play really well and we're going to have to control the ball on offense and hopefully keep him on the sideline a little bit.

Q4: Biggest takeaways from last year's game that you hope to apply this season?

INGRAM: Well, I think the biggest one was we've got to avoid the negative plays on offense. We didn't play very well offensively. They played great. obviously attribute that to what they did on defense. We got to move the ball forward, we got to avoid the negative plays and then we have an opportunity to make some plays we need to. Which we did last year. We made some plays then defensively. We've got to find a way to keep those guys out of the end zone and get the ball back to us.

Q5: How have you been pleased with the way your team has started its first two games this year?

INGRAM: So far so good. It's just two games and obviously it was kind of a mismatched the last game, to be honest. So take that for what it's worth. We just have to play better. You know, I went back. I've watched the last year's game many times. I think the first I was telling our coaching staff this morning, offensively the first 20 plays of the game were just a debacle. I mean it was. It was pretty bad. So we got to play better and anticipate that we will play better.

Q6: A couple nicks and dings to start the year. How did playing as many people as you did against the Gladiators help toward that end?

INGRAM:   Right? I think it helped. I think it'll get some guys some experience who have not played a lot of football. Then the other thing it allowed us to do is get our starters out of the game. So we walk into this game as healthy as we could be.

Q7:   Who stood out to you for the first two weeks of the season?

INGRAM: Teddy Gleaton in his play the first week - we didn't play him this past week, didn't feel like we needed to. Teddy was impressive. Mario Sanchez just coming in has been impressive. Jaden Griffin has been impressive. Chico Mason is just Chico Mason just is the same guy every day. Cruz Temple. It just goes on and on. We're playing pretty good up on the offensive line. I think we're just playing fairly well.

Q8: How useful is it to have the growth that you have had this year in an environment like Carson-Newman provides?

Ingram: You know, the thing about Carson-Newman is if kids will just stay in our program, it'll change their lives. Just being at school here, you know, obviously being in a Christian university and being around the kind of people that we are surrounded by, it has no choice but to change your life if you'll do it. And then on the field, we're working hard and we're trying to grow in that area as well.

Q9: Anything else?

INGRAM: We are excited to play, certainly want to play better than we did last year, but we have a heck of a challenge in front of us. But we're excited to go see what we can do.

Kickoff between the Eagles and Lions is set for 1 p.m.. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 12 p.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.