Q&A with Southern Miss 1B Matthew Russo

BGN had the opportunity to sit and chat with Southern Miss 1B Matthew Russo before the first Fall Scrimmage. A leader in every sense of the word, the Golden Eagles need Russo (nickname Bull) to have another big season if they wanna get to places not seen in a while. A big thank you to Matthew for taking the time and answering these questions.

Heath: What did you do this offseason? What kind of approach did you take to the Offseason? Did you kinda get away a little bit, reset things? Or did you kind of work on some things?

Russo: I’m not gonna lie to you, I took a bit of time off. I just kind of reset after last year. Knowing that this would be my last year, I prepared to embrace everything that comes at me. I’m just trying to take it all in. Took some time off, got back into the swing of things early August, and now we’re here.

Heath: How do you feel coming into Fall Ball after taking that time off? Do you feel better than maybe you’ve had in the past, where you’ve worked all summer on different things?Russo: Give or take, my body feels good, feel healthy, feel ready to go and then I’ve began to started to workout again so my body feels good for the workouts and everything. I’d definitely say that not playing summer ball made my body feel a lot better and I’m getting ready for these scrimmages coming up.

Heath: Going into your senior year, What are some of those goal that you’ve placed on yourself going into this season?

Russo: Statistically I really don’t have any. As a 5th year senior, I want to lead these guys the right way, as the guys before me have done for me. Just be a leader, whether that be by physical or mental aspects, lead the guys the right way, to set us up for the future and just to get after it this fall and the spring. I think we have a really good team, a lot of old guys, a lot of returners, and we have some new faces that everyone is going to like to see. I think we have a really talented squad as we did last year.

Heath: Saw some guys taken in the draft, When you saw the news that Colby was coming back, did you have a smile on your face, did you text him? What was your reaction to that?

Russo: He and I actually throughout day 2 of the draft, were texting. Just seeing where the tides would fall. I was really happy to have him back, he’s one of my best friends. He’s excited to be back, he loves it here, he loves Southern Miss, as do I. He and I are going to embrace everything with it being our last year. He’s so talented, everybody knows that, he’s a true leader as well. Leads by words, leads by actions. I’m excited to have him back along with myself. It’s pretty awesome.

Heath: You’ve been to a lot of different spots around the country to play ball. You went to TCU, you’ve been to some SEC spots, What makes the Pete so Special? What makes it such a hard and difficult place for opposing teams to play?

Russo: There’s something in the air at the Pete when it’s a Friday night, you know something is brewing. It’s not really explainable, but when you’re in the moment, playing in those moments, you can feel it. You feel something good is coming our way. The fans bring great energy. We play well at the Pete, it’s just our home, we want to protect our house, and there’s really nothing like it. Opposing teams, they come here, and they struggle sometimes, it’s just genuinely hard to play at the Pete so we love it. We have a great time playing at the Pete. It’s our home, we love to protect it. It’s a lot of fun, there’s some magic in the air.

Heath: Lemme ask you, how much food have you ate from the Right Field Roost since you’ve been here? Honestly, do they still feed you pretty well out there?

Russo: Most definitely. I’m a bigger guy so I like to eat. It’s been good. They treated me nice out there. My dad is out there quite often, he has a good relationship with some of the guys out there, most of them really. It’s been awesome. Southern Miss has been so grateful, I’m so grateful. They’ve really taken me and my family in and I’m just forever grateful for that.

Heath: Is there any message that you would want to tell the Southern Miss fanbase?

Russo: I’m so grateful to be here. They make it what it is for us as players. Speaking for the team, we’re so grateful for all of the fans, they support us day in and day out. Keep supporting us and we’re gonna keep producing big numbers.