MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones along with senior safety Kalen Jackson met with the media Monday to review Saturday's Sun Belt Conference road opener against Louisiana-Lafayette and preview this weekend's contest versus Nicholls State.

South Alabama Head Coach Joey Jones
On facing an opponent like Nicholls State: "Nicholls State is a real scrappy bunch.  They took Georgia down to the wire, 26-24 [a couple of weeks ago].  They play really hard and have some good players.  They've done a heck of a job with their program the last year or so.  I know [Nicholls State head coach] Tim Rebow real well.  He does a good job coaching them."

On the chance to get back out on the field and prove what kind of team they are: "These guys are all competitors, we're all competitors as coaches.  No one likes to lose.  There were a lot of good things that happened in our game Saturday night against Louisiana-Lafayette, but defensively, there were probably about three or four plays that we would like to have back.  We can't get those back though. Other than those three or four plays, I thought we played well.  

"Offensively, I think we need to score sooner.  We've scored 13 points [total] in the first half of our first three games and we've got to score more points early on.  We went into the locker room down [Saturday night] and [Louisiana-Lafayette] came out and scored quickly [in the second half] and kind of put us behind the eight ball.  We fought back, which our team is going to do because they have a lot of character about themselves.  We've got to be able to score in the first half though to help ourselves out."

On what the team needs to do in order to score more points in the first half: "It's kind of a mindset more than anything else.  We need to go out in the first half with the mentality that we do in the second half.  We get behind and we kind of loosen up, throw the ball and get things moving.  Last year, it seemed that we would start of scoring on our first drive and we haven't really done that this year and that's something we're trying to fix."

On what he has seen on film from Nicholls State: "Offensively, their led by their quarterback [Chase] Forcade, who is the nephew of John Forcade, who played at Ole Miss years ago.  He's a very solid player.  He's really heady to be a freshman.  You can just tell that he has some savvy about himself.  Nicholls runs the exact same offense as [Louisiana-] Lafayette runs.  Coach Rebow came from there, so he brought everything with him.  We feel like we are playing the same type of team, just with a different uniform.  Defensively is where I've really been impressed with them.  They really play hard on defense.  Georgia had a tough time trying to run right at them and they did a good job stopping the run."

Safety Kalen Jackson
On returning home and facing a team like Nicholls State: "Nicholls State is a team that fights hard.  We're looking forward to the opportunity of coming home, getting back on the right track and doing what we need to do."

On how anxious the team is to get back out on the field and prove how good the team can be: "I would say that the sense of urgency to do that is high and we're very elated to have the opportunity to be able to get out there and prove to others that we are who we know we can be.  We're just focusing on ourselves right now.  It's not really about the opponent, it's about ourselves.  If we focus in on the small details and our execution, I feel that we can't be stopped.  We're battling with ourselves right now.  Everyone just needs to come in and do their job both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball and if we do that, we are going to be fine."

On what mistakes the defense made Saturday night to allow the big plays to Louisiana-Lafayette: "We weren't focused in on the details [of the game plan].  We knew what was coming, but we just got lost out there sometimes.  I have a lot of faith in my teammates though that we are going to get things right and pay more attention to the details, because that's what we do.  We are just ready to prove that we can do that."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—