MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones along with wide receiver Malik Stanley and defensive lineman Finessé Middleton met with the media Monday to preview Saturday's game at Georgia Southern and recap last week's win over Arkansas State.
 
Head coach Joey Jones
Opening statement: "We're very excited about the [Arkansas State] game, but we've put it to bed.  We enjoyed it Saturday night, but we didn't talk much about the game with our kids yesterday in our meeting; we're on to the next one.  Georgia Southern is certainly a formidable opponent, they've got great athletes there.  We haven't beaten them in the last three years, and I know past years shouldn't have anything to do with this year, so they've got our full attention.  We are certainly going to be ready and have a good practice week."
 
On having never beat Georgia Southern in program history: "It's kind of like Arkansas State, they had beaten us five years in a row, but it is all about us playing fundamental football, that's really what it boils down to.  Our guys played their tails off this past game with a lot of heart and passion, we created and took advantage of some turnovers — to me, that was the biggest thing.  I'm not really worried about anything in the past, our guys understand that it is about this ball game and that's what it is going to come down to.  Do we play well or don't we play well?  We can control that."
 
On Georgia Southern being winless this season: "I told them yesterday in the meeting that you look at 0-9 and it is not indicative of their football team.  Those guys have a lot of great athletes, their staff has done a tremendous job of holding that team together after losing their head coach midseason and they've got great tradition over there, they know how to win.  Our guys know that, it's all about the game and us on the field and what we do every play.  That's what's going to win the game, not what's happened in the past or where they are right now.  We have to go there and take care of business and do our part."
 
On playing with the same energy as the team did against Arkansas State: "We all know the two games previous to the last one we did not come out with great energy, especially on offense.  I thought we did this past week, our kids came out ready to play.  A lot of that is in their court, we challenge them but they have to come out ready to play.  We have two games left, I'm not worried about the next one; we can control this one, we can control each play, how hard we play and how much it matters to each one of our teammates.  Going against a team such as Georgia Southern you have to come out and play well, they are not going to give you the game."
 
On the team's situation at running back: "I don't think I've ever been on a team that's lost five running backs in one season, but that's happened to us.  Fortunately we've got a couple good ones left. Tra [Minter] has done a really good job all year long and Carlos [Robinson II] has come in and been a really good addition to our running game.  We are going to have to find a third one who is going to be from another position, we're discussing that right now, but we have to have somebody in that third spot.  We have to make a move today in personnel."
 
Malik Stanley
On what they did to beat Arkansas State: "Last week we had to focus more on energy. We knew Arkansas State was going to come in with high hopes and might over look us, but it was Senior Night for us and we wanted to make sure we helped them end on a good note. We have never beaten Arkansas State in South Alabama history and we took pride in doing that Saturday.
 
On having a bigger role the last few weeks and contributing: "It feels good to be a contributor for the team. I don't go out there and try to do anything out of the ordinary. I try to stay within myself and help the team. I make plays when plays come to me. Now that we have taken advantage of more of our options, it has opened up bigger things for everybody, not just one or two people. Everybody is getting the ball."
 
On what the offense needs to do to win at Georgia Southern for the first time: "We have to be focused. We have to prepare for their crowd, not just the game. We have to focus on the task that night."
 
On what the receivers have had to do since losing a couple of running backs: "Losing a couple of running backs kind of hurt us. We have been trying to spread the ball around more in the passing game to open up some of the runs. Tra Minter and Carlos [Robinson II] have been doing well for us. We continue to hope they step up."
 
Finessé Middleton
On what they did last week to beat Arkansas State: "On our side of the ball, we came in last week saying we wanted to be the most energetic unit on the field. We had to be more energetic than their offense, defense and special teams. We thought we had to play lights out and be energetic the whole week so it would translate to the game on Saturday."
 
On what the defense did to force six turnovers: "Swarm defense is our motto. We really just try and take pride in that. We take our motto as we got a name and there's a reason we got that name and we have to live up to the expectations. That's what told each other before went onto the field Saturday.
 
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