MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones along with wide receiver Jamarius Way and defensive lineman Jimmie Gipson III met with the media Monday to preview Saturday's game against Arkansas State and recap last week's game against Louisiana.
 
Head coach Joey Jones
Opening statement: "I think this [the senior class] has been a great group, we started having leadership council meetings way back in January; they really have been true leaders.  One example is the other night we got down 19-0 and I thought the sideline was great, I thought everybody was encouraging each other — nobody was blaming each other — and even though we came back a little too late the character of the senior class is in high regard to me."
 
On Arkansas State: "I think they've been conference champion five out of the last six years, and they are playing like it again this year.  They have a lot of really good athletes on offense and a lot of good ones on defense.  They look like a championship team to me, watching them on film they do a lot of good things."
 
On the difference in previous games with ASU: "When we've gone up there we haven't played very well, but at home we've played them twice and lost 17-16 and two years ago had [another] close game with them.  They are the kind of team that you have to beat, they're not going to give it to you.  I don't know how many conference games they've lost in the last three or four years but it's not many.  They are a good football team, we are going to have to play well to win."
 
On the team's quarterback situation: "Right now it's a 50-50 deal, I don't know and I hate to keep answering that way.  There have been times when Cole [Garvin] has played better, and there have been times when Dallas [Davis] has played better.  For instance, at the Troy game, I thought Cole started off a little slow and when we brought Dallas in I thought he won the game for us.  This past game Dallas struggled a little bit early and then Cole came in and played well.  We kind of have to play the guy with the hot hand right now because they are both so similar, we need to have a plan to play the guy who is going to give us the best chance to win on that night."
 
On the possibility of playing Cephus Johnson this year: "There has been some thought, he has not worked with our offense at all during the season — he's been on the scout team — so I think it would be an injustice to him.  They [Louisiana] had two-and-a-half weeks to get ready for us and to get him [true freshman Levi Lewis] ready, which I thought was a great choice by their staff.  He did a good job and is a great athlete.  There has been a though with Cephus because is great, we believe he is going to be the face of our program one day, I just don't think it's at this point because of the inexperience factor."
 
On the message to the team being a few plays away from winning games: "We showed them film again, down in the red zone we had the tight end wide open and if he throws it out front he catches the ball and probably scores a touchdown but it's behind him and gets tipped up and they intercept it.  That's only one play, obviously we showed several plays and they need to understand it's about players making plays.  It's our job to get them in a position to make plays as coaches, we have to analyze that and make sure we are doing that, but when we do they need to make those plays.  I think they understand that better and that we need to execute better early in the game; the last two weeks I have no idea why we didn't come out and play well.  We played well early in games earlier this year and for whatever reason the last two weeks we didn't.  It's a discipline thing, they need to understand that this play can win the game for us or lose the game for us if we don't execute it.  We need to take that attitude and have an urgency that every play counts."
 
On keeping a positive feeling within the team: "That's my job as the leader of this program, I have to make sure our guys are staying positive.  Sometimes staying positive is being negative, you have to speak truth to them because you can't just sugarcoat everything.  But I think that every week that we've been able to do that and had the guys come back — whether we've won or lost — and keep their heads level.  They have to understand that really all it is about is execution, going out and concentrating on what you have to do because we can see we are so close.  We've had three losses in the [Sun Belt] conference including where the Idaho game was one play, and in the other two game two or three plays could've made the difference.  We're that close, but it's not enough.  It's not enough to be close, they understand the urgency of that.  The positive is we are there if we make the plays, we are not a team that is getting beat 42-0 or 35-7 like other teams are, so we need to refine what we are doing and get just a little bit better."
 
Jamarius Way
On this weekend's game: "It's senior night and their last home game. We know what we have to do to get to a bowl game. We are taking it one game at a time and the intensity level is very high."
 
On his excitement to go show how well this team can play on Saturday against Arkansas State: "I'm very excited to go out and play against them. They're a pretty good team. It seems like we are three or four plays away every game. No team has beat us yet when we haven't beaten ourselves. I know what this team is capable of and I'm just ready to go show it."
 
On the offense needing a fast start: "It's very important. You have to have an edge and play with maximum effort. We have to play with discipline and cut down on our tendencies, but if we do that we'll be great. It's very important we start off fast."
 
On he tries to lead his position group to execute: "When we execute you see what we do. We make big plays. As of my position group, I look to lead it. I tell them this is what got us here. At times, it's like we can't be stopped. When we all buy into it we can't be stopped."
 
Jimmie Gipson III
On senior day: "This is going to be my last home game. For me I want to see the team do well in this game and go back to the drawing board. I want to see us come out with a win."
 
On his experiences playing Arkansas State: "From what I've seen, they have a really good defense. I know for us on the defensive side, we have to come out and execute. I've seen their offense play well, and we have to execute."
 
On how ready he is to show how well his team can play: "I know our team is really good. I know that for a fact. I know that at times we have not executed, but when we execute and we come to play, we can beat anyone that we line up against. I've been here for a while, and I know with this team we can do that. With this game coming up, I know we can line up, execute and beat this team [Arkansas State]."
 
On how he tries to make sure the rest of the team executes plays as a leader: "I make sure everyone knows it starts at practice. While I'm at practice, when things are going good or bad, I have to stay positive. They might be second guessing certain things, but I'm telling them every day that we're good and I know we're good. We have to get back to the basics. We have to practice how we play. We have to clean up our play and execute. There is no reason why we shouldn't be executing our plays because we have been doing it for so long now. There should be no reason why we aren't executing. Everybody knows we are good."
 
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