MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football defensive lineman Finessé Middleton recently sat down with USAJaguars.com to discuss his goals for this season, differences in playing in year two of the defensive scheme and how he ended up at South, among other things.

Middleton, a senior from Gadsden, Ala., transferred to South last season after spending the previous three seasons at Louisville.  During the 2016 season, Middleton appeared in all 13 games, starting two, and recorded 20 total tackles, highlighted by 8½ stops behind the line of scrimmage including 4½ sacks.  The 6-foot-1 defensive end ranked second on the squad in sacks and quarterback hurries (six), and was third in tackles for loss, while finishing the year ninth in the Sun Belt with 0.35 sacks per outing.

How do you feel last prepared you for this season?
"Last year definitely helped me.  I spot played last season and it got my feet wet.  During my three years at Louisville I had only played on special teams and then here-and-there on defense.  Here at South last season was my first actual time to play football since my senior year of high school, so it was kind of like breaking me in."

Did you set any personal goals for yourself this season?
"One goal for me for sure is to get double-digits in sacks.  My main goal though is to play the run better than I did last season.  Based off last season, I feel I need to play the run better and increase my number of sacks."

What has it been like to have depth on the defensive line this season?
"It's really a blessing for us and it really helps us, especially when we play against up-tempo offenses.  Having depth gives us a break.  When the first man gets tired or goes down, the second or third man steps up and it's like you never miss a beat."

As one of the seniors on the team, what type of leadership role have you tried to take on this season?
"I really just try to lead by example and stay positive even if things don't look like they are going to go our way; even if it isn't football related.  I just try to stay positive all the way around no matter how bad my day may be; I never let it show."

In what areas of your game did you work on during the offseason and how have you improved?
"Like I said earlier, one area that I definitely worked on in the offseason was in my run stopping ability.  I wanted to become an every-down guy.  Everyone knew I could pass rush, it was more or less about the coaches being able to play me on first or second down."

What excites you most about this season?
"Not only the schedule, but this team excites me.  We are much closer as a group this year compared to last, and I'm not say we weren't close last year.  As far as our defense, I feel we are light years ahead of where we were last season.  I'm not knocking the defense from last year because we were pretty good, but I feel we are more comfortable out there now in our second year of this scheme.  Everyone seems to be picking up on it and understanding it better."

What do you like about playing out of the edge of the defensive line?
"I really love going one-on-one with a tackle because I feel going into every play that this man in front of me cannot block me no matter how big he is or even if he feels that I'm a small fry and he's about to smash me.  I love being an underdog because it gives me a chance when they underestimate me and that's when I'm going to surprise them."  

What differences have jumped out to you from year one to year two for the defense?
"Coach [Kane] Wommack seems to trust us more than he did last year.  We're running a lot of plays that we didn't run last year because he feels that we understand it better and that he can trust us to run it right; he doesn't have to worry about us busting assignments or a coverage.  His trust in us has definitely helped give us some more leeway."

Are there any similarities schematically between here and what you ran defensively in high school?
"There definitely are.  I kind of played the same position there that I do now.  That made it easier for me to pick up the plays and the playbook.  It was almost identical.  I just had to learn the verbiage and terminology."

What are some things the defense needs to do in order to be successful?
"We definitely need to have great third-down defense; we have to execute at a high level on third down.  We also have to fly around to the ball and be great tacklers.  If we do those things, everything else will take care of itself."

How have you improved from the offseason conditioning program?
"It has helped me tremendously and I feel I've made big strides both on and off the field and in the weight room.  I've maxed out at 315 on power-clean and I had never done that before in my life.  I'm still striving to get better."

What factored into your decision to come to South Alabama?
"It was two things.  First was coach Wommack.  When he called me and I talked to him it was great.  We had had a previous relationship from when he was at Ole Miss and I was committed to them.  I already knew the defense, so it was kind of like a homecoming.  When he told me he was at South Alabama, it really became a homecoming with me being from Alabama.  I was glad to come back down to the heat because it was so cold in Kentucky.  I had never been to Mobile, but I heard they had a beach.  I was like 'Ok, I'm going to a school with a beach'.  It was probably the beach and coach Wommack."

What are you wanting to do after your football career is over?
"I have a bunch of different ideas about what I want to do, but my first one is to open up my own sports management business.  I also want to go into real estate and open up my own 'Campus Living' type of apartments."

What do you like to do in your spare time?
"Anyone who knows me, knows I love music.  I listen to music from the time I open my eyes and hit the ground to the time I go to sleep; I listen to it all day.  It gets me through good days, bad days and then when I just need to zone out and get away from everything, I go in my room and draw.  A lot of people don't know that about me."

Does your family get to attend games often?
"They definitely get to come more often than when I was in Kentucky even though the distance is about the same.  It's not as bad of a drive for them because we have family throughout the state and they can make pit stops along the way so that makes the drive easier."

Will you have family at this weekend's game?
"I'm trying to scrounge up tickets from my teammates as we speak.  They called me the other night and said that they had a head count of 15 people planning on coming so I have to come up with some tickets for them."

Who has had the biggest influence on your life?
"I really can say one particular person because I grew up with a single mother and she worked a lot so I was raised by aunts, grandma and uncles.  It really took a village to raise myself and my cousins.  There were so many of us that it took a lot of them to raise us.  I can't give credit to just one person so I say that it was everyone from where I'm from – friends of the family and family members.

What other sports did you play in high school?  
"I played baseball – that was my first love – and basketball.  I quit playing basketball my freshman year of high school and then gave up baseball after my sophomore year."

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