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MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones, offensive coordinator Robert Matthews, defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer and four Jaguar student-athletes hosted Media Day Monday at the football fieldhouse.

A few highlights from Monday’s press conference are below.

Head coach Joey Jones
Opening statement:
“We’re a better football program now than we were. There is a lot of progress that has been made. Things you think of right now is the experience on our team. We have guys who have been in the program that didn’t really know what college football was all about (initially), but we got into a Division I schedule last year and that experience was vital for us to have success this year. It was critical that we went through a season like that last year to have a Division I schedule.”

On how the team is progressing in camp:
“As a coach you think you need about three months to get ready for a ballgame, but you’re also ready to play a game. There’s that dichotomy there where you want to play, but you need more practice time. We have a more experienced team, but we also have more depth at each position. We feel good about every position on defense as far as our ones, twos and even our threes. On offense we have depth at running back and receiver, and I feel like we have two guys at quarterback who can win for us for sure. And we have others who are doing really well. That’s the good thing. You go into the season excited about it because you have some depth for the first time.”

On the possibility of winning a conference championship and playing in a bowl game:
“We you can play for something tangible like that it just motivates you. In years past all we have tried to do is win games, and there’s nothing wrong with that and we certainly always try to do so. But when you have that carrot dangling out there where you can win a championship or go to a bowl game, those kinds of things matter to these young men nowadays. So it’s very motivating for our guys.”

On the passing game:
“We’re at the point where we’re really understanding it. This is the second year under coach (Robert) Matthews’ system, and I feel like the guys have picked it up really well. I think the passing game is going really efficiently right now – better than I would have thought.”

On goals for the upcoming season:
“We expect to win every game. Winning six games and going to a bowl game would be pretty incredible, but I would like to win more than that. I don’t want to put a lid on what our opportunities are, I just know that we are a better team. We are going to go challenge each team and try to win every ballgame and see where it goes.”

Offensive coordinator Robert Matthews
Opening statement:
“Any time you’re in year two of a scheme, you’re going to be better. What I’ve really liked is our guys have taken ownership and studied in the offseason and prepared themselves before camp even started. They did workouts on their own, they were meeting on their own and they really progressed in that area. We left spring practice and we don’t get to spend time with them after that, so what they’ve done on their own through self-motivation has really helped us jumpstart camp. A lot of our base offense was already installed and they were running it pretty efficiently from day one. When you’re in year two and your guys have done that in the offseason and taken that leadership responsibility amongst themselves, it will only benefit you.

"Where we are in fall camp, we’re still running our base fundamental plays and it’s been a lot of fun going against Coach (Kevin) Sherrer and the defense. We’ve had competitive practices and I think that’s what you want as you elevate your program. You want your offensive guys, whether it’s your ones or your twos on the field to be competitive against the defensive guys. Some drills we’ll win, some drills they’ll win, but there’s good speed on defense and I really like how our secondary is going and our defensive line is looking good. It’s been great for our offense to compete against those guys on a day-to-day basis and it’s really only helping us improve.”

On the depth of the offensive line:
“We have some younger guys, some redshirt freshmen that are working in there right now – Clay Machen, Steven Foster, Daniel Aust, Joseph Scelfo – and they’re doing a really good job picking it up and competing against these older guys. Having a chance to go against our defense in practice is great for us because it makes them raise their game up every day. They’ve shown significant improvement but by no means are they a finished product. I’m excited about what they can do for us this year and in the future. We’re elated to have Ucambre Williams back. He was playing at a high level last year when he went down and he’s come back and been a great leader for us. The first couple of practices you’re nervous coming off a knee injury and he’s started to condition himself and he’s looking like the Ucambre of old, which we’re excited about.”

On the running back position:
“The running back position on paper is deep right now. We’re practicing five guys at that spot and all of them have to be game ready. That’s a position where someone inevitably will get a high-ankle sprain or a hamstring – someone will probably get banged up in a game. As far as the rotation and who’s going to play, honestly they all need to prepare like they’re going to play every snap and we’ll see how it plays out during the season. Different ones have different strengths but all of them are working to become a complete back. They’re working on their pass protection very hard, running between the tackles, running with some physicality and then running the outside stuff and the things that you do to break a tackle using their natural, given ability, so hopefully we’ll be able to block them up good enough up front and get them in space where we can get some guys loose.”

Assistant Coach/Defensive Coordinator Kevin Sherrer
Opening statement:
“The players have done a really good job of understanding what we are trying to get accomplished.  Obviously we are putting our scheme in, but the one thing we are trying to do is teaching them the parts of the game they need to understand — down and distances, and certain situations like two minute, four minute, goal line, short yardage.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys who have come in and picked up on the defensive scheme really well and really fast, which has allowed us to have a lot of depth.  In the spring we didn’t have a lot of depth, especially in the secondary; right now we have the ability to have two- or three-deep at some positions.  We’ve had a few guys come in this fall who are going to give us some depth up front. So far fall camp has gone really well.  A lot of the seniors have stepped up and taken on a leadership role, which they did not necessarily do in the spring.  I think that’s because they realize it’s their time now to do the things they want to do.”

On differences in the secondary from a year ago:
“I would have to say we’re 180 degrees different because we run multiple coverages; zone coverages, some man-match coverages, some man coverages, fire zone coverages.  So it’s been a big learning curve, but the players have really picked up on it.  A lot of things are real similar to what they did last year, but the biggest part is very different.”

On areas of emphasis other than tackling he has addressed:
“Obviously turnovers, if you create a turnover it’s three points usually when you look at it in a game.  So we’re emphasizing turnovers, third-down efficiency — getting off the field and giving the ball back to our offense, and letting them do the things that they do.  And then just pursuit, effort and getting to the ball, because we’re going to make mistakes, guys are going to be out of position, they are going to get blocked, but if we can get as many guys as we can to the football then we can overcome some of those mistakes that we make on defense.”

On where the strength of the defense lies:
“Probably at the linebacker spot, with Enrique Williams, Clifton Crews and some of those older guys.  That’s probably the strength of our defense because they’ve got a lot of games under their belt.  But as far as depth goes, up front we probably have the most depth with some of the new guys that have come in.  Alex Pages, Romelle Jones, we’ve got several seniors who have done a good job taking them in.  In the secondary we have some guys there, but they are all new so obviously they have a little catching up to do.”

On Enrique Williams:
“He’s a guy that Coach [Travis] Pearson coaches every day and does a really good job with him.  He understands how to play the game, and he’s got a lot of games under his belt; that experience creates a lot of comfort for the defense, comfort for the coaches.  He has the ability to go out there, and anything we need him to do — say communicate — he’s done a really good job with that.  You don’t want him off the field because he’s that type of player.”

On Jerome McClain:
“He has had a really good fall camp, he came in the first couple of days and really looked good.  He’s a big-bodied defensive lineman and is very athletic.  Just like every guy, once you get him in camp and work on fundamentalist slows you down a little bit, but now we’re starting to see him pick it back up.  There’s no doubt he is going to be a player that can change the game for us this year.”

On the benefits of facing an up-tempo offense in practice every day:
“First off, a lot of offenses in this league will be similar — no-huddle, fast-paced type offenses — so it prepares us for that during a game because as a defensive coach it’s just hard to simulate that pace.  The second thing it helps us do is get in shape; a lot of times we don’t have to condition after practice because we’re getting enough reps.  Not just the reps, but we are trying to run in pursuit of the football and get back for the next snap. The biggest part of those offenses is they try to get you out of position and try to see if their guys’ communication is faster than yours.  It allows us in practice to practice that tempo and get our players conditioned to that mindset.”

Wide receiver Bryant Lavender
On expectations this season:
“Our goal is to play with fanatical effort and tempo to become an explosive offense. The expectations are high from us as well as the coaches, because we want to show ourselves and everyone that we are an explosive offense and we do have playmakers.”

On if the offense or defense has more pressure on it this season:
“The offense always has pressure because people want to see points on the board, big plays. We’re going to play great schemed defenses, and it’s going to come down to one or two plays. As long as we execute, it will be hard to beat us.”

On expectations of the quarterback position:
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter who plays quarterback because that’s how confident I feel in them. We’re going to take care of our quarterback, just like they take care of us.”

Offensive lineman Chris May
On the development of the offensive line:
“You have to have a good offensive line to have a good team; it is the heart of the offense. This is our second year in this offense, and we have developed a lot since the spring. We’ve gotten out of the learning phase; we know what we have to do. We just have to execute.”

On expectations this season:
“We have a lot of seniors on this team, and this is our second year in this offense. We’re shooting to win the Sun Belt and make it to a bowl game.”

On if the offense or defense has more pressure on it this season:
“We’re going to put more pressure on ourselves because we know our defense is going to be one of the best in the Sun Belt. We need to step up and reach that level with them. It’s on us to score points this year, because we know our defense can shut opponents out.”  

Defensive end Alex Page
On the excitement and the expectations for the season on defense going into his final collegiate season:
“We’ve been building up for this season since we started back in 2009.  We’ve been working hard and our expectations are high.  This will be the biggest year for the program.  With us bowl eligible this year, we’re looking to make a bowl game this season and win the Sun Belt.  Those are our two main goals.  That’s what we’re practicing for every day.”

On how different the new defensive system under coach Kevin Sherrer is than what former defensive coordinator Bill Clark ran:
“The philosophy hasn’t changed that much, but some of our calls are slightly different, but we know it well enough that we are now reacting to it.  It’s not until we put in a new play or blitz that we may have the mentality of wondering where to go.  We’ll clean all of that up over these next two weeks and it’ll be all reaction when we get to the season opener because we know it so well.”

On the defense’s comfort level with the new defensive scheme at this point compared to earlier practices:
“We’ve been working on learning (the new scheme) every day since the spring.  The coaches came in and really broke it down to simple concepts during the spring and have advanced it throughout the fall camp.  We’re getting more comfortable with it every day and we just have to keep learning new things each day.  The coaches have helped us learn it piece by piece.  They haven’t just thrown it on us all at once.”

On team’s attitude going into the season after last season:
“This is definitely a big year for our team.  We have the players to completely flip the season around from a year ago.  Our expectations are high for the season.  You always have high expectations coming into the season no matter what your previous season was like, but that’s just motivation for us.  We don’t want the past to occur again.  We want to grow and improve this season.”

Linebacker Enrique Williams
On the excitement and the expectations for the season on defense going into his final collegiate season:
“This year we have a lot of senior leadership, so on defense we have a lot of expectations.  We want to be the number one defense in the Sun Belt.  We just want to go out and work hard every day.  With all our younger guys coming in, they have a lot of seniors to look up to and try to get better.  We are all open to them asking us any questions that they may have and to just work with them to show them what to do in order to get better.”

On how different the new defensive system under coach Kevin Sherrer is than what former defensive coordinator Bill Clark ran:
“We have a lot more schemes that we can throw at opposing teams compared to the last few years.  We have a lot more blitzes and pressures to put on the quarterbacks.  That’s the basics that I can give away without giving out too much.”

On team’s attitude going into the season after last season:
“As a defense and a team, we go in expecting to win every game no matter who the opponent is.  Defensively we were ranked either second or third in the conference last year and this year we have our sights set on being the number one defense in the Sun Belt.  I think we can accomplish that goal with the leadership and the players that we have in our program.”

On how the program has progressed since his arrival:
“As a program, we’ve definitely come along way.  That first season, we were playing a lot of smaller schools and over the past two years, we’ve been playing a lot of Division I programs like N.C. State and Mississippi State, so we have a little experience with the bigger names.  I feel it’s going to be a very exciting experience going to play at Neyland Stadium, but our team’s going to look forward to accepting that challenge.”

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).