NEW ORLEANS – University of South Alabama football student-athletes senior linebacker Bull Barge and senior wide receiver Jamarius Way met with the media Monday as part of the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Football Media Day at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Below are a few highlights from Monday's Media Day for both Barge and Way.

Linebacker Bull Barge
On his expectations for the 2018 season: "Based on the work we've put in over the offseason, a [Sun Belt] Conference championship is definitely an expectation, along with making a big-time bowl game.  We've done a bunch of things over the summer that I feel will help us out this season.  We've run 110s, which are extremely hard, and we've done those during the hottest part of the day.  We've been able to face adversity in those situations before we have to in games.  When it's hot or raining during a game this season, we are going to be prepared because we've put the work in in those situations.  We are going to let the elements have an effect on us in a game, because we feel like we're ready for anything.  We're going to be locked and loaded."

On the cohesiveness of the team: "We are definitely a more cohesive group.  This is my fourth year with the program and I've seen a lot of guys come in here with egos.  The first thing coach [Steve] Campbell and the coaching staff did when they got here was to take egos out.  No matter if you are the top guy on the team or if you just started on the team, everyone starts at the same level of competing and everyone has the same opportunities.  Everyone is competing against each other, but at the same time we love each other.  We're building a bond where we feel like we are all brothers and I'll fight with him and fight for him.  We may fight against each other in practice, but on game day it's go time together.  We attack everyday with the mindset that we are going to come out and get our work done.  The main thing is don't be selfish."

On what it means to him to be a leader on the defense: "To be a leader on the defense is important to me because I earned it with the work I put in over the last few years.  I came from a high school program where I was the guy.  I was undersized so I feel I was overlooked during the recruiting process, but I got to South and I've now got to the point where I'm me again.  As a leader, I feel guys can pull from me.  I go up against guys out there that are twice my size and I play my hardest all the time.  I'm happy to be a leader on this team, because I feel I can lead my team to places we've never been."

On the progression of the new defensive scheme with the unit: "Coming into the spring, it was tough.  We thought it was a complicated system, but coach [Greg] Stewart kept telling us 'It's going to be easy, just wait.'  They kept throwing things at us and throwing things at us to see how we would respond and around Week 5 it finally caught on with us.  We felt like we were playing in our defense.  It was new for us, but we felt comfortable in it.  We've embraced the defense and we love it."

On playing under Coach Campbell: "With Coach Campbell, every day is the same as far as the way he comes out to practice.  He's not going to change; if he's feeling one way one day, the next he's going to be the same.  Every day he wants us to come out there and be the best that we can be.  He tells us to let go of whatever we may have going on in our lives when we come out there.  Whenever we come out to the field, it's an opportunity for us to just breath, let it go and just be ourselves.  I feel like the sky is the limit with this team with Coach Campbell.  You can really tell that he loves us and cares for us.  Some of the freshmen have only been around him for a couple months, but he's already embraced them as if they have been there as long as some of the seniors."

Wide Receiver Jamarius Way
On what the biggest change in the team this season compared to last season: "The biggest change has just been in the way this group has bonded and come together as a team.  Everyone wants to win."

On something people may not know about Coach Campbell: "I would say the tempo he brings to practice every day.  He comes out to practice hyped up and fired up every day.  

On his personal goals this season: "I just want to have a great season.  My goal is to be the top receiver in not only in the Sun Belt but the whole nation.  I want to lead the nation in both yards per game and touchdowns, but at the same time, I want to be a team player and not play out of my element."

On being a leader on the offensive unit: "I'm not really a vocal leader.  I try to lead by example.  The coaches tell me that if I come in and do the things I'm supposed to out there on the field at practice and in the games, the other players will follow and try to do what they see me doing."

On what receiver he thinks has made the biggest progression since last season: "I would have to say Malik Stanley; he really pushes me every day.  Malik and myself always try to get extra work in with the quarterbacks to make ourselves better.  He has worked on his footwork off the line a lot and that is going to separate him from others.

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