MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart, along with offensive lineman Ryan Alexander, wide receiver Sam Harris, linebacker Bull Barge and safety Malcolm Buggs met with the media Monday to preview Saturday's season opener versus Louisiana Tech.

Head coach Steve Campbell
Opening statement: "I'm very excited for us to play our first game.  It's been an eight-month journey; the guys have been working extremely hard since we got here.  We had a really good offseason program and the spring went really well – we got better each of the 15 practices.  The guys attacked the summer workouts in the weight room hard; Coach [Lance] Ancar and his staff did a great job of conditioning the guys and getting them ready to attack fall camp.  The guys have continued to work extremely hard during fall camp.  About six or seven days ago, we began our preparation for Louisiana Tech and I've liked our preparation to this point.  We have about two or three more days of practice left and then it's play game one and see where we're at.  I like how far we've been able to come in a short amount of time, but now it's time to go play a game.  I'm ready to watch our team play.  

"We're going to be playing a lot of young guys.  Defensively, we've got a couple of older guys in some key spots – Bull Barge, Nigel Lawrence, Malcom Buggs Chason Milner and Sean Grayer.  Offensively, we don't have a senior up front and these guys need to play; the only way to get experience is to go out and play.

"Louisiana Tech is an outstanding football team as evidenced by the last time they went out and played; they scored 50-something points on a SMU team in a bowl game.  We know that they are a very good football team, but that's what we want.  We want to play the great football teams, compete and get the job done.  It's a big challenge for us, but it's one we're looking forward too."

On this being his first game at South Alabama: "Each time you go to a new place, you're ready to get started and to play that first game.  It gets back to the fact though that you're just ready to play football.  It's been eight or nine months since you've been able to coach a game, so there are a lot of different emotions that go into it.  In 38 years of coaching, I've had groups been like this team and really liked the game of football before.  Everybody says they love football, but there are some groups that love it more than others.  I'm anxious to watch this group play because we have some guys that you can tell love football and that are going to be football guys, eight, 10, 12 years from now.  They are always the groups that are the most fun to coach.  Fortunately for us, we get to play our first game against an outstanding football team in Louisiana Tech."

On whether or not the youth on the offensive line makes him nervous: "We're going to have three guys on the offensive line making their first [collegiate] start.  Ryan Alexander, who has started 16 games in a row, at some point got that first start.  Troy Thingstad has played a game or two at the other tackle spot.  I've been in this situation before and we were opening up against Cohoma Community College, not Louisiana Tech.  This will be the first time at this level of play that I will have three new starter on the offensive line, but I love the way these guys have prepared and they've earned the right to be starters.  The only way to get experience is to go play.  Those guys will make some mistakes, but you learn from them, move on and get better.  They have really worked hard and there is some tremendous talent in that group."

On the trio of quarterbacks: "I've heard the talk before about it you have two quarterbacks, you don't really have one.  I don't believe all of that.  There are all kinds of different ways to approach that situation.  I've had teams that played two quarterbacks before and been very successful.  I've been around teams that played one and been successful.  I've been around when we played two and it didn't quiet go the way we wanted it to.  There are lots of different scenarios.  

"What I do know though is we have three guys who have worked very hard and who have put themselves in a position to contribute.  They've all done exactly what we've asked them to do and they've all done good things [during fall camp].  It's only a controversy if you make it a controversy.  It's not a controversy to us.  We have three guys in that room who love each other, and are competing; they all want to play.  We'll see how it plays out on the field.  Each one of them have their own strengths; what we have to do as a coaching staff is to try to put them in the best position we can to utilize those strengths, and pull out the best in each of them to help our team."

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield
On expectations and goals going into Saturday's season opener: "I expect to see a lot of guys play extremely hard, make a few mistakes but overcome them; it will be anxious. I think our guys are ready to play, and I'm really ready to watch them play. I think we're going to play a really good game offensively. We have practiced that way, and we're getting better every day. Louisiana Tech, defensively, is pretty good. They are a four-man front, and they do a little three-man stuff. They like to play man and zone, and we'll see both of them the first game. They have good team speed on defense. They have four defensive linemen coming back who have all played a lot of football. I suspect they feel pretty good about rushing the passer. But if we can protect the football, take shots down the field when we get opportunities and protect the passer, then I think our guys will go up and make some plays. I'm really excited and ready to watch our guys compete."

On what he has been most impressed with in camp: "The way our guys work – they take coaching and don't mind us coaching them hard and getting after them. They try to do what we ask them to do, but realize that if they make mistakes to just come back and get better a little bit next time. I really like coaching them, because they like working hard. It seems like they like to play football."

On playing multiple quarterbacks: "We will play more than one quarterback. All of those guys have earned an opportunity, so I think at some point there's a good chance we could see all three of them. They are all doing really well and trying to do what we're asking them to do. There could be a chance where if one got in a rhythm that we let him roll for a while, but that's just the way you let it go just like we would at running back or receiver. If somebody is hot, we're going to let them go. I'm really excited, because all three of those guys have competed well and helped each other out. I think they care about each other, and so I'm excited to watch them play and see what happens."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart
On what he expects from Louisiana Tech's run game: "When you start to talk about Louisiana Tech, you have to bring up the quarterback. He's a great player. He can not only throw it, he can run it. I think he's a great game manager. He's a top-tier quarterback to me. He does a good job on throwing in tight spaces. We'll have our hands full with him. If he's not the top quarterback in their league… (Teddy Veal) is really quick and good in space. They throw him bubbles (screens) and quick screens, and will make you miss in space, and he's got some speed. As far as running backs, they lost (Boston Scott), who was a great player, but I remember Jaqwis (Dancy) in high school. They moved (Kam McKnight), who played some slot receiver for them, to running back, and they have a 230-pound back from junior college that's going to play some. On the o-line, they have three guys coming back; they're big. They move well and have been together awhile. They have a good football team and can tell they've been coached well. If you watch film, you think they don't try to run the football, but last year they averaged 172 yards per game. They do a good job of keeping it mixed up. It's going to be a challenge, but we're ready."

On if they'll use the running game to test the defense: "I'm sure they will [run the ball]. One of our defensive goals is to stop the run. Everybody is going to try and challenge us running the football. That's one thing we don't want to let anybody get started. They have some big linemen and do some different schemes up front. They run some gap and pull the lineman, and they do some zone stuff. They want to run it; you don't have 172 yards per game and not want to run it."

Offensive lineman Ryan Alexander
On the excitement of game week and the hopes and expectations for the new season: "Week one, we just want to set the tone for the whole season. We want to come in and come alive with the right mentality of playing hard, playing to the whistle and basically beating our opponent through effort. Sometimes it's hard to come into Ladd (-Peelbles) and play in this humid area. We just want to come out and really get after it."

On Louisiana Tech's strong defensive front: "Last year we played very, very hard the whole game and the thing that separated us was just a couple bad decisions toward the end of the game. With the team we have now, we just have to make sure we play hard. Those guys have experience, but if we come in with the effort, the mentality and the want to execute, we'll be able to compete with those guys."

On an offensive line that includes a lot of young players: "Things are going very well. We had some questions going into the summer, but they came in and answered. We've had the same offensive line since fall camp, so you can tell that the people we have right now are ready to play. Even though there are some inexperienced people, you are able to pick up and know where we left off last year. Hopefully everything is going to be fine with that."    

Wide receiver Sam Harris
On the excitement of game week and the hopes and expectations for the new season: "We've also had the best offseason and summer that I've had since we've been here. I'm really just excited to go against someone other than Coach Stewart's defense for once; that's going to be nice."

On the changes that made this offseason different: "It's just the mentality of the players. I think everyone has bought in to the new coaching staff and we're really having fun with it and enjoying it."

Linebacker Bull Barge
On camp and heading into the first game of his final season: "My emotions are very high right now. It's an honor to be a senior at the University of South Alabama. Going into my fourth season as a senior captain is bittersweet. We've worked hard since day one when the coaches got here. Having coaches like Coach Campbell and Coach Stewart is a blessing. They care and want to see guys succeed. For us to finally be approaching game one makes things a little emotional because we put in so much work to finally get to this point. I'm glad it's almost time."

On changes between coaching staffs from last year to this year: "It has been way different. We changed from one style to another where you got coaches that are high-energy, but not rah-rah guys. When we first heard we were getting Coach Campbell we were like, 'We got an old coach. He might not have that much energy.' From day one when he stepped on campus he was all energy. The main things he preached were effort, energy and doing the little things right. When you have good effort, you do the little things right and you have a team that bonds together you can go anywhere. From day one, that's what he preached and we bought in."

On preparing for Louisiana Tech: "I think number eight (J'Mar Smith) had a good game against us last year. He's coming into the game with confidence. He thinks that if he plays a little bit better than he did last year, maybe he'll have a good game and play well enough to win. I think they're going to try and isolate us into space and see if we can run out on the perimeter, but those are all things we prepared for. I think early in the game they're going to try and run the ball on us to see how we hold up compared to last year. We're going to be ready for whatever they throw at us."

Safety Malcolm Buggs
On camp and heading into the first game of his final season: "I'm ecstatic and thankful for having the opportunity. We've worked hard since Coach Campbell, Coach Stewart and Coach Edenfield got here. They came in here with the right mindset by implementing great team camaraderie and always exemplifying nothing but great qualities every day. They preach doing the little things, being unselfish and to get better every day. They preach those three things to everybody in the facility. It's game week one and we have Louisiana Tech. I think we have the right players, right mindset and great coaches."

On the new coaching staff this season: "I love what they brought to the table because since the new staff got here everyone has put the team before themselves and individual egos have been put to the side. Like I said before doing the little things right and being unselfish will make us great football players, but it's something you can take into your life as an individual."

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