MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart, along with offensive lineman Brian Anderson, tight end Collier Smith, safety Nigel Lawrence and defensive lineman Tyree Turner recap the Oklahoma State game and preview Saturday's Sun Belt Conference opener against Texas State.

Below are some highlights:

Head coach Steve Campbell
On the conference opener against Texas State: "We're excited to get back out on the field and start preparation against a much improved Texas State football team.  This is the conference opener for both teams.  You can put the first two games behind you; we've learned a lot off of those two games.  We've been able to play both at home and away, and in those two games, we've been able to play a lot of young guys and that will prepare us for conference play against a very good Texas State team."

On what he's seen out of the young players through the first two games: "I told our games during camp and it's held true through the first two games, we do enough good things to have a really good football team; what we need to do is eliminate the negative things.  There are going to be enough great opportunities for us [in a game], we just have to capitalize on those and eliminate the negatives.  This past week [against Oklahoma State], we eliminated putting the ball on the ground.  We threw a pick, but the week before, we put the ball on the ground which hurt us against Louisiana Tech.  We worked hard on ball security during practice last week and we only had the one interception.

"Last night [watching film] we learned that to just hold [the ball] just a half count longer and trust your offensive linemen.  I thought we did a great job of picking up the blitz against Oklahoma State, they brought a full-house blitz and we slid to it and picked it up.  If we trust it just a little bit longer, we will have a man coming wide open and we can hit him and make a big play.  We were able to see that on film.  Consistency is a process; I wish I could fast-forward and us be there but you can't fast-forward through a lot of this stuff.   You just keep getting better at it and better at it over time and that consistency will come after you've been in those situations enough to where you know what's about to happen.  

"I like the fact that we were able to play nine offensive linemen this past week.  I don't have a senior on the offensive line, not one and nine of them played during the game and not in mop-up duty.  They all played in the first quarter and we were able to role those guys throughout the game.  We played three quarterbacks; that's not always what you want to do.  We also played a bunch of running backs all four tight ends played.  These first two games have been really good for us because we're getting some young guys some valuable experience as we head into our conference schedule.  That playing time for the young players should help with the consistency."

On confidence: "I thought we were confident after Louisiana Tech and it didn't give us any points this past week.  Whether you're confident or not, you still have to get that first down and you still have to score points.  I think confidence comes with consistency.  There's true confidence and false confidence.  True confidence is having been there, having done that and knowing what it takes to get it done again.  If you've been there and done that, you have the confidence you can do it again.  We have a lot of guys who are now being there and we need for them to do that so that they know they can do that again.  That's where confidence comes from.  We have a young group and I love the way that they're working and the way they are competing.  Now, we've got to put some things together.  When you watch the film of the first two games, you can see that you're only this far off.  Each week you want to get a little bit better and sooner or later you'll start hitting on all cylinders.  That's where we need to get.  We need to get there quickly. We are getting closer."

On playing three quarterbacks this week: "It's early in the week right now.  What I would love is for one of them to step out and be 'The Guy' and it be very obvious who that guy is.  Until that time comes, we'll keep going and giving each of them an opportunity to be that guy.  They all three work hard and each bring a lot to the table.  Evan [Orth] has done some good things over the last couple of weeks.  Cole [Garvin] has done some good things and Cephus [Johnson] is still getting his feet wet and we want to continue that maturation process as well.  You always want to keep bringing your young [quarterback] on."

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield
On the Oklahoma State game: "One thing is we have to make sure we continue to protect the ball; we did a little bit better job of that this week even though we had a pick-six. I thought we held on to the ball a little better – that gives us a chance. Second of all, we have to get more shots down the field and have some opportunities to make some explosive plays. The last two defenses have kind of limited us on explosive plays, and so we want to try and get more of those done. We have them built in our offense, we just have to execute them a little bit better."

On quarterback play through two games: "It has been a little inconsistent at times. I thought Evan [Orth] did a really good job early Saturday night. We had a couple of times where we could have stayed on the field, and we just missed a couple of opportunities – not necessarily him. There were a couple of opportunities where we had a chance to make the game even closer than it was, and I think we would have gained confidence. He did pretty good at that, we just have to keep working hard at it. Cephus [Johnson] came in and was really excited. We have to continue to get him a little work, I think he'll continue to get better. And I was proud of Cole (Garvin). He came in and moved us a little bit at the end of the game, so they're really not making it easy on me. Hopefully, one of them will just come on and start making a bunch of plays and we'll kind of keep it that way."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart
Opening statement: "We are excited about making South Alabama better this week. We're not worried about who we've got next; we need to take care of South Alabama. I know what Texas State has. They have a really athletic quarterback. They had a really good game last week; I think they had over 300 yards rushing against Texas Southern, and they'll put it in the quarterback's hands and run sweeps and powers. In the passing game, they have a good short game and good receivers that are really quick and can make plays with their legs. They have a bigger running back. He's probably 210, 215 (pounds) and runs with power. We're fired up and ready to go. We went to work last night and ready to have a good practice on Tuesday."

On fixing the tackling issues: "You work on it. We work on it every day; we call it 'Jag Tackle,' which is eyes to the thighs, wrap and squeeze, and drive for five. It's drills that you work every day and we need to continue to get better at it. There are things you do in certain situations that we have to do, and we'll get it done."

On what he's liked: "I think we've played with good effort. There are times where we're pretty good against the run. I love the group of kids that we've got because they want to win and they're fun to work with. We want to go out and make something good happen. There are things to build on that I'm fired up about, so we'll keep working."

Offensive lineman Brian Ankerson
On facing Texas State to begin conference play: "We're looking to go 1-0 in the conference. This being our first conference game, it doesn't matter who the opponent is. We're going to come out and work this week like we always do."

On how the offensive line has grown and been tested over the last two games: "We're a lot more mature. We've got a lot of guys with game experience now, including myself, who had little to none before the beginning of the season. We had a lot of guys rotate last week, so I feel we're growing as a unit."

On any difficulties rotating new guys into the offensive line: "Everybody has done their job so far. We do rotate at practice, so everybody is used to playing with each other. I don't notice a difference. I think bringing in fresh guys helps us get more experience."

Tight End Collier Smith
On starting conference play against Texas State at home Saturday night: "Obviously conference is different than just playing regular football. We feel like we need to win as many of those games as possible. Regarding Texas State, it doesn't matter what they've shown the first two weeks. We're going to expect the best possible Texas State team to come out and play against us and we're going to try to bring our best to take them on."

On what the offense needs to clean up in order to improve: "It's really easy to look at the first two games and think that there is some major, complicated issue that we have to fix as an offense, but it's really just small things we do every day at practice. Things like looking the ball in when you catch it, squeezing the ball when you're running, staying on blocks and making sure you see what you hit when you're blocking. It's easy to let those things slide when you're lacking momentum on game day. I think we're going to really focus on the small things this week in practice and not let those little things bite us on game day."

On fixing small errors and putting together efforts to compete: "We're very anxious to get out there and not only show the fans that we've got what it takes to be a good football team, but also to show the coaches. I know they've put a lot into us to make sure we do everything at practice that we need to be prepared. We've got to take that personally as players to take care of that ourselves. We have everything we need and we're doing everything we need to do. I'm really anxious to practice this week and not let any bumps and bruises slow me down in this game. We need to perfect the small things so we can go out and play perfectly on Saturday."

Safety Nigel Lawrence
On the upcoming matchup with Texas State: "Texas State looks pretty good [on film]. They won their last game and it's the first conference game so they're going to come out swinging. It should be a pretty good game."

On getting back on the field after a loss: "You always want to get back on the field any time after a loss. You want to get better and correct those mistakes."

On what needs to improve after the first two weeks: "Tackling on the perimeter and tackling as a team. We have to play through the whistle, eliminate some of the penalties and we should be pretty good."

On what penalties can be fixed: "Some of penalties were bang-bang plays. Our other penalties weren't smart like jumping offside or facemask penalties and stuff like that; things you can prevent."  

Defensive lineman Tyree Turner
On the upcoming matchup with Texas State: "We're going into this game realizing that they are a good team. We aren't going to overlook any of our opponents. We're going to have a good practice and go in there with a good mindset to win."

On getting back on the field after a loss: "It hurts coming off a loss. It's just adversity and we have to overcome it. This week of practice is focusing on Texas State. Last week is in the past. We have to focus on this week and this week only."

On what needs to improve after the first two weeks: "On the defensive side of the ball, tackling. We have to emphasize tackling the ball better. That's one thing, but another thing is playing through the whistle. If we play through the whistle and tackle better the outcome of the game should be what we want it to be."

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