MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell participated in the team's annual media day Monday at the football field house.

Highlights from the press conferences include:

Head coach Steve Campbell
-Opening statement:
"I think we've had a good first 10 days of practice. The guys have gone out and attacked each day with the mentality that we're going to get better each day. Offensively, defensively and on special teams, I feel we've made improvement, and the fact that we've gotten better each and every day is what's big for us. We still have a long way to go, but we've got time to get there. We're just shy of three weeks of opening up against Nebraska. I pleased, but not satisfied of where we're at right now.

"We have one more day [of practice] before our second big scrimmage. There was a lot of good stuff to build off of from our first scrimmage. Defensively, I thought we did a really good job of eliminating the explosive play, which was something that hindered us last season. I think we've gotten more team speed on defense as evidenced by them limiting the explosive plays.

"Offensively, we ran 116 plays and didn't put the ball on the ground. I can think back to our first scrimmage a year ago and I believe we put eight balls on the ground and lost five of them. We've made a lot of progress fundamentally. We still have a ways to go, but I like the direction we are headed."

-On what was the one thing he knew he had to fix this year and how'd he do it:
"We had a lot of things that we needed to fix and address; it really wasn't just one thing. There was some 'X' and 'O' type of things, some personnel deals and some other issues not related to either of the other two things. I think we made progress in all of those areas.

"One of the areas was on the offensive line. Last spring, we only had seven healthy bodies and two of them were walk-ons. One of those walk-ons (Brian Ankerson) did earn a full scholarship and is now a Remington Award Watch List guy. Right now, we have 21 healthy bodies out there and went through the spring with 15-16 bodies. We're a lot deeper and bigger along the offensive line to where we are now able to practice the way we need to practice in order to get the toughness and physicality that you need on both sides of the ball that you need in order to be a good college football team. We are also a lot deeper on the defensive line. Those two areas were major personnel issues that we needed to address and we were able to get guys in here to help the talented players we already had."

-On the position battles:
"I would say that it's starting to solidify itself on both sides of the ball. There are some big battles still on-going. Tra [Minter] can't run the ball every snap. There's a battle for who's going to help Tra in the backfield. Tra's our No. 1, but we need a good No. 2 because we do a lot of two-back stuff. We play a lot of guys out at receiver. [Jalen] Tolbert and Davyn Flenord have done a good job on the outside receiver spots and KB [Kawaan Baker] is solid and a great player on the inside. We are trying to find who those next guys are going to be that are going to step up. We have some new guys who are going to play. It's just a matter of can they be ready in 19 days when we play Nebraska, or is it going to be someone who's been around a little longer. There are still battles at multiple spots. Because of the times of our first few games, we need to have multiple people ready at multiple spots. A lot of our frontline guys are pretty solidified, but there are big battles for depth."

-On the personality of the team:
"I really like this football team. They like each other, they have fun being around each other. We have tried to institute a culture of being unselfish and playing for your teammate. It's not about you, it's about the guy next to you. These guys believe that and live that; they care about each other. My experience has been that when you have teams that are like that, they have a lot more of a chance to be successful. We have a day here and there in practice where I wish we had practiced better, but now the guys recognize that on their own and it's not me pointing it out. They're the ones saying that 'This ain't us. We need to have a better day.' We're becoming more of a player led group. We're heading to where we need to be and I like the direction this group is headed."

-On Cephus Johnson's growth:
"Cephus, from the mental aspect of the game, is miles ahead of where he was last year. He is much more familiar with the offense. He studies it. Last year he was thinking about where his feet go, who to bring in motion nine million other things. He's got all that stuff now, whereas a year ago it wasn't there. He has all that stuff down pat now, and now mentally, he's been a student of the game. We are able to do some stuff with him that you can't with a lot of guys because of that fact."

-On the leadership he's seen from the team:
"We challenge them to be player-led. The best teams are the ones where you have standards and guys don't want to fumble over the standard. The players call each other out when something is below standard. We've got a really good group of seniors that have set a really high standard, and they're demanding that everyone step up to it. The other day Sean Brown, a senior nose guard who is a really good football player, popped out his shoulder a little bit going up against a couple of our offensive linemen. After the play was over, he popped it back in and stayed in for the next play. Our defensive line newcomers saw that from a fifth-year senior, and saw him push through it. That's leadership."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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