MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart, along with offensive lineman Roy Albriton and linebacker Riley Cole met with the media Monday to preview Saturday's season opener at 24th-ranked Nebraska.

Head coach Steve Campbell
- On expectations/goals heading into 2019 season opener at Nebraska:
"I'm very excited about the upcoming season. I've been excited [for a while] about the opener at Nebraska. If you could draw up a season opener anyway you wanted to, this is the way you would draw it up. You have the chance to open up against a perennial power on national television at 11 a.m. on the opening weekend of college football. Our guys have worked extremely hard. I think they've attacked each phase of the offseason with a tremendous attitude and one of getting better every day. That started back in the spring. We had a really good spring, an outstanding summer and the guys have worked tremendously hard throughout [fall] camp. We are really looking forward to the season opener against Nebraska."   

- On what his message to his team on Saturday will be:
"Regardless of who you are opening up against, the next game is always the most important one. It just so happens that we're opening up against the No. 24 team in the country which happens to be a very good Nebraska football team. What that does is it adds some emphasis to your offseason workouts, which it shouldn't matter who you're playing, but in the back of your mind you do know you're opening up in Lincoln, Neb., in front of 85,000 against a ranked team. All of those things leading up to the season are ramped up just knowing you have an opportunity to do something special the first week out of the gate.

"Our big message to our guys this year is 'One Time'. At South Alabama we've been playing football for 10 years. In that 10-year span, we've accomplished a lot. We were the fastest program to reach a bowl game after becoming bowl-eligible. We've beaten some teams that were ranked in the top 25, but there are still a lot of things that we haven't accomplished; we haven't played in a [Sun Belt] conference championship, we haven't won a conference championship, we haven't had a winning season yet against Division I competition.

"Our deal this year is 'One Time.' Let's put all our eggs in a basket one time, one week at a time for 12 consecutive weeks, and let's go accomplish some of those goals. Once we've done it once, then you can repeat it. At some point and time, we need to win a conference championship, play in a conference championship game, win a bowl game and have that first winning season. All of our focus has been on accomplishing those goals. We can't accomplish all of those goals this week against Nebraska, but what we can do is take a step towards that. If we'll focus on doing that one week at a time for 12 consecutive weeks, we'll have a chance to reach all of those goals. That's how you establish a tradition and a history, much like the one that Nebraska has. They have as much history and tradition as anyone in the nation. This is the biggest game of the year for us because it's the next game and it just happens that we're opening up against Nebraska."

- On learning about his team:
"You've got a good idea of what your guys are capable of doing, but once you play a game against someone else, you've got film to know how people are going to try to attack you and how they're going to try to defend you. Then you can really see where you're really at and what you're matchups are. I feel good about where we are. We have several good football players on this team and I know what they are capable of doing. We have some guys who will be stepping into new roles this season and you go into it thinking you know what they're going to be able to do, but the exciting thing to me is that there are always surprises. With the way this group has worked and the effort and focus they've put into it, there are some guys we have out there that don't know how good they are yet. They just haven't had the chance to do it on a big stage yet and their opportunity's coming. I'm excited to watch them play."

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield
Opening statement:
"I'm excited to see where we're at; I think we have improved every day. The last couple of days have been pretty sharp, so that's a good thing going in to play Nebraska because they have a really good football team. We've been talking about taking care of ourselves, and not worrying about them (Nebraska) as much – just seeing where we are at and how we match up, that's what I'm excited about most."

- On Nebraska's defense:
"They are big up front – really big. Number 7, the linebacker, shows up a lot on film; he can really run and is physical. I haven't seen a lot of people catch a lot of outside balls down the field, so I am assuming the cornerbacks are pretty good cover guys. Structure-wise, I think it is something we have prepared a lot for. They have a lot of team speed, and they have size up front. We're going to have to be smart about being able to get our matchups on them."

- On the keys to the game:
"If we can limit self-mistakes, then I think we'll be pleased with the way we play."

- On message to the offense on game day environment:
"Coach (Steve) Campbell has preached a lot about just making sure we are on the same page with communication. If we do the wrong thing, it is okay if we are all on the same page. But if two or three people are doing the wrong thing, then that's where you see the big mistakes. We're going to try and eliminate that, and have tried to do that with a lot of noise in our covered practice facility. I think we have prepared the best we can for that."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart
- Opening statement:
"We're excited to open up with probably the best offense in the country. We'll see where we're at. I know they (Nebraska) have great players; the quarterback is a great player. You can see why Coach (Scott) Frost has had a lot of success with where he's been and what he's been doing. They do a lot of eye candy, and have a lot of good athletes who are doing it. They have great running backs and tight ends, and get them involved in the offense a lot. Our guys have worked hard and are fired up; we're ready to play somebody else."

- On Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez:
"He can run; he's unbelievable running the ball. He's a great quarterback and also throws it well. They do stuff to try and get you schemed up to where he has an opportunity to run the ball. If you go into a game like this and say you are going to stop him – that's foolish; you can't stop him, you just hope you can contain him and tackle him when he does break it down the field. He's a great runner."

- On the defense:
"In the first games, it gets down to who makes the fewest mistakes. Everybody makes a lot of mistakes in the first game, so what we're going to do is try not to make it too complicated defensively so we have a chance to get lined up in a stance and play fast. One thing we have gotten better at this camp is, when they do break it, we have done a good job of getting the ball carrier down and making them (offense) snap it again and work for it."

Offensive lineman Roy Albriton
- Opening statement: "It's been a long time coming; we've been training since January. We're looking forward to that day and we couldn't be more excited."

- On playing a team like Nebraska: ""It's another day for us to shine. We've all been working so hard. Our expectations are super-high and we're ready to go out and tackle the day."

- On preparing for Nebraska's defense: "They like to cross-blitz the linebackers and corner fire. On third-and-longs, we have to expect that they're slanting that defensive end inside and the corner is also firing off. You have to know the personnel that's in, the down and distance and there are a whole bunch of keys that you can look at and see what will help you on that set of downs."

- On dealing with the crowd noise: "We've been working on that all week. We've been trying to create that sound with our speakers, and in the indoor facility, it echoes really bad and the speakers are super loud. It helps create a false atmosphere and it's pretty close to accurate. We're prepared for that as well."

Linebacker Riley Cole
- Opening statement: "We're definitely excited to play a team like Nebraska. It's exciting because we've worked so hard to get to this point."

- On Nebraska's offense: "They do a lot of screens, but mainly the quarterback does a lot of quick reads and we have to watch for him on his feet. If we take away his running ability, I think we'll have a good shot."

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