MOBILE, Ala. - University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones was joined by quarterback Brennan Sim and defensive lineman Romelle Jones at Monday afternoon's media day at the USA Football Fieldhouse.

The Jaguar trio fielded questions from the media on the USA's upcoming opponent - Milford Academy - as well as last weekend's 64-6 win over Fork Union Military Academy.

Highlights from the press conference follow below:

Head coach Joey Jones
On Milford Academy:
"We feel like there are some similarities between what they do and the last few teams we've played. The defensive front is a little different. They put eight people in the box, really crowd the box on defense, and play man coverage on the outside. That's a little different than what we've seen, other than Georgia Military, who also crowded the box defensively. On offense they're multiple like pretty much everybody we've played. There aren't as many formations as last week - there were 42 formations we had to defend last week, but this team has fewer formations."

On what the team will do in practice this week:
"We're going to go against each other again offensively and defensively. That's making us better as a football team. I've learned over the course of this season that getting ready for the speed of the game by the way we practice with our ones against ones has really helped us. We're going to focus on that."

On what the team can take from last week's win:
"We're trying to really evaluate ourselves. I talked to the coaches and told them we ought to evaluate as if we lost the game. Normally when you lose a game you're mad, you're upset about something, and you overanalyze things. Let's do that now, even though we won, because there are a lot of things our guys can do to get better fundamentally, and we need to just focus on those things. I'm taking the focus off of who we're playing and putting the focus on what we're doing to be a good football team. The bottom line is it's reality for us right now, and we're just focusing on getting better in practice, as well as how we approach practice and how prepared we are mentally to practice."

On where the team needs to improve:
"It's still going back to the passing game. We threw the ball deep very well last week, had some big plays down the field. Where we struggle a little bit offensively is converting the third and four to eight types of plays, and we've got to get better at that. We have a problem with that in practice, our defense brings a lot of pressure, and so converting on third and medium would be a concern of mine offensively. Special teams we've been really pleased with, and the only thing I would say there is tackling, that sometimes gives the kids some problems, but as far as assignments go everything is good. Defensively, getting back to more turnovers. We had so many takeaways in the early games, and they're playing well, but we didn't have as many turnovers come our way in the last couple of games as we had in the previous three."

On what he knows about Milford Academy:
"They have good players, a couple running backs who are big-time players. I think they're better offensively than what we've seen from the last couple of weeks, but I'll know a little more about them as we progress through the week and watch more film."

On how he feels areas that were once a concern have progressed through the season:
"The offensive line is still thin, but we've had a couple guys step up into the playing rotation. The secondary was our other concern earlier in the year, and some guys have really stepped up and played well there. Jerron Mitchell has really stepped up and had a great year at cornerback, and having Jerron there has really helped us."

On having 11 days left in the first football season:
"I'll probably think more about that once it's over, but reflecting back on it one thing is it's gone fast. It seems like every day I come to work it's a great experience. Our kids are reacting really well on the practice field and in games. One thing looking back on it is the team chemistry has come together in a great way. I've coached a lot of teams, sometimes you work on those things and talk about those things with the players, and some years the chemistry may be good. On a scale of one to 10 some years it may be an eight, some years it's a seven, some years it's a nine, and I think this year it's a 10 as far as the team chemistry goes. That's one thing I look back on and feel like we've accomplished, and the kids are certainly a big part of that. It's been a very gratifying season from the standpoint of we didn't look very good at all last spring. This fall we're a totally different football team, it's not even close, and that makes you feel good that you've made some progress and the kids are going in the right direction."

Quarterback Brennan Sim
On Saturday's game:
"From the quarterbacks' standpoint, I think the coaches were definitely happier with our performance. I think we're completely different at this point in the season than we were when we started. We want to keep getting better each week. We're not where we need to be, yet, going into next season; we have a long way to go. We still have 11 days left in this season, and we're just trying to improve each day."

On knowing what to work on each week:
"There are still things that we can improve on. The teams we're playing have really talented players, it's just tough to put a team together in one year. Most of them have players who are one year removed from high school, and we're a four-year program, so we're going to have more chemistry. But these are really solid teams that we're playing, so you can still get good feedback."

On what the offense will work on this week:
"We're just going to work on fine-tuning - converting first downs and continuing to put up points. I feel like we progressed a lot this season, and we just need to continue to do so."

Defensive lineman Romelle Jones
On the defense's performance against Fork Union:
"The defensive line is a very young group. We're trying to improve every game. Coach [Clark] has been telling us we need to get more sacks as a group, but our goal each game is to shut out our opponent."

On the defense's performance this season:
"Our coaches preach perfection each practice, and to never let down in the game. We don't underestimate any of our opponents, and we have respect for everyone on our schedule. We prepare for every game the same way, no matter who we're playing."

On what the defense works to improve on each day:
"This week we're working on not giving up big plays, because it seems like we've given up the big play in every game this season. Our main goal right now is to limit the big plays."

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

-USA-