MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones along with safety Devon Earl and running back Tyreis Thomas met with the media Monday to preview the season opener at Mississippi State.

South Alabama Head Coach Joey Jones
On the opening of the season: "We're excited.  Here we are going into our fourth year in Division I and eighth year as a program.  We're excited about playing an SEC opponent who everybody knows and is familiar with.  We're excited about the possibilities this Saturday."

On Mississippi State's offensive line: "[Mississippi State] may not have the size that they had two years ago [when we played them], but they are still big.  When we played them last time, they were humongous.  They were a very good football team.  [Dan Mullen] does a great job of coaching them.  They look to be a little more athletic than big this year along the offensive line, but they still have those massive 345 guys."

On how their size affected the game two years ago: "Obviously, we didn't have the depth to keep rotating three guys at each position like they did against us.  It wore on us late in the game.  I think we held up early in the game, but just ran out of legs a little bit there at the end."

On playing a SEC school during the opening weekend rather than a smaller opponent: "I like the idea that our guys have been looking at playing these guys for the last six to eight months.  I think [playing an opponent of this level] raises the level [of preparation] in the off season and gets guys more focused.  At the end of the day, I don't know if it's a good or bad thing.  Bottom line though is that I know that our guys have been in tune with what they're doing this summer to get ready for this game."

On the biggest positive he's seen coming out of the offseason: "The biggest positive I've seen is a bunch of guys that have pulled together and are going in the exact same direction.   That's probably the most important thing to me that we had to get done [during the offseason].  We've done that and have a bunch of guys that care about each other and are headed in that direction.  I could talk about how I think we are better on defense and how I think we are better on offense running the ball, but the most significant thing is that we've come together and that's been great."

Safety Devon Earl
On opening the season at Mississippi on Saturday: "We're just really ready to hit somebody else.  We're tired of hitting ourselves and beating up ourselves [in practice].  We're just excited to play against somebody else and see where we are as a team."

On where they are as a team: "I feel that we are a confident team, not overly confident, just confident.  I feel we know that we are talented, but at the same time we know that talent alone won't win you a game.  You need a lot more than talent."

On how the defense is preparing for Mississippi State's offense: "Right now, we are preparing for more than one quarterback.  We know they are going to play more than one quarterback.  We don't know who the starter is going to be.  Dak [Prescott] is gone, but they still have a really good receiving corp.  You don't really know what you're going to get coming into the first game of the season, but you've got to come out ready."

On since the last time South Alabama played Mississippi State: "You get to see how [our program] has grown in two years.  When we played them two years ago, we came in really confident and ready to play them.  We played well [in that game], but ended up losing.  We get to see the growth we've had in the program, within the defense and within the team over the past two years.  I think that's going to show come Saturday."

Running Back Tyreis Thomas
On opening the season at Mississippi on Saturday: "Any player will tell you that from the last game of the previous season that you start thinking about the first game of this season.  We've prepared a lot.  We've spent many hours in the early mornings and evenings, in the hot weather preparing for this game.  That work puts how hard we've tried to get ourselves ready for this game.  It excites us, because when you prepare that much, it brings your confidence level up and makes you feel like you really can do something.  It's not just going against the SEC, because at this point, any competition would be exciting because of the time we've put in to prepare."

On where he feels they are as a team: "I would also say that we are confident.  I really feel that we are a team that believes that preparation will take us where we want to go.  Like I said earlier, we've put in a lot of hours of work.  I've seen our defense change into a team group that I don't really want to play against all the time.  We've grown offensively too, so I think preparation is really what we've focused on and that will make us as ready as we can be."

On where he feels the team is at offensively: "We're young and I don't say that negatively.  Being that we're young, we kind of have to depend on each other.  Our quarterback had some playing time last year and did well.  Our team likes him at that position.  Our receivers are bit young.  I feel that we have the greatest tight end.  We're young up front, but I really believe that being young isn't a negative thing.  We have seniors at positions that we should.  We have leadership from our coaches.  We have a lot of athletes all across the offense.  I feel that we're going to be able to grow each week throughout the season."

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

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