Aug. 26, 2002

Columbia, S.C. – “Coming out of two-a-days I don’t know a whole lot about this football team. We have so many young players who will get better as they go along. We do have a chance to have more freshmen play then I have ever had.”

“We’ve had a good fall camp considering everything. We had an awful lot of injuries, but most of them were second and third team players. We are starting to get a little more people back. I’ve never seen a depth chart as unsettled as we have now going into the opening game.”

“New Mexico State finished third in their conference last year and returns nine starters. They were 19th in the country in rushing, now that’s five straight years they have been in the Top 20 in rushing. They return most of their offensive line and one of their players Shalimar Jackson is an Outland Trophy candidate. Their middle defensive guard Joe Olivo is also an Outland candidate.”

“Coach Samuel does a nice job, his teams are well-coached. Offensively, it’s like Nebraska where he came from. They run the option, run the ball, and a lot of play-action passing.”

“Defensively, they do a lot of different things. They blitz a lot, come from different corners and make you look bad. I don’t think there is any doubt that they can make an offensive team look bad. They don’t give up the big play very often.”

“I don’t have a question about Corey Jenkins any longer on his ability to pass. I’ve never seen a quarterback improve as much from last year at the end of the season to this year.”

“We have a little bit more depth in the case of defensive line and linebacker. We did not answer our question at the one corner, we will have to see about that.”

“The biggest problem we have right now is figuring out whose in backup roles. I think eventually we will have good depth at offense. There’s a lot of questions that we won’t answer until the whistle blows.”

“I think we may have an answer at wide receiver. (James) Adkisson is definitely a starter from the way he has played. Troy Williamson could enter into that as could Corey Taylor. When they turn on those lights, Corey Taylor loves the game.”