Coach Charles Kelly
Q: Reflect on what you saw in Week 1.
A: I'm proud of our guys with the intensity of how they played. They played very hard, they played very physical. I think they prepared well. I think they were prepared. I was really proud of the way they worked in practice. I was proud of the way they handled themselves on the trip. We had no issues. It was a business trip, and we came up short, because our goal was to go down there win the game. That's what we expected to do. But what we have tried to do this week is not focus on outcomes. Focus on what we've gotta do to improve, to get better as a football team, and that's going to make us better as we go throughout the season. That's been our main focus.
 
Q: Share some thoughts on Liberty.
A:  I think Jamie Chadwell has done an incredible job at Liberty. I think most everybody is pretty much put them as the number one team in the conference. They have really good players. They've got an experienced quarterback who lot of the guys that were here last year played against, he was at Coastal Carolina. So, the guy has shown that he can win.
They have good running backs, they have good receivers, have good offensive line. Their offense is very challenging. They're spread option team, but they have the ability to throw the ball downfield, so that'll be a challenge. On defense, they got really good players up front. They've got a front not quite as big as what we played this past week, but they're very athletic. They can move. They got good guys at the second level, linebackers in the secondary they're just, I mean, they're very well coached team and then on special teams, they got Julian Gray, that's a running back. He's also a dynamic return guy. It's going to be a big challenge for us to be able to control the vertical field position. But what we and the players will tell you, we don't focus on so much. It will never be about the other team, but always be about what we do, and that's what we've gotta work on, is correcting the things. There's going to be four or five plays in the game that affect the outcome of the game. You never know when those plays are going to come. I want to say that over and over every week, because that's how football is, and I think our guys understand that, we've gotta make sure that we're sound on those plays.
 
Q: important was it to have a good, solid defensive performance?
A: I felt like our guys got more confident as the game went along, last week. And make no mistake and I'll go to battle with these guys. I'll take them anywhere. But I do think when you're playing the first game, we have a lot of players play for the first time. I mean, there was a lot of guys out there that never played a lot of college football, so it's just human nature. Okay, I get a couple stops, and then, you know it, you just play with a little bit more confidence. You gotta keep your composure, and you can't let these big plays happen. But I think it's good for our guys. It's our things. We're going to prepare the way we prepared last week. We got a tough practice today, and that's how, that's how you improve.
 
Q: Cam Cook was your leading rusher and leading receiver. How much was the receiving was target?
A: There were a couple of true targets trying to get the ball to him. But I think anytime you got backs that can catch the ball, the quarterbacks are comfortable checking the ball down, and then you get it to these guys in space. That's one thing we talk about, being multiple the things that you can do at your position, whether it's at running back or whether it's a DB, whatever, guys that can catch the ball out of the backfield. I mean, it's easy to take a five-yard pass now you turn it into a 90 yard pass. I mean, 60, I think it was, what was it? 68 yards they had on that one play, dumping it off to their back now, and it was, honestly, that was just, I don't think they had planned to do that. You know, he just got pressured to skate. We turned the guy loose. But anytime the backs can catch the ball that that is that makes you more effective on outfield.
 
Q: Coach, talk about your first home game.
A: Imma say this week, like I said last week and I appreciate the question, but this isn't about me. This is about these players. It will always be about our team. Now it is special to me personally, because I had so many good times here playing in the stadium. I love our fans. I thought our fans were great on the road. I mean, we could hear them. There was a lot of people that traveled for the game. I mean, every game is big, but this is a big game opening up conference play. So our players are looking forward to being in front of their people. And we, we look to it being an exciting time.
 
Q: Could you go over what your schedule is going to be like for 11am game, and do you like the earlier games?
A: We spot the ball. Doesn't matter when it is where it is. But, yeah, I like early games. I mean, I'm old guy, so, I mean, I played before they, like, really had a lot of night games. I mean, every game used to be, you know, 12 o'clock, 11 o'clock, but, yeah, the games we've had in the past. I enjoy the early games. We'll do our final prep. I say final prep. We'll do all of our walk throughs on Friday afternoon. We'll do a team dinner here. We'll come back over, have position meetings, then we come together and have a team meeting. We'll get them up early. We're going to create some energy that morning, we will do that. And then we do pre game meal, and then we do a walk through right before we get on the bus, same way we did when we travel. We'll do a walk through, get on the bus, come here. We're looking forward to being here for the gamecock walk. I know the guys are excited about that. Changed up a little bit, so everybody gets a chance to see. This is  again, these guys are part of this university. They enjoy the support, and they're looking forward to that
 
 
Travis Franklin Jr.
Q: Talk about how you improved throughout the offseason.
A: I really worked on bettering my footwork. Being more physical and being inside the playbook, like I also understand the game more. I also just got a closer relationship with Coach Kelly, and he taught me everything I know today as I'm coming in in the spring, teaching me to be a better player through the fall, he taught me so much about being a better safety, understanding the game, understanding my leverages, understanding the techniques that he has to brought into me, so that has played a big part in my game. Coach Kelly.
 



Cam Cook
Q: Talk about your role as a leader on this team
A:  Growing up, I was never a really outspoken person. I never really led by just speaking. So coming here, I just wanted to show that I was ready to work, and that was how I could show that that was my way of leading, just leading by example, just going in every day, working as hard as I could, showing the guys that this is what I wanted. This is like my goal. And so I say, like being a part of the leadership council really means a lot to me here.