CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina football team started its last week of preseason camp with a crisp, two-hour workout Monday morning.

The University will have the general student population move in this weekend and classes will begin on the 22nd. Starting next week, Coastal football will adhere to its in-season schedule, having Monday's off and practicing in the afternoons.

"At this point, we are balancing a fine line," said fifth-year head coach Joe Moglia. "We have a lot of experience at several key positions so we are trying to be smart, getting them the work they need without risking anything. At the same time, we know the younger guys need the necessary reps so they will be prepared to play. We still have some good competition at several positions and this week will go a long way in defining our depth chart for the season opener. We will use this week to continue concentrating on just us as a program then begin to turn our attention to Lamar."

Mickey Matthews
Coastal Carolina Defensive Coordinator
"We are really improving as a defensive football team. We are practicing harder and our tempo is picking up. I am encouraged about what everyone is doing right now. It's been really hot and I keep looking for reports of snow storms coming to South Carolina. But seriously, our guys are a little tired, but, as I said, I like where we are as a unit right now.

"We are playing the run much better and we have made that a point of emphasis since the spring. If we want to be a good defensive team, we must stop the run first. We are not just totally ignoring the pass in practice, but we are really working on stopping the run.

"I would still like to see improvement in our tackling. We have had two scrimmage situations where we have been able to tackle the offense to the ground. The first time was a little ragged, but the second one was better. I would suspect that each time we scrimmage in the future, we will continue to look better in that phase."

Dave Patenaude
Coastal Carolina Offensive Coordinator
"I think we are on track for where we should be at this point in camp. We have completed the installation of the offense and our understanding of the offense is pretty good across the board. We've had a lot of good back and forth with the defense and they have shown us a lot of different looks, which is good for our young quarterbacks. The main thing right now is just staying healthy for the rest of camp.

"We have some tired legs right now, but we have remained relatively healthy. We will bang it around in some scrimmage situations later this week. This is a critical week as it is the last time we will have to focus solely on football and be concerned with just us and our own execution. Next week, we will begin classes and turn our attention to Lamar.

"Our overall effort has been good. We are a veteran group up front as well as at wide receiver and running back so the older guys have a really good feel for what we are doing. We still need to work on protecting the passer and we need to run the ball a little more consistently inside the box (between the tackles)."