Aug. 13, 2012

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. - When the Southern Miss Golden Eagles last left the field on Saturday, first-year head coach Ellis Johnson wanted the temperatures to be higher - on Monday at the Joe P. Park practice facility, he got his wish and the squad went through two practices with the heat index hovering near 100-degrees.

"We finally got some heat out there," exclaimed Johnson. "I thought [practice] was pretty good. This morning, we had a good, hardnosed inside drill and came back this afternoon and did the same thing. I thought we got better on both sides of the ball."

With both squads are increasing their physicality, the amount of pressure placed on both sides of the lines only multiplies.

"We're coming off better on our offensive line which is going to make our defense a lot better," noted Johnson. "It all works together. I thought the effort this afternoon was really good and the kids fought through it good."

As much praise as Johnson could hand down to his team's effort on Monday, it was not without criticism. The new season means a new offense, and the team continues to work out the kinks in the new schemes.

"I'm not sure we're not getting a false indication of where we are on defense," said Johnson. "Our execution offense has got to get a lot better. Not only for our offense, but we're going to have to get to where we are stressing and testing our defense before we even know where we really are."

Both sides of the ball will have their next opportunity to improve tomorrow when they return to the practice field early Tuesday morning.

Tickets for the 2012 Southern Miss football season can be purchased either online at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Center from 8 a.m., until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.