Georgia State Head Coach Trent Miles

On overall impressions from first game:

“It was a tough start. You obviously saw the kickoff for a touchdown. You cannot throw a pick for a touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown and another interception for a touchdown and expect to win a college football game. But I am very, very proud of our young men. They competed. We've got to teach them how to win. That was a major part of it when we got there in certain parts of the game, and they responded well. They didn't hang their heads. When something went wrong they kept fighting back.

“We weren't able to establish a run game like we wanted to. It made them have to throw the ball a little more than we wanted to. But I thought our kids fought, and they fought to the very end. And they've got to lean to win. That's the main thing, teaching them how to win football games. So it's a very positive locker room as far as where we're going. They know it. I know it. I'm thrilled with what I have out there. It was a big question mark for me of going into the game. What we would have and how we would fight. I've never been to war with those guys except for one, and that was Tarris Batiste. And they showed me a lot tonight, and I'm very proud of them. We look forward. We cannot wait to go to work tomorrow, and look at film and get ready to play UT Chattanooga next week. It was an up and down deal for us today, but I think they showed a lot. We just have to teach them how to win football games. They don't know how to win, and that's the main thing.

Look out there and you've got three players on the opening kickoff run the wrong way. You know eighteen-year-old kids going the wrong way. Then you see us make a poor decision at the quarterback position. Throw a pick for a touchdown, and then you see another pick. A kid made a great play. He surprised our quarterback. And you saw a defense play with a lot of heart. Look at the way our defense played. I'm very proud of them. Gave up two touchdowns. That's 14 points. If you average giving up 14 points a game you're going to be top five in the nation in total defense. My hats off to the way our defensive coaches called the game today and how the players performed. And that was very unfortunate that they didn't get the victory, but they learned something today that I don't think they've been able to learn in the past. So you know we're moving in the right direction, and we're going to keep them up. They're going to be out there next week ready to go, fired up and have a chance to beat UT Chattanooga.”

On Ronnie Bell's play:

“There were times he played extremely well, and then there were times he made a few bad choices. And at this level if you make a few bad choices it comes back to burn you. He threw the ball 51 times. That's a little much for us, but you know we weren't able to get going on the running game so we gave ourselves a chance. We threw it more obviously at the end.  He did some good things and he made some poor choices so. You know what it's a learning deal for him. He probably played more snaps tonight than he did the whole year last year so that's a step in the right direction. But at the same time the mistakes, you know the pick six, that changed the whole momentum. Momentum changed when we threw the interception for a touchdown. We threw another interception, and we put our defense in a bad situation. But overall we did some really good things. Some things you wish we had back. Our job is to fix them. These kids will be fine. A lot of good things out there. A lot of good things. Looked at a lot of film from last year. Never saw them compete like this so I saw a team that's determined.  And we'll find a way to win games once we teach them how to do it. When you take over a program, I learned from very wise men, the first thing you do is teach them how to compete. Mission accomplished. So now it's to teach them how to win. That's phase number two. And we're faster in phase two than I honestly thought we would be.”

Theo Agnew on Shawayne Lawrence and the defensive line's performance:

“He (Lawrence) stepped up and did really well. I was thinking a lot about the freshmen and how they were going to be thrown in the fire, but they did exactly what they had to do. I spoke with them on the sidelines, and Shawayne did pretty well. There wasn't a drop-off, or a weak point as a defensive line. We all stood up to whatever they (Samford) brought to the table. They did try some tricky things, but when it comes to man-on-man we did exactly what we had to do as a defensive line.”

Kail Singleton on the overall performance of the team:

“We just have to keep playing hard. This is our first game. We can't hold our heads down. If we hold our heads down it will just cause more problems. We as a team need to stay focused and push each other. I believe that's what will take us over that hump. I feel like our effort today was amazing. We had a lot of juice, and we were pumped up. We were finally playing ball with a few mistakes, but when we begin to correct begin to those mistakes, that's when we will become the great team I know we are. “

 “We had great communication today. Coach Minter gave us great opportunities and ways to make plays. He did a really great job in putting us in the right place at the right time.”

Samford Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator Bill D'Ottavio

“Well anytime you go on the road and play a Division I opponent, that's a heck of a win for us. All wins are good; you always want to start the season with one. I think our kids responded well and in the end we made enough plays to get it done.”

 “We had some mistakes and some missed cues. We have got some things to work on so we know that we will go hard to work this week but it's nice to go to work at 1-0.”

“I liked our effort and enthusiasm. I liked the fact we were down at halftime and our kids weren't hanging their heads. We didn't score on that fourth down play down there but nobody got down. We came back and kept fighting. It was good to see our kids overcome that”. 

(Tartt's interception) “I think that juiced us up a little bit. Tartt's a good football player for us and you hope that some of your leaders make some big plays in a ball game. If you don't have those you're probably not going to win, so that certainly was a momentum play”.

(With Pat Sullivan not being here how big is this for you guys to get the win) “It is big to bring him a win back, that's the main thing. Naturally we miss him and wish he was here. We had contact with him in the locker room by phone, so he got to be a part of the celebration. We are looking forward to going back to see him”.

(What went right on Fabian's kickoff return to start the game) “Guys threw some good blocks and tied things up. Fabian's vision and ability of course made some things happen, which your kick returner has to do. I think it was a team effort right there and then a guy that had an ability to take it the distance.”

NOTING GEORGIA STATE FOOTBALL

Samford returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown – the first kickoff return for touchdown allowed by Georgia State in its history.

True freshmen to see action: Keith Rucker (started), Shawayne Lawrence (started), Mackendy Cheridor, Carnell Hopson, Tevin Jones, Robert Davis, Bill Teknipp, Jalen Lawrence

Kelton Hill's first-quarter touchdown was the first touchdown reception of his career, making the former quarterback the first player in school history to account for touchdowns passing, rushing and receiving.

Hill is one of four Panthers to catch two touchdown passes in a game, along with Albert Wilson (5 times), Jordan Giles and Arthur Williams.

Albert Wilson recorded the eighth 100-yard receiving game of his career with 167 yards, just eight yards shy of his school-record of 175 yards (vs. South Alabama, 2011). His eight receptions equal his career high.

Quarterback Ronnie Bell passed for a career-high 391 yards, the second-highest single-game total in school history.