Throughout preseason football camp, GSEagles.com will take you on a behind-the-scenes look at different aspects of the football program that go beyond the practice field. In today's installment, we check in with offensive line coach, Ron Hudson.

Q: What do you think makes this place so special?
RH:  The tradition jumps right off the map. What has happened here and the culture here of not just winning, but not excepting anything less than excellence. Not allowing anything to keep you from achieving successful makes this place very special.
 
Q: Who has been your camp standout?
RH:  I'll be honest there isn't just one guy that stands out in my eyes. We (offensive line) are a unique situation. We are the sum of our parts and our whole is greater than our individual parts. For an offensive line to be successful, we all have to function together. When we succeed, we all succeed. When we fail, we all fail. We talk in terms of we and us. We say "hey somebody has a 6 AM run, so we are all at the 6 AM run." We are all at everything and we hold each other accountable and love each other.
 
Q: How do you want the offensive line to make an impact on the field this season?
RH:  We talk a lot about becoming the backbone of this team. The backbone of this team is not just physicality. We want to be physical unit, we want to be a unit that this team can count on especially in tough situations. We also want to be the character backbone of the team, we want to be the unit that does everything right. Regardless of circumstance and challenges we want to be successful. As a unit there are no excuses and why we weren't successful and we are going to hold our standards higher than anyone else.
 
Q: Is there anyone specific, or a class, that you are excited to see or have grown this preseason?
RH:  There are a number of guys that didn't play a lot of football. I wouldn't just say one, but there are a number of them. Lawrence Edwards is a young man that is really coming on and I am really proud of him. Jake Cooper has done a great job for us coming up and hasn't really played much. Jake Edwards is stepping up more, so there those guys that have been in the program, but haven't been able to play much. I am pleased with the way that they have grown and been able to step up. I'm happy with the way that some of our guys that haven't been in competition a lot are really progressing, but I am also pleased with the fact that it doesn't matter. Everybody is holding each other to high standards and because of that we are improving.
 
Q:  As a whole, how do you think the offensive line has played this preseason?
RH:  I think well. I think we had some carry overs from the spring. There is a lot of new stuff we are doing, which is easy to say since there has been some transition. The carryover has been good, but the buy in has been better. They are allowing me to coach them and seeing them learn and put in the extra time has helped. I've been pleased with it so far, we are still young in this offense and we have continued to get better every day.

Georgia Southern Preseason Football Schedule
Date (Time, Location)
Tues., Aug. 21 (4:30-6:30 PM; Paulson)
Wed., Aug. 22 (4:30-6:30 PM; Paulson)
Thurs., Aug. 23 (4:30-6:30 PM; Paulson)
Fri., Aug. 24 (6-8 PM, Fan Fest to follow, GS Armstrong Campus - Savannah)
Sat., Aug. 25 (TBD, TBD)