HATTIESBURG - Jay Hopson made several assurances shortly after he was named Southern Miss' football coach in late January.
Included among them was a charge he made to his players. He told his Golden Eagles he would turn them into the most well conditioned team in the country.
Senior linebacker Elijah Parker was skeptical. Two weeks into fall camp, the Brandon native no longer doubts it.
"Coach Hop promised us a lot of conditioning," Parker said. "I had my questions at first, but now I believe he was telling the truth when he said that. We've just been running a lot of plays in practice and the half-gassers and full gassers we run after practice.