As Southern University looks to rebound following its 41-10 homecoming loss to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Marshall Faulk addressed the absence of several key players in his Tuesday afternoon press conference. Ahead of the homecoming matchup, there were several healthy players who didn't suit up for the Jaguars and were key talent essential to Southern's success.
Both Christian Johnson and Ashton Strather didn't play because of “content detrimental to the team.” Meanwhile, Ckelby Givens sustained an injury that kept him out of the game on Saturday.
In the post-game press conference following the loss, Faulk was vague about why Johnson didn't play.
“I try to keep this stuff in-house,” Faulk said. “You know, just conduct detrimental to the team, and yeah, I had to sit him.”
When reporters asked about Ashton Stalter, who also didn't play at the quarterback position, he once again was vague in giving any additional information.
“All the guys that you saw as a healthy scratch, conduct detrimental to the team.”
Faulk was evasive about the question of whether the absence of key contributors in the game played a part in the loss.
“I mean that's for you guys to decide. We have players who play, we play a lot of players. We need those guys to step up, and if they weren't ready to play, then that's their lack of accountability to their teammates. And that's our accountability as a staff to make sure that they are ready to play. So I don't really look at that. They take reps, they're practicing, they sit in meetings, they do all the things that's necessary. And they got thrown into the fire and (if) they weren't expecting it, that's a problem. And we'll fix the problem.”
Article Continues BelowIn Tuesday's media availability, he gave an update on the status of Givens.
“We'll see. Ckelby is dealing with some remnants of a concussion,” Faulk explained. “I don't think it was a full-blown concussion where you're out for multiple weeks or whatever, but I think the doctor cleared him. It's up to whether he can handle the sensitivity to light and stuff like that. Medically, as far as I heard with the head injury, I think he's okay. I'm not a doctor, but just my understanding is it'll be up to him and what he can deal with when it comes to sensitivity to the light.”
He didn't provide an update on any of the other players that were inactive that weren't injured.

