BIRMINGHAM - The Marshall Faulk era didn't get off to the best start as Southern football took a season-opening loss to Alabama State 30-17. However, there were some positives to take away from the defeat.

Jags QB Christian Johnson was solid in his Southern debut. He led the Jags in rushing and completed 63% of his passes. Faulk doesn't want to make Johnson into a running quarterback by any means, but he was pleased with the effort his new starting quarterback showed.

"He's really a pocket-passer," said Faulk. "He's a quarterback that's willing to run, but we don't call a lot of designated runs for him, and we won't because he can handle throwing the ball from the pocket."

As the JUCO national champion made his first start at the D1 level, Johnson wanted to show that he can take the physical punishment at this new level.

"I said, ' Hey, when I run the ball, I'm not really too much of a slider," said Johnson. "They were like, ' You're going to get your bell rung,' so it was good to go out there and show those guys some toughness and also some grit when we needed it."

For week two, Southern comes home to play Kentucky State on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m.