Before Southern executed Marshall Faulk’s vision better than it had all season, there was a players-only meeting.

Star safety Herman Brister revealed the heart-to-heart talk was a “turning point” four days before his team’s 14-point win over Prairie View, the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions.

“I think guys really listened to each other,” he said at Tuesday’s media availability. “We kind of figured out what we needed to be successful, and it kind of showed on the field on Saturday.”

Trey Holly, who leads the Southwestern Athletic Conference in rushing yards (673) and is second in carries (139), said the meeting helped everyone get “on the same page.”

Faulk hopes that this newfound clarity among his players remains and helps Southern (3-4, 1-2 SWAC) in its next contest against Texas Southern (1-5, 0-3 ) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Both programs are coming off bye weeks.

Southern’s first-time head coach has acknowledged throughout the season how he’s learning with each passing week how to better prepare his group. This includes holding players to a high standard in all aspects. That has happened through public criticism of special teams performances and player effort, especially in the Jaguars’ 41-10 homecoming loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Faulk has also enforced his standard through his actions, sidelining several significant players for conduct detrimental to the team in that last defeat and not starting Holly in the first quarter of the season opener due to “disciplinary reasons.”

As much as Faulk can do as a coach, he said that an outsized impact on a team’s growth in a year is player-driven. Players must reemphasize the staff’s message to each other. In the Jaguars case, players are tasked with performing with the fervor of a team with championship aspirations. If a player doesn’t deliver that effort, Faulk expects his players to call that out as much as coaches would.

“They set the standard based on how they go out,” Faulk said. “If somebody dips below the standard, you check ‘em and make sure that they're doing it the way you want them to do it. The players get to set that. Like I want that for them.”

The players-only meeting centered on accountability. Brister, who had 10 tackles and two interceptions against Prairie View, said the goal is to continue making strides to be the “player-led team” Faulk wants. This includes leadership during games on the field and moments when the players aren’t competing.

“Not only out on the field, (but) the off-the-field issues as well,” Brister said. “Those off-the-field issues affect us on the field as well when we don't have the guys and the bodies that we need to go long games in four quarters.”

Starting quarterback Christian Johnson was among the players who were out in Southern’s blowout loss to UAPB due to detrimental conduct. After Prairie View, he lamented his on-field absence and vowed not to miss a game like that again. Not only does his staff expect better, but his teammates are demanding he, just like everyone else, be responsible for the sake of the program that wants to be successful after a two-win season last year.

Faulk was pleased with the result of the meeting, seeing it as meaningful growth for his players in the last five games of the season. He’s learning to what extent games are a mixture of what his staff preaches throughout a week and what players are able to execute when the whistle blows on Saturdays.

“The minute that the game starts, I got to stand on the sideline,” Faulk said. “I'm not standing behind them. I can't blow my whistle to stop it. I can't make them run. They have to police each other, and that's what I saw in the game against PV. That's what I saw, that accountability with each other. Being able to have your teammate say something to you, and it's not a fight. It's like, okay, I got it. Cool. Let me step up.”