B.J. Scott Added To Senior Bowl Roster
B.J. Scott will be playing in the 2013 Senior Bowl representing South Alabama on Saturday. Scott joins Courtney Smith (2011) and Jake Johnson as the only the third Jaguar in South Alabama’s four year history to be invited to play in the post-season All-Star game for NFL prospects.
Scott confirmed over twitter that he will be back in Mobile in the morning to practice with the team for Saturday’s Senior Bowl. Carson Tinker, a teammate of Scott’s during his time at the University of Alabama was one of the early people breaking the story via social media and congratulating Scott.
Scott, a 5’11″ 205-pound Prichard Alabama native, was chosen for honorable mention all-Sun Belt after collecting 84 tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, three passes broken up and two forced fumbles. He notched a career high 12 unassistend tackles in Hawaii. He was credited with double-digit tackles four times in the 2012 season and seven times as a Jaguar. One of those double-digit games came against Mississippi State and in the Jags first-ever FBS and SBC win over Florida Atlantic.
In two seasons at South Alabama Scott collected 132 tackles, nine pass break ups, three forced fumbles and averaged 29 yards per kick return. He also missed the final three contests in the 2011 season with a knee injury.
Last weekend Scott participated in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, along with fellow Jaguar Jake Johnson, and was credited with two tackles and one punt return for no gain. Johnson was added to the Senior Bowl roster on Tuesday, however in his first practice on Wednesday he ruptured his Achilles tendon and will miss the game.
Good luck B.J.! Jaguar Nation will be behind you all the way!
Jake Johnson’s Senior Bowl Experience Unfortunately Ends Too Soon
South Alabama’s second invitee to participate in the Senior Bowl ended about 15 minutes into his first practice with the team. Jake Johnson ruptured his Achilles tendon very early in his first practice on the field at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and was carted off the field.
Johnson got the news yesterday that he was being invited to the Senior Bowl. So he drove down from Atlanta where he has been living and working out preparing for NFL workouts. Then just about 15 minutes into his first practice, the worst happened. A ruptured Achilles.
The Achilles tendon is the strongest and thickest tendon in the body and also the most commonly injured one as well. A rupture can occur while performing actions requiring explosive acceleration such as pushing off or jumping. The usual time for recovery is about 11 months.
Good luck Jake! Jaguar Nation will be pulling for you during your recovery!
MTSU And FAU To Pay $700k Early Exit Fee
Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson announced that Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic will both leave the Sun Belt Conference effective June 30, 2013.
After previously announcing that they would remain in the Sun Belt Conference through June 2014. However, the schools and the conference office came to a settlement that allows FAU and MTSU to pay a “slightly reduced” early exit fee. The Sun Belt Executive Committee voted on and offered a $700,000 exit fee which both schools opted to accept.
Middle Tennessee and the Sun Belt had argued over the previous long-standing exit fee of $500,000 and the new penalty of $1 million, which was voted in by the executive committee last spring.
“Our desire to aid our athletic directors in finalizing the 2013 football schedule was the reason for allowing a reduced exit fee,” Benson said. “While the seven-game conference schedule is not perfect, the understanding is that this would only be for one season.”
Now that the date of withdrawl has been finalized, the Sun Belt conference will have eight football members and 10 total members for the 2013-2014 year. The schools with football will play a seven-game conference schedule and a double round-robin 18-game schedule for men’s and women’s basketball.
“We will shift our attention back towards the future of the league and what our membership should consist of,” Benson said. “As of now there are no pending invitations to the Sun Belt for membership, however, we know that there are a number of teams interested in joining our league.”
The Sun Belt is coming off of it’s most successful season in it’s 12-year history. Four teams were invited to bowl games and all four of them will return to the Sun Belt Conference for the 2013 season.
Next season the Sun Belt’s football membership will consist of Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy and Western Kentucky. Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington are non-football members.
Benson said that the conference is competitive in all sports and that it’s position as one of only 10 BCS conferences along with its geographical footprint are attractive to the schools who have expressed interest in joining the Sun Belt.
Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins, also president of the Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee, said that the conference’s chief executives “appreciate the contributions Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee have made to the Sun Belt Conference. We wish FAU and MTSU well.”
Benson also said that the Sun Belt’s bylaws need to be changed to more clearly restrict a school’s early exit because current rules requiring a notification date of departure are incomplete. Benson also indicated that pressure was put on the remaining schools to determine a reduced exit fee for the two schools in order to adjust their football schedules. Thus the Sun Belt executive committee “reluctantly settled.”
Benson said that the departures of MTSU and FAU along with North Texas and FIU might delay the Sun Belt’s progress, but it will not deter it.
“We were on our way,” said Benson. “… We were hoping we had time to build the conference to the point where we could stand alongside Conference USA with a comparable name. But we will eventually get there.”
Jake Johnson Added To Senior Bowl Squad
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson zeroes in on a NC State runner for one of his 14 tackles in Raleigh, NC.
University of South Alabama linebacker Jake Johnson has been added to the Senior Bowl according to sources and social media reports.
Johnson, a 6’1″ 240-pound Fredericksburg Virginia native, was the only Sun Belt player to average more than 10 tackles per game and was a first-team all-conference selection after finishing the season with a school record 131 tackles and 15 tackles for loss. He was the leading tackler for the Jags in seven of their 13 games and notched double-digits in tackles on five seperate occasions. He had a season-high of 15 tackles against Florida International and Middle Tennessee. He also collected 14 tackles against NC State and 10 against Mississippi State.
Johnson collected 245 total tackles and 25.5 stops for loss and nine sacks with two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two pass break-ups during his three seasons with South Alabama.
He participated in the NFLPA Collegiate bowl on Saturday where he recorded two solo tackles and two assists.
Jake Johnson becomes the second Jaguar in the schools short history of football to be invited to participate in the Senior Bowl hosted in Mobile, Alabama.
From the SeniorBowl website:
The Senior Bowl is home to a one-of-a-kind NFL Convention. In addition to the two NFL coaching staffs who coach the two Senior Bowl teams each year, over 800 NFL general managers, head coaches, assistant coaches, personnel directors, scouts and other front office personnel from the 32 NFL teams annually attend Senior Bowl Week in Mobile.
Coaching staffs for the game each year are selected by the NFL office. In addition to the coaches, each NFL team chosen by the league to coach the Senior Bowl teams also brings its training, video and equipment staffs to the contest to work with the Senior Bowl players and maximize the many benefits that the players will receive by playing in the contest.
The Senior Bowl has been played in Mobile every year since 1951. It’s first year in 1950, it was played in Jacksonville, Florida.
Congratulations Jake!
MTSU And FAU To Join CUSA In July
Early speculation and a recent report by Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com has been confirmed by AL.com. Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic have negotiated their buyout and will be joining Conference USA on July 1.
They will follow North Texas and Florida International who announced plans to join CUSA for the 2013 season prior to the 2012 football season. This will affect the 2013 football schedule for all Sun Belt members.
An official announcement is expected to be released on Tueday concerning MTSU and FAU’s early exit from the conference.
Originally MTSU and FAU would have joined CUSA on July 1, 2014, however with the early exit this will leave the conference with eight football-sponsoring schools. The Sun Belt currently provides an eight game conference schedule for each team, however with eight teams they will only be able to provide a seven-game conference schedule.
Now the remaining schools will have time to seek another game to fill their schedule with another non-conference game.
South Alabama’s non-conference schedule next season has trips to Tennessee, Navy and Tulane with a home game against GoDaddy.com Bowl participant Kent State.
A letter was released by the South Alabama Ticket Office about 2013 season tickets concerning a delay about renewal letters being released. Since the number of home games is currently unknown, they are working with the conference office and the football program to see how many home games will be on the schedule this season for pricing and such.
It may be difficult to schedule a FBS program for the 2013 season and may have to turn to the FCS ranks to fill the open date on the scedule. The Jags currently do not have a FCS program on the schedule this upcoming season so it would not affect the number of wins needed to be eligible for a bowl game. FBS programs can only use one win over an FCS team towards bowl eligibility unless there are not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all of the bowl slots.
Jags Football To Be Without Hollinger This Season
Game Captains for South Alabama Romelle Jones, B.J. Scott, Greg Hollinger and Alex Page meet the Troy captains at mid-field for the coin toss in the two teams first meeting and the Jaguars first Sun Belt Conference game.
While head coach Joey Jones and his staff are in the midst of recruiting for the 2013 class and trying to hire coaches to fill two positions on his staff, he will have a spot at tight end to fill.
The Jags will be without Greg Hollinger next season as he is not enrolled and will not return to South Alabama according to AL.com. Hollinger, a 6’4″ 230-pound former Jaguar would have been a senior during the 2013 season. He had to sit out his freshman year due to academic reasons.
Last season Hollinger caught 22 passes for 321 yards, averaging 14.6 yards per reception, and two touchdowns. In 2011 he caught four passes for 76 yards as a wide receiver.
Those numbers put him 6th on the team in receptions last season, 5th in yardage and tied for second on the team in touchdown receptions.
The Jags will return Wes Saxton who caught 26 passes for 336 yards last season and Jared Palmer who caught two passes for two yards last season. Also Rush Hendricks, Ryan Onkka and Kyle Sappington were all on the roster last season for the Jags.
Twin defensive backs Steffon and Steven Fuller, who were exected to enroll at South Alabama this semester, have not enrolled as of Friday. Instead, they are expected to enroll for the summer semester in May, however they will miss spring practice. They are expected to contend for starting spots this fall.
As for recruiting, Coach Jones and his staff have been vigorously recruiting. They are keeping in touch with prospects who have already given their verbal committments as well as talking with other prospects they hope to sign to the school.
This weekend a small group of prospects will be visiting. Xavier Johnson, is a 5’10” 167-pound running back from Tampa, FL., who verbally committed to South Alabama prior to the start of this past season but backed off his committment just before football season began. He rushed for 1,736 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior. While his numbers were down for his senior season, he still scored 10 touchdowns. Since then he has solidly reaffirmed his committment to the Jags.
Kevin Gary, a 6′ 180-pound wide receiver from Georgia Military where he caught 21 passes for 429 yards and 7 touchdowns his past season. Terrence Upshaw, a 5’9″ 180-pound running back from Duluth Georgia, who is ranked as a 3-star recuit by Rivals.com.
De’Shawn Beck, a 5’9″ 180-pound wide receiver from Los Angeles Harbor College. During the 2012 season he caught 37 passes for 647 yards and five touchdowns. Beck’s teammate Jarrell Wright, a 6’3″ 300-pound defensive lineman, who tallied 41 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss and six sacks.
Earlier this week Jones said that the main needs of this season’s recruiting class are defensive linemen and offensive playmakers. Based on these recuits, that is what they are looking at.
However, the biggest on-campus recruiting weekend for the Jags will be next weekend. At this time they expect to have as many as 20 prospects on campus for a whirl-wind recruiting effort.
South Alabama will be able to sign a full class of 25 players.
Jags Down ULM 71-56
Dre Conner finished with 10 assists against ULM. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Jaguar men’s basketball team used a strong second half showing to notch a 71-56 win over Louisiana-Monroe. This win propelled the Jags into sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division with a 6-3 record, an overall record of 9-8 for the season and evening their home conference record at 2-2 this season. ULM falls to 3-11 overall and 2-6 in Sun Belt play.
Freddie Goldstein nailed a three pointer just before halftime to tie the game a 27 apiece as teams headed into their locker rooms. But the Jags would open the second half with a 13-2 run to take control of the game. THey would make it’s first four shots from the floor after halftime and shoot 62.5 percent from the floor in the second half.
“Obviously (it was a) much better effort in the second half,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “I’ve just talked so much at halftime, like I do before the games, that we have shooting droughts and we have to find a way to manufacture points. It was a glaring difference in the second half with our defensive intensity. We’re capable of doing that every night if we just get our mind to it.”
Goldstein and Antoine Allen combined for 11 points and two three-pointers to start the second half with the 13-2 run. Goldstein would end the game with five three-pointers.
ULM would work to get within five points on four different occasions in the second half. The final run came at the 7:27 mark. South Alabama would respond with a 9-1 run to put the game away.
Augustine Rubit would score 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and fall one rebound shy of another double-double on the season. This moved Rubit into 11th on the all-time scoring list and 17th in the all-time rebounding list.
“Regardless of the double teams, we keep going at him and that’s what we need to do because he continues to get better at kicking it out and we rotate one over and get shots,” Price explained. “It happened several times in the first half with plus-ones. We just have to get those shots. He’s just a warrior. Aug battles and battles. He gets slapped and hammered and grabbed and just keeps going after it. He had a huge three-point play in the second half where he just builds his way to the basket. He’s just doing a great job and we just need to continue to play off of him.”
Goldstein would finish the game with 16 points, going 5-of-10 from outside the arc. Javier Carter would tie a career high with 10 rebounds.
Dre Conner would lead all player with a personal-best nine assists, which is the most by a Jaguar player since Daon Merritt against FIU on March 1, 2008.
“Dre’s a tough kid and he is playing well for us right now,” Price said. “I continue to preach that the more he plays the better he will get. He had nine assists tonight and I thought he controlled the game well. He’s just going to keep getting better. There’s a lot of concern about a point guard play early, but with point guards it just takes time. I think he is starting to come into his own.”
Mychal Ammons would finish with 10 points, including the final four points of the game that would cap the game off with an exclamation. A slam dunk which was followed shorty by a windmill dunk. ULM would inbounds the ball and let the clock run out after that.
South Alabama will get a week off before returning to the court to host Western Kentucky on Thursday, January 24th in a Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division clash. The game will be televised on ESPN3.com and as part of the ESPN Full Court Package.
Jaguar Men Open Three Game Homestand Against ULM Tonight
The South Alabama men’s basketball team begin a three-game home stand Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 7:05pm tipoff. The Jags come into this game after splitting a pair of road games beginning with a thrilling double-overtime win over Louisiana-Lafayette 91-89 then a 66-56 loss at North Texas, the Jags first road loss in Conference play.
“Louisiana-Monroe is a good team, like any conference team we’re expecting a close game,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “This is a team that went and won at North Texas and played Middle Tennessee to nine points last week. You learn that conference games are different than non-conference games. They’re going to come ready to play and we’ll have to show up to have a chance to win the game.”
While the Jags are 4-1 on the road in Conference play, they are 1-2 at home in the Conference. The two losses have come against Middle Tennessee State and Arkansas State. Those two teams have a combined conference record of 10-5.
“I think we’ve been extremely focused on the road,” Price said. “Our focus has been really good and we have to find a way to get that same focus at home and hopefully get off to a good start, we haven’t gotten off to great starts at home, and hopefully have some folks here to watch us.”
The Jags faced the Warhawks about two weeks ago on January 3 where they scored a 77-72 win. Junior Augustine Rubit scored a career high 32 points in the win. This will be the Jags first rematch against a Conference foe this season.
“(Playing again so soon) could benefit both of us or be a disadvantage,” Price observed. “We look at a lot of tape and I’m sure they’re doing the same thing. We look at what we did well over there and what we didn’t do well and try to make some adjustments. It’s certainly different playing someone so close together and I’m sure we’ll both have our own strategies put together on how we need to win the game.”
ULM’s Amos Olatayo used the game against South Alabama to jump-start his season. Prior to the contest against the Jags he had scored only six points in the previous two games. But he broke out with 18 points off the bench to start a streak of four consecutive games in double-digits scoring. He is averaging 19 points per game over that span with a high of 24 points last week against MTSU.
The Jags and the Warhawks tipoff at the Mitchell Center at 7:05pm.
Lady Jags Score 61-51 Win Over ULM
The Lady Jaguars basketball team rebounded from their 67-47 loss to North Texas on Saturday to score a 61-51 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday. The Jags recorded a season-high 50 rebounds and 27 second-chance points were key stats in the victory. It also improved the Jags record to 11-7 overall (4-5 SBC) while ULM falls to 3-14 overall (1-7 SBC).
“I was really disappointed in how we started the game,” lady Jag head coach Rick Pietri said. “We got a basket right out of the box and I thought that would catapult us, but our defensive energy wasn’t where it needed to be. That bothered me. It took us a while before we got it revved up to where it needed to be. We credit Louisiana-Monroe, because they came out juiced and ready to play. The last 30 minutes of the game, I thought we defended the way we’re capable of, but in the first 10, we just didn’t have the right zest to guard.”
“We’ve talked about how important it is to approach things with confidence and belief,” Pietri continued. We had trouble early putting the ball in the goal when we had reasonable scoring chances. That’s a problem we’ve been having, and it continued to suck the life out of us. We did reasonably well from that point forward, and defensively our energy was where it needed to be for the rest of the game. In the second half, we defended the way our teams defend, and we held them to 29% in the second half. So we take the win and move on.”
Mansa El recorded a game-high 16 points by going 4-of-10 from the floor and 6-8 from the free throw stripe, good for a fourth double-double in the last five games.
Meghan Dunn added 12 points off the bench by going 4-of-8 from outside the arc. Brianna Wright added eight points and six rebounds. The Jags bench outscored the ULM bench 23-9 in the game.
Mary Nixon left the game in the first half after sufferring a concussion when her head hit the floor. Nixon will be evaluated this week for lingering signs of a concussion before being cleared to participate fully in practice and the Jags next game.
Also redshirt freshman Rachel Cumbo, who missed the entire 2011-2012 season and the first 17 games of this season after sufferring a pair of knee injuries, dressed out for the first time in her collegiate career.
The lady Jags will return to the court after a week off on Wednesday, January 23rd when they host Western Kentucky. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05pm in that Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division showdown.
USA AD Announces Roberson Will Not Return This Season
Xavier Roberson photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
What South Alabama fans feared when it was announced was confirmed on Tuesday. Junior Xavier Roberson will not return to the team this season. Roberson was suspended indefinitely prior to the Jags game versus Arkansas State on December 29.
Joel Erdmann, South Alabama’s athletic director, announced that the 6’1″ 180-pound guard will not play for the Jags this season. Many consider Roberson to be the Jags best defender and perimeter shooter.
“Xavier Roberson will not return this season,” Erdmann was quoted by AL.com on Tuesday. “He is not currently enrolled at the university (for the current semester.) … What his future may be with the school and the basketball program is undetermined.”
Erdmann did not comment about the circumstances around his suspension from the team.
At the time of his suspension, Roberson had started in seven of the Jags 11 games and was the team’s second leading scorer with an average of 13.6 points per game. He also chipped in with 13 steals and 17 assists. He missed all but eight games last season when he suffered a foot injury.
The Jags begin a three game home stand on Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.