Jags Continue Preparation After Short Break
The South Alabama Jaguar football team returned to the practice field Sunday night as they began game week preparations for their trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. The players had Thursday through Saturday off.
South Alabama is in the middle of a tough three-game stretch for the Volunteers. They lost to #2 ranked Oregon in Eugene and lost to Florida in Gainesville on Saturday. After the Jags, they will host #9 ranked Georgia followed by #12 South Carolina. Could the Jags catch the Vols reeling from back-to-back losses while looking ahead to SEC eastern division foes Georgia and South Carolina?
The seniors challenged the underclassmen to be ready to return on Sunday and they were at the gates challenging them again to have a good practice after a few days off.
Head coach Joey Jones spoke about viewing the Tennessee game over the weekend. “(Tennessee) coach (Butch) Jones has done a great job, first of all,” Jones said to AL.com. “They are very well-coached and they play hard. I thought they went out against Florida and really played hard. You can tell, I know when I watch a team play what the coaches have done and they are well coached and they were getting after it. I’m very impressed with them in watching them play.”
“They’ve gotten better as the season has gone along. They’ve obviously played some really good teams. Florida is a top 10 team and has one of the best defensive fronts that I’ve seen in college football. They do a great job at Florida and Tennessee, from what I saw was, in the second half they never let up. You could tell the intensity level was there. They’re a very good football team.”
The Jaguars have been trying to prepare themselves for how loud some of these stadiums are going to be this season. But Neyland Stadium, with a capacity of over 100,000, is something that you just cannot prepare for how loud it can be. But the goal would be to strike early and quiet the crowd early.
Jones said that they have a number of loudspeakers turned up as loud as they can go. They practice every day with music and external noise. The last two weeks they have been playing “Rocky Top” on a regular basis as well.
The team will have Monday off as normal, then they return to the practice field on Tuesday to continue preparing for the Vols.
Saturday’s game will be available on the SEC Network, which is UTV44 in the Mobile area. Check your local listings elsewhere. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:21 AM.
Tune in early as the Joey Jones Show will be the lead-in to the SEC Network broadcast. THe Joey Jones Show airs on UTV44 at 10:30am.
Go Jags!