Coach Jones speaks about the recruits who signed with South Alabama on National Signing Day 2012.

Coach Jones question and answer session after talking about National Signing Day recruits.

• Daniel Aust, OL, 6’2″, 260lbs, Birmingham, AL, Hoover High
  Two star OL from Scout and ESPN. Ranked 112th nationally  among guards by ESPN. His measurables are listed as: 40 yard dash in 4.9 seconds, max benchpress 330, shuttle 4.6 and a 29″ vertical. He other offer was from Navy.
• Caleb Autry, CB, 5’8″, 170lbs, Foley, AL, Foley High
  44 total tackles, 8 pass deflections and 2 interceptions his senior year.
• Cameron Broadnax, WR, 6’1″, 180, Hueytown, AL, Hueytown High
  A 2 star recruit from Rivals. Caught 61 passes for 835 yards and 13 TDs his senior season. He is listed as having a 34 vertical. He was offered by MTSU, Samford and UAB.
• Lawon Debardelaben, CB, 5’8″, 165, Prattville, AL, Prattville High
  A 2 star CB by Rivals and ESPN. He ranked among the top 115 CBs in the country by ESPN. His measurables are listed as running a 4.52 in the 40 yard dash, shuttle 4.25 seconds, vertical of 38″. He was offered by Arkansas State and Rice. This kid really stood out with his vision and instincts for the ball.
• Mike Dumas, S, 6’1″, 180lbs, Cape Coral, FL, Island Coast High
  A 2 star S from Scout and ESPN. He was all-southwest Florida and all-county in Lee County as a senior. He was offered by UConn, FAU, FIU, Iowa, Iowa State, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, NC State, Purdue and Vanderbilt.
• Steven Foster, OL, 6’3″, 305lbs, Demopolis, AL, Demopolis High
  A 3 start OL from Scout and ESPN. He was a three-time all-county and Tuscaloosa News All-West Alabama honoree. His other offer was from UAB.
• Ridge James, DE, 6’4″, 210lbs, Richardson, TX, Bakersfield (CA) CC, Berkner High
  Only played in two games last season but collected 13 total stops, 11 unassisted.
• Terrance Jones, DL, 6′, 290lbs, Prattville, AL, Prattville High
  A 3 Star DL from ESPN and a 2 star from Scout. He was ranked the 43rd best DT nationally by ESPN. He also had offers from Arkansas State and Memphis.
• Paul Kyles, TE, 6’3″, 255, Mobile AL, Vigor High
  A 3 Star TE and wasranked among the top 60 TEs nationally by both ESPN and Scout. He also had an offer from Auburn.
• Clay Machen, OL, 6’4″, 300lbs, Auburn, AL, Auburn High
  A 3 Star OL. He wan ranked as the 13th best center in the nation and 40th overall best player in the state of Alabama. His listed measurables are a 5.32 in the 40 yard dash, a max bench of 315, max squat of 460, shuttle of 4.97, vertical of 25″, GPA 3.2 and ACT of 22. He also had offers from Chattanooga, Georgia State, Memphis and UAB.
• Steve McKenzie OL, 6’1″ 320lbs, LIthonia GA, Stephenson High
  A 3 Star recruit from Rivals and ESPN. A 2 star by Scout. Listed as having a 23″ vertical. He had offers from Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Marshall and Southern Miss.
• Perry Meiklejohn OL, 6’3″, Miami FL, El Camino (CA) CC, Westminster Christian High
  Selected to 2nd team all-National Northern Conference as a Sophomore.
• Jay Minor DE, 6’1″, 240lbs, Prattville AL, Prattville High
  A 3 Star recruit by ESPN and a 2 star by Scout. Listed as running the 40 in 4.89 seconds, a shuttle of 4.6 and a vertical of 33″. He had offers from Arkansas State and Memphis.
• Tyrell Pearson CB, 5’8″, 150lbs, Greenville SC, Mesa (AZ) CC, Greenville Senior High
  As a Sophomore he intercepted 8 passes and finished the season with 10 total passes defended.
• Grant Powell QB, 6’2″, 200lbs, Germantown TN, Christian Brothers Academy
  A 2 star QB from Scout and ESPN. Runs the 40 in 4.7 seconds, the shuttle in 4.4 seconds and has a 32″ vertical.
• Joseph Scelfo OL, 6′, 280lbs, Bogart GA, North Oconee High
  A 3 Star OL from Rivals and ESPN and a 2 star from Scout. Ranked as the top center in Georgia. Runs the 40 in 5.19 seconds and has a max bench of 315. He had a host of offers from Appalachian State, Army, Charlotte, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, UL-Monroe, Presbyterian, Samford, Southern Miss, Syracuse, Tulane, UAB and Western Kentucky.
• DeVonta Staples S, 6’1″, 190lbs, Lanett AL, Valley High
  A 2 star from Scout. He was named first-team 5A all-State by the ASWA. Listed as running the 40 in 4.49 seconds. He also had offers from Illinois, Kentucky, Marshall, MTSU and UAB.
• Sir’Vegias Steele CB, 5’8″, 170lbs, Mobile AL, LeFlore High
  A four year letterman starter. He has 102 tackles and 16 interceptions during his career. He was also recruited by Auburn.
• Davion Stuarts LB, 5’10″, 205lbs, Punta Gorda FL, Charlotte High
  A 2 star from Rivals, Scout and ESPN. He was chosen district player of the year his final season. He was also offered by UCF and MTSU.
• Aleem Suananon PK, 5’6″, 185lbs, Orland FL, Olympia High
  A 2 star recruit from ESPN. He earned all-State and all-Metro honors his senior season.

Junior College Transfers who signed in December:

• Anthony Harris CB, 6’1″, 175lbs, Miami FL, El Camino (CA)CC, Southridge High
  Credited with 20 tackles, 14 solo, and 2.5 for loss last season.
• Pat Moore DE, 6’3″ 235lbs, Southhaven MS, Northeast Mississippi CC, Southaven High
  Lead his team with 3.5 sacks and 43 total stops in 2010. He added 30 tackles in 2011.
• Darrius Morrow CB, 5’10″, 170lbs, Memphis TN, Hutchinson (KS) CC, Germantown High
  His team finished 9th in the final NJCAA rankings. Runs the 40 in 4.4 seconds, max bench of 265 and a 40″ vertical. He was also offered by Indiana State, Murray State, Southern Illinois and UT-San Antonio.
• Wes Saxon TE, 6’4″, 225lbs, Hueytown AL, Itawamba (MS) CC, Jess Lanier High
  Caught 10 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown last year as a freshman. He earned 2nd team all-State honors.
• Charles Watson CB, 6’1″, 195lbs, Tylertown MS, Mississippi Gulf Coach CC, Ocean Springs High
  In 9 games as a Sophomore, he totaled 46 tackles, 31 solo, and 6 for a loss.

Transfers who have enrolled in school prior to the spring 2012 semester:

• Brandon Bridge QB, 6’5″, 215lbs, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Alcorn St,  St. Marcellinus High
  Played the last two season at Alcorn St. where he posted 2,687 total yards of offense as a freshman.
• James Elliot OL, 6’2″ 300lbs, Pensacola FL, University of Kentucky, Pensacola Catholic High
  A 3 Star recruit by ESPN, Rivals and Scout. He sat out last fall as a redshirt. 

Anthony Harris – CB (JC – Jr.)
Perry Meiklejohn – OL (JC – RSoph.)
Aleem Sunanon – P/PK
DeVonta Staples – SS
Sir’Vegias Steele – CB
Jay Minor – OLB
Steven Foster – OT
Caleb Autry – CB
Joseph Scelfo – C
Paul Kyles – TE
Davion Stuarts – LB
Grant Powell – QB
Daniel Aust – OL
Clay Machen – OT
Lawon Debardalaben – CB
Mike Dumas – FS
Ridge James – OLB (JC – Jr.)
Cameron Broadnax – WR
Tyrell Pearson – CB (JC – Junior)
Terrance Jones – DL

Jordan Means - Photo from usajaguars.com

Last year South Alabama was celebrating their first participant in the Senior Bowl by Courtney Smith. This year, the Jags have announced another first in the program. Senior placekicker Jordan Means was selected as an honorable mention to the NCAA FCS All-America team by Beyond Sports College Network.

Means, from Hoover, Alabama lead the Jags with 62 points last season. He became the first placekicker to lead the team in scoring in their short, three year history. He was 13-of-15 in field goal attempts and 23-of-26 on PATs. Means also set records of consecutive attempts made (7), most field goals in a season (13) and longest field goal in school history (48 yards).

Congratulations Jordan! Go Jags!

The South Alabama Athletic Department and Head Coach Joey Jones will have a Signing Day social Wednesday, February 1st at 5:00 p.m. in the John Counts Room at the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama.  Head Football Coach Joey Jones will announce the Signing Class for the 2012 South Alabama Football season.  The doors will open at 4:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

There will be a meet and greet with Joey Jones and his staff from 5-5:30 p.m. with a video presentation beginning at 5:30 p.m. when Coach
Jones will present the recruiting class that have signed a letter of intent to play football at the University of South Alabama.  There will be an opportunity for a question and answer segment with Coach Jones following the video presentation.  Light hors d’oeuvres and beverages
will be available to the guests with a cash bar.

Description of Events for Signing Day: Wednesday, February 1, 2012

• 4:30 p.m. – John Counts Room doors will open for guests.
• 5:00 p.m. – Joey Jones and his staff arrive for meet and greet.
• 5:30 p.m. – Coach Jones will speak and include a video presentation
• 6:15 p.m. – Event ends

For more information please call 461-1USA or visit www.usajaguars.com.

Go Jags!

Tim DeRuyter was hired to replace long time coach Pat Hill. CBS47 in Fresno California reported this on their newscast with the video clip below. It is unclear when Coach Jones was informed of this and who if anyone he has spoken to about the open position. DeRuyter and Antoine coached together at Ohio from 2002-2004.

Cameron has offers from Middle Tennessee State, Samford, UAB as well as South Alabama. He said that he likes the Jaguars offensive approach and that it is a rising young program. He hopes to play quickly with the Jags.

They Hueytown head coach commented on Cameron saying, “The thing about Cam, he’s real long, he’s a full 6-3, and his leaping ability and his ball skills are phenomenal. A lot of guys are super fast, but they may not have the ball skills to make those types of catches. He is a leaper. That’s his biggest strength – his body awareness and when he twists around he makes some phenomenal catches. I told some guys, there’s nobody who runs routes better than he does or gets off the jam and has his kind of hands and ball skills. Depending on how much depth they have there now, I believe he’s a guy who can plug in there pretty quickly.”

Verbal commitments are non-binding and there is no early signing period for football recruits. Student-Athletes may begin to sign National Letter-of-Intents beginning February 1.

Coach Matthews photo from southernmiss.com

Reports are going around that the University of South Alabama will announce the hiring of Robert Matthews as it’s next offensive coordinator. This announcement could come as soon as Wednesday.

Matthews was formerly the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for Southern Miss. He was also the recruiting coordinator under Coach Fedora in Hattisburg. In 2010, he helped the Golden Eagles offensive line which gained a school record 5,894 yards and averaged over 200 yards per game both rushing and passing.

He played three seasons at the University of Georgia from 1996-1998 while being a member of the Outback and Peach Bowl teams. He then went to Oconee County high school as tight ends and special teams coordinator in 1990, Camden County as Wide receivers and special teams coordinator in 2000, and North Gwinnett as offensive coordinator in 2001-2002.

Matthews was the head coach at Shiloh High for three seasons where he guided his team to playoff runs in Georgia’s largest classification while also leading a facility upgrade which included a new strength center, locker room and coaches offices.

After his stint in the high school ranks, he went to Oklahoma State for four seasons. In 2006 he was the coordinator of football operations then promoted to director of recruiting for the 2007-2008 seasons. Then in 2009 he joined the full-time staff as quarterbacks coach. While at OSU, the Cowboys went to three bowl games and a top-25 recruiting ranking in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

He also oversaw the walk-on program and other internal operations within the program while serving as the director of recruiting.

His addition should help to improve the Jaguar offense and recruiting with his ties in Georgia.

Greg Gregory

According to Pete Roussel at CoachingSearch.com he found out that offensive coordinator Greg Gregory will not return next season. As soon as we learn more we will update you with further information.

Link to post here.

Update 12/5/2011 7:30 a.m.: Official announcement from South Alabama later today.

Captains Jon Griffin, Paul Bennett, Anton Graphenreed and Kevin Helms at mid-field for the pre-game coin toss.

Head coach Joey Jones along with senior cornerback Anton Graphenreed spoke to the media on Monday to reflect on Saturday’s loss to Cal Poly as well as the entire 2011 season.

Coach Jones said that he had mixed emotions about the season in his opening statement: “Looking back at the season, there are mixed emotions about it. We did some good things, and we probably could have done some things better. Obviously that last game didn’t end up on a good note. That’s the first time since I have been here that we got whipped up like that. They (Cal Poly) are a very good football team and we knew it. When you look at the season ahead of time – the N.C. State, Kent State and Cal Poly games – you knew they would be tough games to win. But I thought it was a good season. Our seniors have done a good job of leading this team, and I am proud of those guys.”

“We do have some work to do in the offseason. I told the kids this morning that we have great challenges ahead of us – 13 ballgames and 12 of them are Division-I programs. Obviously that’s where we want to go, and we knew where we were going and that it is going to be a challenge. I think somehow and some way this last game reminds me of what we need to do to get back to where we were fundamentally, and that means getting after it and being extremely tough – tough mentally and physically. That starts in the offseason, and we’re going to get that done.”

“I think when you win a lot of ballgames sometimes you soften up a little bit. I don’t think we got soft, but I do think there was a point where we didn’t cross every T and dot every I like we were two years ago. So we have to fight through that, especially with what we have coming up the next couple of years. We’re going to find some leaders and some discipline in our program. We obviously had too many turnovers this year, and we can’t win ballgames with that. Things like that are where we have to be a more disciplined football team, and we’re going to start working on that next Monday.”

When asked about the most important thing to focus on now that the season is over, Coach Jones said: “We want to focus on discipline. For the most part, it was a year where we didn’t play well but it was because of our mistakes and discipline. We have to correct that. The second thing is I think we have to develop more leadership as we go. We have freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are going to move up a class, and they have to learn to lead. We’re going to develop leadership in the offseason by the way we handle our workouts and by the way we approach everything. Those two areas are probably the biggest things we are going to focus on. We’ll obviously look at X’s and O’s as a staff, but I’m more concerned about the other two.”

Coach Jones answered a follow up question about developing leadership. “Most people say leaders are born, that they don’t develop that much in their lifetime. I disagree with that somewhat. We’re going to put the expectation on them now that they have to lead for next year. I told them this morning that we have until next August to develop leadership and discipline. If we can do that and we can put that expectation on them, then we will have some guys rise up. I also think we have to put them in situations where they can lead. In the offseason, that’s all you have. But the way we develop those guys is in offseason workouts, and that’s going to be a real critical time for us. One thing we’re going to do different is when we (coaching staff) get back off the road, the coaches are going to get back in that weight room. We’re going to be in there and motivate those guys. (Strength and conditioning head) Coach (Justin) Schwind is doing a great job already, but I think our staff needs to be in there as well, and that’s one thing I’m going to change.”

Anton Graphenreed’s opening statement: “The season didn’t really go as planned, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a great program. I enjoy being around my teammates and coaches. There were a lot of mental errors, and those are things that can be fixed. The team is young and has a lot of growing to do, and I think they will do that.”

“There are a lot of people who have stepped up tremendously, and all they are going to do is keep getting better. Like I said, the season didn’t go as planned but we learned from it. And I think that will help going into next year. It will let them (the team) know that there are more things that need to be worked on, even when everyone else is resting. That’s just a personal commitment that each and every one of these players need to make and live by it. I believe they will do it, and next year will be a lot better. It’s going to be a lot tougher, but my teammates will rise to the challenge. I trust and believe in that.”

Finally Graphenreed spoke about what is next for him now that his collegiate football career is over. “I really don’t know what God has in store for me. I’m just going to keep training and working hard, and graduate. Whatever opportunity arises, I will jump on it. But for right now, I have to prepare myself for any opportunity. I’m not going to just sit around and wait on anything.”