Coach Jones looks on as Demetre Baker looks to the sideline before blocking for a field goal attempt.

The Joey Jones Radio Show started season three with host Lee Shirvanian and guest Joel Erdmann today.

They started the show off by talking about the depth chart now that they are finished with preseason camp and are into game prep mode. The first thing that Lee asked coach Jones about were there any surprises that emerged that he wasn’t thinking about. Coach Jones said that they don’t have many changes.

He mentioned on the offensive line that Levi Slaydon did not return so they had to fill that position. Jermaine Smith and Brian Krauskopf have stepped up and are neck-and-neck for that starting job. Other than that change, the offensive line is the same as last season. At tight end it is pretty much the same with Kevin Helms and Paul Bennett there. A little bit of a change will be the backfield with the addition of Georgia transfer Demetre Baker with Kendall Houston. He indicated that they would be co-starters in the backfield.

When coach Jones moved onto receivers, he mentioned that they have more names out there than they did last year. Last year Courtney Smith was the big name and the other receivers were ‘the others’.

Lee then started talking about the defense and mentioned that there were many familiar names on that side of the ball. He first mentioned Cori Barnett at the Sam position with Ken Barefield as his backup. Barefield played defensive back last season for the Jags.

When asked about how Cori emerged as being a starter, Coach Jones said that he had a great spring and awarded him with a scholarship for how well he did in the off-season. He mentioned that he is a bit undersized but still plays very well, he’s smart and knows all the answers to questions over on defense. Ken will still play alot.

The secondary will be very different this season. The lone returning starter is Anton Graphenreed, but he is joined by newcomers Charles Harris, Damon Smith and Alabama transfer B.J. Scott. When asked if he and defensive coordinator Bill Clark, coach Jones said it does not bother them. They are very good players and they feel very sound in the secondary.

Lee asked Dr. Erdmann about opening night for the Jaguars. He said that they are lots of ‘moving parts’ but that everything is coming along well. They are putting the final touches on Ladd-Peebles Stadium to make it a unique experience for South Alabama fans. They are also working on implementing instant replay and putting the final touches on that as well.

Turning back to training camp, the Fuego ‘Who’s Hot’ feature was C.J. Bennett on the offensive side of the ball. He has really stepped up as a quarterback, not only throwing ability and reading defenses but as a leader. Coach Jones said that Bennett is emerging as a great leader on offense. On defense, Coach Jones singled out Damon Smith at corner back. Saying that he has brought lots of energy to the team. He continued by saying that he is a very physical cornerback and can cover receivers well. He finished up talking about him by saying that he is a better player than what they thought they were getting when he arrived.

Lee asked about the quarterbacks behind Bennett since he seems to be a solid #1 on the depth chart. Lee said that on the depth chart the 2nd string position was listed as being Myles Gibbon or Trey Fetner, a freshman. Coach Jones said that Fetner has moved up really quickly and that Gibbon and Fetner are neck-and-neck right now. This is Myles’ third year and has done well while Trey has come in as a freshman and has been throwing the ball well with a strong arm. But he was quick to say that they are very fortunate to have three guys who are great quarterbacks that they can count on in case someone gets hurt.

Lee then asked Coach Jones what needs to happen between now and gameday against West Alabama. Coach Jones answered that they started ‘dabbling’ with the gameplan some during last week’s practice. But said that they really got into it yesterday. He said that what they need to accomplish is to do a situational scrimmage on Thursday that covers situations that they have not covered in practice. They will treat it kind of like a game with running onto and off of the field. They want to make sure that the players are paying attention on the sidelines and get onto and off of the field in a timely and orderly manner.

Lee then directed a statement to Dr. Erdmann that he thought that people see the undefeated 17-0 record and tend to take the program a little bit for granted about how far the program has risen in such a short amount of time. Dr. Erdmann immediately said that it cannot be overstated what Coach Jones and his staff has done in starting this program and getting it to this point when just about two years ago it didn’t exist.

Lee then transitioned into this season by asking about season ticket sale. Dr. Erdmann indicated that, to date, that ticket sales is ahead of what it was last season. He then compared the season ticket sales trend at emerging schools, talking about South Florida in particular, is to drop off from year one to year two but have their largest drop off from year two to year three.

However South Alabama has defied that by increasing season ticket sales in each of the previous years. Actually South Alabama’s season ticket sales is currently second in the Sun Belt conference only trailing Troy. But Erdmann quickly mentioned that North Texas will probably get a bump in sales due to their new football stadium opening this season. Erdmann also said that some schools in Conference-USA and the MAC would be envious of the Jaguars season ticket sales.

Lee transitions over to talking about stadiums, which garners some chuckles from both Coach Jones and Dr. Erdmann. As for news about stadiums, neither one had anything to say beyond that it’s fun to talk about and obviously it would be nice to have an on-campus stadium. The key word was that Erdmann said that “no formal action” is happening towards a stadium.

After the first break, Lee came back to talk about the depth chart and Demetre Baker. He observed that many people don’t concern themselves too much with the depth chart at other positions other than quarterback. Coach Jones agreed and qualified it with the caveat that the quarterback position does not rotate much if any in most program. He said they [South Alabama] rotated quarterbacks in previous seasons because there wasn’t much difference between the first, second and third string quarterbacks. But at running back and other positions, in order to play Division I football, you have to rotate players because you are going to have some injuries here and there.

One listeners question was about how recruiting changed after last season than it was after the first season. Coach Jones answered it by saying that it has changed alot. Places know where South Alabama is and where Mobile is. When they walk into a school, they know where South Alabama is.

The next email question asked about what would be the focus of the 2012 signing class. Coach Jones said that the biggest need would be offensive linemen, because you cannot get enough offensive linemen. After that, their focus would be on defense looking for a little bit at each position. They are okay at quarterback, probably don’t need much at running back either. Also he mentioned that they probably need to sign one or two tight ends.

A third email asked about how much current players factor into helping recruit former teammates to the program. Coach Jones said you think that would naturally occur. If a player comes in for a visit, they look to pair them with someone they will be comfortable with. If someone played with them in high school, then that may be the best choice for them when the visit.

Lee then introduced the injury report sponsored by The Orthopedic Group. coach Jones said that they are looking pretty good right now. At one point they had 22 guys sidelined at one time with injuries. There are three guys who out right now. One is freshman receiver Anthony Ingram who had surgery on his shoulder and will miss the season. Running back Devin Robinson, another freshman, hurt his hand and will be out for three or four weeks. Then Brandon Ross who will most likely miss the season, but has an outside chance to be ready halfway through the season or later. On the bright side, Coach Jones said that Ingram can be redshirted this season and will have four more years of eligibility.

Lee then asked about Enrique Williams, who is listed as a starter for the West Alabama game but has not practiced much this season so far. Coach Jones said that Williams practiced on Tuesday and is back with the team. Most of the 22 returned on Monday or Tuesday with only about six players still out right now.

Coach Jones, Dr. Erdmann and Lee next talked about NCAA issues. Some representatives met with the NCAA recently about different issue. Three of the main issues they talked about was academic reform, cost containment and examining rules. They raised the APR from 925 to 930 and they may raise core course grades and also SAT/ACT scores needed to get into school. As for rules, they want to set new presidents by upping enforcement and upping consequences.

Coach Jones, like many others, would like to see more streamlined rules and be able to keep a level playing field, which is keyed off of enforcement.

Lee asked about social networking and Coach Jones said he has cautioned his players to be very careful how they portray themselves and the program. They want to have a first class program so they have to portray themselves in a first class way. Dr. Erdmann said that the institutions are supposed to monitor social media like Facebook, twitter and others. So they have to spot check so they can intervene if unethical interaction of athletes may be occurring.

Speaking towards the problems that have surfaced down in Miami. Coach Jones said that he tells his staff to recruit the player and the family and not to get involved with any third parties. Dr. Erdmann also said that rules help to ease pressure on recruits.

Speaking directly about the Miami problems, Dr. Erdmann said that it was said to hear and that it was not the right way to do things. He also added that if the allegations are true, that parts of the program could be on the chopping block. Erdmann also said that the kids are 18-22 years old and are old enough to know better and are told to avoid over and over.

Lee asked about the 10 game schedule and why the Jags could not get more games than that. Dr. Erdmann said it was their intent to have more games but early in the year, around February or March, they were informed that UC Davis wanted to opt-out of their contract with USA. USA and Edward-Waters mutually agreed to drop their contract. But the UC Davis game was scheduled later in the season and was able to find a replacement game with Mississippi Valley State.

After adding the 10th game back, they made sure they were fulfilling their requirements for their two-year transition to FBS. Then after looking at what teams were out there available for a game, they decided that the possible games out there weren’t the best fits for the school and decided to stay with 10 games. Additionally they have some off weeks that may be very advantageous during this season.

Coach Jones made sure to stress that Division I-A and Division I-AA are still Division I school. They still have 63 scholarships, which isn’t the I-A number of 85, but they are still very good programs.

Coach Jones looks on from the sidelines as the Jaguars take on Lamar University.

Chris Brunson out for the year with a broken ankle. When asked, Coach Jones said that we are not deep at that position. Brian Krauskopf was used at center in practice, but he will probably move into Brunson’s spot. Brian is probably the most valuable player on the line because of his flexibility and ability to do whatever the team needs.

Kendall Houston rushed for more yards himself than Lamar’s entire team in the game. Mitch Rodrigue is the other coaching guest on the show.

Caller asked about the logistics of traveling to California. Coach Jones said that they are flying out of Mobile Airport at 9am on Friday and land in California around 12:40 pacific time. When they went to Lamar for the game, they carried everything they needed in trucks mostly.

Everything they needed for the game but not necessary for practice, stayed on the truck and went on to California. Shoulder pads and helmets obviously was needed for practice, so they came back with the team to Mobile. Jersey’s and such went out to California. The stuff they needed for practice they will carry with them on the flight in bags when they leave on Friday.

It’s a very tedious process and has to be well thought out. Even more so when you have to get on a plane. They even continued to have meetings on Tuesday to tie up loose ends.

Lee asked about how USA uses tight ends. Most teams use one tight end if they use one at all. Typical teams that run the spread offense don’t even use a tight end. Coach Rodrigue said he thought Tight End was one of the most important positions on the field. They can be utilized in so many ways and South Alabama uses them in all of them. As a receiver, as a blocker and in the back field as a full back.During the course of a game, coach Rodrigue estimated that they probably use four different tight ends.

Lee asked Coach Jones why they use the tight ends so much. Coach Jones said that they want to be different. Coach Jones went to the spread in the late 90′s when everyone was running the I formation. Now seemingly everyone has transitioned to the spread with four wide.

So when they began to form the program, he knew he wanted to be different. They knew they had Brandon so they had a big strong back for a good running game, which is one thing they wanted to do, run the football. Coach Jones believes that championships are won by running the football. You can run out of the shotgun, but when you use tight ends, you spread the defensive front out. With four wide-outs, that defensive front shrinks and makes it harder to run.

But with a tight end detached from the line, you have more running lanes and also more passing opportunities. With tight ends in the game they have to still be concerned about the run. You can’t block a tight end with a cornerback and you can’t cover a tight end with a linebacker.

Coach Rodrigue also chimed in by noting that defensive coaches want to know, first off, what personnel are in the game. When a defensive coach first hears that they have two tight ends in the game they immediately think that they will be attached to the line and think run. But the South Alabama offense, by utilizing tight ends the way they do, they can pretty much do anything they want. USA can line up with two tight ends but an empty backfield.

With such a good running game, the tight end can easily get open for a pass on a play action pass.

A person emailed a question about the last two games and the Jags being 1-for-20 on 3rd down conversions. Coach Jones didn’t know about the stat but did say that they got quite conservative in the red zone and need to try to do that better.

Coach Jones previews some information about UC-Davis. They are a really good, sound football team. They won their conference last year and picked to win it again this year. They beat Stanford a couple years ago. Defensively they play really hard. While they may not be as athletic as some of the teams that USA has played, he said that they played better as a team. Special teams are good and limit turnovers. They aren’t going to make mistakes and give you the game. You have to go out there and beat them.

UC-Davis is really efficient throwing the ball, but they are trying to find a running game. Sometimes they run it well but it’s not consistent. When you are not balanced, teams try to exploit that and that’s what has happened to the Aggies.

Coach Rodrigue attributes their good practices and success in games to practicing early in the morning. He thinks they are wide eyed and haven’t gone through a day to have stuff lingering in their mind from a normal day of class and stuff. They are out there focused on football. Good practices leads to good games.

Someone asked how competitive the coaches think we would be against a Division I-A team. Obviously we have a ways to go to be competitive against the BCS schools but Coach Rodrigue thinks we could be competitive against some Division I teams, including being competitive in the Sun Belt. He thought our Achilles heel would be our lack of depth. Experience and depth would be negatives for our team.

Saucier leads first team offense in impressive first spring game. - Photo by Doug Roberts: http://dougstech.com/

I think Coach Jones summed it up best when he addressed the estimated 8,000 fans who turned out for their final day of spring practice. “When you look back a year ago, we came here in February and started putting this program together. Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen how all of our players, managers, trainers and staff have been involved. To come to a game like this, where I was expecting 1,500 people to be out there, to see 8,000 fans is a great testament to the city of Mobile and how they are going to support this program. I think that this town is ready for football, and they are excited about Sept. 5 coming soon.”

The first team offense dominated their second team opponents in the defense on Friday. Richard Ross and Matt Saucier both scored twice as the first team offense scored points on all five of its possessions. Similarly, the first team defense dominated its opponents in the second team offense by only allowing six total yards and no first downs.

The first team offense did not waste any time getting on the scoreboard. They drove 70 yards on four plays in 1:47 with Ross bouncing off two tackles to finish a 25 yard run for a touchdown. Turner sparked the possession with a 36 yard gain on a reverse to open the series.

With just over four minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Ross scored again on a one yard pludge into the endzone to cap off an eight play, 59 yard drive. On third down, Saucier found Lim Windham for a 14 yard strike to keep the series going. Later, Saucier set up the Ross score with a 12 yard scamper.

On the first units’ next drive Saucier accounted for most of the yards running the ball. He had a 14 yard run early in the series. Then one play after Saucier ran for 33 yards down the sideline, he hit Kevin Helms for an eight yard touchdown pass. The 2:13 drive spanned 60 yards on five plays.

The first team offense also put together a long drive that ended with a field goal. The drive lasted for more than eight minutes with Saucier keeping the drive alive with two big plays on third down. First was a scramble for a first down and the second was a key thrid down completion to Paul Bennett for another first down. Lawson McGlon capped off the drive with a 42 yard field goal.

Saucier would score the final points of the game with a one-yard quarterback sneak with 4:08 left in the ending quarter. In all on the final drive, Saucier ran four times. The drive covered 47 yards on eight plays including a 27 yard pass to Anthony Mostella.

The only first down the second team offense saw was on a pass interference call on its first play from scrimmage. Then two plays later they came the closest they would all game to gaining a first down when they faced a third-and-one at their own 44 yard line. Dunn hit Marquis Chapel and dropped him for a two yard loss forcing them to punt.

In total, USA gained 278 yards of offense on 43 plays with an average of 6.5 yards per snap. However, the first team offense accounted for 272 of those yards. Saucier was the leading rusher with 76 yards on 10 rushes including a touchdown. He was also 7-13 for 78 yards and a touchdown through the air.

Santuan McGee gained 41 yards on three attempts and Ross had 29 yards on three rushes while scoring twice. Ralph Turner gained 52 all-purpose yards, running for 35 and catching two passes for 17 yards. Turner was the only Jaguar player to have more than one reception.

Justin Dunn and Eric Dalgleish each had four stops, both accounted for two tackles behind the line of scrimmage, in leading the first team defense. With Dunn and Dalgleish leading them, the first team defense forced five three-and-outs with the last one seeing Richard Courtney score on a fumble return of 21 yards, which was forced by Dalgleish.

Following the scrimmage, Coach Jones announced the winners of the program’s first ever spring awards as voted on by the coaches. Trey Clark (offensive line), Andy Dalgleish (defensive line), Justin Dunn (linebacker), Tim Harvey (defensive backs), Kevin Helms (tight ends), Santuan McGee (running backs) and Courtney Smith (wide receiver) were presented with the Outstanding Performance Award at their position with Michel Chapuseaux, Eric Dangleish, Jordan Means, Anthony Mostella and Ralph Turner sharing the honor on special teams.

Paul Bennett (tight end), Josh Chestang (linebacker), Chris Cooke (linebacker), Lamontis Gardner (wide receiver), Anton Graphenreed (defensive back), Cory Pittman (offensive line), Richard Ross (running back), Matt Saucier (quarterback), Anthony Taylor (defensive line) and Lim Windham (wide receiver) were named the most improved players at their position.

The Jaguar Leadership Award was given to Bennett on offense and Harvey on defense. Dunn, Brian Krauskopf, Jerron Mitchell and Erling Riis earned the Jaguar Strength Award. Bennett and Clark were also given Outstanding Academic Awards.

As a freshman, Griffin and Ventura JuCo won the conference championship and claim the Southern California Bowl title. Last season they finished 5-5 overall going 5-3 in the Western State Conference. Their offense averaged 350 yard of total offense and just under 29 points per game. Griffin will join the other Junior College recruits, Heath Blount, Chris Brunson, Kevin Helms, Early James, Brian Krauskopf, Chris Payne, Steven Pease, Corey Pittman and Levi Slaydon as the first Junior College recruiting class for the USA Football program. All 10 players will begin class on Monday, January 12th and will participate in Spring practice scheduled to start in February.

Go Jags!