2014 SBC Media Day Announced With Special New Feature
The annual Sun Belt Conference Media Day for the 2014 season is scheduled for Tuesday, July 22 at the Bienville Club Lounge in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Media Day availability will start at 9AM and go through 5PM with the head coach and two student-athletes from each of the 11 football playing schools in the conference. SBC Commissioner Karl Benson is scheduled to deliver the State of the Sun Belt Conference at 3PM. Following the State of the Conference, Benson will be available to the media along with Coordinator of Officials Steve Shaw, College Football Playoff CFO Reid Sigmon and the Sun Belt Athletic Directors.
Those who cannot attend can view a live show from the floor of Sun Belt Media Day on ESPN3. They will be airing a two-hour broadcast starting at 1PM and will feature a selection of each coach and student athlete interviews from each of the football schools participating.
The Conference will also be unveiling the “Sun Belt Social Suite”. This unique feature will allow fans access and connections to media day activities by featuring fan submitted questions in a one-on-one interview setting. Fans can submit questions to various coaches and student-athletes via Facebook and Twitter by using the hashtag #SunBeltMediaDay. Questions will be answered in real time as the event will be live streamed on the Sun Belt Sports website SunBeltSports.org. The morning session will go from 10AM to 12PM and the afternoon session runs from 1-3PM. Danielle Percival, former Trojan TV Sports reporter, will be hosting the inaugural incarnation of the “Sun Belt Social Suite”.
The schools participating are: South Alabama, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Idaho, Lousiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, Texas State and Troy.
Jaguar Tight End Wes Saxton Named To John Mackey Preseason Watch List
Jaguar tight end Wes Saxton catches a pass from Ross Metheny against FIU in 2012. Saxton is the first Jaguar to be named to the John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List.
The National College Football Awards Association released their preseason watch list for the John Mackey Award, which is given annually to the most outstanding collegiate tight end. On that list of 40 student-athletes was University of South Alabama tight end Wes Saxton.
Saxton, a 6’4″ 240-pound Hueytown, Alabama native, earned a first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection last season as a junior while ranking among the top five tight ends nationally in both repections and receiving yards. He tied for the team lead with 50 catches and gained 635 yards receiving, both of those were career-highs. He is a preseason All-SBC selection at tight end in both the Phil Steele Publications and Athlon Sports heading into the 2014 season.
The Midseason Watch List is set to be announced on October 13 with the 2014 John Mackey Semifinalists will be announced on November 17 and the award finalists will be announced on November 24. The winner will be announced on December 10 and they will be presented the award on December 11 at The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show on ESPNU.
One other Sun Belt Conference tight ends were named to the preseason watch list as well. Arkansas State’s Darion Griswold was also named to the list. Other schools with players on the preseason watch list include Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Louisville, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Alabama, Ohio State, Mississippi State, Notre Dame and South Carolina who the Jags will face in November.
South Alabama will begin their 2014 season on September 6 at Kent State with kickoff slated for 1pm on ESPN3.
Artz To Miss Final Season On Field, But Will Remain As Student Coach
Shaun Artz (73) and Melvin Meggs (77) practice run blocking during the preseason camp in 2012. Artz will forgo his final year of eligibility due to health issues but remain with the team as a student assistant coach.
The South Alabama football team will be without one of their returning offensive linemen this fall. Fifth year senior Shaun Artz decided that, for his own health, he would forgo his final season in a Jaguar uniform and will instead be a student assistant coach working with offensive coordinator Robert Matthews and offensive line coach Chase Smith.
Artz suffered from a series of injuries which included hernia, back pain and nerve issues which began in the spring of the 2012 season when he experienced pull in his back while lifting weights. He played the season after receiving treatment and would only miss one game that season. After the season and returning from Hawaii he had surgery on his back.
Artz played every game last season and went through the season working through issues from time to time. Late in the season he took “a pretty good hit” but finished the season. During spring practice he noticed that while running sprints he was limping and dragging his left leg behind him. He would go under the knife again to try to correct a disc problem he was experiencing.
The surgery went well, but the healing time of 3-4 weeks turned into six, then eight and there wasn’t any relief.
He was still having pain and the disc that had been operated on was herniated again. After talking with his doctor about how continuing to play may open the risk to further injury. After weighing the risks, he talked with his family and the coaches and made the obvious decision after he was able to take the emotion out of it.
But he will continue to help his team, though he will not be in pads on the field, but rather on the sidelines doing whatever the coaches need him to do.
“So now I’m in a position where I can help the team and I’ll be on the field,” Artz told AL.com. “I’ll be like a student coach. I’ll help the offense, help coach Smith and coach Matthews, and help out the guys I came in with as a freshman. These guys are like brothers to me and mean a lot to me, and that’s why I want to stick around and be a part of it.”
Coach Jones is happy that Shaun will remain with the team and made the best decision for his health and future. “He has done nothing but do great things for us,” Jones told AL.com. “He’s going to be around this fall helping out the coaching staff and doing some things. You never want to lose somebody who has been in that many wars and who is a very competitive guy, so it’s a big loss for us.”
Artz said that it’s becoming easier as time goes by. He has been playing football since six years old. He had played every year at USA and started the last two seasons. While Artz has been in the war on the field at Tennessee and ULL and he feels that, if nothing else, he will be able to bridge the communication between the players in those situations and the coaches. He just wants to help. He doen’t care if it’s holding cards or on a headset, he just wants to be there for his teammates in the trenches.
Artz benefited from the program being unclassified when he began playing at South Alabama. He was eligible to play all five seasons with his first being considered a redshirt season but still being able to play. In what he considers his senior season now, Artz helped the Jaguars to a 6-6 record overall and a 4-3 record in conference play to finish third in the Sun Belt. They finished the season with a three-game winning streak including a season finale win over Sun Belt Conference Co-Champion Lousiana-Lafayette 30-8. Though they were bowl eligible, they were not extended a bowl invitation.
Three Women’s Golfers Named WGCA All-American Scholars
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
Three members of the South Alabama women’s golf team were named Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division I All-American Scholars for the 2013-2014 academic year.
Ashleigh Ryals, Ingrid Hagen and Jordan Knight earned the honor by meeting the minimum GPA of 3.50 and participating in half of the team’s competitions on the season.
This is the third consecutive season that Ryals and Hagen have received the award and the first for Knight.
This is the ninth consecutive academic year that USA has placed three or more student-athletes on the WGCA Division I All-American Scholar Team. There have been thirteen different recipients that have been honored 36 times as WGCA All-American Scholars since the 2005-2006 academic year.
Ryals was a senior last season, Hagen was a junior and Knight was a reshirt sophomore.
Four Former Jaguar Student-Athletes To Be Inducted Into USA Hall Of Fame
The University of South Alabama Athletics department announced that four new members will be added to the USA Athletic Hall of Fame this fall.
Henry “Dock” Richardson, Ronnie Powell, Shaun Rothuysen and Virgil Stanescu will be inducted in to the Hall of Fame in November, the time and date is yet to be determined. All four will also be honored on November 15 at halftime of the Jaguars football game against Texas State at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Richardson played baseball at USA from 1965-1968, in the schools first four years of competition. He led the team in batting average and RBI for three seasons and stolen bases all four seasons. He had a career high batting average of .371 as a freshman with 12 RBI and 12 stolen bases in just 15 games. As a sophomore he led the team with 11 steals and 10 RBI. As a junior he hit .316 with 17 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Then to close out his Jaguar career, he hit .355 with 21 stolen bases his senior season to help the Jaguars to a 18-9 record.
Ronnie Powell was an assistant coach in baseball from 1987-2006 where he served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. During his time at USA the team went 794-431-1 for a 64.8% winning percentage with 17 NCAA Regional appearances. During that time the Jaguars claimed nine Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championships, four division championships and seven tournament titles. Five other times the Jaguars were one win away from a regional championship and a berth in the College World Series. Six pitchers under coach Powell earned All-American recognition while 35 signed contracts with professional organizations. Six players would go on and advance to the Major Leagues.
Shaun Rothuysen played men’s soccer from 1993-1995 and led the Jags to a 49-15 record, three Sun Belt Conference Championships and its first-ever NCAA play-in game in 1995. He was voted the league’s player of the year twice, was a three-time All-Sun Belt selection and named second-team All-South Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America as a sophomore. He led the conference, ranked eighth in the Region and 17th in the country in scoring with 40 points in 1993 as the team finished 16-5. He scored 40 points against in 1994 to help the Jags to a 18-2-2 record. As a senior he scored a team-high 45 points to end his career as the fifth highest at USA with 47 goals and 125 points.
Virgil Stanescu played men’s basketball from 1999-2001 and was a First-Team All-Conference selection as a senior. He was named the conference tournament’s Most Outstanding Player his junior season. In his final two seasons as a Jaguar he led the team in scoring and rebounding while helping the team to a 42-21 record overall and a 24-8 record in conference action during that time. He ranks 12th in school history with 1,126 points and sixth overall with 648 rebounds. He was selected to the SBC All-Tournament team twice and led the Jags to the Western Division Championship and a berth in the NIT his last season as a Jaguar.
The four additions to the Hall of Fame will make 68 former Student-Athletes to be enshrined in the South Alabama Athletics Hall of Fame since its inception in 1989.
The Sun Belt Conference Officially Welcomes Four New Members
The Sun Belt Conference said their farewell’s to one school and welcomed four more to the conference on Tuesday.
Western Kentucky officially became a member of Conference USA as Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, New Mexico State and Idaho all joined the Sun Belt. Georgia Southern and Appalachian State both join as full members while New Mexico State and Idaho both join as football-only members.
The with the loss of one and addition of four, it brings the total number of schools in the Sun Belt playing football to 11.
Georgia Southern and Appalachian State join the conference from the Football Championship Subdivision Southern Conference as they are both completing the second year of a two-year transition to Football Bowl Subdivision membership.
Idaho and New Mexico State both were recently members of the Western Athletic Conference and both were previously Sun Belt members.
Western Kentucky joins a number of other former SBC schools in Conference USA.
This brings the Sun Belt Conference membership to South Alabama, Troy, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State, Georgia State, Georiga Southern, Appalachian State, Idaho and New Mexico State in football. Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington are both members of the conference, but do not sponsor football.
All 11 football teams will be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference football championship this season.
It has been repeated several times by Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson that it is the goal of the Sun Belt to get to 12 football-playing members so they can break into divisions and most importantly have a football Championship game.
ULL and Arkansas State shared the regular-season title last year with a 5-2 conference record while South Alabama, in it’s first season as a full FBS member and first season eligible for the title, finished second in the conference with a 4-3 record after defeating ULL 30-8 in the season finale. Though the Jags were bowl eligible at 6-6, they were not extended an invitation.
The conference begins play on August 27 when Georgia State hosts Abilene Christian. The Jags open their season on September 6 when they travel to Kent State.
Jaguars Pick Up Two More Verbal Commitments
The South Alabama coaching staff continued their hot streak of verbal commitments on Monday with two more.
Roy Albritton of Pensacola High School was spotted at one of their camps last week after he turned heads in the 40-yard dash. At 6’2″ 315-pounds he is a big guy who was timed at a 4.9 in the 40. Currently he is not rated by any of the recruiting services and does not have any other outstanding offers according to the sites either.
The ninth commitment overall and the eighth in the past week is Reid Rials of Satsuma. He is the son of Satsuma High School head coach Scott Rials.
Rials has played both quarterback and free safety in high school and may be recruited for wide receiver. He measures 6’1″ 181-pounds and was clocked at a 4.67 40 with a 34.6″ vertical leap. He has not been rated by the scouting services but he has offers from Southern Miss and Troy.
USA Dismisses Running Back
New helmets for the 2013 season.
The University of South Alabama has dismissed running back Cris Dinham for a “violation of team rules” according to head coach Joey Jones.
Dinham played one season for the Jaguars where he had 57 carries for 234 yards, third best on the team, for two touchdowns. The 5’10”, 205-pound back was expected to be part of the running back rotation in the backfield.
Dinham is the second running back that has been dismissed from the team since the end of spring drills. Kaleb Blanchard, a redshirt freshman from Denham Springs, Louisiana was suspended prior to the beginning of spring practice and dismissed from the team following the conclusion of spring practice for a violation of team rules as well.
Jay Jones, Kendall Houston, Terrance Timmons, Xavier Johnson and Berron Tyson are the remaining running backs for the Jags will others expected to join the program once fall practice begins.
Coach Jones spoke on WNSP that he feels good about the Jaguars depth at running back this season with a mix of seniors (Jones, Houston), players who have experience (Timmons) and a talented youngster (Johnson).
Jay Jones led the team rushing with 737 yards on 143 carries and five touchdowns. Houston rushed for 209 yards on 66 carries, seeing most of his action in short yardage and goal line situations. He scored six touchdowns for the Jaguars. Timmons rushed 16 times for 83 yards.