Maleki Harris Named Defensive Player Of The Week
Maleki Harris, a senior from Cordova, Alabama, recorded his second double-digit tackle total against Mississippi State where he also forced two fumbles. The Sun Belt Conference named him the Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, September 15, 2014. | Photo: usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Maleki Harris earned Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance against Mississippi State on Saturday.
Harris, a 6’1″ 210-pound senior linebacker from Cordova, Alabama, was credited with a career-best 14 tackles, 6 solo, and a pair of forced fumbles both of which were recovered by the Jaguars. The first fumble came on a five yard tackle for loss on Mississippi State’s first snap after taking over at the USA 31 yard line on a turnover and keeping the score 7-0 late in the first quarter.
The second turnover came in the red zone at the five yard line to stop another scoring opportunity.
This was the second double-digit tackle game for Harris and it was enough to push his career over 100 tackles for his career.
South Alabama (1-1) will host Georgia Southern (1-2) for a 6:30pm kickoff on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, the first of eight consecutive Sun Belt Conference games. Locally the game can be heard on Lite Mix 99.9FM and worldwide on iHeartRadio. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3.
South Alabama Soccer Defeats Mississippi State 2-0
Freshman Charde Hannah netted two goals as the Jags defeated Mississippi State in Starkville 2-0 on Friday. Photo: usajaguars.com
The South Alabama soccer team has now won four consecutive games with wins over Mississippi State in Starkville on Friday evening 2-0 behind freshman Charde Hannah’s two goals, her fifth and sixth of the season and a 6-2 win over Alabama A&M on Sunday.
With the wins, the Jags have now won six of their last seven outings. Prior to defeating Alabama A&M the Jags had won their previous three games by shutout. The Jags record improves to 6-2 on the season while the Bulldogs fall to 2-4.
The two teams were scoreless until the 71st minute with Hannah scored on a breakaway inside the left post. Her second goal came with just 12 seconds left in regulation to put the match away.
Sophomore Sarah Hay finished with six saves in the teams fifth shutout of the season. The Jags outshot the Bulldogs 16-14 but Mississippi State led 7-6 in shots on goal.
Against Alabama A&M the Jags got five second-half goals as Sophie Haywood came off the bench to score two goals, a brace, and Charde Hannah added a goal and an assist also off the bench.
Junior Jordan Duncan recorded a goal and two assists, freshman Rio Hardy and Alyssa Pejic also netted goals. Pejic’s goal was the first of her career.
This was the first time that the Jags had to rally after the Bulldogs got a goal in the 18th minute. It would hold the lead for the next 17 minutes before Hannah’s goal tied the match, her team-leading seventh goal of the season.
It was tied at one goal each at halftime then the Jags go back on the board again quickly when Haywood netted her first goal of the match only six minutes into the half. Her second came only three minutes after the first.
Beginning on Friday, the Jags will start a five-match homestand. They will begin with North Florida, part of the Jaguar Classic. The match will begin at 7pm. Troy will start off the festivities against Francis Marion at 4pm.
Jags Win Three Of Four In Maroon Classic
Sophomore Mechell Daniel earned her third and fourth double-double of the season in the Maroon Classic in back-to-back 14 kill and 14 dig performances. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama volleyball team won three out of four matches in the Maroon Classic in Starkville, Mississippi over the weekend.
The Maroon Classic began with the Jags defeating Mississippi State 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-14) on Thursday evening behind Mechell Daniel’s double-double, her third of the season.
This was the Jags first-ever win on the Bulldogs’ home court and the first for the Jags since 1987 where they defeated them in the Southern Miss Invitational.
On Friday, the Jags defeated Northwestern State 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 25-15) behind Sophomore Abby Baker’s 34 digs and two aces and Daniel’s second-consecutive and fourth overall double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. Emily Hundt earned 45 assists and eight digs as well.
Finally, on Saturday, the Jags split two matches to end the Maroon Classic with a 3-1 record.
Agianst Nicholls State the Jags won 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-16) behind Mallory Moore’s 13 kills with a .545 hitting percentage and only one error in her 22 attempts. Redshirt sophomore Nikki Gittens also added 11 kills and .471 hitting percentage as well.
In the second match of the day, the Jags fell to Memphis 3-0 (16-25, 16-25, 17-25). Jags committed nine of its 20 attack errors in the first set and could not get on track against the Tigers.
For their play over the weekend, Emily Hundt and Nikki Gittens were named to the Maroon Classic All-Tournament team.
The Jags (5-5) will open Sun Belt Conference play on Wednesday when they travel to Louisiana-Lafayette.
Jags Fall To Bulldogs In Front Of Record Crowd
South Alabama’s offense lines up against Mississippi State in front of a record-breaking crowd on September 13, 2014.
South Alabama’s home opener was spoiled by Mississippi State 35-3 in front of 38,129, a new record for the Jaguars.
Dak Prescott rushed for 139 yards on 14 attempts and accounted for almost 350 yards of total offense and two scores. The Bulldogs outgained the Jags 514-345 which included a 288-57 yard advantage on the ground.
Maleki Harris led the defense with a career-best 14 tackles while forcing two fumbles. Brandon Bridge went 21-of-39 passing for 203 yards while Jereme Jones catched a career high with seven catches for 76 yards. Wes Saxton added six receptions for 30 yards while Shavarez Smith and Danny Woodson Jr both finished with four catches for 52 and 38 respectively.
Terrell Brigham and Davin Hawkings each added nine stops with Montell Garner and Jerome McClain both added six.
The Jaguars couldn’t take advantage of early opportunities and suffered from several dropped passes which kept the Jags from putting seven points on the board in the red zone.
The Bulldogs forced four turnovers, two fumbles and two interceptions, while recording five sacks and six passes defended.
Brandon Bridge came out of the game late in the second half and Matt Floyd moved the ball before throwing an interception to end another Jaguar threat.
“What a great atmosphere,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I want to thank our fans for coming out and supporting us. It’s so exciting for our players and everyone involved with the university, and we are excited they came out. It was an atmosphere our kids will never forget, and I appreciate our fans coming out and supporting them. I wish we would have played a little better, but you have to play great to beat those guys and we didn’t play great.”
“We knew how good they were on defense,” Jones explained. “You have to make big plays on them. We had a couple of chances early, and we didn’t take advantage of them. They kind of wore on us in the second quarter. They are a much-improved team. My hat’s off to them. They have a lot of good athletes out there, a lot of size and speed. You have to play pretty well to beat these guys, and I don’t think we played as well as we could.”
“We finished the game last week against Kent State and took a step forward, but this week we had some early opportunities we didn’t take advantage of and we just have to get it done. We have to make those plays.”
South Alabama will open their conference schedule when they host Georgia Southern at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday, September 20 for a 6:30pm kickoff.
Paul Finebaum And Bleacher Report Both Pick South Alabama To Upset Mississippi State
Both Bleacher Report and Paul Finebaum think the Jaguars can upset the Bulldogs at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. What a time to be a Jaguar?!?
Wow. @finebaum just predicted a South Alabama Jaguar upset over Mississippi State! #jagnation #soldout pic.twitter.com/iSMj5AvNfz
— Joe Jones (@Whojoejones) September 10, 2014
No Deviations In Preparation For Mississippi State
How do you prepare for one of the most anticipated games of the season, if not for the history of the program up to this point? Keep doing what you normally do and keep treat it just like every other game.
That is exactly what head coach Joey Jones and his staff are doing. It can’t be easy with a fan base that is literally chomping at the bit for the Jaguars to take a bite out of Mississippi State. But according to Jones there hasn’t been a different atmosphere among the players this week.
Mississippi State has put up some big numbers this season. They average 48 points and 533 yards of total offense per game. But their defense is giving up big numbers too. At least through the air. The defense has only been allowing 92 yards per game rushing, the secondary gave up three touchdowns of over 75 yards against UAB last Saturday.
Meanwhile the Jaguars have only played one game this season and it wasn’t an impressive outing, but it was only their first outing of the season. Typically a team makes its largest improvement between their first and second games of the season, which sets up South Alabama well if the trend holds true. In the 23-13 win over Kent State, the Jags had trouble late in the first half until near the end of the game when a touchdown with a little over a minute to go sealed the win.
Coach Jones has the same goal as what he had last year when the Jags played Tennessee. They will keep fighting through the game into the fourth quarter and try to win the football game. If they can stay in the game late, they feel they have a chance to win, just like any other football game. Mississippi State has some big players so the worry is that the Jaguars could wear down by the third or fourth quarter against their SEC-sixed players.
UAB has several coaches that formerly coached at South Alabama who are now at UAB. Bill Clark was defensive coordinator at USA is head coach, Duwan Walker was secondary coach is now defensive coordinator, Bryant Vincent was quarterbacks coach is now offensive coordinator and Chuck Dunn continues coaching linebackers as he did at USA. But Jones said that what you see on video is the big thing. They have talked to different people with some ideas, but Jones said that they are good at what they do and they will just have to go out and execute.
With only one practice left on Thursday morning for the Jaguars, the gameplan is set and the rest is up to them to execute on gameday and for the fans to be the 12th man for the team.
Jaguar Soccer Sweep Weekly Conference Awards
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- Haywood earner her first SBC weekly honor as she was named the Offensive Player of the Week on September 9, 2014. She posted her first career hat-trick as the Jaguars won back-to-back shutouts over Southern Miss 6-0 and Southern University 7-0. Photo: usajaguars.com
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- Rabsatt-Smith, a junior, earner her first SBC weekly honor as she was named the Defensive Player of the Week on September 9, 2014. She helped the Jaguars to back-to-back shutouts over the previous weekend to defeat Southern Miss 6-0 and Southern University 7-0. Photo: usajaguars.com
After sweeping the weekend with a pair of shutouts, the South Alabama Jaguar soccer team also swept the weekly Sun Belt Conference awards as junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith and freshman Sophie Haywood were named SBC Players of the Week on Tuesday.
Rabsatt-Smith, originally from Montgomery, Alabama, earned the conference’s weekly defensive award. She scored her first goal of the season and added two assists in a four-point week. But she also played a key role in the two shutouts and the team’s fourth overall. She started the scoring against Southern Miss after intercepting a pass at midfield. She assisted on back-to-back goals against Southern as well.
Haywood, a native of Hull, England, earned the offensive award as she helped lead the Jags to back-to-back shutouts over the weekend. She posted her first career hat-trick and an assist against Southern Miss. Then, against Southern, she got the assist on the second goal of the match to tie her for second on the team with three assists this season.
In the two matches South Alabama only allowed seven shots total and have won four of their last five matches with all four wins coming via shutout.
This is the first time that Rabsatt-Smith or Haywood have earned Sun Belt honors. The last time the school swept the conference player of the week awards was on August 27, 2013.
The Jags travel to Mississippi State to face the Bulldogs on Friday, September 12 with the match getting underway at 7pm.
South Alabama To Host First-Ever Sell-Out Crowd
C.J. Bennett reads the defense while head coach Joey Jones looks on from the sidelines in Starkville Mississippi on September 22, 2012. The Bulldogs would win the game 30-10.
South Alabama has officially sold out their game against Mississippi State on Saturday. Let me repeat that once more for you.
South Alabama vs Mississippi State is SOLD OUT.
The South Alabama Athletic Ticket Office sold out the final 300 general admission tickets before lunch on Tuesday. This marks the first sell-out in the Jaguars five-plus seasons of football. The largest crowd the Jaguars had previously was their debut against Hargrave Military Academy on September 5, 2009 which was recorded as 26,783. With over 38,000 tickets sold, this is surely to eclipse that total.
This will also mark the first time a Southeaster Conference school has played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium since the fall of 1968.
South Alabama and Mississippi State will kick off at 3pm on Saturday. The game will be telecast on ESPNews and radio coverage will be on Lite Mix 99.9FM beginning at 2PM.
Fuel to the Mississippi State fire?
South Alabama hosts Mississippi State on Saturday and there has never been as much buzz about a home game since the very first game back in 2009.
But it’s different now, the Jags are not taking the field for the first time. Untested and facing unknown. This time the Jaguars are hosting a team from the Southeastern Conference for the first time, but the team is familiar to them. They played during the 2012 season, which seems like so long ago.
Jaguar fans, players and coaches would love for nothing more than to shock the nation with an upset win over the Bulldogs. They almost earned that signature win over Tennessee last season but it slipped away in the waning moments. And what better setup than to lure the Bulldogs away from the friendly confines of Davis Wade Stadium and the clattering of cowbells that ring sweet in their ears but is the bane of any visiting team.
Throw on top of that that Bleacher Report tried to guess where ESPN College Gameday was going on September 13th and picked Mobile. It charged the Jaguar faithful again only to be disappointed but further intent on showing the nation that South Alabama > North Dakota State, where they chose for their location this week.
But then ESPN goes and throws yet more fuel to the fire with a post on the ESPN’s SEC blog titled “What we learned in the SEC: Week 2”.
If there ever was a stage set for the perfect, monumental upset this would be it for the Jaguars. Let’s show them what Jaguar football is all about. Let’s be loud without having to use a cowbell. Let’s show them how nice we can be outside the stadium but once we step foot inside, it’s all business…. and business is GOOD!
Go Jags!
South Alabama vs Georgia Southern Kickoff Time Announced
The Sun Belt Conference office announced on Monday that South Alabama’s football game against Georgia Southern on Saturday, September 20 will kick off at 6:30pm.
The Jaguars will host the Eagles in the second game of a two game home stand. It will be the first Conference game for Georgia Southern who joined the Sun Belt over the summer. Additionally, it will be the first of eight consecutive conference games for the Jaguars this season.
The game between the Eagles and Jaguars broadcast can be seen on ESPN3 or Lite Mix 99.9FM and iHeartRadio.