Latest News About South Alabama Sports February 16, 2010
Football
Earlier this month, the Jags signed 22 players for their 2010 class. Their process to get to Football Bowl Subdivision play will continue this week as they return to the practice field for Spring workouts.
On Thursday, they will begin working out for 15 practices which includes four full-contact practices and three scrimmages. Their practice period will end on March 10th when they will conclude their spring drill session with a 6pm scrimmage at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Admission and parking will be free. The other 14 workouts will be held at the Jaguars on-campus practice facility near the Football Fieldhouse. All events are open to the public and free.
Head Coach Joey Jones says things will be different from last year. “I expect the first day to be a really good day, as opposed to waiting three to five days to get things going last spring. Last year, we were starting from scratch. Nobody knew terminology or each other, but now we’ve started to build a team. We’ve gone through a summer program, a year and an offseason, so our kids know each other and what to expect from us as coaches. We should be able to pick up from where we were at the end of the season and progress from there.”
The opening week of spring drills will have the Jags out on the practice field for workouts on Thursday at 7:30am and Friday at 7am in only helmets. Then drills on Saturday at 9am with pads but no tackling. Four other full pads practices without full contact are scheduled for February 22, February 24, March 1, and March 8 all will begin around 7am. Their first full-contact practice is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30am with more scheduled for February 25, March 2 and March 4.
The Jags first scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday, February 27 at 9am. Other scrimmages are scheduled on Saturday March 6 at 11am and their final scrimmage on March 10 at 6pm. On Tuesday, March 9 at 9am, the Jags will work out only in pads in preparation for the scrimmage the next day.
Men’s Basketball
Bryan Sherrer went down with a knee injury early in the February 11th game against Florida International. It was announced yesterday by Coach Ronnie Arrow that he tore his lateral meniscus and will miss 2-4 weeks.
Bryan has started the first 26 games of the season and averages just over 10 points per game, which is third best on the team. He also ranks eighth in the nation in free-throw percentage at 90.8%.
This will be a big loss for the Jags as the Sun Belt Conference tournament begins in just about two and a half weeks in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The tournament is the only hope the Jags have to make the NCAA Tournament this season after losing two key players for the rest of the season back in January.
Martino Brock, a freshman, was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Men’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday. This was his first honor of his collegiant career.
His contributions over the last week lead the Jags to two wins by averaging 18.5 points and 12.5 rebounds. He also recorded two double-doubles. He ranks second on the team in two categories, with a season average of 12.3 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Women’s Basketball
After starting off strong (9-0) in the Sun Belt, the Lady Jags have cooled off with two 3 game losing streaks recently. They are now sitting at 4th place (of six) with a 9-6 record in the Sun Belt eastern division and in 6th place overall in the SBC.
Arkansas-Little Rock and Middle Tennessee State are leading their divisions, both with 13-1 records in the Sun Belt. UALR has the overall edge for the season with a record of 20-5 to MTSU’s 18-5.
However, it just came to our attention that Tashley Gaines has been dismissed from the team. She was the Jags leading rebounder and their third leading scorer. It is unknown why she was dismissed from the team at this time as no official announcement has surfaced.
Two Jags Score Double-Double’s As Jags Down Louisiana-Lafayette
Junior Tim Williams and Freshman Martino Brock both scored double-doubles as the Jags battle from behind to beat the Ragin’ Cajuns 67-65 last night in the Mitchell Center. The win puts the Jags at 15-12 for the season and 7-8 in the Sun Belt while the Cajuns fall to 11-14 overall and 8-6 in the Sun Belt.
The Jags came out and got a very early lead, but the Cajuns would overtake them and keep the lead well into the second half. At halftime, the Jags were down 35-25 after shrinking the Cajun lead but allowed them to pull back away in the final minutes of the half.
The second half saw many momentum swings. Back-to-back three-pointers from Brock and Williams to quickly cut the Cajun lead to four, 35-31 before a long delay by the officials while they reviewed an altercation between the Cajuns and Tabet that forced Tabet to leave the game for medical attention for a cut.
After the stoppage, the red hot Jags cooled off and the ULL scored the next five points. Then the Jags answered with a 9-2 run. But once again the momentum would shift and the Cajuns’ Tyren Johnson would score seven consecutive points all by himself.
Brock and Williams would take the momentum back for South Alabama by scoring seven points between them before Johnson converted a three-point play. But Tim Williams nailed a clutch trey with 7:22 left in the game to cut the Cajun lead to two points, 52-50.
Finally Allyn Cooks would give the Jags the lead again with a lay-up, 55-54. He would then cap off the 8-0 run with a three-pointer, pushing the Jags out to a 58-54 lead. But then Johnson would score the next four points to tie the game at 58.
Four Jaguar free-throws would break the tie in favor of South Alabama, 62-58. But once again, Johnson would be a thorn in the Jaguars side scoring five consecutive points of the Cajuns seven to regain the lead 65-62.
With some of the crowd thinking that the Jags were going to let this one slip away, Tim Williams would sink two free-throws to put the Jags down by one with seconds to go. After a turnover, Brock would come away with the rebound after a missed three by Williams and lay it in for a 66-65 lead with 23 seconds remaining.
Randell Daigle of the Cajuns would miss a jumper with 13 seconds remaining and Brock would come away with the rebound and would be fouled. Brock hit one of his two shots for the Jags winning score, 67-65. Daigle would miss a desperation three with two seconds remaining to end the game.
Coach Arrow after the game. “To win close games, you’ve got to have guys that will make plays. Tim made some big jump shots and made his free throws, and Martino had a big rebound and a put-back. We took care of the ball for the most part and we got stops.”
The Jags tied their season high in 3-pointers with nine and went 7-for-11 from 3-point range after halftime.
The Jags will take their final road swing next week as they travel to Western Kentucky on Thursday for a 7pm matchup. Then on Saturday they travel to Middle Tennessee for another 7pm matchup.
Jags Top The Golden Panthers At Home
South Alabama found a way to finish a game, unfortunately it was against one of the worst teams in the Sun Belt Conference. They came out on top in overtime by a score of 69-65. This improves the Jags record to 14-12 for the season and 6-8 in the Sun Belt. Meanwhile, Florida International falls to 7-20 for the season and 4-10 in the Sun Belt.
Senior Bryan Sherrer left the game early in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. With the problems the Jags have with their depth chart this season, this could have spelled doom for the game. However, Freshman Martino Brock was the one to lead the Jags by coming away with team-highs in points with 18 and rebounds with 12.
Yet again this season the Jags had a double digit lead in a game but would squander it late in the second half. They had the lead for almost 17 minutes in the second half but FIU would ride a 9-3 run into the lead for the first time in the game.
The two teams traded free throws before Brock tied the game at 60 in the waning moments of the game. FIU would attempt to win it in regulation but Gary Redus would block the shot.
FIU would score first in overtime with two free-throws but Redus would tie the game for the last time with a lay-up. It was Brock then, who would put South Alabama ahead for the final time with two free-throws. Then DeAndre Hersey would grab a missed shot by Brock and jam it home with a mere 40 seconds left to give the Jags a four point lead.
The Jags held FIU to 0-for-8 from the floor in overtime and 33.3% for the game. South Alabama didn’t do much better though, only shooting 33.8% for the game.
Coach Arrow on the Jaguars finish: “At the end of this game, we got some stops that we haven’t been getting in other games. We made our free throws, for the most part, and didn’t turn the ball over. That’s entirely different than what we’ve been doing in these other games where we’ve gone down to the wire. It was completely reversed tonight. We got some big buckets by different players and won the game.”
Coach Arrow also spoke about his teams strategy for the game. “We tried to spread it and get it to the hole. When Bryan went out, we had people playing in positions they haven’t played before. We had to go to our spread offense and try to get to the hole and pitch to the open man. We’re probably going to have to do more of that now with Bryan being out. We have some key guys who are out, and it’s given other guys opportunities that they need to take advantage of.”
The Jags final game of this homestand will be on Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette with tip-off scheduled for 7:05pm.
Jags Split Two Games Last Week To End Four Game Losing Streak
The Jags split their two games last week to finally snap their four game losing streak.
The Jags traveled to play the University of New Orleans Privateers on Thursday in quite a sad environment. UNO announced that they are dropping from Division-I play to Division-III at the conclusion of this season. They had an estimated 150 in attendance with about 20 Jags fans in attendance. However, there were around 50 in attendance for the half time dance group.
It was a low scoring game with the Jags winning 59-51. South Alabama out rebounded UNO 40-23. The Jags took the game in hand late in the first half with a 17-4 run and went into the locker room with a 33-23 lead.
However, the second half opened with UNO going on a 14-2 run with four 3-pointers to regain the lead 37-35. Once again, the Jags took the game in hand with a 13-0 run. UNO would close to within six points twice, however the Jags would hold onto the victory.
Gary Redus and Tim Williams both scored 16 points against the Privateers with Williams getting his second straight double-double.
Coach Arrow had this to say after the game. “I’m just real happy for the guys. We’ve been working and we’ve had some situations that haven’t worked out for us. The things that we haven’t been doing late in games we did tonight. We didn’t turn the ball over late and made our free throws late. Those are the things we were doing earlier in the year when we were beating teams.”
On Saturday, the Jags had the lead by 16 points in the first half but allowed MTSU to tie the game up late in the first half. Actually, the Jags squandered two leads in the game to fall to 13-12 on the season and 5-8 in the Sun Belt Conference in the 80-68 loss.
Early in the game, the Jags built on the momentum of winning against UNO two nights earlier by starting off sizzling with a 14-2 lead. Shortly thereafter they had a 22-6 lead after a Martino Brock dunk.
However, the Jags would cool off and MTSU would warm up by answering with a 20-4 run to tie the game at 26. The Blue Raiders would take a 34-33 lead into half time.
The second half opened with the two teams trading the lead several times before the Jags opened up a seven point lead, 58-51 with 11:26 left in the second half. The lead came about as a result of five consecutive points from Brock.
However, the Jags would have another late half letdown. The blue raiders would score 20 of the next 25 points including 10 consecutive when they trailed the Jags 63-61.
MTSU would convert a turnover into a 3-pointer followed by a jumper from the field on their next possession and took the lead at 68-63 with 5:54 left in the game.
The Jags would commit three of their 15 turnovers in a span of four possessions and also missed four consecutive shots as the game slipped from their grasp.
Tim Williams scored a team high of 16 points in the game, with 11 of them after halftime. Bryan Sherrer had 14 and Gary Redus added 13.
After the game, Coach Arrow spoke about the loss. “This game was pretty much an exact replica, with the exception of New Orleans, of our last five or six games. We had at least a 10-point lead in the first half again and we haven’t been able to put the game away. They had kids that delivered and gave them big shots when they needed it.” Coach Arrow continued, “It’s frustrating for the players and it’s frustrating for us. It’s frustrating for our fans. We just have to find a way to come back.”
The Jags will continue their three game home stand against Florida International on Thursday with tip-off scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Go Jags!
South Alabama’s 2010 Signing Class
Coach Jones, as always, gave lots of credit to his assistant coaches on the excellent job they have done, both last year and in recruiting since the season ended. He said that recruiting is the lifeblood of a program. Either your program will improve or your program will flounder depending on how well your coaches can recruit players to your school.
Coach Jones continued by saying that last year they had to recruit players by selling them a dream. They had plans for a field house and a practice field, but nothing had been built yet. Now they have a state-of-the-art football field house that is among the nicest in the nation. They have a very nice artificial practice surface. They have an undefeated inaugural season and thousands of season ticket holders filling the stands. They have something concrete to show the players now.
The fans were obviously a big part of the recruiting process. When players attended games for their visit and saw the South Alabama fans come out like they did for each game it really helps the recruiting process by showing the players that the fans truly support the team.
The players they recruited had to meet two criteria. They had to be as good or better than their previous signing class and they had to be good academically. Their previous signing class was quite good and if these guys are better, watch out Sun Belt. The Jags are coming.
Here are the signees for the 2010 class at the University of South Alabama with notes based on the highlight video shown at the National Signing Day Announcement held this evening at the Mitchell Center.
Davin Hawkins a defensive back listed as 6’2″ weighing 215-lbs from Etowah High. Hawkins video showed his speed breaking on the ball and as a kick returner.
Melvin Meggs offensive lineman listed at 6’2″ weighing 320-lbs from Petal High School in Mississippi. Meggs is a big, wide guy who can dominate his opponent.
Rush Hendricks who played full back and inside linebacker listed as 6’2″ weighing 225-lbs from Jay High school in Florida. His highlight video showed him at inside linebacker. It showed that his time at full back helped him develop vision to get to the ball and make the stop.
T.J. Glover listed as an athlete at 5’9″ weighing 170-lbs from Plant High in Tampa, Florida. Glover had good speed, good vision and he made very good cuts.
Trey Sims a defensive back listed at 6’2″ weighing 185-lbs from North Gwinnett High in Buford, Georgia. Sims seemed to have great instincts for the ball.
Drew Dearman an offensive lineman listed at 6’3″ weighing 280-lbs from Vestavia Hills High School. Dearman had very good blocking ability and comes from a school that produces alot of good talent.
Shawn Artz is an offensive lineman listed at 6’6″ weighing 265-lbs from Buford High School in Georgia as well. Artz is very tall but could probably use some more weight (that’s coach Schwind’s job).
Vondre Jackson a defensive back listed at 5’11” weighing 190-lbs from Troup County High in West Point, Georgia. He looks to be another hard hitter with a good nose for the ball. He should make a good compliment to Jerron Mitchell at corner.
David Crumitie a defensive back listed at 5’10” and weighing 170-lbs from Jefferson County High in Monticello, Florida. His video showcased his speed and agility.
Johnny Lockett a running back listed at 5’9″ and weighing 185-lbs from Sweet Water High. He is big and had decent speed. He comes from a perinial powerhouse at Sweet Water in 1A.
Rodney Thomas a defensive lineman listed at 6’1″ weighing 300-lbs from Auburn High School. Thomas is big and can move lineman. Defintely a run stopper.
Ucambre Williams an offensive lineman listed at 6’3″ weighing 250-lbs from Central-Phenix City. Ucambre is one of those dominating offensive linemen. He is going to be in control.
Terrell Brigham a defensive back listed at 6′ and weighing 185-lbs from Burke County High School in Waynesboro, Georgia. In his highlight video he played both quarterback and safety. It accentuated his speed over his throwing ability. I would expect him to play safety for the Jags.
Shane Doty an offensive lineman listed at 6’4″ weighing 255-lbs from Fork Union [Va.] Military Academy. Doty is another one of those big players. He has experience playing since he was at Fork Union and he also faced the Jags.
Colby Harper is a wide receiver listed at 6’1″ weighing 180-lbs from Wylie High in Texas. He ran good routes and is a good possession receiver. He is probably not as fast as some receivers, but his catching ability and work to make people miss makes him a good recruit.
Chris May an offensive lineman listed at 6’3″ weighing 275-lbs from Deshler High School. He is a solid blocker for the offenive line.
Cassius Bradley a defensive back listed at 5’10” and weighing 190-lbs from Blinn Junior College in Caldwell, Texas. He had very good speed off the edge in blitzing plays.
Antwan Williams a defensive back listed at 5’10” and weighing 175-lbs from Hoover High School. He had good ball sense and comes from school known for good players.
C.J. Bennett a quarterback listed at 6′ weighing 200-lbs from Alonso High School in Tampa, Florida. His video showcased his strong arm. His accuracy seemed good, however most of his receivers were well open most of the time.
Jonathan Cameron is a defensive back listed at 6’1″ and weighing 190-lbs from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. A good cover corner with two years of experience which will help the young secondary of the Jags.
Calvin Jenkins is a quarterback listed at 5’11” and weighing 175-lbs from Auburn High School. His video showcased his scrambling ability which highlighted his speed.
Audoniss Madison an offensive lineman listed at 6’5″ and weighing 290-lbs Karr High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Another tall, large offensive lineman that was a solid blocker.
First Official Signee Of The Incoming 2010 Class
Drew Dearman, a 6’4″ 270-lb offensive guard from Vestavia Hills High School, who was being recruited by Arkansas, Duke, Louisiana-Monroe, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Samford, Southern Miss and UAB, posted on his twitter account just a few minutes ago that he was on his way into his school to fax in his National Letter-of-Intent to South Alabama. This makes him the first signee of the 2010 freshmen class for the Jaguars.
On top of his physical attributes, he scored a 25 on his ACT and maintained a 3.75 GPA at Vestavia Hills High School. We will try to keep you up to date with official signees the best we can. If you have an account on Twitter, you can follow us at http://twitter.com/USAThunderjags
Recruiting Update For Monday, February 1st
Some updates on recruiting as we near National Signing Day on Wednesday.
Audoniss Madison, a 295-lb, 6’6″ offensive lineman from Edna Karr High School in New Orleans has given his verbal commitment to the South Alabama coaching staff. He received interest from Virginia, Memphis, Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois.
Madison was all-metro, all-district and all-state. He provides size with agility that the Jags need to continue to improve.
Antwan Williams who is a 5’11” 175-lb corner from Hoover High School verbally committed to the Jags. He had received interest from UAB, Memphis, Kentucky and Louisiana Tech. Hoover has been a perinial power in the 6A ranks.
Terrell Brigham, a 6’1″ 185-lb corner from Burke County High School in Georgia. He played both quarterback and cornerback in High School but will play cornerback for South Alabama.
C.J. Bennett a 6′ quarterback from Hillsborough County verbally committed to South Alabama last week. He made a visit to South Florida but did not receive an offer from new coach Skip Holtz. Just before former coach Jim Leavitt was fired, Bennett received an offer for an official visit and was hoping to receive a scholarship offer when he visited.
Bennett had committed to Wyoming back in the summer but then decommitted about halfway through the high school season. He blamed the distance from home as his main reason. Offensive Coordinator Coach Gregory had a long relationship with Bennett during his time at South Florida which helped the Jags land Bennett.
Another player that is reportedly ready to publically commit is Trey Sims from North Gwinnett High School. He is a 205-lb 6’3″ Safety who has a reported time of 4.39 40. He is projected as an outside linebacker. Other schools that showed interest in Sims was Akron, Indiana, Toledo, Lousiana-Monroe and Western Michigan.
Shaun Artz of Buford High School in Georgia also committed as reported in the last Thunderjags.com recruiting update. He is listed as a 6’6″ 246-lb offensive tackle. He comes from a football powerhouse in Georgia and will have a chance to earn a spot quickly. Artz can play either guard or tackle and will have a chance to play either. He received interest from Samford, Eastern Michigan among other schools.
But note, that these are only verbal commitments and can change at any moment. Wednesday, February 3rd is the first day that players can sign National Letter-of-Intent’s which make their decisions official.
South Alabama will be hosting a National Signing Day event at the Mitchell Center. Coach Joey Jones and his staff will be showing a brief video of the incoming freshman class and they will speak about the upcoming 2010 schedule. Attendees will also have the opportunity to get autographs from teh current Jags roster and coaching staff.
So come out and on Wednesday for the 5pm event and support the Jags!
Jags Fall At Troy 73-66
The Jags fall for the fourth straight game, this time at Troy in overtime 73-66. This drops the Jags to 12-11 on the season and 4-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Again it was a tale of two halves. The first half saw the Jags play very well and take a 30-21 lead in the locker room. But the second half saw them struggle once again.
The Jags halftime lead was thanks in part to a 1 of 9 start by Troy from the field and a scoreless stretch of 5:30 late in the first half. Both teams combined for a mere 13 points in the final 9:13 of the first half as well.
The second half saw Troy make up their nine point halftime deficit with a 13-4 run about midway through the second half. From that point on during regulation, neither team would lead by more than three points.
An old fashioned three point play from Troy with 1:51 left in the second half would mark the end of the scoring during regulation play. Tim Williams missed a game winning three point shot with 22 seconds left as well as Troy’s Michael Vogler had his game winning lay-up blocked by South Alabama’s Javier Carter in the final seconds.
In overtime, the Jags scored the first points however Troy would answer with six consecutive points to gain a four point lead 63-59. Martino Brock would sink two free throws but then Troy would answer with two field goals for a six point lead for the Trojans.
The Jags would cut the lead to three on two occasions but their lead was too much as the Trojans went 6-for-6 from the free throw stripe to close out the game.
Tim Williams scored a career high 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to tie his career best and get his second double-double of the season. Gary Redus was the only other Jag to score in double digits with 10.
South Alabama won the rebounding game this time coming away with 43 while the Trojans came down with 35. But the Jags had 17 turnovers to the Trojans 12.
A frustrated Coach Arrow had this to say after the game. “We just didn’t get it done at the end,” he said. “We made some good decisions and did some good things but at the end we made some bad decisions. We hurried some shots and didn’t do the things we had to do.”
The Jags next game is Thursday when they travel to New Orleans for a 7pm tip off against the Privateers.
Jags Fall For 3rd Straight Game 70-59 To Florida Atlantic
The Jags dropped their third straight game on Thursday night to fall to 12-10 on the season and 4-6 in the Sun Belt. The Jags have gone from near the top of the Sun Belt’s Eastern Division to next to last (ahead of Florida International).
Since losing Hersey and Sims for the season due to grades and Redus to an injury, the Jags have struggled. Redus is back, but probably won’t be 100% for a couple of games though.
The Jags were dominant in the first half by jumping out to a 16-6 lead while FAU missed their first seven attempts from 3-point range. But then a 20-5 run by the Owls would put them in control of the game.
The Jags had kept up with the Owls during the game but when they were tied 53-53 with 5:09 left in the game after two free throws from Philip Tabet. But then the Owls went on a 13-0 run over 3:38 to seal the game. South Alabama went without a field goal for 9:10 late in the second half, missing 10 straight shots. The Jags defense held the Owls to only 39.7% for the game but could only manage to shoot 32.8% themselves. Plus, once again they were out rebounded 47-38.
Tim Williams was the only Jag to score in double figures managing 14 points and Philip Tabet set a new career high by pulling in 10 rebounds in the game.
Coach Arrow had this to say after the game. “They had big shots and they executed. He [Mike Jarvis] has done a phenomenal job with a young bunch, of getting them to buy into patience on offense. They get after you on defense. We’re not doing enough late. Every game we have lost is at the end and we just don’t execute. We were shooting 46 and 52 percent from the field, now the last two games we’re shooting in the thirties. It’s just poor shot selection.”
The Jags will try to break their losing streak when they play at 11-10 (6-4) Troy on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 7pm.
Quick Update On The Recruiting Front
With national signing day closing in quickly, it was a good time to look over the current list of verbal commits for the Jags.
Ones who have given South Alabama verbal commitments include Terrell Brigham Quarterback from Waynesboro GA, Calvin Jenkins Quarterback from Auburn AL, Johnny Lockett Running Back from Sweet Water AL, Jeremy McCrae Wide Receiver from Prattville AL, Aram Wynn Offensive Lineman from Saint Petersburg FL, Drew Dearman Offensive Lineman from Vestavia Hills AL, Chris May Offensive Lineman from Tuscumbia AL, Melvin Meggs Offensive Lineman from Petal MS, Ucambre Williams Offensive Lineman from Phoenix City AL, Rodney Thomas Defensive Tackle from Auburn AL, Josh Stinson Defensive End from Prattville AL, Dustin Lane Linebacker from Lithonia GA, Vondree Jackson Safety from LaGrange GA, Jameel Douse Cornerback from Saint Petersburg FL and Shane Doty Offensive Lineman from Fork Union Military Academy.
The latest commit is Shawn Artz Offensive Lineman from Gwinnett GA.
The Jags have also lost a couple recruits. Justin Sorrell, a Junior College defensive back who just signed with South Alabama, has asked for his release because SMU is interested in signing him. Also the new staff at Tennessee has grabbed one of the Jags best commitments in Martaze Jackson. He went to Knoxville recently and gave them his verbal commitment.