Scelfo Named To Another Watch List; Track and Field and Cross Country Earn Team GPA Award
More preseason football watch list action and academic honors for the track and field and cross country teams.
Football
The preseason watch lists are being announced one-by-one as the college football season is quickly approaching and one Jaguar offensive lineman just picked up his second watch list announcement on Tuesday.
Joseph Scelfo, a junior, was selected to the Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List last week and has been selected for the Watch List for the 2015 Rotary Lombardi Award.
The Rotary Lombardi Award is eligible for linemen only, both of offense and defense, who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball or linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deel from the line of scrimmage.
Scelfo was one of only two Jaguar offensive linemen who started all 13 games last season and earn the coaches’ weekly award on more than one occasion. In 2014, his first season as a starter for USA, he had a season-high grading of 88 percent in the Jags win over Troy as well as an 87 percent grade against Bowling Green in USA’s firt-ever bowl game. He also graded better than 80 percent agaisnt both South Carolina and Mississippi State with grades of 83 and 81 respectively.
He helped the Jaguars become the fastest NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision school to play in a postseason bowl game after receiving their first invite to the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in only their second season of full FBS membership.
The Rimington Award honors the most oustanding center in NCAA Division I-A college football at the end of the year. In addition to the two watch lists, Scelfo was selected to the First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference by Phil Steele Publications and preseason Second-Team All-League by Athlon Sports.
Track and Field/Cross Country
The Sun Belt Conference released the 2014-15 Team GPA award winners on Tuesday with USA men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams claiming honors in both the fall and spring semesters.
The men posted a combined cumulative GPA of 3.19 to earn honors in cross country in addition to winning the league title at the Sun Belt Championships in Mobile on November 2 at Battleship Memorial Park.
The women’s cross country team posted a 3.67 GPA during the last year to be honored as well.
Both programs received the Team GPA award in track and field as the men had a 3.17 GPA over the last two semesters. This made USA the only male track team in the conference to finish with a group average over 3.00. The women posted a GPA of 3.41.
This marks the second year in a row that USA has earned the Team GPA award in men’s and women’s cross country as well as the second consecutive season that USA also earned the honor in track.
Individually 26 women and 22 men from the two programs had a 3.0 GPA or higher last semester with a combined 28 team members earning spots on the Dean’s List.
Three Former Jaguars To Be Inducted In USA Hall of Fame
The 2015 South Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame class will include three former Jaguars as announced on Monday. The class includes the school’s All-Time winningest Men’s Basketball coach Ronnie Arrow and a pair of track and field members who competed at the NCAA Championships in Olga Mencnarowska and Tonny Okello.
Arrow guided the Jag basketball program the first time from 1988-1995 and then again from 2008-2012 for a total of 12 full seasons plus two partial seasons. He led the Jaguars to a 211-161 record overall and 126-48 in Sun Belt play. In addition to holding the most total and conference wins in school history, he also held the conference record for wins at the time of his retirement.
He was selected SBC Coach of the Year on three occasions. He led the Jaguars to a 23-9 record in 1988-89 following the only NCAA Tournament win in program history, an 86-84 win over Alabama. He led the Jaguars to the tournament again in 2007-2008 when USA received it first-ever at-large berth the NCAA Tournament after winning a school record 26 games which included a 16-2 record in conference play.
Arrow led the program to two SBC regular-season championships, two conference tournament titles and a regular season division title. He had 13 players earn All-Sun Belt honors on 18 occasions.
Mencnarowska lettered for the Jaguar Women’s Track and Field team from 1996-1999 and helped the Jags to win its first-ever league title at the Sun Belt Indoor and Outdoor Championships as a senior. In addition to becoming the first female in USA history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she was selected the Outstanding Meet Performing and earned top-scoring honors at the 1999 SBC Outdoor Championships after winning the heptathlon and long jump, finishing third in javelin and tying for fourth in the 100-meter hurdles before moving on to the national championships in the latter event.
She ended her career with a conference record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.35 seconds, still a school record in the race, and remains among the top 10 in USA history in the heptathlon, 60-meter hurdles, javelin and long jump.
She earned all-conference honors a total of eight times while being selected to the Sun Belt’s 30th Anniversary All-Time Women’s Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Teams. She was also voted third-team CoSIDA All-American in 1998.
Okello was a four-time All-American and collected all-region honors each of his three years running cross country. He would also be voted to the SBC 30th Anniversary All-Time Men’s Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Teams. He earned All-American honors in cross country in 2004 and ’05, he also finished 41st at the national meet as a senior, as well as in the 5,000 meters in 2006 and ’07 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Okello earned seven individual SBC titles while earning all-conference recognition a total of 18 times over three seasons. In cross country he won the conference championship his first time at the meet, finishing as the runner-up each of the next two years. He was chosen the most outstanding track performer and top point scorer at the 2005 Sun Belt Indoor Championships after winning the mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs and helping the Jags to the team crown. In addition to receiving the same honor that spring in the SBC Outdoor Championships, he helped USA win a share of the conference indoor title his final season by placing in the top three in the mile, 3,000- and 5,000-meter races.
The induction ceremony for the three inductees is scheduled for September 26 at the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center on campus. The three will also be recognized that day at halftime of the Jaguars football game against North Carolina State at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Win the induction of these three honorees, it will bring the total number of former student-athletes, coaches and administrators in the USA Athletic Hall of Fame to 71.
Sunanon Named To Groza Watch List; USA Men’s Basketball to Face NCSU and LSU in Legends Classic
Football
More preseason watch list action this week for the South Alabama Jaguars as Aleem Sunanon was selected to be among the 30 student-athletes selected to the Watch List for the 2015 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award.
Sunanon is the only representative from the Sun Belt Conference on the list.
Over the last two seasons Sunanon has led the Jaguars in scoring. Last season the 5’7″ 170-pound junior was a second-team All-Conference selection by Phil Steele Publications after he went 15-of-18 on field goal attempts, including making his final eight attempts. He also went 24-of-26 on extra point attempts. He tied for 12th nationally after converting 83.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and shared the league lead in the category. He also ranked third in the SBC and 55th in the country with 1.15 field goals per game.
Sunanon recorded a season-best 12 points on two occasions by connecting on three field goals and all three extra points in a win over Georgia State. He tied a school record after going 4-for-4 on field goal attempts against South Carolina.
In 2013 as a redshirt freshman he scored a school season-record 91 points by going 18-of-23 on field goals and 37-of-39 on extra-point attempts and was selected as honorable mention all-conference. He led all Sun Belt kickers in points and field goals per game and ranked among the top 20 nationally in the latter category. He finished second among all players in the conference in scoring average. He hit a season-high three field goals on four occasions, including a school-record 12 in a row over the Jaguars final seven games.
After only two seasons as the Jaguars placekicker, Sunanon has already set a program career record with 33 field goals and stands second on the all-time list with 160 total points and an 80.5 percent success rate on field goal attempts.
The award is named for Lou ‘The Toe’ Groza, an NFL Hall of Fame kicker who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954.
On November 5, semifinalists will be announced. On November 23, three finalists will be announced. The Winner will be announced on December 10 as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show.
Men’s Basketball
The Jaguar Men’s Basketball team will face North Carolina State and LSU in November as part of the Legends Classic as announced by the Gazelle Group on Thursday.
USA and NC State will face off on November 15 and then LSU on November 19 with times for both games will be announced at a later date.
NC State and LSU are two of four regional hosts for the multi-team event with semifinals and finals set for November 23 and 24 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
This will mark the first meeting between the Jaguars and the NC State Wolfpack on the hardwood, led by former Alabama men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried who took NCSU to the Sweet 16 of the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a 22-14 record.
The USA vs LSU matchup will mark the third time these two teams have faced off since 2010 and the second in the Maravich Center. The last time the two teams faced each other the Jaguars defeated LSU 79-75 in overtime in 2011.
USA will be one of four teams scheduled to participate in the Legends Classic subregional in Kennesaw, GA including IUPUI, Belmont and host Kennesaw State.
Scelfo Named To Watch List; Fico, Campbell Competing for Akron; Three Women Golfers Earn Academic Honors
Football
Jaguar center Joseph Scelfo has been named to the 2015 Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List on Wednesday. The list includes 63 individuals, which included only three from the Sun Belt Conference, who were recognized by the Rimington Trophy Committee.
The award is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I-A college football. It is named after consensus first-team All-America center Dave Riminington at Nebraska in 1981 and ’82.
Scelfo was also named to the preseason all-Sun Belt team by Phil Steele publications and as a preseason second-team All-SBC by Athlon Sports this summer.
He is entering his second season as the starter for the Jaguars at center. He was one of two lineman to start all 13 games as the Jaguars earned their first bowl invitation to the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.
Scelfo, a 6’1″ 295-pound junior from Bogart, Georgia graded out at 80 percent or better following six of the teams outings. He also earned the teams highest grade five times. He also earned an 88 percent after the Jags win over Troy, which was one of two games he earned the coaches offensive line award. He earned an 87 against Bowling Green in the Camellia Bowl. He also paced the team against SEC opponents when he earned an 83 against South Carolina and 81 against Mississippi State.
The finalist for the award will be announced on December 7 with the winner being announced at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 16, 2016.
Women’s Golf
Three Jaguar women golfers were named to the 2014-2015 Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars.
Elisa Axelsen, Ingrid Hagen and Madison Connell each earned their distinction after maintaining a 3.50 GPA and participated in half of the team’s tournaments.
This marks the fourth consecutive season Hagen has earned the honor, while it was the first time for both Axelsen and Connell. It is also the 10th consecutive academic year the Jags placed three or more students-athletes on the WGCA Division I All-American Scholor Team. In all 15 Jaguars have been honored 39 times as WGCA All-American Scholars since the 2005-2006 academic year.
Axelsen had one top-10 and two top-20 finishes this season while Hagen earned three top-20 finishes in her senior season. Connell competed in seven tournaments in her freshman season.
Softball
Jaguar assistant softball coach Rachelle Fico and former Jaguar Hannah Campbell, who is now a graduate assistant at USA, are competing with the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch this summer.
Currently Akron is third in the NPF standings with a 12-12 record trailing the league leading Chicago Bandits (17-6) and runner up USSSA Pride but the Racers have one eight of their last 12 games.
Fico is 1-0 in the circle in her only appearance this year when she faced Dallas Charge on July 1. She struck out four with only one walk while allowing one earned run on four hits in a complete game effort. The 9-1 win marked the largest margin of victory for the Racers this season.
Campbell is 0-2 with six strikeouts and a 6.24 ERA in four appearances. She has allowed 11 earned runs on 18 hits in 12 1/3 innings pitched. Her first appearance came on May 30 in Akron’s season opener against the Pennsylvania Rebellion when she entered a scoreless game in the fifth inning and allowed five earned runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning before leaving the game. Akron would lose the game 6-3.
Fico finished the 2014 season with an 11-7 record with a 3.59 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 23 appearances. Campbell was 5-6 with a 5.78 ERA and a team-high three saves in 23 appearances.
The CBS Sports Network is broadcasting an unprecedented amount of coverage for the 2015 NPF season. They will also air the NPF Championship at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, AL on August 14-18. Additionally Jaguar fans can watch the Racers in action against the Rebellion on August 10-11 on CBS Sports Network.
South Alabama Officially Exploring On-Campus Stadium
This email was sent out today from USA President Tony Waldrop:
Dear USA Employees and Students,
I’m writing to let you know that this afternoon the University will publicly announce that it has initiated a preliminary exploration of the financial, logistical and infrastructural requirements associated with the possible construction of an on-campus football stadium.
This is exciting news for our University and our Athletics programs, but please keep in mind that this is a preliminary exploratory process, and no decision has been made about whether or not the University will proceed with plans for construction of a football stadium.
We are at the very beginning stages of this initiative, and there are many questions to be answered. Before making a decision, the University will conduct a thorough examination of all the issues surrounding the possibility of an on-campus stadium. I will be sharing more information about the process as we move forward.
Thank you, and Go Jags!
Tony G. Waldrop, Ph.D.
President
This should be very exciting news to Jag Nation. We will keep you updated as this progresses.
Jaguar Women’s Golfer Win Suncoast Ladies Tour Event
Kaeli Jones made history by winning the Suncoast Ladies Tour event with a 3-under 213 to also be the low amateur of the tournament. | photo credit: USAJaguars.com
South Alabama women’s golfer Kaeli Jones had a historic three day tournament on the Suncoast Ladies Tour tournament at Black Bear Golf Club in Eustis, Florida over the last three day.
Jones shot a three-round, 3-under par 213 to become the first champion and low amateur on the Suncoast Ladies Tour.
Jones shot a 1-over par 73 in Monday’s opening round after playing her final six holes at 3-under which included an eagle at the par-5 16th and birdie on the par-four 17th.
She followed with a 3-under 69 on Tuesday to tie a career low, after playing the front nine at 1-under with a bogey-free back nine at 2-under par.
Entering the final round on Wednesday she held the lead and shot a 1-under par 71 which included a stretch of holes where she had birdied four out of five holes on the front nine.
She was unsure of her standing on the leaderboard after double bogey on the par-four 18th, her final hole of the tournament. But when she arrived at the clubhouse her mother was there to tell her she won the tournament.
Over the three-day tournament, Jones had 11 birdies while playing the par-five’s at 5-under par for the tournament and the par-threes at 2-under par.
Jones will turn her sights on preparing for the United States Golf Association Women’s Amateur qualifier at Kenwood Golf Club in Bethesda, Maryland on July 8. She needs to shoot par or better in order to qualify for the 115th US Women’s Amateur at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Oregon August 10-16.
Jones, a 5’5″ Sumterville, FL native, completed her freshman season with the Jaguars. Previously she lettered at IMG Academy while earning four top-five finishes in 2014.
South Alabama Announces 2022 Game Against UCLA In Historic Rose Bowl
The University of South Alabama announced on Wednesday that they have finalized a contract to play UCLA at the historic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in the 2022 season.
The Bruins are the first PAC-12 opponent scheduled to face the Jaguars in their short history of football. The game is scheduled for September 17, 2022.
South Alabama has already played four games against SEC opponents that began with Mississippi State in Starkville and last season with the Bulldogs visiting Mobile, South Carolina and Tennessee. USA has also traveled to Raleigh, NC twice to face North Carolina State and will face them for a third to finish out their three-game contract this season in Mobile.
This upcoming season will see the Jaguars face their first Big Ten school when they visit Nebraska on September 12. They will begin a three-game series against Oklahoma State from the Big XII Conference in 2017.
Frenchou, Hill Earn All-America Honors; Billingsley Named To All-Region Team
Track and Field
Renaldo Frechou, a junior from Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa, represented South Alabama in the men’s hammer throw in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Wednesday and earned First-Team All-America Honors.
Frechou competed against 24 other competitiors and steadily increased his distance on each of his first three attempts with his final throw reaching 68.84m. This is the second year in a row that he has received first-team All-America honors after finishing seventh in the same event last year.
He is the first since the 2006-2007 pair Tonny Okello and Vincent Rono both earned All-America recognition in consecutive seasons.
On Friday, fellow Junior Jan-Louw Kotze will be the second of three Jaguars to compete at the national championship meet when he competes in the men’s discus throw at 6:05pm (CDT).
Kaitlyn Beans will compete on Saturday at 4pm in the women’s triple jump.
Baseball
Baseball honors keep coming in for members of the Jaguar baseball team.
South Alabama right-handed pitcher Kevin Hill was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America third team on Wednesday.
Hill was the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and led the SBC in wins (10), ERA (1.73), opposing batting average (.208) and strikeouts (107). He was also named to the Louisville Slugger Division I All-American second team on May 28 to become the first Jaguar pitcher to earn All-America honors since P.J. Walters in 2006.
Hill completed his redshirt junior year this season with four complete games, all four coming in a stretch against conference opponents, and recorded two shutouts in 80 2/3 innings pitched. He perfect 10-0 mark was the first 10 game winner at USA since D.D. Hanks in 2010 and his 107 strikeouts was the first triple-digit strikeout season since Walters in 2006.
Hill is the 27th Jaguar all-time to earn All-America honors and is only the seventh pitcher to do so in the program’s 51 years.
Hill and Cole Billingsley were both named to the 2015 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings NCAA Division I South Central team with Hill earning first-team honors and Billingsley earning second-team honors.
Billingsley led the conference with 30 stolen bases and finished tied for second in the conference with 80 hits and 4 triples. He tied for fourth in runs scored with 46, tied for sixth in batting average .345 and tied for eighth in walks with 34.
The redshirt sophomore did not commit an error in 163 chances in center field while recording three assists in his 55 games played.
Ben Taylor Selected In MLB Draft; Softball Finishes #23 In Final Poll
Baseball
Jaguar baseball right-hander Ben Taylor was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday by the Boston Red Sox. He was the 201st overall selection in the draft and just the second pitcher taken by the Red Sox.
Boston chose Tayler with their seix pick in the draft which was the sixth pick in the seventh round.
Taylor was a first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection as a relief pitcher this past season with a 6-3 record, 1.48 ERA and seven saves in 25 relief appearances. He struck out 68 batters with only 13 walks in 42 2/3 innings pitched. In his 13 appearances against SBC teams he was 4-2 with three saves and a 1.12 ERA while striking out 44 with only six walks in 24 innings.
Taylor finished his senior season ranked fifth in the conference in saves and tied for fifth in wins while helping the Jaguars to a 3.22 ERA which was tops in the conference, held opposing batters to a .242 batting avarage as a team and the most strikeouts in the conference with 474.
“It’s unbelievable,” Taylor said. “It’s been a dream of mine to play professional baseball my entire life. I can’t put into words what it’s like to now have the opportunity. It’s huge to become a part of an organization with as much tradition and history as they have, and I just want to go in and make them happy and provide for the team. It’s crazy to think that I will be putting on the same uniform that so many other greats have through the years.”
“I made the transition from starting pitcher to the bullpen during my two years at South Alabama,” he said. “I’m not sure what the Red Sox are going to want me to do in the organization; I might be a starting pitcher again. But during my time at USA, I had a change in mentality that made me a better pitcher. I have become more ferocious on the mound with more of a bulldog mentality – just getting after guys and using my stuff with confidence. That’s something Coach (Mark) Calvi and Coach (Bob) Keller have really helped me with. They have helped make me a much better pitcher.”
Softball
The Jaguar Softball team finished ranked #23 in the final USA Today/NCFA poll and #28 in RPI. Florida repeated as the National Champion after defeating Michgan twice in the best of three championship series.
Sophomore Chloe Rathburn who helped lead the Jaguar team to the Sun Belt Conference championship this past season was granted her release from the team after the season because, as she told the USA Vanguard student newspaper, that she wanted to play somewhere closer to home. She posted on social media and it was reported last week by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she has transferred to Missouri in the Southeastern Conference.
Rathburn, a catcher and infielder, regularly served as the Jaguars designated player. She helped the team to a 40-13 regular season record with a .371 batting average and a school-record 53 RBIs while earning first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors the last two seasons.
Rathburn will be eligible to play in the 2016 season for the Tigers and will have two years of eligibility remaining. Missouri finished 42-16 this season. They were defeated by UCLA in the NCAA super-regional.
Jaguar Football Game Times on ESPN Announced; Season Opener To Be Broadcast
On Monday the Sun Belt Conference office announced the game times for both of South Alabama’s two appearances on the ESPN family of networks and that the Jaguars opening game of the season will air on ESPN3.
The season opening game on Saturday, September 5 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium against Gardner-Webb will be broadcast on ESPN3 with the start time still to be determined.
The Jaguars game against Arkansas State on Tuesday, October 13 will air on ESPN2 across the nation and will kick off at 7pm CDT, while kickoff for the Jaguars game against Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday, November 12 will be at 6:30pm on ESPNU.
Previously announced the Jaguars road game against Nebraska on September 12 will start at 7pm and will be aired on the Big Ten Network.
The start time for all other games will be announced at a later date.
Go Jags!