Jaguars Unveil New Uniform After Spring Game
South Alabama Jaguars newly unveiled uniform. - Photo by Doug Roberts http://dougstech.com/
The scrimmage ended with a look at the Jaguars’ first uniform with Ralph Turner as the model. It was an all white uniform with blue and red stripes down the sides of the jersey that wrapped around and met below the numbers on the back. The pants and helmet were all white with the Jaguar logo on both sides of the helmet and the hip of the pants. “I wanted to go with a traditional look,” Coach Jones said, “We came up with a uniform that we are very excited about.” Then after an opportunity for photos of the uniform, and a few words from Travis Toth, the fans were allowed to enter the field for autographs from the players and coaches.
Spring Scrimmage A Resounding Success For South Alabama
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.
Donor Appreciation Day At Ladd-Peebles Stadium
Coach Joey Jones Addressing Donors
Donor Appreciation Day was a very good event, but if you ask about the practice itself, you might get a slightly different answer. In coach Gregory’s opinion, Wednesday was one of the worst offensive days since the beginning of practice. They were plagued with interceptions and fumbles throughout the afternoon.
However, it was not all bad. Courtney Smith made several good catches and the running backs showed that they could make some nice cuts and make the defense miss.
It was clear that the defense had a pretty good day causing fumbles and falling on the ball and defensive backs intercepting passes. Tim Harvey was guarding a slant pattern when the quarterback overthrew his receiver. Harvey, with his hands outstretched, managed to haul in the pass one handed much to the jubilation of the defense.
But the defensive backs have definitely been tested over the course of spring practice. They show their competitiveness when they have a bad play or get beat one-on-one, it clearly bothers them. But they realize that it was just one play and they are able to move on.
It also helps that they are physical and can hit too. With Coach Clark’s aggressive defensive schemes, they can’t sit around and only be cover guys. They have to be able to come up and make a play too. The safeties have to be able to come up to the line of scrimmage and be able to fill holes around the defensive line and linebackers.
But Coach Walker admits they have to work on defending the pass better, in particular deep passes. With so many teams running the spread offense similar to what USA will be running, completions will happen and occasionally a big play is going to occur. But as Coach Walker said, they will have to learn how to let it roll off their back and get focused on the next play.
All of the coaches like how well the players have progressed this spring. Some are more impressed that they are as farther along then they anticipated. But each coach was also very excited about the incoming players this fall. Implying that if you like what you see now, just wait to see what they have in store in the near future.
The Jags will have Thursday off from the practice field to gear up for the scrimmage on Friday evening. Gates will open at 4:30 and the scrimmage begins at 5:30pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. They will start with drills and end with a half of play, offense vs defense. They don’t have enough players in several spots to have a team on team scrimmage like you would you will see from Alabama or Auburn. So the scoring will be different with the defense getting points for turnovers and such.
So make plans to join the Jaguar Nation at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Friday evening for this historic event. Wear red to show your support and to give the players and coaches a taste of what is to come from the Jaguar Nation. Also they will finally introduce the Jaguar uniform for the first time to the public.
Go Jags!
A “Red Out” At Ladd-Peebles For Scrimmage
After writing about the scrimmage taking place on Friday, April 10th an idea came to me. The USA Outlaws typically wear their red shirts to events and red is now the primary color for USA sports. So we challenge Thunderjags.com readers to help spread the word to everyone. Wear red to Ladd on Friday to support the Jags.
These guys are working their tails off trying to secure a spot on the team going into Fall practice (only 85 can be brought in at this time). That means some of these kids who worked out all semester for these three weeks of spring practice to try to win them a spot on the team, will have to go. Walk-ons and non-scholarship players are what will determine the face of this team for the next year or two while they build up the number of scholarships to Division-I levels.
Lets spread the word to wear red or as the other slogan goes, lets “Bleed it Red” for South Alabama. We want these guys to look up into the stands when they take the field at 5:30pm and actually feel like they are a part of something special. We want them to know we support them. We want the coaches to know we support them. We want the players to get a taste of what Ladd-Peebles Stadium is going to look like when September 5th, 2009 finally arrives. We want them to see a sea of red in the stands.
So help to spread the word to everyone you know, “Wear red to Ladd, lets Bleed It Red”.
Go Jags! Bleed it Red!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://i0.wp.com/img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png)
Jaguars Spring Scrimmage Itinerary Set
This is the last week of Spring practice for the South Alabama Jaguars and this week will culminate with a big scrimmage similar to what you would see with Alabama and Auburn. It is free to the public and the gates will open at 4:30pm.
Students will be tailgating starting at 3:30pm with the gates opening at 4:30pm. The scrimmage will begin at 5:30pm. However, the scrimmage is not the only exciting thing going on at this event. At 7:00pm the new uniforms will be unveiled to the public for the very first time. Then around 7:15pm you can go onto the field for a meet, greet and autograph session with the coaches and players.
The USA Athletic Department will have season tickets available for purchase on-site during this event. Also, the USA Bookstore will be there with new merchandise and souvenirs for purchase.
So set your calendars today, make whatever excuse you need to get off work early or out of work for the night to come out and see the Jaguars in a game like environment and to be present when they unveil the uniforms the Jaguars will be wearing on the field come this fall.
GO JAGS!
Jaguars Continue To Improve Through Spring Practice
South Alabama Jaguars second scrimmage of the spring. Photo by Doug Roberts - http://dougstech.com/
The squads first scrimmage was a historic event, however the offense looked a big lack luster, managing only 86 passing yards. The second scrimmage saw the passing game come alive with 356 yards and four touchdowns.
Courtney Smith lead the way with six pass receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown. Also Frank Walker and Lim Windham added three catches each while Danzel Harris and Erling Riis both catching a pair each. Another 13 Jaguars contributed to effor on Friday. Coach Jones said, “We have some playmakers out there, and Courtney had a great day today. He really stepped up, not just with the touchdown but catching a couple of slant patterns too.”
The quarterbacks would combine for 47 attempts with no interceptions. Matt Saucier was 16-of-26 passing, racking up 216 yards and three touchdowns. Anthony Burgess was 11-of-21 with 140 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, the offense did not lose a single fumble after committing three in last weeks scrimmage.
Matt Saucier was quoted saying, “The defense was bringing a lot of pressure, we had to throw the ball.” He continued, “Overall, the offense did very well today. We’re way ahead of where we thought we would be at this point in the spring, we’ve learned so many plays over the last three weeks.”
Coach Jones on the quarterbacks, “We’re just trying to get our quarterbacks a little more confidence. They’ve gotten better, but there’s still a long way to go throwing the football down the field. We want to give all of them, as well as our wide receivers, a fair chance to evaluate everyone fairly.”
This weeks scrimmage was a bit different from last weeks outing. Previously the first and second team offensive units ran plays eight at a time. The series would end no matter the down and distance after the final play. The second scrimmage was set up to closer mimic a game situation. Each offensive unit would continue running plays until the possession was ended by a defensive stop.
The first team offense, lead by Saucier, gained 160 yards on its first five drives. This included a 40 yard completion to Smith on the very first play. They connected again for a 60 yard touchdown pass on the first play of their second possession.
The first team would advance inside the defense’s 30 yard line on two of its next three drives. Anthony Mostella capped off a 45 yard drive with a 14 yard touchdown run on 3rd and 6. Turner and Saucier would cap off a three-play red zone drive with an 18 yard touchdown pass. Then Saucier would hit Taylor Noon on a 32 yard touchdown pass while moving out of the pocket to finish off a 50 yard, seven play series.
The second team did not look as good. It opened with a 10-play possession covering 30 yards but would go three and out on the next two consecutive drives. They would get 62 yards on 22 plays before moving to red zone drills.
The second team would get their first score when Burgess found Donte Rome free after the cover man fell on the play for a 30 yard touchdown pass. Its next possession, which started at the defense’s 20 yard line would see Lawson McGlon hit a 29 yard field goal.
The second teams success would continue with a third scoring drive. Burgess connect with Gardner for a 44 yard completion then Burgess would sneak in from the one yard line to finish the 60 yard drive.
Turning to the defense, Justin Dunn lead all players with nine tackles. Tim Harvey had seven, Chris Cooke and Richard Courtney each had size and five other players would have five tackles each. Cooke and Sean Greenwood would each be credited with 1½ tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
The defensive unit tightened up on the ground game from the first scrimmage. They allowed 230 yards in the first, but would only give up 76 on 50 attempts in the second scrimmage. Marquis Chapel lead with 27 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Santuan McGee added 20 yards and Richard Ross had 18 yards.
Coach Jones remarked about the running backs by saying, “Earlier in the week we were running the ball well, but that dropped off today. Our backs are a little dinged up — I’m not making any excuses for them, but they weren’t 100 percent today and we didn’t block as well for them either.”
“Overall, I thought the intensity was great,” Coach Jones commented. “We’re still making mistakes that will get you beat, like putting the ball on the ground or jumping offsides defensively. But, I’m real pleased with their effort and they have gotten better.” As the scrimmage went on the number of offsides flags grew in number.
Monday, the Jaguars will return to Ladd for at 2:30pm to kick off their final week of spring practice which will culminate in their final scrimmage on Friday, April 10th beginning at 5:30pm.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-03-25
Ronald Douglas watches practice on Tuesday
Coach Joey Jones and Lee Shirvanian are in the studio for the final episode of the Joey Jones show. Coach Jones lunch choice of the day: the Joey Jones Special Black & White chicken. Lee’s choice of the day is the fish and broccoli. Plus, to celebrate the end of this years run of the Joey Jones Radio Show, they enjoy some of Wing’s delicious banana pudding. But don’t worry, the Joey Jones show will return in August for more Jaguar Football goodness.
A caller asked what kind of volunteer work that can be done for the team or sideline work that needs to be done? Coach Jones urges anyone who wants to volunteer to call the office because there will be some volunteer work that can be done on the sidelines and they have the list of what needs to be covered.
Lee asked about yesterdays first practice in pads. Coach Jones loved the intensity and said it was good to start to see who were the tough guys are. They had some full team stuff and had a couple players catch the coaches eye (I saw a huge hit on a running back that got the sidelines and the 30 or so spectators really excited).
When asked about the uniforms, Coach Jones said that the president has approved the uniforms and will hopefully be able to introduce them in two weeks. They are still working out how the home and away situation will be with the fall schedule this season in terms of uniforms. But they are considering doing something different that most schools but similar to what LSU does and wear a white top for home games. Coach Jones also said that he had thought about going with the silver helmets like he had mentioned before on the Joey Jones Show, but he thinks the latest version really stands out to him and will represent the school well.
Today’s practice will be similar to Tuesdays practice but it will have more special teams time before getting into full team practice sessions. They did not really do much special teams practice yesterday and want to start adding more of that starting today.
Men’s Basketball player Ronald Douglas is going to try out for the team. He is 6’8” and is a very good athlete as Coach Arrow told Coach Jones. So he should be out in pads today and will start working out with the team. They are thinking about putting him at the defensive end position. Douglas played football back in high school, so this is not something new for him.
Lee and Coach Jones talk about some of teams on the schedule this season. Coach Jones mentions that the first thing that came out (about the football teams) was that the Jags were going to play 4 or 5 games. However, Coach Jones wanted to increase the number of games and also increase the level of competition. With the schedule that they put together, both he and Joe Gottfried have put together a good schedule of games that will challenge the players to work hard and play hard. Initially they were going to play club teams, but Coach Jones pushed to raise the competition level to test the kids and also recruit some of the good players that come out of these schools. Hargrave Military Academy turns out lots of really good players that transfer to SEC and other Division I schools and finished 10-1 last season. Huntingdon College is the only Division III school on the schedule, the rest are prep, military or junior colleges. Huntingdon finished 8-2 last season and were considered for an at-large bid to the Division III playoffs after starting the season 8-0. They also outscored their opponents 417 – 158 with three shutouts and finished the season ranked 5th in scoring offense.
Some of these teams will have better athletes than a lot of SEC schools signing classes. They have kids that were recruited by schools from all of the BCS conferences and they are getting players from all over the country. Hargrave is probably the number one prep school in the country with the number of players going to Division I schools. Most people do not recognize the number of future NFL players who come out of prep schools.
Most of these kids that go to the prep schools are just under the cut-off for a Division I school. So it’s not the case that these kids just could not cut it in Division I academically, but rather they may have made a C in an English class and just barely missed the cutoff. So they go to these schools and work hard to better themselves and after two years, hopefully sign a Division I scholarship to play and get their education.
Lee asked Coach Jones what do these schools think of South Alabama recruiting these kids. Coach Jones said that these schools are happy, they want to have more of their kids signing Division I scholarships. It looks better for them and helps them to get better kids into their program as well.
When a caller asked about scrimmages and how Alabama has the ‘A-Day Game’ Coach Jones said that every Friday from here through the end of spring practice will be a scrimmage. But, he also said that every day they are out on the practice field, they are doing 11-on-11 plays.
Lee asked what Coach Jones vision for this program is. He then qualified that question to be mainly about stadiums. With a proposed stadium being built by a group that will be out I-10 West that is supposed to seat 50,000, is that something the USA is going to look at or is something on campus is the ultimate goal for the school? Coach Jones said that probably an on-campus stadium should be the ultimate goal because it adds to the atmosphere of the campus and whenever any other team has transitioned from an off-campus to an on-campus stadium, their attendance doubles.
Back to the schedule this fall, the times are all stated at 4pm except for a lone 11:30am kickoff. Lee asked if these times were set in stone or are they subject to change? Coach Jones said that they are subject to change of course, but this year will be time to test different kickoff times and see what works out best for South Alabama versus Alabama and Auburn obviously.
Lee said that he has had people ask him what is the best way to get their son recognized and possibly help them get a scholarship to South Alabama to play football. Coach Jones said that the biggest and easiest way to mass publicize a player is for a high school coach to make a highlight reel for a player. But USA is getting over 2,000 DVDs and they at least look at them all for some amount of time, but it’s hard to pick players from video. While their highlight reel may show their two good plays from a game, they may have had 5 bad plays in the game and they want to know this. A really good way for a kid to be recognized by the coaching staff at USA, or other schools for that matter, is for that kid to go to a football camp. Some schools may not sign a player unless they have either been chosen as a ‘blue chip’ recruit or have gone to at least one of their football camps. Coach Jones also said that he will not sign a quarterback without actually seeing him play in person.
That wraps up this season of the Joey Jones show. Keep visiting Thunderjags.com for more football news. Also check us out for information from other sporting news from the Jaguars. Also come out and support all of the South Alabama sports, including baseball and softball, which are going on right now.
Go Jags!
USA Jaguars Announce Deal With N.C. State For 3 Game Series
In addition to yesterdays announcement of the 2009 Football schedule, the University of South Alabama announced a deal to play N.C. State three times in the coming years.
The contract has three games, two in Raleigh and one in Mobile. The Jags will visit North Carolina on September 17, 2011 and September 15, 2012. Then the Wolfpack will travel to Mobile for a September 5, 2015 matchup.
This announcement adds to the previous announcements of big games against Tennessee in Knoxville in 2013 and a four year, home-and-home series against the Navy Midshipmen.
Coach Jones was quoted saying, “The most important thing about the contracts we’ve signed is that it shows where the program is going and the vision that the administration has.”. He continued, “We know there are steps to get where we want to be, and we’re doing it as fast as any school in the country ever has.”
Go Jags!
South Alabama Releases First Schedule And Holds Its First Practice In Pads
Jaguar going out for a pass - Photo by Doug Roberts www.dougstech.com
The University of South Alabama Jaguars continue on their road to playing Division I football today with the release of their first football schedule and their first practice of the spring in full pads.
South Alabama’s 2009 football schedule currently has games against a Division III school, two junior colleges and four prep schools. The Jaguars will have about 40-45 scholarship players on the roster in the fall but they will need a minimum of three seasons to reach the NCAA Division I-A/FBS limit of 85 scholarship student-athletes since the school can offer no more than 30 scholarships in one year from 2008-2010.
So, for the first two seasons of play, the jaguars will be an unclassified NCAA program before beginning a two-year transition to the NCAA Division I-A/FBS level and will count as a NCAA Division I-AA/FCS school on opponents schedules in 2011. But the following season (2012) they will be considered an NCAA Division I-A/FBS opponent for schools. Then in 2013, the Jaguars will be eligible for a bowl game and the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the first time in the schools history.
The Jaguars 2009 Football Schedule:
- September 5th 4PM Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy
- September 26th 4PM Army Prep School
- October 10th 11:30AM Georgia Military Junior College
- October 17th 4PM Louisburg (N.C.) Junior College
- October 31st 4PM Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy
- November 7th 4PM Milford (N.Y.) Academy
- November 14th 4PM Huntingdon (Ala.) College
Coach Jones and his staff put the players through a good workout on Tuesday with Coach Jones not wasting any time getting into contact drills. Even though the team was coming off a 10 day layoff due to Spring Break, it only took about 15 minutes to get into the contact.
Most of the time was devoted to actually running plays. The offense dressed out in blue jerseys while the defense dressed out in red jerseys.
After some warm-up drill periods, similar to what the Jags went through in the opening week of spring practice, coaches put defenders against skill position players in a pair of excercises. First were one-on-one tackling drills then later defensive players were forced to take on a blocker before reaching the ball carrier.
The first group contact drills started around half way through the workout. Offensive and defensive linemen battled each while they ran through inside handoffs. Later the running backs departed in order to take part in 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills.
Then with about 45 minutes left in the practice, they lined up for some 11-on-11, full contact drills for the first time. The defense intercepted three passes while knocking down several others while playing against both running and passing plays.
The offense and defensive squads were on opposite sidelines while practicing the formations and plays. They started with first and ten plays which leaned more towards shotgun formations and passing for a while. Then they transitioned to third down and four plays. These seemed to have a good mixture of running and passing both from the shotgun and from under center. Finally, they ended the practice working on red zone plays.
Coaches were rotating squads of players in and out depending on plays. Coach Craig would prepare a group to go in, then cycle them in and the other group off the field. They would repeat this cycle for a while to not only to teach the plays but also to work on getting groups onto and off of the field in game-like situations.
Overall the players seem to progressing at a good rate, which is very good considering how short spring practice is and how much this time means to the Jaguars new program. Coach Jones was pleased with the intensity level. He also like how the defense stepped up, which they should do the first day in pads. Coach Jones also said, “We improved a little bit offensively, but their timing was off because of the break.” However, what he was looking for was the intesity level and that was there.
Coach Crain had a few words to say about the defense and his linebackers, “We take a lot of pride on defense that we’re going to outhit you. If you’re going to be a great defensive football team, you have to win the contact battle. I saw good contact today, guys hitting with their head up and I didn’t see anyone hit a player low. Football is not for everybody. It’s a very physical, violent game.”
Coach Crain also commented on how excited the coaches are to finally have contact drills: “It’s been such a long haul. It seems like we have been in shorts forever.” He continued, “I told my guys that this is like going to Disney World. It’s a chance to be out doing something that has never been done at South Alabama. If that doesn’t get you excited as a player or a coach, you shouldn’t be here.”
Probably the most important part of practicing in full pads is that the coaching staff can start to truly evaluate the players. Coach Jones said, “We’ll be able to watch tape tonight and tomorrow morning to evaluate each player.” He cautioned, “But, where they are right now is not where they are going to be. Every one of them has to know that. I don’t care if they thought they did well today or if they played poorly, they just have to keep getting better.”
This week the Jaguars will continue practicing Wednesday and Thursday before taking part in the program’s first scrimmage on Friday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Go Jags!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-03-18
 |
| From South Alabama Football First Spring Practice |
Coach Joey Jones, Lee Shirvanian and Tommy Perry are in the studio at Baumhower’s Wing’s sports grill on Airport Blvd for today’s radio show. This is the next to last Coach Joey Jones show so go out and tell the people at Wing’s that you love the show and would hate to see it leave the airwaves. They also have their Grills Gone Wild specials going on right now so make sure to ask for that menu when you go. Joey Jones choice of the week is the Ragin’ Cajun chicken wings with the sauce on the side.
The first caller had another question about the release of the football schedule. However, this week we got some really good news when this was asked, not what we have been getting. Coach Jones said that the schedule will be released on Tuesday with seven games, probably an eighth and quite possibly a ninth and all of the confirmed games (seven) will be home games.
The caller followed up with a question about what kind of teams USA will be playing against come football season? Coach Jones said that USA will be playing smaller teams and schools, like he said before, but he can’t mention names until Tuesday. They will be teams that USA could recruit from in the near future which indicates possibly junior colleges and smaller Division II schools. They are moving towards Division-I as fast as they can and will be playing Div-I teams in three years, which when they release the schedule for the fall they will also talk about some of the upcoming Division-I teams that they have contracts to play in the coming years. The eighth game may be a road game for USA to wet their feet with traveling.
They took a few minutes to joke about Lane Kiffin at Tennessee and some of the questionable remarks he has made since he was hired at Tennessee.
Lee wanted to look back on the practices held last week. Coach Jones said he likes how the players and coaches were over their first week of practice but they cannot tell anything about the players until they put pads. But they improved from day one to day two but they really improved from day two to the third day of practice as expected. They start to internalize the drills and just get back into moving like a football player again.
When asked about some standout players so far, Coach Jones mentioned Courtney Smith and Ralph Turner as some good looking Wide Receivers with good routes and such. He aslo mentioned Richard Ross, Anthony Mostella and Santuan McGee as some good looking running backs. Starting next week they will be wearing pads and will start hitting and there will be some sort of scrimmage on April 10th but with only two quarterbacks he is trying to figure out how that will work, they don’t want to risk one or both of them getting hurt.
They have about 97 to 98 players coming out to the practices with about 28 more scholarship kids coming in the fall. He said a total of about 45 coming in the fall and for camp they can only have 105 players, but when they start fall practice they can have 130 so they can add 25 kids at that time.
Tommy Perry is the running backs and special team’s coordinator for USA. Coach Perry is from a long line of coaches, his grandfather is John David Crow and his father is a high school coach as well. He graduated from Texas A&M and then went to University of Texas to work with Coach Brown, who he credited with teaching him how to coach a player one-on-one and to how to work with them.
Coach Jones said that they could have split the special teams’ duties between the other coaches but he like Coach Perry for that position. Coach Jones said that Coach Perry was irritated after the first day of practice because everything did not go like he wanted but as the players have gotten better so has his mood (a little chuckling there from both of them). Coach Jones said he and the rest of the staff really likes Coach Perry and Coach Jones really likes that he is a perfectionist.
Special Teams is a very critical part of the game. If you look at the conference champions each year in any conference they are almost always the leader in the special teams’ categories. He was a backup full back in college so Coach Perry got his chance to play because of special teams. Some people do not think that much about special teams and coaching special teams and can almost belittle them. But your good coaches know and acknowledge that specials teams can and will make or break a game.
Continuing on about special teams, Coach Jones said he will have players that are not allowed to play on any specials teams at all. Then some players can be on some special teams but not all of them. One reason is to prevent game fatigue. One example was a wide receiver that just ran a 55 yard fly route and then has to come right back and play the gunner position on the punt team. That is a lot of energy expended in two consecutive plays.
Talking about punt returning, getting a good punt returner, like Javier Arenas at Alabama, is pretty rare. But when a team blocks a punt, that team typically wins about 95% of the time. So Coach Jones said he may not emphasize the punt return as much, but he will definitely emphasize getting pressure on the punter trying to block a punt which could yield maybe 20 yards instead the average of 8 or 9 yard punt return if he is pressured and not blocked.
Talking about the Senior Bowl possibly moving to Tampa, Coach Jones said he was sad to hear that news that broke yesterday. After 59 years in Mobile, he hopes that they don’t leave for the tradition, for Mobile and for the USA Football program.
Practice next week will be in pads for the first time. Monday will be a weight training day. Practice will be held from Tuesday through Friday from 2:30-4:45pm. Once warmed up they will start hitting, some one-on-one drills and other drills. Coach Perry says he was pleasantly surprised with group of running backs at USA. Some speed guys and some grind it out and hard hitting guys. But it’s easier to look good in shorts but when they get pads on and the holes get smaller they will really see how good they are.