USA Football Previewed How ‘Alabama Lite’ Could Work
The University of South Alabama received more good press on Wednesday. This time it was the football program being covered by Billy Connelly of SBNation. He posted an article titled “2013 South Alabama football’s 10 things to know: Alabama Lite could work”.
Connelly wrote about the Jaguar’s surprisingly stout defense last season for a first-year FBS trasitionary program and Coach Joey Jones’ decision to hire former Alabama director of player development Kevin Sherrer as the new defensive coordinator and former Alabama linebacker Freddie Roach as an assistant coach.
He covered the experience returning in 2013, the need for more playmakers on offense, more punch at running back, the size of the offensive line, how the Jaguar defense was disruptive but allowed big plays, how exciting the front seven is and how that excitement could continue in 2013, the hole left from Chapuseaux’s graduation and how the Jags could get a couple of wins this season.
Connelly had plenty of statistics so go give it a read here.
Rubit Garners Some National Attention
Augustine Rubit set a new career-high with 34 points with 12 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season against ULL. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit was mentioned by Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports (sports.yahoo.com) in a section of his post called “Under-The-Radar Love”.
Forde points out that Rubit is the only player to rank among the top 20 nationally in scoring and rebounding. Rubit currently ranks 16th nationally in scoring with an average of 19.5 points per game and 9th in nationally in rebounding with an average of 10.6 rebounds per game.
Rubit is coming off of a career record 34-point game against Louisiana-Lafayette where he also pulled down 12 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season. He also shot a career high 16 free throws and is averaging almost 10 foul shots per game.
Rubit may be flying under the radar nationally, but he is not so under the radar in the Sun Belt Conference.
He ranks first in the conference in rebounding with an average of 10.7 per game while also ranking second in the conference with an average of 19.6 points per game. Additionally, Rubit ranks first in offensive rebounds with 4.5 per game, third in defensive rebounds with 6.2 per game, fifth in blocked shots with 1.3 per game, sixth in free throw percentage at 77.9%, seventh in minutes played with an average of 33.8 minutes per game and eighth in field goal percentage with 49.4%.
If you want to read Forde’s post, you can find it here.
USA Baseball Chosen To Finish 3rd In Conference, Put Three On All-SBC Team
In a vote by the Conference head baseball coaches, South Alabama was selected to finish third in the 2013 Sun Belt Conference preseason poll. USA finished one spot ahead of in-state rival Troy.
The Jags and the Trojans were the only schools with three players each selected to the preseason All-Conference team. Logan Kirkland, Whitt Dorsey and Jordan Patterson represent South Alabama on the preseason All-Conference team.
Florida Atlantic was voted to finish first with five first-place votes and 89 total points, while their in-state rival Florida International was voted to finish second in the conference with one first-place vote and 85 points overall. South Alabama finished with 67 points.
Florida Atlantic won the conference regular season title last season with a 32-22 record overall and a 19-8 record in Sun Belt play. They return six starters, four of them pitchers, from last year’s team.
Kirkland is a redshirt sophomore from Grand Bay, Alabama. This is his second consecutive preseason All-Confernece honor. He was also named a Freshman All-American after the 2011 season while playing in six games and hitting .333 with a double and two RBI last season before an injury ended his season early.
Dorsey, an Auburn, Alabama native, was named to the team as a designated hitter after batting .337 with 12 doubles, two home runs and 31 RBI’s last season as a Junior. He was selected first-team All-SBC honor as a designated hitter after last season.
Patterson was named to the preseason All-Conference team as a utility player. He also earned a selection to the second-team All-SBC as an outfielder, but will move to first base this season as well as contributing as a pitcher. He batted .323 with 15 doubles, a team-leading eight home runs and tied for a team-leading 44 RBI.
All Sun Belt Conference teams will open up the season on Friday with all 10 schools in action. The Jags will open up at 6:30pm when they host Stephen F. Austin at Stanky Field for a three game series.
SBC Officials Choose New Orleans To Host Future Basketball Championships
Almost lost lead-up to National Signing Day, the Sun Belt Conference office announced on Tuesday where the future Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments will be held starting in 2014.
Conference officials announced that Lakefront Arena in New Orleans will be the new host site of the SBC Tournament through 2016. Previously, Lakefront Arena hosted the Sun Belt Championships in 2002 when the University of New Orleans was a member of the conference. However this time it will be a neutral site for the tournament, making it the third such arena to host the Sun Belt Tournament as a neutral site.
Recently Lakefront Arena has undergone renovations that include $3.5 million eterior metal facade and sloped roof panels, a $1.5 million state-of-the-art bitumen roof system, $2.5 million in new seating with 8,700 total seats, $1.2 million in ramp renovations, new flooring through out the second level concourse, new tiles and restroom fixtures throughout the building, lighting upgrades, a new sound system and the addition of two new lounges.
This announcement about the relocation of the tournament comes with a year left on the existing agreement with the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Both parties mutually agreed to split ways after the fifth consecutive year of hosting the Tournament after this year’s tournament on March 8-11.
“All of the characteristics that make New Orleans one of the greatest tourist destinations in the world will guarantee that the Sun Belt Conference’s student-athletes, fans, coaches and administrators will love coming to the ‘Big Easy’ every March,” Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation CEO Jay Cicero said in a statement with the Sun Belt Conference. “We look forward to playing an important role in making this one of the NCAA’s best conference tournaments.”
“New Orleans is a great destination for our basketball championships and the recent renovations to Lakefront Arena make it an excellent venue to showcase our league,” Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson said in a statement on Tuesday. “In addition to being a great geographical fit for our membership, New Orleans has an incredible track record of hosting great sporting events – including the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl which has had a Sun Belt participant since the inaugural game in 2001. The city’s great restaurants, shopping, entertainment and accommodations, provide Sun Belt fans numerous things to do when away from the arena.”
“New Orleans is a great destination for Sun Belt fans, as those who have attended the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl can attest,” said Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., Chancellor of Troy University and President of the Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee in the statement. “It provides an excellent geographical fit for our league and is easily reachable for our fans. As we make this announcement, however, I would be remiss if I did not thank the City of Hot Springs for four and soon to be five memorable tournaments, starting in 2009.”
“The city of Hot Springs and the Hot Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau have been terrific for the Sun Belt Conference,” said Commissioner Benson. “When Hot Springs began hosting the tournament in 2009 it was the first neutral site that the Sun Belt had used in over twenty years. The leadership of Steve Arrison and his staff made the existence of a neutral site basketball tournament for the Sun Belt possible.”
“We have had a great partnership with the Sun Belt Conference over the past five years and are looking forward to a great tournament come March,” said Hot Spring Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Steve Arrison in the statement released by the Sun Belt Conference. “We originally had only a three year deal with the Sun Belt and are fortunate that next month we will have had five outstanding Sun Belt tournaments here in Hot Springs.”
Dates for the 2014 tournament will be released at a later date. But it is very exciting that New Orleans will be the host for the next three years. It’s a much easier location to reach for fans and has virtually unlimited sites and activities for fans to enjoy outside of the Arena. The city definitely had the upper hand as that is where the Conference headquarters are still located.
Jags Add Southern Utah To 2013 Football Schedule
There are reports that South Alabama will open the 2013 season against Southern Utah at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on a Thursday night on August 29.
Head coach Joey Jones and the University of South Alabama football team have completed their 2013 football schedule. The Jags have added a fifth non-conference game to fill the 12 game schedule after Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic negotiated their early exit from the conference this summer.
The Jags 2013 schedule of 12 games will be evenly split between road games and home games. They will have four Sun Belt Conference games at home and three road games. Of the Sun Belt teams returning this season, the Jags played road games against Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe and Arkansas State while playing a home game against Troy. The Jags did not face Western Kentucky last season.
This season the Jags will face ULM, ULL, Arkansas State, Troy and Western Kentucky with new additions of Georgia State and Texas State. They will have five non-conference games with only two of them scheduled to be at home. The newly added Southern Utah will visit Mobile on August 29 as mentioned before and Kent State will visit on October 19th.
The Jags will travel to play Tulane on September 7, University of Tennessee on September 28 and Navy on November 16.
The official Sun Belt Schedule will be released this spring. That is when we will know for certain who the Jags will face, where they will face them and when they will face them.
As for Southern Utah, they went 5-6 last season playing as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
Roberson Arrested As Suspect In Burglary
Xavier Roberson photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
KLTV in Tyler, Texas reports that former South Alabama basketball player Xavier Roberson has been charged for a home burglary that took place on Christmas eve.
Roberson was suspended indefinitely in December by interim head coach Jeff Price for breaking then unidentified team and University rules.
Roberson, according to the report, was identified as one of the suspects and was arrested by the Humble, Texas police department on January 21 then transferred to Tyler, Texas on January 24.
The KLTV posts states that the Tyler Police responded to a burglary alarm on December 24 at a residence. Upon arrival, they discovered that a burglary had occurred. Dispatch received a call from a person who gave a vehicle description for a suspect. Another police officer saw the vehicle and attempted to stop them. The suspects threw stolen jewelry from the vehicle as they managed to get away. One of the suspects was identified as Roberson later.
He is being held on $300,000 bond as the police are still trying to identify two other suspects.
This is a very sad development for a gifted student-athlete.
The full report can be seen here.
Coach Jones Adds Freddie Roach And Travis Pearson To Staff
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp. Chase Smith looks on behind Jones.
Head coach Joey Jones announced additions to his staff to fill open positions. Freddie Roach and Travis Pearson have joined the program and were in the football field house on Friday hitting the ground running.
Former University of Alabama linebacker Freddie Roach will join Brian Turner in coaching the defensive linemen. Roach was a four-year letterman for the Crimson Tide from 2002-2005. He was an assistant on the Alabama staff with the strength and conditioning program and was on the staff for the 2009 national championship team.
Roach was on the Murray State staff last season as defensive line coach. Prior to joining the Murry State staff, he helped the East Mississippi Community College team to a 12-0 record and the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship.
He ended his collegiate career as Alabama’s 10th all-time leading tackler and signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2006 but was released during the preseason due to injury. Travis Pearson was hired to coach the linebackers for the Jaguars.
Pearson was the defensive coordinator at Colquitt County High school the last two seasons where they had back-to-back semifinal appearances in the state 5A playoffs. He was also the head coach and athletic director at Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery for two years prior to Colquitt County HS. In 2002-2004 he was the head coach at Elmore County High School. His final year at Elmore, he was selected the Metro 4A Coach of the Year after finishing the season 12-1 and an appearance in the quarterfinals.
He also served as director of football operations at Iowa State for the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
“You can tell when you meet Freddie Roach how hungry he is to be a great coach. He has that look in his eyes that I’m sure he had when he played,” Coach Joey Jones said. “He is going to demand a lot out of our players. And he is very technical, when I interviewed him he knew everything about playing defensive line. He understood it inside and out, from hand placement to the steps and how to attack offensive linemen. He’s a great coach now, and is going to be a tremendous coach as he gets some maturity about him.”
“I’ve known coach Pearson over the years going back to meeting him when he was the defensive coordinator at Oxford High, I’ve always been real impressed with the presence he had around the players,” Jones said. “He is one of the best coaches that I’ve seen: he is a motivator, he knows football and kids will do anything for him. When you’re coaching linebackers, you need a guy like that.”
“Everything is on the rise here,” Roach said. “It’s a new program with great facilities, the administration has done a great job of helping to get it going, and there are great coaches including a lot of Alabama guys. There are just a lot of great things going on, and I wanted to be a part of it and help this program be successful. I am in this business to help kids mature and become men, and also teach them how to play football. I was fortunate to play for and work with a bunch of great coaches, I’ve been fortunate all my life, so I would like to take what I’ve been given to help guys learn and accomplish what I have and more. And, there’s nothing like being back home.”
“First, I’ve known coach Jones, what he is about and the vision he has for this program, and that excited me,” Pearson said. “The opportunity to coach at South Alabama is also exciting to me, especially since I am from Southern Choctaw an hour and 45 minutes up the road. I want to win, particularly a conference championship, and get this program where coach Jones wants it to be. I think coach Sherrer is going to do an outstanding job and it is going to be a pleasure working with him as well.”
Sources have indicated that that’s not quite the end of the staff changes however. First year director of football operations, Chase Smith, may get a promotion to running backs coach to replace Tommy Perry who left for a position at North Texas. Prior to being named director of football operations before last season, Smith served as an offensive graduate assistant. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2005 and masters degree in 2008, both in physical education, from Jacksonville State University.
He also served as assistant coach at Spanish Fort High School from 2007-2010.
That would move Brendt Bedsole off the field and back into the position of director of football operations. Bedsole has performed that job since the beginning of the program until he was promoted to linebackers coach last season.
It is unknown who will take on the position of special teams coordinator that Coach Tommy Perry also held.
It’s a very opportune time to announce the hire as the Jags have their big recruiting weekend this weekend with about 21 recruits on-campus for visits.
Goldstein Out For Remainder Of Season
A Report on WNSP this morning by Lee Shirvanian said that Senior Freddie Goldstein will miss the remainder of the season after sufferring a broken collarbone against Western Kentucky last night.
Goldstein was averaging 8.1 points per game and averaging over 29 minutes per game of playing time for the Jags. He had also hit 31 three-pointers on the season.
The Jags are now down two guards on the team with the loss of Goldstein and Xavier Roberson. Roberson was suspended indefinitely for breaking team and athletic department policy.
MTSU And FAU To Pay $700k Early Exit Fee
Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson announced that Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic will both leave the Sun Belt Conference effective June 30, 2013.
After previously announcing that they would remain in the Sun Belt Conference through June 2014. However, the schools and the conference office came to a settlement that allows FAU and MTSU to pay a “slightly reduced” early exit fee. The Sun Belt Executive Committee voted on and offered a $700,000 exit fee which both schools opted to accept.
Middle Tennessee and the Sun Belt had argued over the previous long-standing exit fee of $500,000 and the new penalty of $1 million, which was voted in by the executive committee last spring.
“Our desire to aid our athletic directors in finalizing the 2013 football schedule was the reason for allowing a reduced exit fee,” Benson said. “While the seven-game conference schedule is not perfect, the understanding is that this would only be for one season.”
Now that the date of withdrawl has been finalized, the Sun Belt conference will have eight football members and 10 total members for the 2013-2014 year. The schools with football will play a seven-game conference schedule and a double round-robin 18-game schedule for men’s and women’s basketball.
“We will shift our attention back towards the future of the league and what our membership should consist of,” Benson said. “As of now there are no pending invitations to the Sun Belt for membership, however, we know that there are a number of teams interested in joining our league.”
The Sun Belt is coming off of it’s most successful season in it’s 12-year history. Four teams were invited to bowl games and all four of them will return to the Sun Belt Conference for the 2013 season.
Next season the Sun Belt’s football membership will consist of Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy and Western Kentucky. Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington are non-football members.
Benson said that the conference is competitive in all sports and that it’s position as one of only 10 BCS conferences along with its geographical footprint are attractive to the schools who have expressed interest in joining the Sun Belt.
Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins, also president of the Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee, said that the conference’s chief executives “appreciate the contributions Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee have made to the Sun Belt Conference. We wish FAU and MTSU well.”
Benson also said that the Sun Belt’s bylaws need to be changed to more clearly restrict a school’s early exit because current rules requiring a notification date of departure are incomplete. Benson also indicated that pressure was put on the remaining schools to determine a reduced exit fee for the two schools in order to adjust their football schedules. Thus the Sun Belt executive committee “reluctantly settled.”
Benson said that the departures of MTSU and FAU along with North Texas and FIU might delay the Sun Belt’s progress, but it will not deter it.
“We were on our way,” said Benson. “… We were hoping we had time to build the conference to the point where we could stand alongside Conference USA with a comparable name. But we will eventually get there.”
MTSU And FAU To Join CUSA In July
Early speculation and a recent report by Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com has been confirmed by AL.com. Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic have negotiated their buyout and will be joining Conference USA on July 1.
They will follow North Texas and Florida International who announced plans to join CUSA for the 2013 season prior to the 2012 football season. This will affect the 2013 football schedule for all Sun Belt members.
An official announcement is expected to be released on Tueday concerning MTSU and FAU’s early exit from the conference.
Originally MTSU and FAU would have joined CUSA on July 1, 2014, however with the early exit this will leave the conference with eight football-sponsoring schools. The Sun Belt currently provides an eight game conference schedule for each team, however with eight teams they will only be able to provide a seven-game conference schedule.
Now the remaining schools will have time to seek another game to fill their schedule with another non-conference game.
South Alabama’s non-conference schedule next season has trips to Tennessee, Navy and Tulane with a home game against GoDaddy.com Bowl participant Kent State.
A letter was released by the South Alabama Ticket Office about 2013 season tickets concerning a delay about renewal letters being released. Since the number of home games is currently unknown, they are working with the conference office and the football program to see how many home games will be on the schedule this season for pricing and such.
It may be difficult to schedule a FBS program for the 2013 season and may have to turn to the FCS ranks to fill the open date on the scedule. The Jags currently do not have a FCS program on the schedule this upcoming season so it would not affect the number of wins needed to be eligible for a bowl game. FBS programs can only use one win over an FCS team towards bowl eligibility unless there are not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all of the bowl slots.