Jags finish undefeated for second consecutive season
The first ever senior class for the South Alabama Jaguar football team are honored before the game.
The South Alabama football team ended their second season of football the same way they ended their first season, undefeated. However their road was quite a bit different this season from what it was last year. After a particularly impressive first season, the coaches and administration agreed that they needed to up the level of competition for season number two. Thus they scheduled all four year institutions with some very tough tests including Lamar, UC-Davis and Georgia State.
This second season culminated in a Thursday night game against Arkansas-Monticello in front of 14,904 fans strong and the Jaguars did not disappoint.
The Jags had a pre-game ceremony to honor South Alabama’s first senior class. Twelve Jaguars were honored, Sean Ceballos (Mobile), Rodney Watson (Mobile), Cory Pittman (Chickasaw), Justin Dunn (McCalla, AL), Tim Harvey (Evanston, IL), Charlie Higgenbotham (Birmingham, AL), John Mark Patrick (Jay, FL), Rob Powell-Deppe (Chicago, IL), Courtney Smith (New Orleans, LA), Brennan Sim (Portland, OR), Ralph Turner (Dothan, AL) and Michael Wilson (Monroe, LA). They came to a program that had nothing and lead the way to back-to-back undefeated seasons, going 17-0. Additionally, they honored Anthony Mostella, who would have been a senior as well, but who had passed away in the summer.
The first quarter was uneventful. No points were scored in the first quarter for either team, which was a first for the Jaguars this season and their first time since facing Georgia Military. Actually the first five possessions were punts. The Jaguars third drive began with a pass interference penalty, putting the Jags in Boll Weevil territory. This would be followed by a facemask penalty after CJ Bennett ran for six yards, placing the ball at the Boll Weevil 27 yard line. But after getting down to the 14 yard line, a seven yard sack and an incomplete pass later, the Jags were lining up a 38 yard field goal attempt, which went wide left for Lawson McGlon with 9:02 left in the second quarter.
Two more punts, one by each team followed before Arkansas-Monticello mounted a drive. Nakita Myles rushed for six yards then quarterback Scott Buisson completed a pass that would go for 54 yards down to the Jaguar 16 yard line. A five yard rush to the 11 would be offset by a six yard sack. Then on third down the Boll Weevils could only manage two yards. The field goal attempt would fly wide right giving the Jaguars the ball at their own 20 yard line with 2:52 left until halftime.
The Jags first play would be an incomplete pass intended for Courtney Smith, then coach Joey Jones would call a time out. After the time out, Bennett would connect with Kendall Houston for 28 yards out to the USA 48 yard line. The next play was a completion to Jereme Jones for 16 more yards down to the UAM 36 yard line. After rushing for four more yards, Bennett would hit Courtney Smith for eight more yards and a Jaguar first down at the UAM 24 yard line. After an incomplete pass intended for Corey Waldon, Arkansas-Monticello calls a time out with 56 seconds left until halftime.
After the time out, Bennett would complete another pass to Courtney Smith for 16 yards down to the eight yard line and another first down. Bennett would rush for two yards down to the six yard line and the Jags would use another time out with 21 seconds left. Bennett would float a pass to Corey Waldon, but it would fall incomplete. Then Bennett would find Jereme Jones in the end zone for the 6 yard touchdown pass with 21 seconds remaining until halftime to take a 7-0 lead into halftime.
The Jaguars received the opening kickoff to start the second half and TJ Glover was quick to spark the Jags and the fans with a 60 yard kickoff return to the UAM 31 yard line. Kendall Houston then took the first hand off 16 yards down to the UAM 15. Two more rushes by Houston would net 2 and 3 yards respectively to bring up 3rd and 5 at the UAM 10. Bennett’s pass to Waldon would fall incomplete then Lawson McGlon would drill the 27 yard field goal to extend the Jaguar lead to 10-0 with 12:41 left in the 3rd quarter.
Arkansas-Monticello would respond on it’s next possession, driving 76 yards in 7 plays. Two big runs for 17 and 34 yards would account for the majority of the drive for the Boll Weevil touchdown and cutting the Jaguar lead to 10-7 with 8:49 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Jags would not let the Boll Weevils score go unanswered though. A short kickoff by UAM would be returned to the 40 yard line where CJ Bennett would connect with Courtney Smith for 43 yards down to the UAM 17 yard line. Houston would follow up with a 13 yard rush to get down to the Boll Weevil 4 yard line. After a rush by Houston for no gain and an incomplete pass intended for Kevin Helms, Arkansas-Monticello would call a time out with 6:58 left in the 3rd quarter. On 3rd and goal from the 4 after the timeout, Bennett would find Helms for the touchdown to extend the lead back to ten points at 17-7.
On the Boll Weevils ensuing possession, Buisson would rush for 8 yards but would then be intercepted by Ken Barefield and would give the ball back to the Jaguars offense at the USA 49 yard line. Bennett’s first pass would go to Courtney Smith for a 19 yard gain down to the UAM 32 yard line. His second attempt would fall incomplete and his third would be intercepted at at the 20 and returned 20 yards back to the UAM 40 then lateraled to a teammate who carried it to the 50 yard line, but would then fumble it and the Boll Weevils would recover it at the UAM 45 yard line.
On the possession by the Boll Weevils, they would face a 4th and 1 from the USA 46 yard line. Then Romelle Jones would drop Nakita Myles for a 3 yard loss to turn the ball over on downs.
TJ Clover would start the drive with a nine yard rush to the UAM 42 yard line. Kendall Houston would then bust loose for a 38 yard gain down to the UAM 4 yard line. Then he would finish off the job with a 4 yard run into the endzone, extending the Jaguar lead to 24-7 with 2:27 left in the 3rd quarter.
Michel Chapuseaux’s kick would be fielded at the UAM 4 then returned 32 yards out to the 36 yard line. Buisson would rush for the first down for 14 yards to the mid-field stripe. Nikita Myles would rush for a yard then get stopped for no gain to bring up 4th and 1 at the USA 41 yard line. But Andy Dalgleish would dropped Myles for a loss of one to turn the ball over on downs again.
Santuan McGee would open the drive as well as close the book on the 3rd quarter with a six yard rush out near mid-field at the 48 yard line. McGee would take the next handoff for four more yards and a Jaguar first down at the UAM 48. Then a pass interference penalty would be flagged on UAM to put the ball at the UAM 33 yard line. A five yard rush by McGee would be wiped away on a holding penalty puts the ball back at the UAM 46 yard line. Facing 1st and 23, Bennett would throw back to back incompletions. On 3rd and 23, Bennett would would find some open turf and gain the need 23 yards to keep the drive alive at the UAM 23 yard line.
TJ Glover would rush for 6 yards but the Jaguar offense would be flagged once again for holding to put the ball back at the UAM 27 yard line for 1st and 14. CJ Bennett would then connect with Paul Bennett for 12 yards to the UAM 15 yard line. Houston would then run for 5 yards and the first down at the Boll Weevil 6 yard line. Then TJ Glover would take it in for the final score by the Jags in the game. Extending their lead to 31-7 with 10:50 left in the game.
Back to back punts by Arkansas-Monticello and South Alabama would give the Boll Weevile the ball back with 7:37 left in the game. Facing 3rd and 6 at the Jaguar 44, Anton Graphenreed would pick off the Scott Buisson pass at the 29 and return it three yards to the USA 32 yard line.
Back to back rushes by Ellis Hill would lose 1 yard and gain three respectively before the Jags would call a timeout with 3:44 left in the game. Facing 3rd and 8 at the USA 34 yard line, Myles Gibbon’s pass would be intercepted along the sideline and returned 25 yards to the Jaguar 11 yard line.
Buisson would rush for five yards down to the Jaguar 6 yard line. Then Greg Taylor would rush for five more yards down to the Jaguar 1 yard line before Coach Jones would call his final timeout of the game. Romelle Jones and Justin Dunn would combine to stop Taylor for no gain on 1st and goal. Then Justin Dunn would dive through and sack Buisson for a four yard loss on the next play. Arkansas-Monticello would call a time out facing 3rd and goal at the USA 5 yard line. Buisson would complete his next pass to Taylor for the touchdown to cut end the scoring for the final score of 31-14.
Enrique Williams and Randon Carnathan would get special moments by rushing the ball to help run down the final 1:30 of the game with Brennan Sim under center.
The Jags would put up 180 yards on the ground and 220 through the air for 400 yards of total offense. While the Jaguar defense would allow 206 yards on the ground and only 102 through the air for 308 total yards.
Kendall Houston would rush 16 times for 104 yards and a touchdown to be the Jaguars leading rusher. Quarterback Scott Buisson would rush for 91 yards to be the Boll Weevil’s leading rusher.
CJ Bennett went 16-of-29 for 222 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Brennan Sim, in his last game, went 1-of-2 for -2 yards. While Myles Gibbon went 0-for-1 with his only attempt being intercepted.
Senior Courtney Smith caught 10 passes for 141 yards to lead all receivers in the game and to finish out his career with South Alabama in the spotlight. His 141 yards receiving was just enough to edge out Kendall Houston’s 104 yards rushing and 28 yard receiving for the most all-purpose yards for the Jags.
Jerron Mitchell lead all Jaguars with eight total stops with Justin Dunn one behind with 7 including a tackle for loss and a sack to end his Jaguar career as well. Charlie Higgenbotham was one of three Jags to have six stops.
Coach Jones spoke after the game saying, “Arkansas-Monticello had a great game plan. We came out the second half and adjusted. I was real proud of the coaches making good adjustments, and also for the players for not panicking out on the field.”
“I think it’s tremendous that these young men have put together two seasons like that back-to-back,” Coach Jones continues. “It really speaks for their character and the hard work they put into it. My staff has done a tremendous job; they’re a great staff and really know the game and love the players. The biggest thing I see about our team right now is we have a belief in each other. When you believe in each other, great things are going to happen. That started a long time ago, and over time it has gotten better and better.”
Coach Jones also spoke about Courtney Smith, “Courtney has been the face of our program in some ways. He came in and has done a tremendous job. It’s great that he can go out on a note like that. But most of all, I’m just proud of Courtney and the type of person he’s become. He has become a leader; he was voted one of our captains this morning by the team. I’m real proud of him for the character he’s shown. Some of the things they ran defensively gave us some opportunities to get him the ball. It just worked out that way tonight.”
Wide Receiver Courtney Smith commented after the game, “I wasn’t worried about getting the ball. I was thinking about when the clock expired, there would be no more South Alabama football for me. I don’t know if it was the coverage, but my coach just kept giving me the ball and I just kept making plays for my teammates. Without the offensive line and the quarterbacks, no one would see me catch the ball, so I want to thank them.”
Justin Dunn commented after the game, “We knew they had a good option attack coming into the game. Their quarterback having the most yards in the state of Arkansas was one of the stats our coaches threw out today before we started to play. We knew he was going to be a good athlete, and an option attack is all about assignments. We came out at first, made little adjustments here and there and it cost us on some of our assignments. We came back toward the end, got it figured out and took care of all of our assignments.”
“I didn’t know what to expect when I came here,” Senior Linebacker Charlie Higgenbotham said. “Looking back, it was the scariest day of my life. I didn’t know anyone here. It has been an amazing experience, and it’s a sign that something really special is happening here. This team has really come together in two years, and people don’t realize how hard that is. My challenge to the team is for them to keep it going.”
The Jags will be classifed as FCS next season and will, once again, step up in competition with big road games against FBS (Division I) opponents Kent State and NC State. But before then, the Jaguar staff is turning their focus on recruiting and the players will continue to get bigger and stronger for the challenges ahead. But the season will begin once again in over nine months when South Alabama kicks off the 2011 season on a Thursday September 1st at Ladd-Peebles Stadium against West Alabama.
However West Alabama will be without legendary coach Bobby Wallace, who announced his retirement at the end of the season. Wallace lead UNA to three consecutive Division II national Championships in 93-95. He then left for Temple in 1998 and could not manage to turn them around, going 19-71 in 8 seasons. He then returned to Division II in 2006 and lead West Alabama to their first winning season in 14 years and their first playoff appearance in 34 years. He will be inducted into the Division II hall of fame on December 12.
Again, thanks to the Seniors who bought into a new program and gave the coaches and the school a chance. Your experience and leadership on a team full of youngsters is what helped this program get to where it is today. Your contributions will be what continues to help this program proceed along the path to Division I success.
Go Jags!!
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Rugby Stirs up Interest at JagFest
Jag fans get ready for rugby at South Alabama. Jagfest this past Saturday was a very successful venue for recruiting participants. Over 70+ students stopped by the booth to “sign up” during the event. Founding members of South Alabama Rugby took interested players’ contact info and helped promote the team’s first meeting (Sept. 14th at the new Rec Center meeting room).
For more information, visit http://www.southalabamarugby.com/
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!
Jaguars Fall In SBC Championship Game, Falls Short Of NCAA Tournament
Several things lead to a rough first half for South Alabama. WKU begin the game with an 11-0 advantage and eventually see their lead swell to as much as 15 with 5:58 to play in the first half. The first half saw the worst of the Jaguars with plenty of turnovers and an inability to get a defensive rebound allowing the Hilltoppers to shoot two, three and sometimes four times down the court. Then in addition to the sloppy play, WKU took advantage of USA’s spotty 3-point defense.
DeAndre Coleman, who was still suffering from a stomach illness, took the Jaguars onto his back and kept them in the game for the first half. At halftime, the Jaguars were only down by ten points, 35-25.
The second half saw the Jaguars come out of the locker room determined to try to win the game, knowing that their only opportunity to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament was by winning this game.
Domonic Tilford came out and drained an early 3-pointer to cut the hilltopper lead under ten points for the first time since it was 9-0. Add a DeAndre Coleman layup and another Tilford trey and the jaguars were within four points with 16:29 left in the game.
Sherrer connected with Coleman for another layup and a foul on Magley of the hilltoppers. Coleman connected on the free throw to get the Jags within one points of the lead 37-36 with 15:48 left in the game. Then Coleman gave South Alabama their first lead of the game 41 seconds later on a tip-in.
Tilford would extend the Jaguar lead to 43-39 on a three pointer with 12:17 left. However the lead was short lived after a layup and a trey by the hilltoppers retook the lead with 10:58 left in the game at 44-43.
The Jaguars would tie the game up one more time at 46 on a DeAndre Coleman free throw with 8:34 left in the game. However the Jags ran out of fuel and could not keep pace with the hilltoppers. Each time the Jags would start to get close, Orlando Mendez-Valdez would drain a 3-pointer. The Jaguars were within four points with 2:52 left but free throw shooting, turnovers and shots that would not fall would end the game. The final score was 64-56.
Brandon Davis would lead all scorers, coming off the bench to score 27 points on 11-16 shooting, 5-6 from the free throw line and adding 9 rebounds. Domonic Tilford, the Jaguars leading scorer, could only score 12 points on 4-10 shooting, 4-6 from beyond the arc.
A.J. Slaughter would lead the hilltoppers in scoring with 18 points on 5-14 shooting, 2-8 from 3-point range and 6-6 from the free throw line. Steffphon Pettigrew added 15 points and Orlando Mendez-Valdez added 10 points and eight assists. Mendez-Valdez only hit two shots from the floor, but they were both 3-pointers to seal the game.
The Jaguars shot 50% from the floor for the game compared to 42% for the hilltoppers. The Jags shot 50% from 3-point range while the hilltoppers shot 35%. The Jags went to the charity stripe 8 times and made five of them while the hilltoppers made all 14 attempts.
South Alabama will have to wait and see if they receive an invitation to play in the NIT Tournament.
The seniors DeAndre Coleman, Domonic Tilford, Brandon Davis, B.J. Ford, Ronald Douglas and Jamal Harris played a great season for the Jaguars. They fought hard through injuries, a tough last second losing streak and illness to have a good season. Hopefully they will go on and do good in whatever comes of them after their time at South Alabama.
GO JAGS!!
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Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-10
Coach Jones joined the program over the phone since he was just across the state line from Auburn in Columbus Georgia for recruiting. He left out early this morning and will return late tonight. Also Travis Toth joined Lee Shirvanian at Wings Sports Grill, he is the marketing director at USA.
First off Lee wanted to bring everyone up to date on recruiting. Coach Jones said that they are at the point where they can be more specific about what they are looking for such as defensive linemen, linebackers, getting another quarterback or so and they would be looking pretty well. They seem to be set with offensive linemen, running backs and wide receivers for now.
It was brought up that a letter was sent out by the SEC and SBC clarifying an NCAA rule that they had been back and forth on for some time now. The rule maybe was a bit fuzzy so they ruled that coaches could not attend the game or practice of the Alabama – Mississippi All-Star Game coming up soon. Even though they are in a contact period with recruits they cannot go to these events. A lot of good players have played in this game and it’s a huge honor for any high school player to be selected to play in this game.
When asked about the challenges the coaches have when it comes to preparing for this game coach Jones answered that the key was offense. Defensive schemes are easier to prepare and get the kids ready for, but offense is a huge key to get prepared. They will be bringing together kids that play in a multitude of different offensive schemes. Some may have played in the Wing-T, Veer, or Spread offenses so bringing them together and creating a cohesive offense that they can run together is a huge task. The key is to keep it simple so they can learn, understand and execute it over the course of a four day period.
The holidays is coming up and Travis Toth talked about an ad they are running in the Mobile Press-Register as gifts for that sports loving fan this holiday season. They have a choice of two sideline tickets ($75 for the season) or two endzone ($48 for the season). It will come with a certificate for the tickets and a USA Football T-Shirt. So if you know a USA sports fan, this would be a great holiday gift for them to open on Christmas day.
Coach Jones said they have set dates for spring football practice and when I talked to one of the team members last night he told me that it will start February 18th. So after the holidays, they will jump right back into the grind to get ready for South Alabama Football in the fall. When asked about something like an A-Day game, similar to what Alabama and Auburn have in the spring, coach Jones said that they would have something special for the last day of spring practice. He did not indicate if it would be a full on A-Day game like experience or if it would be a more low-key scrimmage but something will be planned and we will know about it on his radio show for certain.
Daniel McCarthy has been hired as directory of compliance so he will be working closely with the football program to make sure everything is done by the book and no rules are broken accidentally. The rule talked about earlier with the All-Star game was mentioned again and he expects that it may be changed in the future. Kids may be recognized at the game who may not have received a scholarship otherwise which is a huge benefit to the kids.
Recruiting trips will continue through December 20th and then they will pick back up on or around January 4th, Coach Jones could not remember the exact date since he was on the road recruiting. USA will be able to sign up to 30 kids in February but they could receive more than those in verbal commitments. Some may not qualify academically, but they are talking to a lot of interested kids that have good grades so that may not be a concern come signing time.
Lee Shirvanian then asked Coach Jones what his first roster could look like. Jones responded that they could have anywhere from 50-60 on scholarship this fall and about 20 of those would be Junior College transfers and the rest walk-ons. He expects them to be 120-130 players by the time they start next summer preparing for the fall schedule. He started recruiting Junior College kids fairly close to home but they are now recruiting them from Texas, California and other places to find the best players they can to fill the positions they need. So far this year, 17 kids have been signed to scholarships and they have 13 more they can sign this calendar year. They have been working on some and can announce them around the December 17th deadline hopefully.
Lee brought up an interesting thing, why don’t Junior Colleges in Alabama play football? Coach Jones and others agreed it would be great for kids in our state. The economy and money are probably the biggest factors.
Coach Jones is not close to releasing the schedule yet for next year. Many of the coaches he is talking to for contracts have been in the midst of their season so negotiations have been put on the back burner for the last few weeks. They will be getting back into that soon. Currently, even the players do not know who they may be playing and I know at least one of them is quite eager to know.
Going back to the rules talk, Lee Shirvanian stated that lately he has not hear much about football rules violations. Mr. McCarthy said that rules compliance for football is much harder than for basketball. Basketball has maybe from 7-10 players they have to monitor. Football they could have 120-130 as Coach Jones indicated on their roster, that they have to monitor and make sure no rules are being breached. Its really a whole team effort to get this done. USA has a group of faculty volunteers that help advise these players when they come to see the school and it really helps that they can talk to faculty from their potential chosen majors too.
When asked about the sports dorms that the NCAA has gotten rid of, Coach Jones was outspoken about them. He likes the sports dorms for players so they are held responsible and are kept out of potentially bad situations. When he was a player at Alabama he knew that there were people there watching out for them. Kids are going to be kids, nothing has changed since he was in college. They do not need babysitting but they can sometimes use a big brother as a mentor.
Lee asked Coach Jones about how soon USA could have a senior in the Senior Bowl, which is held each year in Mobile, Alabama. Coach Jones was very optimistic and enthusiastic stating that it could be in the next few years. They are really bringing in good, talented players that could be selected. Its also a good recruiting tool to say that the Senior Bowl is located in Mobile and that they will definitely be looking at USA for potential players.
Travis Toth then mentioned that USA will be hosting our basketball rival, Western Kentucky on Thursday, December 18th and we need everyone we can get into the Mitchell Center to help kick off the Conference season with a big win over the Hilltoppers. They have been playing well and so has USA. So come out and join us for the game!