Jags Football To Be Without Hollinger This Season
Game Captains for South Alabama Romelle Jones, B.J. Scott, Greg Hollinger and Alex Page meet the Troy captains at mid-field for the coin toss in the two teams first meeting and the Jaguars first Sun Belt Conference game.
While head coach Joey Jones and his staff are in the midst of recruiting for the 2013 class and trying to hire coaches to fill two positions on his staff, he will have a spot at tight end to fill.
The Jags will be without Greg Hollinger next season as he is not enrolled and will not return to South Alabama according to AL.com. Hollinger, a 6’4″ 230-pound former Jaguar would have been a senior during the 2013 season. He had to sit out his freshman year due to academic reasons.
Last season Hollinger caught 22 passes for 321 yards, averaging 14.6 yards per reception, and two touchdowns. In 2011 he caught four passes for 76 yards as a wide receiver.
Those numbers put him 6th on the team in receptions last season, 5th in yardage and tied for second on the team in touchdown receptions.
The Jags will return Wes Saxton who caught 26 passes for 336 yards last season and Jared Palmer who caught two passes for two yards last season. Also Rush Hendricks, Ryan Onkka and Kyle Sappington were all on the roster last season for the Jags.
Twin defensive backs Steffon and Steven Fuller, who were exected to enroll at South Alabama this semester, have not enrolled as of Friday. Instead, they are expected to enroll for the summer semester in May, however they will miss spring practice. They are expected to contend for starting spots this fall.
As for recruiting, Coach Jones and his staff have been vigorously recruiting. They are keeping in touch with prospects who have already given their verbal committments as well as talking with other prospects they hope to sign to the school.
This weekend a small group of prospects will be visiting. Xavier Johnson, is a 5’10” 167-pound running back from Tampa, FL., who verbally committed to South Alabama prior to the start of this past season but backed off his committment just before football season began. He rushed for 1,736 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior. While his numbers were down for his senior season, he still scored 10 touchdowns. Since then he has solidly reaffirmed his committment to the Jags.
Kevin Gary, a 6′ 180-pound wide receiver from Georgia Military where he caught 21 passes for 429 yards and 7 touchdowns his past season. Terrence Upshaw, a 5’9″ 180-pound running back from Duluth Georgia, who is ranked as a 3-star recuit by Rivals.com.
De’Shawn Beck, a 5’9″ 180-pound wide receiver from Los Angeles Harbor College. During the 2012 season he caught 37 passes for 647 yards and five touchdowns. Beck’s teammate Jarrell Wright, a 6’3″ 300-pound defensive lineman, who tallied 41 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss and six sacks.
Earlier this week Jones said that the main needs of this season’s recruiting class are defensive linemen and offensive playmakers. Based on these recuits, that is what they are looking at.
However, the biggest on-campus recruiting weekend for the Jags will be next weekend. At this time they expect to have as many as 20 prospects on campus for a whirl-wind recruiting effort.
South Alabama will be able to sign a full class of 25 players.
Jags Down ULM 71-56
Dre Conner finished with 10 assists against ULM. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Jaguar men’s basketball team used a strong second half showing to notch a 71-56 win over Louisiana-Monroe. This win propelled the Jags into sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division with a 6-3 record, an overall record of 9-8 for the season and evening their home conference record at 2-2 this season. ULM falls to 3-11 overall and 2-6 in Sun Belt play.
Freddie Goldstein nailed a three pointer just before halftime to tie the game a 27 apiece as teams headed into their locker rooms. But the Jags would open the second half with a 13-2 run to take control of the game. THey would make it’s first four shots from the floor after halftime and shoot 62.5 percent from the floor in the second half.
“Obviously (it was a) much better effort in the second half,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “I’ve just talked so much at halftime, like I do before the games, that we have shooting droughts and we have to find a way to manufacture points. It was a glaring difference in the second half with our defensive intensity. We’re capable of doing that every night if we just get our mind to it.”
Goldstein and Antoine Allen combined for 11 points and two three-pointers to start the second half with the 13-2 run. Goldstein would end the game with five three-pointers.
ULM would work to get within five points on four different occasions in the second half. The final run came at the 7:27 mark. South Alabama would respond with a 9-1 run to put the game away.
Augustine Rubit would score 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and fall one rebound shy of another double-double on the season. This moved Rubit into 11th on the all-time scoring list and 17th in the all-time rebounding list.
“Regardless of the double teams, we keep going at him and that’s what we need to do because he continues to get better at kicking it out and we rotate one over and get shots,” Price explained. “It happened several times in the first half with plus-ones. We just have to get those shots. He’s just a warrior. Aug battles and battles. He gets slapped and hammered and grabbed and just keeps going after it. He had a huge three-point play in the second half where he just builds his way to the basket. He’s just doing a great job and we just need to continue to play off of him.”
Goldstein would finish the game with 16 points, going 5-of-10 from outside the arc. Javier Carter would tie a career high with 10 rebounds.
Dre Conner would lead all player with a personal-best nine assists, which is the most by a Jaguar player since Daon Merritt against FIU on March 1, 2008.
“Dre’s a tough kid and he is playing well for us right now,” Price said. “I continue to preach that the more he plays the better he will get. He had nine assists tonight and I thought he controlled the game well. He’s just going to keep getting better. There’s a lot of concern about a point guard play early, but with point guards it just takes time. I think he is starting to come into his own.”
Mychal Ammons would finish with 10 points, including the final four points of the game that would cap the game off with an exclamation. A slam dunk which was followed shorty by a windmill dunk. ULM would inbounds the ball and let the clock run out after that.
South Alabama will get a week off before returning to the court to host Western Kentucky on Thursday, January 24th in a Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division clash. The game will be televised on ESPN3.com and as part of the ESPN Full Court Package.
Jaguar Men Open Three Game Homestand Against ULM Tonight
The South Alabama men’s basketball team begin a three-game home stand Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 7:05pm tipoff. The Jags come into this game after splitting a pair of road games beginning with a thrilling double-overtime win over Louisiana-Lafayette 91-89 then a 66-56 loss at North Texas, the Jags first road loss in Conference play.
“Louisiana-Monroe is a good team, like any conference team we’re expecting a close game,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “This is a team that went and won at North Texas and played Middle Tennessee to nine points last week. You learn that conference games are different than non-conference games. They’re going to come ready to play and we’ll have to show up to have a chance to win the game.”
While the Jags are 4-1 on the road in Conference play, they are 1-2 at home in the Conference. The two losses have come against Middle Tennessee State and Arkansas State. Those two teams have a combined conference record of 10-5.
“I think we’ve been extremely focused on the road,” Price said. “Our focus has been really good and we have to find a way to get that same focus at home and hopefully get off to a good start, we haven’t gotten off to great starts at home, and hopefully have some folks here to watch us.”
The Jags faced the Warhawks about two weeks ago on January 3 where they scored a 77-72 win. Junior Augustine Rubit scored a career high 32 points in the win. This will be the Jags first rematch against a Conference foe this season.
“(Playing again so soon) could benefit both of us or be a disadvantage,” Price observed. “We look at a lot of tape and I’m sure they’re doing the same thing. We look at what we did well over there and what we didn’t do well and try to make some adjustments. It’s certainly different playing someone so close together and I’m sure we’ll both have our own strategies put together on how we need to win the game.”
ULM’s Amos Olatayo used the game against South Alabama to jump-start his season. Prior to the contest against the Jags he had scored only six points in the previous two games. But he broke out with 18 points off the bench to start a streak of four consecutive games in double-digits scoring. He is averaging 19 points per game over that span with a high of 24 points last week against MTSU.
The Jags and the Warhawks tipoff at the Mitchell Center at 7:05pm.
Lady Jags Score 61-51 Win Over ULM
The Lady Jaguars basketball team rebounded from their 67-47 loss to North Texas on Saturday to score a 61-51 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday. The Jags recorded a season-high 50 rebounds and 27 second-chance points were key stats in the victory. It also improved the Jags record to 11-7 overall (4-5 SBC) while ULM falls to 3-14 overall (1-7 SBC).
“I was really disappointed in how we started the game,” lady Jag head coach Rick Pietri said. “We got a basket right out of the box and I thought that would catapult us, but our defensive energy wasn’t where it needed to be. That bothered me. It took us a while before we got it revved up to where it needed to be. We credit Louisiana-Monroe, because they came out juiced and ready to play. The last 30 minutes of the game, I thought we defended the way we’re capable of, but in the first 10, we just didn’t have the right zest to guard.”
“We’ve talked about how important it is to approach things with confidence and belief,” Pietri continued. We had trouble early putting the ball in the goal when we had reasonable scoring chances. That’s a problem we’ve been having, and it continued to suck the life out of us. We did reasonably well from that point forward, and defensively our energy was where it needed to be for the rest of the game. In the second half, we defended the way our teams defend, and we held them to 29% in the second half. So we take the win and move on.”
Mansa El recorded a game-high 16 points by going 4-of-10 from the floor and 6-8 from the free throw stripe, good for a fourth double-double in the last five games.
Meghan Dunn added 12 points off the bench by going 4-of-8 from outside the arc. Brianna Wright added eight points and six rebounds. The Jags bench outscored the ULM bench 23-9 in the game.
Mary Nixon left the game in the first half after sufferring a concussion when her head hit the floor. Nixon will be evaluated this week for lingering signs of a concussion before being cleared to participate fully in practice and the Jags next game.
Also redshirt freshman Rachel Cumbo, who missed the entire 2011-2012 season and the first 17 games of this season after sufferring a pair of knee injuries, dressed out for the first time in her collegiate career.
The lady Jags will return to the court after a week off on Wednesday, January 23rd when they host Western Kentucky. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05pm in that Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division showdown.
USA AD Announces Roberson Will Not Return This Season
Xavier Roberson photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
What South Alabama fans feared when it was announced was confirmed on Tuesday. Junior Xavier Roberson will not return to the team this season. Roberson was suspended indefinitely prior to the Jags game versus Arkansas State on December 29.
Joel Erdmann, South Alabama’s athletic director, announced that the 6’1″ 180-pound guard will not play for the Jags this season. Many consider Roberson to be the Jags best defender and perimeter shooter.
“Xavier Roberson will not return this season,” Erdmann was quoted by AL.com on Tuesday. “He is not currently enrolled at the university (for the current semester.) … What his future may be with the school and the basketball program is undetermined.”
Erdmann did not comment about the circumstances around his suspension from the team.
At the time of his suspension, Roberson had started in seven of the Jags 11 games and was the team’s second leading scorer with an average of 13.6 points per game. He also chipped in with 13 steals and 17 assists. He missed all but eight games last season when he suffered a foot injury.
The Jags begin a three game home stand on Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
South Alabama Looking To Finish Strong In 2013 Recruiting Season
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
With about two weeks left until National Signing Day, the Jags continue to look to get verbal commitments from recruits as well as holding onto the ones already verbally committed to the program. Verbal commitments are non-binding. But the 2013 class may be the best yet for the Jaguars.
This season South Alabama will have a full compliment of 85 scholarships as all other FBS schools have. They can assure recruits that they can compete for the Sun Belt Conference Championship and can be eligible to play in a bowl game as they have finished their two-year transition period into the FBS ranks.
The Jaguar program have received more verbal commitments this recruiting season than they any previous recruiting season. If they can attract just a few more players they are actively recruiting, then Coach Jones will be quite pleased with this recruiting class they have worked hard to obtain.
In previous recruiting classes, Jones and his staff focused on recruiting players for the secondary and offensive line. Those positions were considered areas of need. They needed players who could contribute immediately. Those positions are now strengths on the team, so the coaching staff is now targeting needs at defensive line and the skill positions on offense. But they will be signing players at other positions as well, especially if a talented player becomes available regardless of the position.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we’re looking for playmakers, and that means running backs and receivers,” Jones said in an interview with AL.com. “Defensively, we’ll try to find more defensive linemen because we have a lot of senior d-linemen this year and we’re obviously trying to recruit some depth there.”
Romelle Jones, Pat Moore, Ridge James, Alex Page, Montavious Williams, Randon Carnathan and Byron Sneed will all be seniors on the defensive line for the 2013 season. Some of those names are well known by Jaguar fans and have contributed to South Alabama’s defensive strength since the program began, including their second place ranking last season in the Sun Belt Conference.
Six junior college players signed in December and have enrolled or are expected to enroll in classes this week. If so, they will be available to participate in spring practice, which may start near the end of February. There may be some in that group that may not be able to enroll until May though.
As previously reported here back in December, junior college signees running back Cristobal Dinham, twin defensive backs Steffon and Steven Fuller, linebacker Desmond LaVelle, running back Jay Jones and cornerback Montell Garner have enrolled or are expected to enroll this week.
South Alabama had some recruits visit campus over the weekend but their biggest recruiting weekend is coming up in two weeks. They will be in town when the Senior Bowl and Mardi Gras are both taking place for a whirlwind recruiting weekend.
“The guys we signed from junior college, we feel good about them and the guys we have,” Jones said to AL.com in reference to the defensive backs in particular but also the junior college group as a whole. “We feel good there. I feel like our needs have been met there.”
“We do feel good about where we are, but we’ve got to finish,” he continued. “That’s one thing we’ve got to do. It’s just like every year, we’ve got to finish strong. There are a lot of times when it comes down to three or four players at the end. If you land those guys you’re in really good shape and you can have a great year.”
Just like Jones and his staff preaches to the players during practice, Jones also says it to himself and his staff. “We’ve got to finish strong.” The Jags have verbals from some great players and in about two weeks we will see how well they finish and how well they build on their progress this past season.
Go Jags.
Coach Tommy Perry Leaving USA for North Texas
Coach Tommy Perry coaching the running backs during halftime of the Red & Blue Spring Football Game on March 24, 2012.
South Alabama’s running backs coach and special teams coordinator Tommy Perry is leaving the staff to accept a position on the North Texas Mean Green coaching staff. The official announcement is expected on Monday.
With the news of Perry leaving the program, head coach Joey Jones will need to hire two assistant coaches to fill vacancies on the staff. Late last week Jones hired Kevin Sherrer to fill the vacancy left when Bill Clark left for the head coaching position at Jacksonville State University. Defensive backs coach Duwan Walker joined Clark’s staff as defensive coordinator. Walker and Clark arrived together from Prattville High School where he served as Clark’s defensive coordinator there.
This move by Perry will put him back in Texas where he played at Tyler Texas Junior College and Texas A&M. He was the strength and conditioning coach at Texas, a graduate assistant at Texas A&M-Commerce, an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe league. Before coming to South Alabama, he was a graduate assistant/intern at Alabama.
Tommy and his wife have lots of ties and family in Texas.
North Texas will leave the Sun Belt Conference at the end of the academic year to joing Conference USA so it is unlikely that the two teams will meet each other on the sidelines in the near future.
Thanks for everything you have done for us Coach Perry and good luck in your future endevours!
Slow Start Against UNT Dooms Jags
The South Alabama men’s basketball team could not overcome a slow start early against North Texas to fall 66-56 in Denton, Texas on Saturday. The Jags would only make two of their first 19 field goal attempts with Augustine Rubit picking up two early fouls.
The Mean Green jumped out to a 26-7 lead early into the game and held onto that lead the remainder of the game. The loss drops the Jags to 8-8 on the season (5-3 SBC) while UNT improved to 7-11 overall (2-5 SBC).
The Jags shot a miserable 28.1% from the floor and a mere 51.7% from the free throw stripe. This was the Jags fourth consecutive loss to North Texas in Denton. It was also the Jags first loss on the road in Sun Belt play.
“We got off to a slow start and I thought Aug’s (Rubit) two early fouls certainly took our team out of rhythm,” interim coach Jeff Price said after the game. “When you shoot 28 percent from the field and you give up 17 points at the free throw line, it’s hard to win games on the road like that. Our team just needs to learn that when shots aren’t falling, you have to play both ends of the court.”
The Jags attempted a come back midway through the second half. They rallied from a 21-point deficit with a 21-6 run to get within six points with 1:55 left in the game. The Mean Green could only manage one field goal during the final 7:47 of the game. However they would stretch their lead back to 10 points on free throws. But a short run would put the Jags within six points again, 62-56, with 27.4 seconds left after Freddie Goldstein hit a three-pointer. Unfortunately that would be the last points by the Jags. The Mean green would continue making their free throws.
“This team will never die,” Price said. “They get it. They don’t miss shots on purpose. We won’t die and I thought we did a good job of showing character and fighting to get back in the game.”
“We just missed a lot of shots and we missed a lot of free throws,” Price said. “I think we missed eight points worth of free throws in the first half because some were frontends of one-and-ones. That’s enough for a whole game for sure.”
Rubit and Goldstein led the Jags in scoring with 12 points each. Rubit added a team-high nine rebounds to just miss another double-double. Mychal Ammons added 10 points off the bench.
The Jaguars will open a three game homestand beginning Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe. Tip-off between the Jags and the Warhawks is set for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Jags Win Double Overtime Thriller In Lafayette
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team survived a double overtime thriller in Lafayette Louisiana to defeat the Ragin’ Cajuns Thursday night. The Jags record improves to 8-7 overall and 5-2 in Sun Belt play while Louisiana-Lafayette’s record drops to 6-12 overall for the season and 2-5 in Sun Belt play.
The Jaguars led by as many as 13 points in the second half but were forced to rally from a late deficit in order to force overtime against the Cajuns.
“It was a hard-fought win on the road,” coach Jeff Price said. “I thought our guys did a great job of being very resilient in what became a tough atmosphere as the game went on. We had our lapses but we drew things up well late in the game and got a great look from Mike in regulation that didn’t go down. With about three minutes to go in regulation things didn’t look real good for us and I thought our guys did a really nice job of fighting back.”
“Mychal had some huge plays—some steals and plays at the basket and that dunk at the end of the game,” Price said. “He just took it strong to the basket and buried it with two hands.”
Mychal Ammons drove the left baseline to throw down a two-handed dunk with 19.3 seconds left to put the Jags ahead 91-89. This gave Ammons his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
But ULL had a shot to win the game at the end. Shawn Long threw up a 3-pointer that went halfway down the basket before bouncing out as time expired to leave the Jags with the win.
Augustine Rubit had 26 points for the game, 21 of them after halftime, and nine rebounds lead the Jags in scoring and falling one short of extending his double-double streak. However Rubit did take over second place on the South Alabama all-time rebounding list. Dre Conner added 19 points in the game, 15 of them in the first half, before fouling out of the game for the first time this season. Antoine Allen added 19 points as well.
“I thought Aug did a really nice job late of understanding he had two or three guys on him and kicking the ball out. We just have to knock those shots down, regardless of who’s shooting them,” Price noted. “Aug just affects the game so much when you go in to him and he continues to get better at understanding he can make other guys better.”
ULL’s Elfrid Payton matched Rubit in scoring with 26 points with 22 of them coming after halftime. He also recorded seven assists and three steals. Bryant Mbamalu added 19 points, Long had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the game.
The Jags never trailed in the final period. Rubit and Allen combined for seven points to put the Jags up 89-84 early in the period. But ULL would resond with four unanswered points with Payton’s back-to-back layups. A period of almost two minutes would pass without either team scoring any points before Long hit the back end of two free throws to tie the game at 89 with 37.5 seconds left in the period. Ammons would get a two-handed slam with 19.3 seconds left for the final score.
In the second half of regulation, the Jags trailed by six points with 2:51 left in regulation after a three-pointer by Mbamalu. But Freddie Goldstein would answer with a three of his own on the subsequent possession to cut the lead in half. After a ULL free throw, Goldstein would nail another three with 1:42 left in regulation to pull the Jags within one point.
Both teams would trade free throws. Ammons would give the Jags a 74-73 lead with 34.3 seconds after a steal and a layup. ULL’s Payton would hit a free throw at the other end to tie the game. Ammons would miss a shot from the right baseline in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.
“If there’s a guy you want shooting them, it’s him,” Price said about Goldstein shooting three’s. “He’s an experienced senior and he jumped up and made a couple.”
In the first overtime neither team would lead by more than two points. Allen would tie the game at 82 with 44.4 seconds remaining in the period which would send the game into the second overtime period.
The Jags will continue their two-game road swing at North Texas on Saturday. The Jags and the Mean Green are scheduled to tipoff at 7pm.
Jags Travel To Lafayette To Take On The Ragin’ Cajuns Tonight
The South Alabama Jaguar Men’s basketball team travels to Louisiana-Lafayette for a 7pm game tip-off with the Ragin’ Cajuns. The Cajun’s are in fourth place in the Western Division of the Sun Belt Conference with an overall record of 6-11 this season and 2-4 in Sun Belt play. While the Jags are currently tied with Western Kentucky for second place in the eastern division of the Sun Belt Conference. The Jags are 7-7 overall on the season and 4-2 in Sun Belt play
The game will feature the top two players in double-doubles in the Sun Belt. Augustine Rubit is on a career-long streak of six double-doubles and has nine overall this season. Rubit ranks eighth in Division I players overall in double-doubles. ULL’s Shawn Long has eight double-doubles on the season.
Mychal Ammons led the Jags in scoring with 15 points against MTSU last Saturday, which marked the first time in five games that Rubit did not lead the team in scoring. However he still ranks second in the conference with a 19.3 points per game average.
Aug has tallied double-digits in rebounds in seven consecutive games and 10 of his last 11 games. That streak has eclipsed his previous streak of five consecutive games during his freshman year. He is ninth in the nation in rebounding with 11.2 rebounds per game.
Rubit is five rebounds away from moving into second place and passing Ed Rains in rebounds at South Alabama. He has already moved into 12th place at South Alabama in career scoring with 1,078 points.
Ammons leads the Sun Belt in three-point accurancy. He is shooting 48.6% from behind the arc and went 3-of-6 against the Blue Raiders. Meanwhile Javier Carter extended his block streak to eight games with his two blocked shots against MTSU. He is third in the conference with an average of 2.2 blocks per game. Last season Carter came up one rebound short of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds while adding six blocks.
ULL’s Elfrid Payton leads the conference in assists with 5.2 per game and steals with 2.3 per game.
The Jags and the Ragin’ Cajuns tip-off at 7pm in Lafayette Louisiana this evening. The game will be carried on 105.5 WNSP.