USA To Name Sherrer As New Defensive Coordinator
The University of South Alabama should announce the hiring of Kevin Sherrer to fill the defensive coordinator position this Friday. Sherrer will be filling the position of former defensive coordinator, and longtime friend, Bill Clark who accepted the head coach position at Jacksonville State University last month. Sherrer was a friend and confidant of Clark whom he often consulted with concerning defensive philosophy and gameplanning.
Sherrer comes from the University of Alabama where he has served in the position of Director of Player Development for the Crimson Tide. His duties consisted of focusing on the off-the-field activities of the schools student athletes. He helped the players to balance the demands of academics, athletics, community outreach and their personal lives as well as assisting with the strength and conditioning program and peer intervention group.
Prior to his stint at the University of Alabama, he served five seasons on the Hoover High School staff from 2005-2009. He served as a defensive assistant for two seasons, then spent three seasons as defensive coordinator. During his stint at Hoover, they won two state championships in 2005 and 2009.
Sherrer played tight end at Alabama from 1993-95 earning a letter in 1995. After graduating in 1996, he spent two seasons at Tuscaloosa County High School as an assistant coach which included a state title in 1997.
In 1998, he returned to Alabama as a graduate assistant on defense for three years. They won the Music City Bowl in 1998 and won the SEC Championship in 1999 which resulted in a trip to the Orange Bowl. He earned his masters degree in higher education from Alabama in 2000.
From Alabama, Sherrer spent four years at Spain Park High School (2001-2004) as an assistant coach on defense.
He and his wife have two childred, twin boys Kaleb and Kyle.
Additionally it is expected that a new defensive backs coach will be named early next week to fill the position vacated by Duwan Walker when he left to fill the defensive coordinator position at Jacksonville State under Clark.
Scott, Johnson To Participate In NFLPA Collegiate Bowl All-Star Game
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson zeroes in on a NC State runner for one of his 14 tackles in Raleigh, NC.
South Alabama will have two representatives in the 2013 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. On Tuesday it was announced that both Jake Johnson and B.J. Scott have accepted invitations to participate in the annual game.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is an all-star game that features top draft-eligible seniors. The game will be held in Carson, California at The Home Depot Center on Saturday, January 19. It will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and will be available online via WatchESPN. The Thursday prior to the game, ESPNU will have four hours of coverage from team pratices.
The two teams will be coached by former NFL head coaches Herm Edwards and Dick Vermeil.
Jake Johnson, a 6’1″ 240-pound Fredericksburg Virginia native, was the only Sun Belt player to average more than 10 tackles per game and was a first-team all-conference selection after finishing the season with a school record 131 tackles and 15 tackles for loss. He was the leading tackler for the Jags in seven of their 13 games and notched double-digits in tackles on five seperate occasions. He had a season-high of 15 tackles against Florida International and Middle Tennessee. He also collected 14 tackles against NC State and 10 against Mississippi State.
Johnson collected 245 total tackles and 25.5 stops for loss and nine sacks with two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two pass break-ups during his three seasons with South Alabama.
Scott, a 5’11” 205-pound Prichard Alabama native, was chosen for honorable mention all-Sun Belt after collecting 84 tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, three passes broken up and two forced fumbles. He notched a career high 12 unassistend tackles in Hawaii. He was credited with double-digit tackles four times in the 2012 season and seven times as a Jaguar. One of those double-digit games came against Mississippi State and in the Jags first-ever FBS and SBC win over Florida Atlantic.
In two seasons at South Alabama Scott collected 132 tackles, nine pass break ups, three forced fumbles and averaged 29 yards per kick return. He also missed the final three contests in the 2011 season with a knee injury.
Johnson and Scott will join the only other South Alabama player to participate in a postseason all-star contest Courtney Smith. Smith participated in the 2011 Senior Bowl.
Jags Late Rally Fall Short Against MTSU
A late rally by South Alabama falls short as the Jaguars fell to Middle Tennessee at home 60-56. The Blue Raiders held the Jaguars to 37 percent shooting for the game and held them scoreless over the final 1:41 of the game at the Mitchell Center.
The Jags fall back to 7-7 overall for the season and 4-2 in Sun Belt play. MTSU improves to 12-4 overall for the season and 4-1 in Sun Belt Play to move into first place in the Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division.
The Blue Raiders used a 17-3 run at the end of the first half and into the beginning of the second half to lead by as many as 15 points in the second half. They led by 11 points with 3:57 left in the game before the Jags rallied to get within two points in the final two minutes of the game.
“When you play a team that good, a unanimous pick to win your league, you have to play 40 minutes and we got 35,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “You can’t play 35 with these guys, you have to play 40. You can’t compound mistakes with mistakes. I thought we made a couple of mistakes and got our head down and missed a couple of layups when we didn’t need to. We got down and we could have laid down and quit but we didn’t. We fought and we had our chances.”
The Jags led 27-23 with 1:22 left in the first half before a 6-1 run to end the half put them ahead 29-28 at halftime. The Blue Raiders would take that momentum into the second half as they opened with a 11-2 run, nine consecutive points, over a 3:36 time frame to take their largest lead of the game until that point 40-30.
“That was the key to the whole game,” Price said of the beginning of the second half. “We didn’t play the last minute of the last first half well either. We were up by maybe three and then we had a turnover and that last half court turnover and kind of broke our momentum a little bit. We went in down one. Instead we should have been up. And the first four minutes of the second half, you always tell your guys (about) the first five minutes and they just have to buy in. You can’t put your head down against a team this good, you just have to keep battling. Sometimes we just got a little mentally weak and we can’t do that.”
MTSU would stretch their lead out to 15 points in the second half on an 8-0. The Jags went through a stretch of nearly five minutes without a field goal, which included five missed layups.
“We just missed so many easy shots around the basket for a stretch there that would normally go in,” Price said. “For about four minutes it was like Arkansas State when layups wouldn’t go in by very good players. I mean Aug and Mike were missing them.”
The Jags comeback attempt began during the final four minutes when they were down by 11 points. Javier Carter got it started with a tip in and a blocked shot on the other end of the court. Rubit then made two free throws followed by Freddie Goldstein hitting a three-pointer to cut the lead down to four points at 58-54.
The Jaguar defense forced a missed shot and Antoine Allen would go almost the length of the court for a layup with 1:41 left in the game to cut the lead down to two points. However the Blue Raider defense would then force three missed shots and hold the Jags scoreless the rest of the way.
Augustine Rubit would miss a layup with 56 seconds left then MTSU would convert two free throws for the final score of 60-56. A final three-point attempt by Ammons would miss and a last second attempt from Allen would be blocked.
MTSU head coach Kermit Davis praised the Jaguars in his post-game press conference. “I’m so impressed with how South Alabama has competed. It’s shown up on all the tapes,” he said. “It looked like we’d built a good lead, but, against an experienced team, I have to give them credit. They were physical and made a bunch of plays. We were lucky to hang on there at the end.”
Ammons led all scorers with 15 points off the bend and added eight rebounds to fall short of a double-double. Although Augustine Rubit extended his double-double streak to six in a row with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Goldstein added 12 points and a team-high four assits. Javier Carter chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
Xavier Roberson continues to serve his indefinite suspension for breaking unspecified team and athletic department rules.
Bruce Massey led MTSU with 12 points while Shawn Jones was the only other player in double-digits with 11 points.
The Jaguars travel to Lafayette, Louisiana to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns on Thursday. The game is set to tip-off at 7pm.
Jags Hold On To Defeat ULM 77-72
Augustine Rubit scored a career-high 32 points against Louisiana-Monroe. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Jaguar Men’s basketball team held off a late surge by Louisiana-Monroe to notch a 77-72 Sun Belt win. It took a career night by junior Augustine Rubit to do it though. South Alabama moves into a tie for first place after the Western Kentucky loss to UALR. The Jags overall record improves to 7-6 on the season and 4-1 in Sun Belt play while ULM falls to 2-8 overall and 1-3 in Sun Belt play.
Rubit broke his career high in scoring with 32 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to get his fifth consecutive double-double and his 34th in his career. He only missed one shot from the floor and two from the foul line.
“He was outstanding,” said interim head coach Jeff Price about Rubit. “He was a dominant factor in the game. Their posts were undersized and had a hard time with him. I thought he did a nice job of sharing the ball and kicking it out. We got some nice looks outside because of him. He’s just been playing great lately. His effort’s been great, his attitude is good and he’s playing extremely well right now.”
This win came one game after a season low shooting performance by the Jags. They shot a season best 59.1% from the floor however they tied their season high of 25 turnovers which translated into 33 points for the Warhawks.
“Anytime you win on the road, it’s good,” Price continued. “We all know that road wins are hard to get and I’m obviously happy we were able to pull the game out. I thought the margin should have been greater. We hurt ourselves turning the ball over so much and we didn’t need to. We got a little too careless. We need to learn not to get too comfortable with the lead and let people back in the game. We have to play better down the stretch. I’ll look at the tape and see what I can do better to help us finish. We just didn’t finish the game real well.”
“Again, I need to look at the tape, but a lot of them were just unforced turnovers,” Price said about the turnovers. “It’s not like Monroe is a big pressure team. To our credit, we were trying to share the ball, but at times we were forcing it too much, trying to force it in to Aug, make a big play or thread a needle. We just have to understand the value of the basketball and how important it is. We’re not good enough to throw the ball away like that.”
The only other Jaguar to score in double digits was Dre Conner who had a season-best 12 points.
The Jags lead by as much as 17 points in the first half and led 71-59 with under three-and-a-half minutes left in the game. However the Warhawks would muster a 10-2 to get within four points of the Jaguars with 1:16 left in the game.
Conner would put back his own missed shot on the Jags next possession to extend their lead to six points. Rubit would add a free throw after the Warhawks would miss a three-point attempt.
However on the next ULM possession they would hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds left in the game to cut the lead back down to four points. However freshman Barrington Stevens III would convert from the foul line the Jags would force a turnover before the final buzzer to preserve the win.
“We did what we had to do and that’s a good sign,” Price said of the ending. “In the last minute we did what we had to do to win the game and made our free throws down the stretch. We got some stops when we had to and got some big rebounds. We just got careless in the last three minutes of the game and I need to take a look at that and see what I can do to make us better in those situations, but we’ll move forward.”
Unlike the last game where the Jags got behind early and never lead, this time the Jags jumped out to a 23-6 lead and kept that lead for the entire game. Rubit scored nine of those 23 points and the team hit 10 of their first 15 shots.
“The biggest difference early was us defensively creating some offensive opportunities,” Price said. “We did a nice job of getting the ball inside and not taking some jump shots. I thought that was real important.”
The Jags return home to the Mitchell Center to host Middle Tennessee State on Saturday with tipoff set for 7:05pm. Middle Tennsee is 11-4 overall and 3-1 in Sun Belt play with a 3-2 record on the road.
Come out and support YOUR South Alabama Jaguars!
Walker Officially Joines Clark at JSU
The speculation about Duwan Walker joining Bill Clark at Jacksonville State was confirmed on Thursday as Clark announced his coaching staff. Duwan Walker will be the defensive coordinator and safeties coach while Chuck Dunn, a former Jaguar assistant coach, will coach the inside linebackers.
Walker and Clark have worked together since 1999 when Clark became head coach at Prattville High School. Walker started as defensive backs coach for two years before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2001.
Along with Walker, there are two graduate assistants on the defensive side that are heading to Jacksonville State.
That opens up another coaching spot that needs to be filled on the Jaguar staff.
As for the defensive coordinator position, reports are still out there that Ron Roberts was offered the position and there was one report that he has accepted. However there has not been any official word by South Alabama or Ron Roberts.
USA Men’s Basketball Take On ULM Tonight
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team travels to Louisiana-Monroe to take on the Warhawks tonight. This is the Jaguars first game of 2013 and the first road game under the direction of interim head coach Jeff Price.
The Jags come into this game after dropping their first Sun Belt Conference game of the season 63-54 to Arkansas State. The Warhawks are coming off of a last second victory over Florida Atlantic 65-64.
Despite the shooting woes of the last game, the Jags have proven that they are capable of scoring and they have shown that they can play defense. But can their defensive play be strong on a regular basis?
Lousiana-Monroe had a dismal 2011-2012 season. They are at a point in the season where either they improve on the season or they continue in the same direction as last. The win over FAU ended their three game losing streak. The Warhawks were outshot 54.8% to 43% however the Warhawks forced 20 turnovers and had 21 more shots that the Owls to stay alive in the game.
Augustine Rubit looks to continue adding to his career totals. Recently he broke the 1,000th point threshold to become the 14th Jaguar to do so. Then against ASU, he moved into 13th place on the school’s career scoring list. He is 12 points behind Henry Williams for 12th place on that same list. Rubit has already passed Williams on the career rebounding list to move into 4th place.
ULM ranks next to dead last, 344th out of 345, in free throw percentage by shooting 54.6%, 338th in scoring offense with an average of 56 points per game and 326th in turnovers with 17.1 per game average. Warhawks player Trent Mackey is the bright spot on the team. He averages 12.6 points per game, ranks 18th in the nation in 3-pt percentage (45.8%) and 19th in 3-pointers per game (3.0). Mackey had 11 points last season by converting three 3-pointers against the Jags.
South Alabama leads the overall series against ULM, but has lost two of the last three meetings with the last victory being an 88-86 win in Monroe last season. Freddie Goldstein tied his own school record of nine 3-pointers in a game as the Jags as a team hit 14 3-pointers.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30pm in Monroe, Louisiana with coverage being broadcast by 105.5FM WNSP with Lee Shirvanian calling the play by play.
Jacksonville State Expected To Have Several USA Ties On Staff
Former South Alabama defensive Coordinator Bill Clark was named head coach at Jacksonville State on Tuesday, December 18 | jsugamecocksports.com
According to AL.com, former South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark who accepted the head coaching position at Jacksonville State University in December is expected to announce members of his new staff on Wednesday.
There has been long speculation that South Alabama defensive backs coach Duwan Walker, who served as Clark’s defensive coordinator at Prattville High School, will accept the same position under Clark at Jacksonville State.
But the South Alabama ties reportedly does not end there.
According to the AL.com report, defensive graduate assistant Blake Sharder will join Clark’s staff in some capacity. Additionally Trey Clark, the only Jaguar to start all 40 games thus far in South Alabama’s history, is expected to accept a graduate assistant position with Clark’s staff. Clark played for Bill at Prattville, then joined him as a Jaguar. Additionally the two men are cousins.
This news is not unexpected. Clark has deep ties with those on his defensive staff and trusts them. Plus any new defensive coordinator may want to bring some of his own staff.
Also a former South Alabama assistant coach Chuck Dunn should join Clark’s staff. Dunn was on the Jaguars staff for their first two seasons before the staff numbers had to be trimmed down to nine assistant coaches. He had been serving as defensive coordinator in the high school ranks.
As for possible replacements at defensive coordinator, reports are that Southeastern Louisiana head coach Ron Roberts, who interviewed for the position last week, was offered the position over the weekend. It is unknown if these reports are true and if he has accepted the position.
As a head coach Roberts guided Delta State University to four Gulf South Conference championships and four appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. During that time he had a record of 47-16 with four 10-win seasons and two NCAA Super Region II titles and an appearance in the 2010 NCAA Division II national championship game. He is a native of Visalia, California.
We should know more about it this week.
Jags Suffer First SBC Loss To Arkansas State
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team sufferred their first setback in conference play with their 63-54 loss to Arkansas State Saturday night. The Jags shot a season low 27.4% for the game and never had the lead.
The loss evens the season record to 6-6 and 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. Arkansas State improves their overall record to 8-5 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt.
The Jags could only muster four three-point field goals for the game despite putting it up 27 times (14.8%) while turning the ball over 17 times. However, the Red Wolves didn’t do much better by shooting 38.2% and tied for the second lowest by a Jaguar opponent this season. But the difference was that they shot 42.9% in the second half as opposed to the Jaguars 30%.
“You don’t have to look too hard to see what the main problem was,” said interim head coach Jeff Price. “We shot 27 percent from the field. Defensively I thought we were okay. Anytime you hold a team to 38 percent you’re doing pretty darn good. I thought we were good on that end we just didn’t do as good of a job in this game of manufacturing points.”
“We weren’t just not making shots outside,” Price continued. “Think about how many inside just rolled around in the rim and could have been three-point plays and they went out of the basket. It just seemed like there was a lid on it all night. It was just one of those nights. Again, I thought defensively we were good enough to win the game. It’s ironic that the two top scoring teams come in to the game and the score ends up 63-54, but we just have to keep plugging away.”
The Jaguar struggles began before the game even started as it was announced that starter Xavier Roberson had been suspended indefinitely for a violation of athletic department and team policies. Then the Jags began the game by missing their first seven shots and didn’t get on the scoreboard until 15:14 left in the first half.
The Red Wolves came into the game leading the conference in steals, turnover margin and turnovers forced per game. They forced the Jags into committing 12 first-half turnovers on six steals and converted them into nine points.
“We made too many turnovers in the first half,” Price said. “Twelve turnovers in the first half cost us. We just have to get better and that’s on me. I have to make us better and get us to understand better.”
Mychal Ammons picked up two early fouls forcing coach Price to keep him on the bench for a large portion of the first half. Then later in the first half, Ammons would pick up his third foul which put him on the bench for the remainder of the first half.
ASU would use a 10-2 run about midway through the second half to build a 50-37 lead but the Jags would get a run of their own to answer. The Jags would begin an 11-2 run by getting the first six points from the foul line before Ammons hit a jumper and Freddie Goldstein would make his only three-pointer of the game. That run would put the Jags within 52-48 with 5:22 left in the game.
The Red Wolves would answer with a three of their own on their next possession while the Jags would only make two field goals the rest of the game, both by Augustine Rubit. The Red Wolves would also go 5-of-7 from the foul line in the final 44 seconds of the game.
Rubit led all players with 20 points while adding 17 rebounds to earn his seventh double-double of the season and 33rd of his Jaguar career. The only other Jag to score in double-digits was Antoine Allen who got the start when Roberson was suspended. The next highest scorers were Ammons and Goldstein who both had five points.
The Red Wolves had two players with 15 points in the game, which were their only double-digit scorers as well.
Jaguar players had many open shots at the basket, but simply couldn’t make them. Rubit even missed an uncontested dunk in the game. Even free throws were iffy as the Jags went 16-of-23 (69.9 percent).
South Alabama’s interim head coach Jeff Price will have to find a way to help his team over their shooting woes. But he will have to do it without their second leading scorer in Roberson as it is unknown if his suspension will be short term or if it will be long term.
The Jags are back in action on January 3rd when they travel to Lousiana-Monroe for a 7:30pm tipoff.
USA Head Coach Joey Jones Narrowing List Of Possible DC Candidates
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
Reports are that South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones has narrowed down the list of applicants to six or seven to fill the defensive coordinator position. Interviews will be conducted over the next day or two for the list of candidates. The position became available when Coach Bill Clark accepted the head coaching position Jacksonville State University.
None of the names have been released but two names have cropped up as possibilities for the position. There has not been any confirmation that these two names are on the list to be interviewed or extend beyond internet rumor. But former Alabama head football coach Mike Dubose’s name has been tossed around and former Alabama player and former Mississippi State head football coach Sylvester Croom has been mentioned.
South Alabama secondary coach Duwan Walker will likely accept the defensive coordinator position on his friend Bill Clark’s staff. It is unknown if any other defensive staff have been or will be approached by Clark or Walker, if he is indeed hired, to fill positions on the staff.
According to AL.com, Coach Jones received more than 150 applicants for the position and was not surprised by the number of applicants. “This is a good, Division I coordinator’s job,” Jones said in their interview. “It pays well and it’s a good situation here. I expected to get a lot of people applying for the job.”
It’s likely that Coach Jones will fill the position by January 11 when coaches can continue recruiting for the February 6, when high school seniors can beging signing their National Letter-Of-Intent’s for the school of their choice. Although, that is not a hard deadline.
Amid Coaching Turmoil USA Makes Statement In Conference With Win
Interim head coach Jeff Price | jaguarsmensbasketball.com
After the turmoil surrounding Ronnie Arrow’s sudden retirement the Jags rebounded behind the leadership of Coach Jeff Price to add another win to their 2-0 record in Conference play. But the way they played really stood out.
The team improved their shot selection and ball movement and even made great defensive stands when the Trojans of UALR made a charge at them and they had an answer.
UALR was the team on top of the Western Division of the Sun Belt Conference and the Jags handed them a 15 point defeat. Is South Alabama a team to reckon with this season? There was an argument to be made before Arrow’s retirment. But that argument had some if’s to it. If the Jaguars moved the ball around, if they were smarter about their shot selection, if they hustled on defense and if they played as a team.
The Jags sent a message that they will not allow the mid-season coaching change affect their goals this season. They want to win conference games, position themselves to win the conference tournament and earn their place in the NCAA Tournament. It may be too early to say that the team led by interim coach Jeff Price will continue to be a team to reckon with, but with the win they made their first statement in the affirmative over UALR.
Middle Tennessee State, the favorite to win the conference this season, will meet on January 5 at the Mitchell Center. This game should prove to be a clash of conference power. MTSU will have to take notice of the Jags if they continue to play like they did in Price’s first game.
Only time will tell how the team continues to develop and perform under Price’s leadership.
While the team performed well after being placed in a tough spot, so did Coach Price. He replaced a coach who he served as an assistant coach twice and both times at South Alabama.
Price told AL.com that UALR was his “scout game”. Meaning he was prepared the scouting report for then head coach Ronnie Arrow. “So I was pretty in tune, as was our staff, as to what they were doing,” Price said to AL.com. “I thought we just did a really nice job taking them out of their game. I think it can lift us. We’re sitting here 3-0 in the league now with another home game coming up and hopefully we’ll have a good break and come back ready to go.”
The next game is on Saturday, December 29 at the Mitchell Center when the Jags host Arkansas State. After a three day holiday, the team is expected to return to campus to begin preparing for an ASU team that is 6-5 overall and 0-2 in Conference play.