Bill Clark To Be Named Head Coach At Jacksonville State
Reports are surfacing that South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark will be named head coach at Jacksonville State today with a formal announcement on Wednesday.
This past season the South Alabama defense finished second in the Sun Belt in it’s first season of play in the conference. He has been with South Alabama all four season of play. He came to Mobile from Prattville, AL where he was the head coach of Prattville High School. He would replace Jack Crow who was fired after the 2012 season.
No word on potential candidates to fill his position with the Jaguars at this time.
Recent JuCo Commits
South Alabama received two verbals recently from JuCo players according to Rivals.com.
Cristobal Dinham, a 5’9″ 205-pound running back from Independence Community College in Kansas, gave his commitment to the Jags ahead of Wednesday’s signing day for Junior College players. He does not have a rating on the Rivals or Scout networks. He is originally from Lithonia, Georgia.
Another running back that has committed from a JuCo is Justin Jones, a 5’6″ 180-pound running back from Northwest Mississippi Community College. He is originally from Horn Lake, Mississippi and is expected to sign with the Jags on Wednesday as well. Recruiting sites reported that he committed to South Alabama back in the summer.
These two commits are expected to help give the Jaguars depth at the running back position where injuries had left them very thin down the stretch of the 2012 season.
Rivals.com also has another recent commit on the offensive side of the ball. ShaVarez Smith, a 6’2″ 205-pound wide receiver from Dean Junior College in Franklin, Massachusetts shows to have committed on this past Saturday. He has a two-star rating from Rivals and a three-star rating from ESPN. He is listed as having a 4.5 40-yard dash time coming out of high school in McDonough, Georgia.
Smith had received an offer from Charlotte, Ohio and South Carolina. He has good size, hands and route running ability. The coaches hope he can help fill Gabe Loper’s spot as a big, clutch receiver to compliment the other receivers on the field.
Over the next day-and-a-half we will get a good idea of some of the JuCo signees as they can begin signing and sending in their Letter-of-intent’s on Wednesday and will have through January 15th. High School players have to wait until February 6th to begin signing their LOI’s and then have through April 1 to sign.
Viktor Juricek has breakout performance in South Alabama’s victory over Corpus Christi
South Alabama freshman Viktor Juricek | USAJaguars.com
Viktor Juricek had his best game as a member of South Alabama’s basketball program during the team’s 74-69 victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon. In 17 minutes off the bench, the freshman scored 10 points off 2-of-3 shooting (a pair of three-pointers) and was 4-for-4 from behind the free throw line.
It was this sort of raw talent that first attracted head coach Ronnie Arrow to the young Slovakian. More to the point, Sunday was an indication of what could be in store for basketball fans at the corner of Old Shell and University.
“Everyone seemed really surprised at Viktor’s three-point accuracy but that’s something we already knew he was capable of,” Arrow said. “But we’re looking to see his quickness and rebounding improve. The European game is a little bit slower and not quite as athletic so we think it’s going to take a full summer in our program before we start to see his full potential.”
Juricek chose South Alabama in large part due to Arrow and has already taken his staff’s advice to heart. He’s hoping to take the next step as soon as possible and is looking forward to more days like Sunday.
“The difference in strength and quickness is pretty noticeable,” Juricek said of the American game. “When I first got here, I was an inside-outside player who was always allowed to shoot the ball. Coach Arrow allows me to do that but he also wants to see me be more efficient on the inside – a more complete player.”
Juricek believes that he’s already seeing improvement, especially on his inside game but isn’t resting on Sunday’s success. He’s going to keep working.
“I know that I am not as strong as some of the other players, so I need to outwork them or be smarter than them — be more skilled than they are,” Juricek said. “In Europe, it was easier to drive to the basket from the outside but these guys are stronger and more athletic. [Sunday] showed what I was always capable of doing — shooting the ball. But I’m not taking a day off. That’s what got me here and I believe that’s the way I’ll get even further.”
His attitude is a favored trait by his head coach, leading him to believe that Juricek can ultimately make the transition — provided he maintains his work ethic.
“Here’s a guy that is always the first guy in and the last guy out. He’s a hard worker that’s going to put in maximum effort and that’s what we like about him.”
Read More: South Alabama’s Introducing Viktor Juricek feature
Check out Matt Weaver on Twitter at @MattWeaverJAG
South Alabama Football Weekend Roundup
Defensive coordinator Bill Clark working with Jake Johnson and the linebackers during individual drills on Saturday morning.
Over this past weekend the Jaguars hosted their final group of recruits before the JuCo mid-year signing period begins on Wednesday, December 19.
Steffon Fuller from East Central Community College, a 6’3″ 205-pound safety, Steven Fuller, Steffon’s twin brother who plays wide receiver, safety and cornerback at the same school. Montell Garner, a cornerback from Navarro College in Texas. Michael Jolivet, a 6’4″ 240-pound defensive end also from Navarro.
No word yet on how their visit went but one cornerback cancelled his visit to go to Boise State instead.
Mesa Community College offensive tackle David Griffin had committed to South Alabama a couple of months ago, but after visiting the University of Hawaii he has switched his committment from the Jags to the Warriors.
Griffin had committed to South Alabama to be closer to his family however his time in Arizona made it easier for him to commit to Hawaii after a good recruiting visit. Since Griffin is a JuCo player, he can sign in December and will have two years of eligibility.
Another JuCo target Jerome McClain, a 6’2″ 290-pound defensive tackle from Pensacola who is playing for Northwest Mississippi Community College visited South Alabama last weekend and was close to giving his commitment at that time. He then visted Memphis over the weekend. McClain said his top three so far are South Alabama, Memphis and Florida Atlantic. He is set to visit the Owls on January 4th.
Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark interviewed at Jacksonville State on Saturday as well as West Alabama head coach Will Hall and possibly other candidates.
Clark is an Anniston native and a JSU graduate.
Hall, 32, finished his second season as the head coach at West Alabama after serving three years at their offensive coordinator. He was an All-America quarterback for North Alabama. UWA went 9-4 this past season to win the Gulf South Conference and splitting the Division II national finalist Valdosta State. His 2011 team went 8-4.
However another name has surfaced recently in Tyler Siskey. Siskey, another Anniston native, is a 1996 Donoho graduate and is interested in the job.
Siskey is currently Ole Miss’ director of recruiting development. Previously he spent four years as Arkansas State’s receivers coach and was the offensive coordinator for the Red Wolves in the GoDaddy.com bowl when Hugh Freeze left for the Ole Miss head coaching job.
Siskey commented that “It’s home, it fits and it’s a fit on both sides. We both share the same vision, and that is to win and to win big and to win now.”
South Alabama Men’s Basketball earns two-day vacation with 74-69 victory over Texas A&M – Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi guard Johnathan Jordan defends Barrington Stevens during Sunday’s 74-69 victory at the Mitchell Center
South Alabama men’s basketball snapped a two-game losing streak on Sunday afternoon, defeating Texas A&M Corpus Christi 74-69 on a rainy night at the USA Mitchell Center. The Jaguars used a 14-2 run at the start of the game to pull away from the Islanders and they never looked back.
The Islanders three-point prowess (10-23) kept them in the game but it wasn’t enough to outduel the Jaguars who shot 25-of-59 from the floor.
Head coach Ronnie Arrow has stressed defense every day during practice following his team’s 92-78 defeat at the hands of UAB on Dec. 8. That renewed commitment to defense finally paid off on Sunday and Arrow responded by rewarding his team with two much-needed days off before practice resumes for the Dec. 22 conference match-up with Arkansas Little-Rock.
“I thought we really played well at the start of the game,” Arrow said. “I thought we really played well for most of the game. We came back and spent three very hard days on defense. We got after each other. We’ve been giving up far too many points.
“They still got 69 points, but I think until the last four minutes we were playing really good defense and we gave up some threes uncontested and didn’t guard the hole like we should have. But I thought overall our defense was a lot better.”
Augustine Rubit looked a lot better too, scoring 23 points and pulling down 19 rebounds. The junior All-Sun Belt player also made a little bit of history on Sunday afternoon, tying a career-high in rebounds and is now just three points away from 1,000 in his collegiate career. That mark is good for 14th on the all-time South Alabama scoring list.
The Islanders started the contest with a Zane Knowles jumper but the next eight minutes was all South Alabama as the Jaguars orchestrated a 14-point run. Brandon Pye broke the streak for Corpus Christi with an unassisted three-point jumper but Rubit responded with a lay-up and free throw to increase South Alabama’s lead to 17-5.
Mychal Ammons tacked-on a lay-up at the 12:03 mark to restore South Alabama’s 14-point lead.
Corpus Christi finally found their range following the Ammons bucket, with Will Nelson and Brandon Pye nailing three-consecutive three-pointers to start closing the gap. Joy Williamson hit his first layup at the 8:06 mark to end an 11-0 TAMCC comeback that made the score 21-18.
That is as close as Corpus Christi would get as South Alabma responded with an 11-0 run that virtually put the game out of reach.
Corpus Christi was led by Pye and Johnathan Jordan with 17 points each. Williamson and Nelson scored 12 points each with Nelson also grabbing eight rebounds.
The win puts South Alabama at 5-5 on the season, with TAMCC falling to 1-6.
The Corpus Christi game was the Jaguars final non-conference contest on the schedule. Little Rock will come into the Mitchell Center next week leading the SBC West with an 8-4, 2-0 record. While South Alabama has struggled to get back to a .500 record, Arrow was quick to remind everyone that the Jaguars are still 2-0 in conference with a share of the SBC East lead.
“Little Rock is young, physical and well-coached,” Arrow said. “But they are also susceptible to turnovers. Now we’re 2-0 in conference play and we want to get to 3-0 and that’s what we’re going to work on as soon as we’re rested.
Follow Matt Weaver on Twitter at @MattWeaverJAG
Could Georgia Southern Be Added To SBC Next Week?
When could we hear the first about possible new additions to the Sun Belt Conference? It could be as early as next week.
Tonight is the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs kickoff with #1 North Dakota State and #5 Georgia Southern playing for a slot in the FCS National Championship game. Kickoff is set for 8pm.
Rest assured that Sun Belt Conference officials and Georgia Southern officials have been in contact and talking about their interests in moving up to the FBS level and the Sun Belt’s interest in adding a strong team within it’s regional footprint.
Earlier this year the students voted to move up to the FBS level with an increase in student fees to help support the move. I believe that these meetings have been occurring since the students voted for the move but were going to wait until after the season was over to get serious about talks. But with Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic accepting invitations to Conference USA, I believe those talks were accelerated.
If Georgia Southern loses their Semifinal game then we could hear an announcement as early as next week. However if they win and earn a spot in the National Championship Game against the winner of the #2 Eastern Washington vs Sam Houston State game, then the announcement would probably be delayed. The FCS National Championship game is set for January 5th in Frisco, Texas.
That would put the Sun Belt back up to nine football playing schools. Who else would the Sun Belt consider adding? There are rumors about New Mexico State, Appalachain State, UT-Chattanooga all the way to Lamar, Liberty or Sam Houston State.
New Mexico State is already an FBS school but were a bottom dweller in the WAC with only one win last season that came in their season opener against Sacramento State. They would bring a very tall basketball team as the Jags learned in a recent game.
Appalachain State is another team in the regional footprint of the Sun Belt and has been a powerhouse in FCS for some time. However their location in Boone, NC is a very beautiful place, it is also a difficult place to travel for sports.
UT-Chattanooga is an interesting school to consider. It is located in well-known Chattanooga, TN which makes travel quite easy for sports and also fits in the regional footprint as well. They could be a very good replacement for Middle Tennessee who is just up Interstate 24 from Chattanooga towards Nashville.
Many South Alabama fans may know some about Lamar University. The Jags played their first true road game against the Cardinal in Beaumont, TX a couple years ago in the Jaguars second season of football. Football had been dropped from Lamar back in 1989 but in January of 2008 the students voted to add an athletic fee to bring football back to the University. Their stadium had a huge overhaul and a large jumbotron screen was installed. Their campus is very nice and could be a nice hidden gem in conference expansion.
Sam Houston State, as mentioned above, is in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. They are located in Huntsville, TX which is north of Houston on I-45. Either school Sam Houston State or Lamar would be a nice addition to compliment Texas State out in the Lone Star State.
Then there is Liberty. I haven’t heard much about the possibility of Liberty joining the Sun Belt. Liberty is a private christian university located in Lynchburg Virginia. They have an enrollment of about 12,500 and 80,000+ studying through their online program. Their chancellor is Jerry Falwell Jr. I don’t see them moving to the FBS level, but stranger things have happened.
Who do you think would be good additions to the Sun Belt to comprise a 10 or 12 (football) team conference? Post your suggestions here or on our Facebook page.
Six Jags Selected To Phil Steele’s All-Sun Belt Postseason Team
Romelle Jones and Alex Page give chase to the FAU quarterback during the Jaguars win in 2012.
Phil Steele released his 2012 All-Sun Belt postseason team on www.philsteele.com on Wednesday. South Alabama was represented well with a total of six players selected and one first-team selection.
Steele publishes the Phil Steele College Football preview each season. He also updates his work throughout the season on his website. He also releases postseason team selections.
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson was the lone Jaguar selected to the All-Sun Belt first-team. Johnson led the league in tackles this past season.
Again, South Alabama only had one player selected for the second-team. Junior defensive lineman Alex Page finished the season with 64 tackles, fifth on the team, with 11.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, two pass breakups and five quarterback hurries.
The Jaguars had four players selected for the fourth-team All-Sun Belt team by Phil Steele. Junior linebacker Enrique Williams, junior defensive back Tyrell Pearson, sophomore punt returner T.J. Glover and two-time Sun Belt Special Teams Player of the Week, senior placekicker Michel Chapuseaux.
Williams finsihed second on the team in tackles and seventh in the conference in tackles. He also recorded one pass breakup, three quarterback hurries, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Pearson finshed the season with 40 tackles for eighth on the team. He also recorded three tackles for loss, 11 pass breakups, four interceptions for 94 yards and one forced fumble.
T.J. Glover finished the season with 1,181 all-purpose yards, almost double the next closest Jaguar on the team. He had 642 yards in kick returns, 210 rushing yards, 206 receiving yards and 123 punt return yards in 13 games this season.
Michel Chapuseaux was 20-of-27 in field goal attempts for 74.1% on the season. He had two blocked but connected on a career long 53 yard field goal. Chapuseaux was a perfect 2-for-2 from 50+ yards on the season. He was also a perfect 24-for-24 in PAT attempts.
Congratulations Jaguars!
Change Is Constant In College Sports
Each year there are changes in every conference. Coaches fired, coached hired, players graduate and new ones recruited, offensive and defensive schemes change. But for some conferences they have whole teams move in and out.
Gus Malzahn is gone from Arkansas State and Willie Taggart is gone from Western Kentucky. So far we have added Bobby Petrino at Western Kentucky, Dennis Franchione will enter with Texas State and reports are circulating that University of Texas offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin has been hired at Arkansas State.
Two-time Sun Belt Player of the Year Ryan Aplin graduates from ASU, but Kolton Browning returns to Louisiana-Monroe. Browning was possibly the most exciting player this past season.
As conference realignment trickles down, the Sun Belt continues to be affected. As mentioned before, North Texas and Florida International will leave the conference this summer for what they hope is greener pastures in Conference USA. Conference Commissioner Karl Benson added Georgia State and Texas State to the conference as well as Texas-Arlington (non-football school).
But realignment occurred again this year when Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee accepted invitations to Conference USA. But no announcement of additional schools have happened yet, but speculation is that Georgia Southern is one of the schools that could be added. Appalachain State and New Mexico State have been rumored to be possible additions as well.
Offenses will continue to be high power in the conference, but like they say “defenses win championships.”
Many braced for a tough season as the Jags played their first full Sun Belt schedule resulted in a 2-11 overall record and 1-7 conference record. Some expected them to win more games than they did, and they probably should have. But they were more competitive in their first FBS season than any team in recent memory.
South Alabama’s first season of FBS play was a big learning experience. They went up against 12 FBS teams in their 13 game schedule with seven games on the road. They measured themselves against several good teams and know where they are and what they need to do to get there.
The Jags will make an impact in the conference sooner rather than later. Coach Jones along with his staff and players have established a presence in the conference and have earned the respect of many opponents.
Coach Jones still has holes to fill and the team has some maturing to do. It needs to take what it has learned this season and build upon it. They need to use what they learned on game day and in key situations. The depth chart will benefit from a 2012 signing class where all but one player was redshirted and it will benefit from several fifth-year players ready to fill spots in the starting lineup and on the depth chart.
Troy was another school that had a disappointing season and missing out on a bowl game for the second consecutive season. In 2011 the Trojans went 3-9 (2-6 SBC) but improved to 5-7 (3-5 SBC) in 2012. But look for them to play a role in the Sun Belt in the future as they have in the past.
It could be an interesting few years in the Sun Belt as both Troy works it’s way back up and South Alabama strives to blaze it’s own way toward the top as well.
Sometimes change is good and sometimes it makes you think, “what were they thinking?”
Reflecting Back On The 2012 Season
Head coach Joey Jones working with the field goal unit during South Alabama’s Scrimmage on Saturday, March 3, 2012.
The South Alabama football team concluded it’s 13-game schedule that marks its final year of a two-year transition into Football Bowl Subdivision play.
The Jags played 12 other FBS schools and one FCS school in Nicholls State. Of those 12 FBS schools, eight of them were Sun Belt Conference schools, another first for the school. Those four other non-conference FBS schools included road games against North Carolina State, Mississippi State and Hawaii.
Though the win-loss record (2-11, 1-7 SBC) was not what players, coaches and fans wanted to see there were lots of positives to take away from the season. On four occasions, the Jags lost by eight points or less including a 36-29 game in Jonesboro, AR against eventual conference champion Arkansas State.
But now the focus shifts to recruiting and the team’s offseason workout program. The coaching staff is targeting several junior college players that can come in and make an immediate impact as they have layed a solid foundation for the future with freshmen. Every freshman signed back in February of this year were redshirted except wide receiver Cameron Broadnax.
The coaching staff will hope to do something similar again in 2013 with the incoming freshmen unless they have some outstanding talent that could make an immediate impact on the field.
When asked about his look on this past season he said he was very excited about the future. He pointed out the team this year and stressed the Seniors that have given so much to the program to get us to this point. He said they have built the program the right way and have played competitive football. While they are not there yet, they played several teams down to the wire and earned respect in their first season.
He also said that he was excited about next year. He credited the players and his staff for working hard to prepare them and he believes that it’s going to carry over to next year. He stressed that is a fundamental part of having a good program, the things behind the scenes that people don’t see. “When you see a team keep preparing as hard as it can and wanting to win every game, there’s a lot of teams that quit in these situations and this didn’t and that’s going to carry over. It’s one of the things I think we learned this season,” Jones said.
Jones said that the toughest part of this past season was coming out on the losing side of those close games this year. The Jags were picked to win two games this year in preseason picks, but Jones expected to win more than that. Jones is used to winning close games throughout his career and there were so many close games that they lost. But that’s another part of the learning process, how to come through in those situations. “That’s probably the most disappointing thing because if we had won three or four of those games we would have been bowl eligible in our first year and that would have been a tremendous year,” said Jones.
Jones always stresses that there are three or four playes in most games that determine who wins, but the Jags didn’t get those plays this year. He said that they have to find out what happened and why they didn’t make those plays and win those games.
Some positives that Coach Jones can take away from this season were that they played a lot of great Division I teams this season and kept it close. Arkansas State, as mentioned before, defeated Middle Tennessee 45-0 in the season finale for both teams. But ASU only beat the Jags by a touchdown. The Jags prepared for every game as though they were going to win. While nobody saw that other than the players and staff, Jones said that was evident behind the scenes.
Another big positive is that next year they are going to have a large senior class for the first time. While the seniors have always led the team, they have never had more than a handful of them each season. In 2013 the Jags will have over 20 scholarship seniors to help lead the team on the field.
Now that the Jags are an “official” division I team, they now have something more to strive for. “Now we’ve got that carrot dangling out there in that we do have a chance, we can go to a bowl game,” Jones said. “We had four teams in our conference this year go to a bowl game; it should have been five. It gives us hope that the Sun belt Conference is putting teams in bowl games and if we can do our part we can be in a bowl game next year. That’s what’s exciting about this coming year.”
The Jags will look to fill needs this offseason. Offensively they will be looking for playmakers. As they learned this year, you can never have too many running backs. But they will also be looking for a receiver and a running back with speed. On the defensive side of the ball, they will be looking for more players to help them rush the passer better. The Jaguar defensive line did well this season, but were razor thin at times with injuries.
Depth is still an issue, three defensive linemen sufferred season ending injuries and three running backs were injured and out for the year. On the offensive line, the Jags redshired six player and will be two-deep for the first time in program history.
When asked to be realistic about how soon he thought the Jags would be competitive in the Conference, Jones anwered that he thought they competed this year. He thought it was obvious that they competed with some of the teams this year. The question he asked himself was how long before they can beat those teams. Jones said that would be a big jump because they have work to do. He has challenged his players to make that big jump. If they do their work in the offseason and prepare and recruit players and do a better job as a staff, then the Jags can and will win those games.
They will have to work, because it’s not going to be given to them and it’s not going to happen just because they are a year older. The Jags have to improve in every facet of the game and in every facet of the program. The players and staff are hungry enough to make those changes and get better. Now it’s a matter of going out and doing it.
Seven Jag Softball Players Named All-America Scholar Atheltes
The South Alabama softball team had seven team members honored as All-America Scholar Athletes by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. This number matches the total number the school has placed on the list since the program began in the 2007-’08 season.
Hannah Campbell, Meghan Collins, Jessica Dobson, Kaitlyn Griffith, Blair Johnson, Katy Neal and Julie Moss were all honored as All-America Scholar Athletes. The honor is given to players submitted by a member coach who achieved a 3.50 GPA or higher during the 2011-2012 academic year.
Collins has been honored three times now, earning the honor each year she has attended South Alabama. Campbell and Moss, both juniors, have been selected twice each.
“These awards are a testament to the work ethic and focus of these young ladies,” Jaguar head coach Becky Clark said. “The amount of time and energy it takes to play a Division I sport and take care of business in the classroom is tremendous, so for these young ladies to excel the way they have is remarkable. I am extremely proud of the way they represent our program and the University of South Alabama.”
In October, South Alabama was ranked 37th on the 2011-’12 list of NCAA Division I All-Academic Teams by the NFCA. This was a 12 place improvement from the previous season and the best ranking in the program’s short history.