South Alabama Fan Day Set For Sunday August 26th
The South Alabama Jaguars will have their football “Fan Day” on Sunday, August 26 from 5-7pm at the Mitchell Center.
Fans will have an opportunity to meet your South Alabama Jaguars. The event will take place in the north concourse of the Mitchell Center near the Waterman Globe. There will be an autograph session with the coaches and players and fans are encouraged to bring memorabilia to be signed and cameras for photographs. Also SouthPaw and the Jaguar Cheerleaders will be on hand for the event.
This is a free event. There will not be an attendance fee nor will there be a fee for parking in the Mitchell Center parking lot.
Ticket salespeople will be on hand for you to purchase season tickets, flex plan tickets or individual game tickets. You will be able to select your seats right there as well. They will also have information about purchasing parking passes or away game tickets to games such as Mississippi State, N.C. State, Louisiana-Lafayette or Hawaii or others.
You will be able to gear up with JagWear as the bookstore will be on site selling official merchandise and tailgating supplies. This includes the official Nike South Alabama gameday Jersey.
Go Jags!
USA Media Day Coverage
South Alabama hosted their annual media day on Tuesday at the football fieldhouse on campus. They discussed the team’s progress this preseason and their expectations for the coming season.
Head Coach Joey Jones, Defensive coordinator Bill Clark and first year offensive coordinator Robert Matthews fielded questions from the media along with Seniors Jake Johnson, B.J. Scott, Trey Clark and sophomore Jereme Jones.
Below are some of the more notable questions and answers from their sessions.
Head coach Joey Jones opened media day with his opening statement. “We’re very excited about this season. Our kids have worked their tails off to get here. There’s a different look in their eyes right now, they understand the challenges we have ahead of us. And they’re competitors, they compete and want to compete with the best. It’s been very exciting to watch them during the offseason to get ready for this season.”
Coach Jones was then asked about this year’s team and how he thinks they will compete with other Sun Belt schools. “There’s no doubt that we’re better. We have better players. It’s going to be a year where we kind of feel our way through as far as knowing how good these [Sun Belt Conference] teams are. It’s a good conference, we know that. They’ve beaten some very tough teams in this country, so we understand that it’s going to be a very tough league. But we want to make a good representation for South Alabama. We want to go out and be very competitive. I want the other teams to respect us when they walk off the field. You certainly want to get to the point where you win a lot of games, but you can’t focus on that. We have to focus on the process of it.”
Jones then spoke about special teams when asked a question about it. “I think coach Perry has done a great job studying during the offseason. He went to a couple of NFL teams and picked up some great ideas, and we’re implementing those. We’ve emphasized the importance of it. I think we can help ourselves from the kind of unknown side of the game. I feel really good about where we are.”
He was then asked about the teams strength’s this season. “Our linebackers are very good football players, not that we don’t have good players at other positions. But if you look at our starters at linebacker, I think you start with Jake Johnson. He’s a great football player who I think will play in the NFL next year. He’s smart, can run and is a good tackler, he can do it all. Enrique Williams is looking really good and Clifton Crews is a very good athlete. I think those guys can compete with just about anybody.”
With the change at offensive coordinator after last season, it was only a matter of time before someone asked him about question about the offense. He spoke about their offensive philosophy. “We always want to be balanced, but if you can’t run the football then you can’t win in my opinion. You can throw the ball and win games, but you have to run the ball to be able to win championships. One thing I have noticed is that the kids have really bought in to this offense. They’re locked in when they come to meetings and go to practice. When you have that, good things are going to happen. We’re going to be successful in a lot of ways because they have bought in.”
Finally he answered a question about the quarterback position. “When I look at our players, I look at them and try to find guys who can help us win. I think both Ross Metheny and C.J. Bennett can win for us right now. The competition has been great. I think they have both sharpened each other and have made each other better. It’s good for us as a program, and it’s good as a quarterback to have the heat on you. But I think we have two guys at quarterback who have shown us they can win right now. They both fit this offense really well, and are both very similar in their traits.”
Next up was defensive coordinator Bill Clark with an opening statement for his segment. “You’re going to see a whole different set of guys on defense. Our options are opening up to a lot of guys now that we’re Division I. When you go out recruiting, those big defensive linemen go first, they are hard to find. We’ve got some guys who are undersized, but are the type of guys who play their butts off. We have to keep those guys healthy.”
Coach Clark fielded a question about practicing against an offense that will be similar to other Sun Belt teams they will be facing this season. “I think it’s key. Anytime you can go against similar people is good. You can practice as high-rate as you can, but to actually see it is its own deal. It’s going to make us a ton better. We want to be high-energy, highly-motored and we want to get off the field and get our offense the ball. When you’re guys are sucking wind, or you can’t get your subs on the field because they aren’t used to it, then that’s a problem. We’re glad we get to practice against them. It makes us a lot better.“
He also spoke about Jake Johnson and B.J. Scott as veterans and leaders on the defense. “You always count on your veterans. Everybody’s got another year, but the senior. Sometimes, as a junior, sophomore, or freshman, they think, ‘I’ll get my time.’ But a senior’s job is to say, ‘No, this is your time. This is for sure my time and I won’t get another chance.’ We want to bring [underclassmen] energy levels up to theirs. They are very good leaders. They lead by example, and they’re good people. They’ve been in big games and big stadiums. In front of a lot of people, like we saw with N.C. State, last year, people like Jake help you out there. We’re blessed to have them and we’ve got a lot of juniors that are like seniors since they’ve been with us when we started. We’ve got a pretty veteran group.”
Coach Clark revisited how he came to be with the Jags. “I tell the story all the time. Coach Jones called my office while I was in the second week of playoffs just checking in and seeing what we were doing. We talked a lot. He just mentioned that this was an opportunity and I, of course, said, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ I’d always heard about South Alabama, and through the long haul, it worked. We really feel like this is a family. I think you’ve seen us play like that. We were sitting here on a cement slab (four years ago) telling people what it was going to look like. To see the football facility, to see where we’re headed, changes at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, watching our guys grow, to finally be Division I, is pretty neat.”
Finally he spoke about the pressure to prove something. “As a high school guy, I always felt like I carried the banner for my guys. There are so many great coaches that just don’t get that opportunity, and we feel like we’re representing the kind of guys, like high school coaches who teach class in the day and coach because they’re doing what they love.”
The last of the coaches who spoke at media day is first year offensive coordinator Robert Matthews. He first spoke about the offense and what he hopes the fans will see this season. “Hopefully you’re going to see a lot of first downs and a lot of points. Offensively, we’re into the second week of camp, and we feel like we’re making a lot of progress. We have repped a ton of guys at a lot of different positions. We’re practicing really efficiently. We’ve got two team periods going at the same time, we have two 7-on-7 periods going on at the same time, and that’s helping to answer the question of depth from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. We feel like there are a lot of guys getting reps to help us this year, as well as next year. We’re in this for the long haul, not a one season and out kind of deal. Coach Jones is a Mobile native and we want this to be a proud program.”
“Hopefully, in our offense, a lot of guys are going to touch the ball. We’re rotating receivers, tight ends and running backs in and out, and we hope to snap the ball at a high rate and get it to our playmakers. That’s what this offense is about, so if Jereme is one of those guys, then he should definitely have a smile on his face. I think the kids have a good understanding of what we’re looking for. There are still certain plays that aren’t perfected yet, but I think overall the kids have put in a lot of time since spring ball through the summer, and we’ve had an efficient camp because of that. It’s more refining as opposed to re-teaching.”
Coach Matthews was then asked about the adjustment period for the players. “I think the kids are working hard. We’re getting better every week. Really, they don’t have a choice. If they want to play, they’ll do what the coaching staff asks of them. There’s a good camaraderie amongst the staff and the players, and I think it’s progressing well.”
Matthews also spoke about his growth as a coach up to his new position as offensive coordinator with the Jags. “In my first coaching job at a high school in Georgia, we ran the Wing-T offense. We were successful because we had good players and the kids believed in it. With the revolution of football as a sport, you have to score points. We utilize that philosophy using the one-back spread. I’ve been fortunate to have been around some really good coaches, and some really good guys that are prolific coaches have mentored me. Coach Jones has been involved in some good offensive schemes himself. I think we’ve done a really good job of meshing those ideas together and just putting together a product that will help us win.”
He was later asked about the quarterback competition during camp this year. “It’s been really fun to have a bunch of different guys working in that position. You have to have depth at that position. C.J. has been here and he’s played some games, and he’s getting better every day. Ross brings a different perspective, because he’s been in a different program, and Fetner and Peavey have all been working hard and they’ve all gotten better. That’s a testament to us getting guys a lot of reps during practice because you want to build depth.”
“You never want to look at it this way, but you’re always one play away from whoever the number two is to being a starter for the remainder of the season. You better prepare for it because it’s the reality of what could happen. It’s hard to compare from last year because they’re two different offenses. Everybody asks, ‘What about C.J. from last year?’ I’m not worried about C.J. from last year. I’m worried about C.J. and how the rest of the guys are doing right now. He comes to work every day and he’s being a good leader and he’s working hard at this offense. I think he’s progressing.”
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson was first up for the players. He first spoke about the progress of the defense so far during camp and the expectations on the season. “We’re a lot better at this point in camp than we were this time last year. We’re more complex on defense, which is good so we don’t look the same out there every play. We have a lot of players stepping up, a lot of new defensive linemen, Jesse Kelley. He’s 19 years old and is really stepping up at nose tackle. We also have a couple of corner backs who have stepped up. Alonzo Long has done well. We’re really looking good halfway through camp.”
He was asked about how important it is for the defense to establish a personality on defense. “I think it’s real important. The intensity that you bring now during camp is going to translate in the games. We try to bring a high intensity, a high motor, a high effort everyday from every position, so that when the game comes, we are so used to going at that speed and that intensity and that is the face of our defense.”
Johnson was asked about the overall attitude of the defense this season as compared to previous seasons. “Our attitude is a lot better. We seem to be a lot more focused. We watch a lot more film and have a lot more meetings. Like I mentioned earlier, we aren’t running the same scheme. We have gotten more complex in some of the things that we have run in the past.”
He was also asked about how being exposed to the spread offense in practice will help the defnese when they start conference play. “The spread attack is what a majority of the teams in the Sun Belt are running. (Seeing the spread in practice) is going to help us get conditioned. Having seen it so much in practice, we are going to be prepared for it. It also really helps out the defensive backs. They’re getting so much work, not just on defensive drills, but they are working on so much man coverage, that I feel it’s going to help them in the games. I think it’s going to help us out greatly.”
Senior defensive back B.J. Scott spoke about the progress of the defense so far during camp and what expectations he has for the season. “Midway through camp, we have some players with some dings who are a little banged up and we’re trying to get them back as fast as we can, but I think our defense is looking good this year. We’ve prepared ourselves throughout camp.”
Scott also spoke about the improvements made in the secondary, also mentioning Alonzo Long as well. “We are more athletic at the corner position. Alonzo Long has really stepped up and is looking really good. Tyrell Pearson is doing a great job for us as well.”
Finally, he was also asked about facing the spread offense in practice. “Seeing a hurry-up tempo offense at practice makes the secondary and the defense as a whole get to the line and call our coverage in the secondary a lot faster. It helps us, just as much as it helps the offense.”
Senior center Trey Clark spoke about the progression of the offense in camp. “Right now we’re just working hard and staying focused on each practice right now. It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be hot. I think it’s really important for us as a team to stay focused on each practice, improve on the fundamentals and get the ins-and-outs of our offense worked out before the first game.”
Clark was asked about the conditioning of the team. “The new offense we run is very fast paced and high tempo. That demands great conditioning. With our offseason, summer workouts and fall camp, I think we’re really making strides in that area.”
When asked about the state of the offensive line, he said: “Our strengths are our ability to play fast and utilize our athleticism. As far as our weaknesses, we have to get better at our pass protection and learning to play together. We have some guys that are stepping into starting roles, so getting used to playing next to one another is going to be important for us.”
Finally he spoke about the new starters on the offensive line. “We have several linemen that have stepped up this camp, especially Drew Dearman, Shaun Artz and Chris May. They’ve all done an outstanding job. We also have a transfer, Perry Meiklejohn, who has done a great job. For the returners, it will be important for us to bring them along a little bit, but for the most part, they’re doing a great job and have stepped up. I’m here to help them any way I can, but they’ve done a great job in learning the offense and working to improve every single day.”
Sophomore wide receiver Jereme Jones also answered the question about the progression of the offense in camp. “It’s progression really well. We have a dynamic offense. We go through our bumps and bruises, but overall I think we’re doing what doing we have to do to be where we want to be at the end of the season.”
Jones was also asked about the conditioning of the team. “We do a lot of conditioning, but it’s not suicides or gassers, we do it while we’re doing plays. We do fast-tempo things like getting lined up fast, just like we would do in a real game.”
Specificially, Jones was asked about the receivers transition to the new offense was progressing. “When we first started in the spring it wasn’t easy. We had to really study the playbook, learn the plays and watch a lot of film. But when the summer came around, we knew what we had to do and where we needed to be. When the fall came, it wasn’t a big learning curve. Instead of having to learn, we just executed.”
Finally he was asked about the quarterbacks. “C.J. was doing a lot of what he’s doing now in practice, last year, it just didn’t correlate to the field like it was supposed to. C.J. is throwing the ball the way he’s supposed to, leveraging the ball the way it needs to be. Ross is a good quarterback too. He does a good job of running the offense. He’s similar to CJ, he leverages the ball well and puts it where it needs to be. There’s going to be some competition this year.”
AJC Reports GSU’s Bill Curry To Retire After 2012 Season
The Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that Georgia State’s Head football coach Bill Curry will retire following the 2012 season. It is believed that he will tell his players on Wednesday morning before practice.
This comes in the midst of the Panthers transition to FBS and joining the Sun Belt.
Curry began in college football when he played at Georgia Tech. He then went on to play in the NFL for ten years and was part of three championship teams. He then returned to the college football ranks by coaching at Georgia Tech before going to Alabama where he was named the national coach of the year. He then left for Kentucky before he went into broadcasting with ESPN as an analyst.
In 2008, he was hired by Georgia State to start their football program from scratch. His first two seasons he led the Panthers to a 6-5 record followed by a 3-8 record last season.
Curry’s expected announcement is not completely unexpected. He will celebrate his 70th birthday in October. He has repeatedly given the same answer when asked if he if he was going to stay on with the school. He continually answered that he would make that decision when the season ends in November.
Some of the factors that will play into his decision is his health and possibly spending more time with his family.
You can read the AJC’s full article here.
UPDATE: This morning Georgia State University has called a press conference for 1pm Eastern.
Coach Jones Q&A With C Spire CIRCLE Blitz A Success
Coach Joey Jones was the first participant in the C Spire CIRCLE Blitz College Football Question and Answer series on Monday where several area coaches answered questions posed by fans online. Here are a few questions answered by Coach Jones.
- Do you see any true freshman being on the two-deep roster? “Yes. Cam Broadnax at WR. Possibly Daniel Aust at guard.”
- Was the move to a more spread offense necessary to be able to score easier on the deffenses in the Sun Belt; if not then why the switch? “Personnel was the main reason…Also creating a tempo offense which I am accustomed to.”
- Fans will want to look at this year’s win/loss record as the determining factor of “success.” What would you consider to be a successful year this year? And, what do you think is the players’ definition of a successful season? On a related note, are the coaches and players aware of the recent changes to this year’s bowl eligibility requirements, and how South Alabama now has the possibility of being bowl eligible this year? What has been the reaction to this? Used as further motivation? “That’s a great question…I know we are picked to win 2 games by most. I don’t want to settle for less though. We just need to prepare every game, regardless of how people say we match up on paper. Second part…Yes, it is a big motivation for us to have a “chance” to get to a bowl.”
- What are the current plans for any further facility upgrades/construction? Are there plans in place to further improve on what we already have, which would likely further carry over and help in recruiting? “Not much on the table…but there will always be talk @ an on-campus stadium and indoor facility. Would be tremendous in recruiting.”
- To echo a previous question: What factored into the decision to move to a spread, up-tempo offense? Was it based on available personnel, conference, or something else entirely? How well do you think the players on offense have adjusted to the new scheme? Do you think they are “almost there” or will it still be a major learning process as the season progresses? “First of all, the offensive staff and players have totally bought in to the new offense. I am extremely happy where we are at this point…we are not a finished product yet, but I have seen tons of progress. The tempo offense is also an equalizer in my opinion.”
- Coach with Navy and Tennessee on your schedule next year, how do you feel the program is progressing in to a ncaa school like Alabama, LSU just to name a few? “To be the best, we have to play the best. We will continue to play those types of schools to make us better.”
- With your all of those running backs, do you think you’ll be able to find carries for everybody, or will you try to find a couple of workhorse backs? “We are trying to find guys who can do it all…but if they can’t, we need to give them more specialized packages. It’s too early to tell the amount that each back will get.”
Thanks to C Spire for hosting this Q&A session and thanks to Coach Jones for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer questions for the fans.
Go Jags!
Jags Get 15th Verbal Of 2013 Signing Class
The South Alabama Jaguars received their 15th verbal commitment for the 2013 signing class. Caleb Alves a 6’3″ 185-pound Wide Receiver/Safety from Melbourne Florida’s Palm Bay Senior HS. He chose the Jags over offers from Bowling Green, Florida A&M, Florida International, UMass, and Memphis. He is rated a two-star by Rivals.com and Scout.com.
In an interview he said that he committed to the Jags because he liked the area and that the school was on the rise. Alves has not visited campus yes, but has extensively researched the area and the school online and does not plan on visiting any other schools. He said that if the opportunity arose, he would visit just for the experience but he was quoted as saying, “I’m all Jag, I’m happy to be a Jag.”
Alves excels at two sports, Football and basketball. He would like to play both in college if possible as he has played both all his life.
But he also excelled at two positions on the football field. As noted above, he has played both wide receiver and safety in high school. He said he is a receiver, but he would love to play defensive back in college. However, he will play at what ever position will help the team.
The other verbal commits are:
- Tiquan Lang CB Lowndes GA. 5’8″ 168-lb 73 tackles, 3 int, 1 kick block, 5 KOR for 201yds and 1TD, 6PR for 113yds in 2011.
- Terrell Pinson FS Itawamba CC 6’3″ 200lb As a freshman he played WR and caught 10 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown.
- Xavier Johnson RB Chamberlain, FL. 5’9″ 170lb Rushed for 1,736 yards and 16 TDs in 2011.
- Caleb Hayman WR/TE Gainesville, FL. 6’1″ 193lb
- Dejon Funderburk WR Washington (Pensacola), FL. 6’0″ 175lb Caught 31 passes for 720 yards adn 7TD’s while rushing for 362 yards and 4TDs.
- Taylor Lamb QB Calhoun, GA. 6’1″ 190lb Had a 73% completion rate for 3,635 yards, 40TDs and 9Ints.
- Justin Jones RB Northeast Miss. JC 5’6″ 180lb Rushed for 920 yards and caught 27 passes as a freshman.
- Roman Buchanan S Daleville, AL. 6’2″ 195lb 72 solo tackles, 45 assists, four sacks, three forced fumbles and two recovered, two interceptions, four passes defended and a field goal blocked as a junior.
- Tevaris McCormick WR Biloxi, MS. 5’9″ 170lb 769 yards receiving, 213 yards rushing and 265 yards on returns with 16 total touchdowns.
- Jacob Chaffin DT Spain Park, AL. 6’3″ 260lb 38 solo tackles, 8 tackles for loss and three sacks as a junior.
- Devon Earl S Hoover HS, AL 5’10” 180lb 61 tackles, 5 INTs, 10 pass deflections and 3.5 tackles for loss as a Junior
- Noah Armstrong OT Lawrence Co. 6’8″ 300lb Offered by Arkansas State, Western Kentucky and Southern Miss.
- Willie Williams Jr DE Americus, GA. 6’2″ 255lbs Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and UCLA were also recruiting him.
- Brandon King 6’2″ 212lbs 118 tackles last season, 70 sol0, 6TFL, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble. Received recruiting interest from a few FBS schools such as Northern Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers and Auburn among other schools.
- Jalen Wells, DE, 6’4″ 230lbs, Dublin GA. Wells is listed at different positions by scouting services, one has him projected as a TE while another at linebacker. He had interest from Florida, Georgia, NC State, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech.
Jags Return To Field After Scrimmage
Quarterback CJ Bennett prepares to take a snap in the light rain at the Jaguar Practice Facility.
The Jaguars returned to the practice field on Monday to begin their second full week of practice as they are only 16 days away from their 2012 season opening game against Texas-San Antonio. After their day off on Sunday, Coach Jones thought they opened the second week with another strong effort after a rest day.
The practice on Monday spanned about two hours in full pads. Most of the first hour focused on individual skills drills before progressing to skeleton passing drills then full 11-on-11 team drills in the second half of practice.
The skeleton drills focused on open field and red zone plays while the 11-on-11 drills focused on the base playset. In the first four plays of team drills sophomore C.J. Bennett completed passes to four different Jaguar receivers.
Bennett and Metheny both found open receivers and enjoyed good protection as the offensive line only allowed two sacks during team drills. Jereme Jones hauled in an impressive one-handed touchdown pass. Wide receivers Cameron Broadnax and T.J. Glover both added some very nice catches as well. Kendall Houston and Senior Brandon Ross stood out amongst the running backs in individual drills.
Defensively the secondary allowed some receivers to get open during the skeleton drills. Safety Charles Harris broke up two passes while his counterpart B.J. Scott continues to be a vocal leader on the field. During individual drills Montavious Williams and Lucas Melo almost flipped a sled.
Also, the Jags got a visit from former Jaguar receiver Courtney Smith during practice.
“I thought it was great, it was one of our better practices,” Jones said after practice. “The kids came out ready to go and were mentally sharp. I told them that if we can practice like this, we’re going to be a pretty good football team. But we have to continue to do that. They can’t worry about what happened in the scrimmage, on the last play or last week, all they can do something about is what is ahead of them. The kids understand that, and if they take each day and get better we will have a shot.”
“This week is a tough week, the second week of camp. There is no school and no game coming up this weekend, so we have to make sure it is a good work week,” Jones explained. “We’re going to finish this week getting a ton of reps, next week we will start backing off and focusing on quality reps. We just need to throw a lot at them and see what they can do.”
After Saturday’s scrimmage the coaching staff reviewed the scrimmage video and Coach Jones said he was pleased with what he saw. “I was real pleased, I thought there were some good things offensively. We executed much better, the offensive line is really starting to come along and the quarterbacks understand the offense,” he said. “Defensively we are real banged up right now, a bunch of starters are out but will be back by the middle of the week. Once we get all those guys out there I feel really good about what we are doing defensively.”
The players and coaches will return to the practice field on Tuesday morning at 7:40am and will keep that schedule all this week leading up to an 8am scrimmage on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Scrimmage Photos
A Jaguar fan posted photos from Saturday’s scrimmage. He has posted 26 photos from the scrimmage and the photos are excellent. Click here to view the slideshow.
South Alabama’s Scrimmage Goes Well
Wide Receiver Bryant Lavender waits on the ball during Jaguars preseason camp.
South Alabama’s first scrimmage of the season saw the ball flying through the air early and often on Saturday. Four quarterbacks combined to go 27-of-39 for 280 yards. The offense scored four touchdowns and a field goal during the hour-and-a-half scrimmage at the Jaguar Practice Facility.
Seventeen different Jaguars notched at least one pass reception during the scrimmage. Freshman Cameron Broadnax caught three for 35 yards and Greg Hollinger had a scrimmage-high 43 yards on two receptions. Jereme Jones, Bryant Lavender and Wes Saxton all hauled in multiple pass receptions as well.
Defensively, Ben Giles and Bryson James lead the first-team with six tackles each. Anthony Taylor added four more himself with 1.5 of them being tackles-for-loss. Terrell Brigham and Phillip Press both added five tackles with Jesse Kelley leading all players with eight total tackles in the scrimmage.
C.J. Bennett lead the retooled offense on an 11 play, 65 yard drive to open the scrimmage. Facing third-and-two, Bennett found Lavender for an 18-yard completion to cross midfield and to keep the drive alive. That gain was followed up with a 12-yard gain by freshman Terrance Timmons. After Bennett threw his only incompletion on the opening drive, he found T.J. GLover for 24-yards to set up Demetre Baker’s one yard touchdown run. Bennett went 4-of-5 on that opening drive and would end the scrimmage with 90 yards passing.
Both Baker and Timmons would finish the scrimmage with 26 yards rushing with the entire backfield totalling 124 yards on the day.
Transfer quarterback Ross Metheny lead the offense down the field on his drive to get into field goal range. He had completions to Saxton for 13 yards and Broadnax for 15 yards. However the drive would stall at the 32 yard line. Metheny would throw for 106 yards total in the scrimmage.
After Metheny’s drive, the Jaguar defense would tighten up and in the next four drives the offense would not allow the offense to get past the defense’s 45 yard line. Before the mid-scrimmage break, Julien Valentin would cap off a 10-play, 65-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
After the break, Metheny would lead the offense’s next possession. he would use three consecutive completions to drive inside the defense’s 10 yard line. He would then find Hollinger in the end zone for an eight yard touchdown.
Hollinger would also set up the final touchdown of the scrimmage. He would haul in a 35-yard pass from Bennett to set up Kendall Houston for a five-yard touchdown reception.
Aleem Sunanon added a 43 yard field goal to round out the scoring in the first scrimmage of the preseason.
“Overall it was good,” said head coach Joey Jones after the scrimmage. “The offense came out and made some plays today when they had to. Right now we’re beat up on defense, we held out three starters inside and some other guys are banged up, but I know that we are going to be really, really good. We have some great athletes over there, and once we get those guys back we’re going to be in great shape.”
“It’s tough to know exactly how each individual did,” Coach Jones continued. “What we are looking to do is find our depth chart, the guys who we are really going to give reps to. We’ll know more after watching film. It was a good day overall, but I was a little disappointed in special teams. We have to practice better there. It’s almost like we came out here for an offensive and defensive scrimmage and we weren’t ready for special teams. We’ve got to change that, and that starts with me.”
Coach Jones responded to a question posed asking if the break on Sunday will help to rest and rejuvenate the players. “There’s no doubt about it,” he responded. “We’re nine days into camp, the guys are pretty beat up right now. They need a day off, which will be good. We’ve got to be smart about what we do. We’ve had a good physical week, they need some time off.”
The players had Sunday off before returning to the field on Monday morning to continue preparation for the 2012 football season.
Reminder: Coach Jones Participates In Online Forum Today
At noon on Monday Head coach Joey Jones, in a partnership with C Spire Wireless, will be participating in an online forum to answer questions from Jaguar fans.
C Spire Wireless is kicking off its first-ever CIRCLE Blitz College Football Question and Answer series on August 13. They will be directly connecting fans with the coaches they love and admire. Fans will be able to get the inside story on their teams’ winning strategy for the 2012 college football season.
The forum will take place in C Spire’s online community called CIRCLE. Fans will post questions on CIRCLE and coaches from the top football programs in the region will be able to respond directly to the fans. They will be offering valuable information about the upcoming football season. Also fans posting questions to the forum will be entered into a drawing for prizes ranging from game tickets to autographed school and team paraphernalia.
Coach Jones will be the first of seven head football coaches. Others that will be participating includes Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, Ole Miss’s Hugh Freeze and Southern Mississippi’s Ellis Johnson.
Any fan can join the online forum and post questions by visiting the CIRCLE Blitz website. Each forum will last one hour and will be dedicated to a specific coach and school.
Get your questions ready and post them online at www.cspire.com/circleblitz.
Go Jags!!
2012 Preseason Ranking By SportsRatings
SportsRatings, a website dedicated to rankings, power ratings, BCS projections, analysis and more, put out their preseason rating of South Alabama. The number should not surprise anyone as the Jags enter their second and final season of a two-year transition into the FBS.
They ranked the Jags #116 out of 124 schools and last in the Sun Belt. Lindy’s ranked the Jags #121, Athlon #123 and Phil Steele ranked them dead last. Athlon also had them projected to go 2-11 on the season.
SportsRatings projects the Jags to go 4-9 on the season. The likely wins they have are Nicholls State, FAU and MTSU with Troy and UTSA being toss-up games. They also mention doing better than 4-9 is “out of the question.”
In other projected stats, they rank the offense to be #123 as it faces a tougher schedule. The passing game is ranked #108. They point out C.J. Bennett’s 17 interceptions to only 7 touchdowns last season but point to Bryant Lavender and Corey Waldon, both top receivers last year, returning as positives. But they also point out they gave up 21 sacks in 10 games and that they think that could rise well into the 30s this season with better competition.
They point out that the rushing game returns most of players from last year, but with what should be a more balanced offense so they predict an decline in rushing totals. Their rank seems to be #121, but due to a typo this could be incorrect.
Finally the defense is projected to be #87 which is quite positive. They note the Jags return 15 of the top 17 tacklers from last season and that Ken Barefield is the only loss from the linebacker corps so they think they will improve on their rush defense. they also point out that in the secondary Charles Harris, B.J. Scott and Gabe Loper all return.
Finally they grade the 2012 recruiting as #113. You can read all of their coverage of the Jags here.