USA Baseball Opens Fall Practice
The Jaguar baseball team opened fall practice on Monday and followed that up with its first intrasquad of the year on Tuesday morning at Eddie Stanky Field.
The Jags are looking to replace 15 seniors and two juniors who were lost to the Major League Baseball Draft, from last season’s Sun Belt Conference Championship team and NCAA Regional participant.
Bud Collura walked and doubled while COle Gleason and Cole Jarman added a hit each for the Red team. Andrew Tindell got the only hit recorded for the Gray team. The Red team earned a 2-0 decision after scoring an unearned run in the first inning and another run three innings later.
Ben Taylor, Dylan Eyler, Sam Givens, Brock Stevens and Jordan Touro each tossed one shutout inning for the Red team. Kevin Hill, Locke St. John, Brandon Hallford and Kyle Rovig each pitched one shutout inning for the Gray squad as well.
The Jags will have intrasquad scrimmages every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through November 16 at Eddie Stanky Field. They will scrimmage at 2:30pm on Friday and will scrimmage at 11am on both Saturday and Sunday.
USA’s Bryson James Nominated For Courage Award
Senior linebacker Bryson James was nominated for the FWAA Courage Award. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The University of South Alabama senior linebacker Bryson James was named as this week’s nominee for the 2013 Discover Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award as announced by the Football Writers Association of America.
James, a 6’2″ 235-pound New Orleans native was born prematurely and only weighed one pound. He had not developed skin and was able to be held in one hand. Doctors believed he would be mentally disabled and would never learn to walk. He proved them wrong.
Additionally, his mother Valorie has undergone two brain surgeries, the most recent was wen he was a high school senior to correct blood flow and to remove a tumor. His family has also suffered extensive damage due to both hurricane Katrina and tropical storm Isaac.
He has lettered four seasons for the Jaguars while tallying 107 total tackles, including four for loss, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and six passes defended. So far this season he as 16 tackles with six of them coming in the Jaguars 31-24 win over Western Kentucky.
The Courage Award was created by ESPN’s senior columnist Gene Wojciechowski. A select group of writers from the FWAA vote on the winner each year. To be nominated, a student-athlete must display courage on or off the field, including overcoming an injury or physical handicap, preventing a disaster or living through hardship.
This is the eighth straight year that the FWAA and the Discover Orange Bowl will announce weekly nominees throughout the season. A blue-ribbon panel of organization members will determine the winner from all of the nominees. The winner will be announced at the end of the season.
USA Soccer’s Allison Named SBC Offensive Player Of The Week
Lauren Allison was named the SBC Offensive Player of the Week on October 8 | Photo usajaguars.com
On Tuesday, Lauren Allison of the South Alabama women’s soccer team was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for her performances last week.
She scored her third game-winner of the year against UALR on Friday then assisted on both Jaguar goals against Arkansas State on Sunday for a four-point weekend. That makes her season total 29 which is tied for seventh in South Alabama single-season history.
Allison, a freshman from Hicester, Oxfordshire, United Kingdon, has also broken into the Jaguars single-season top 10 in assists as she is now tied for eighth with nine total. Her 10 goals on the season is one shy of a Jaguar top-10 record.
She leads the Sun Belt Conference in every offensive category except goals per game which she is currently second.
Allison ranks in the NCAA’s top 25 nationally in five offensive categories which include Total points (29, 5th), Total Assists (9, 6th), Assists per game (0.69, 8th), Points Per Game (2.23, 11th) and Total Goals (10, 19th). She also ranks 30th in goals per game with 0.769.
She is the fourth Jag to earn a weekly conference honor this year and the first since goalkeeper Melissa Drish was named the Defensive Player of the Week on September 10.
The Lady Jags will face Georgia State on Thursday at 6pm in Atlanta and will face Western Kentucky on Sunday at The Cage at 1pm.
USA Volleyball’s Daniel Earns Second Freshman Of The Week Honor
Freshman Mechell Daniel was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Week for the second time this season. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
South Alabama volleyball player Mechell Daniel earned her second Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Week honor on Tuesday.
This is the third honor for a Jaguar this fall and the ninth time overall that a Jaguar has earned a conference honor. Jessica Lewis was named the conference’s freshman of the week on September 6 and Daniel earned her first on September 16.
This is the first time that South Alabama’s Volleyball squad has earned a weekly award three times in a single season and Daniel is the first player in the program’s history to earn multiple player of the week honors.
Daniel is tied for second in the conference in points (4.32) and ranks third in both kills (3.73) and serving (0.32).
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday to face the Ragin’ Cajuns at 6pm. They will then return home to host new SBC member Georgia State at 7pm on Saturday.
Rubit Named To Two All-America Teams
SBC player of the year from last season, Augustine Rubit, earns two preseason All-America honors. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit of the Jaguar Men’s Basketball team was selected to two pre-season All-America teams on Tuesday. These are his first honors of the 2013-2014 season.
Rubit was named to the Lou Henson Preseason All-America team and was a finalist for the Lou Henson Award last season. The Award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a great coaching career that spanned 41 years. The award is given each ear to the top Mid-Major player in Division I college basketball. ULL’s Elfrid Peyton joins Rubit on the preseason list as well.
He was also named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Mid Major team. He was named to the second team.
Rubit was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as he averaged 19.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last season. He is the first player in conference history to lead the conference in rebounding for three consecutive seasons and is 120 away from setting a new Sun Belt Conference record.
The Jags will host an exhibition game at the Mitchell Center on November 5 against University of Mobile.
Troy Has Two Players Suspended For First Half Of Next Game By SBC Office
Troy will be without the services of two football players during the first half of their game against Georgia State this weekend.
Chris Pickett and Tyler Roberts were both ejected from the game against South Alabama. Pickett was ejected based on Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA Football Rules And Interpretations which defines targeting and initiating contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless player. The penalty was called during the game and video review confirmed the call on the field. By rule, this penalty carries an automatic disqualification from the game as well as a half game suspention in the next game. Since the foul occurred late in the fourth quarter, Pickett will miss the first half of the Georgia State game.
Roberts will also be suspended for the first half of the Georgia State game due to Rule 9-1-3 which is targeting or initiating contact with the crown of the helmet. Though no penalty call was made on the field, video review after the game showed that the player led with his head and initiated contact directly to the chest of a defenseless South Alabama quarterback. The play occurred late in the third quarter and thus will also miss the first half of the next game.
Troy also had a player ejected in the first half of the game, but missing the second half fulfilled his suspension and will be available to play against Georgia State.
Seven Jag Softball Players Named To All-America List By NFCA
The 2013 South Alabama Softball Team earned their second consecutive SBC Tournament title after defeated WKU 2-0 on Saturday, May 11, 2013 | sunbeltsports.org
The University of South Alabama Jaguar Softball team had seven members of its 2012-2013 team named All-America Scholar Athletes by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) on Monday.
Alex Breeden, Blair Johnson, Hannah Campbell, Jessica Dobson, Julie Moss, Kaitlyn Griffith and Meghan Collins were all honored. Players are submitted by a member coach and must have earned a 3.50 GPA or higher during the 2012-2013 academic year.
This is the fourth time since the program began in 2007 that USA has had that many student-athletes honored with this award.
Collins, who is now a graduate student, made the list all four years of her athletic career. Current seniors Campbell and Moss were selected for the third time in their career. Johnson and Griffith are entering their Junior years and have both been honored twice now.
The school was also named an Academic All-America Team after posting a team GPA of 3.285.
Monday Press Conference
Below are highlights from Monday’s press conference covering the Jags game against Troy and a little preview of their upcoming game against Kent State on October 19.
Head coach Joey Jones kicked it off with his opening statement. “It was a gut-wrenching loss. Any time you are up six points with 40 seconds left in the game, you feel pretty good about it. We let it slip away, but we’re a lot better football team this year versus last year, it’s not even close. We’ve made a lot of strides to get where we are, but you still don’t like losing a game like that. The good thing going forward is that we can learn from it. We have to continue on our quest for our goals. If we continue that, then we are going to achieve them. Just because you have a setback and lose a close ballgame late in the game doesn’t mean you fold your tent. That’s where we are, and I think our kids understand that.”
Jones then spoke about playing close games this season. “Before the season I talked about how we were going to have to win a lot of close ballgames to have a good year. I didn’t know it would be that way through the first five games, but it’s a good thing. We’re right there in the mix with a chance to win it. I think it is good for us. It’s going to make us more mature. If nothing else, it is going to create that confidence in us that we can handle it the next time around.”
He then addressed how the team must move forward and put the loss behind them. “It’s vital. It (Kent State game) obviously doesn’t have anything to do with the conference championship, but we want to go to a bowl game. That’s one of our goals. It’s important for us because we really want to get there. It’s achievable for us if we do what we have to do, so I’m going to keep our eyes set on that goal.”
Jones then spoke about the Jags upcoming game against Kent State while reflecting on their previous matchup against them. “We played against Roosevelt Nix two years ago. He’s probably one of the quickest defensive linemen I have ever seen. He really creates a lot of havoc. They know how to win as well. They had a great season last year. But they have built their team on playing really good defense over the last couple of years, and that’s what they have continued to do.”
Jaguar quarterback Brandon Bridge spoke about what he and the team learned from the loss to Troy. “What I learned personally and I think what the team learned as well is that no game is officially over (until it’s over). We have to keep playing until the clock says triple-zero. We have to keep fighting and keep on battling and work these next two weeks on getting better.”
“Kent State is a big opponent. It’s out of conference but it’s still a big game for us. We have to get back in the winning column. We’ll make a lot of strides this week, look at the film and get better. Next week we’ll come out with guns blazing and finish 60 minutes of football. That’s what we haven’t been doing in our losses, we haven’t been playing 60 minutes. We need to have a complete game in three aspects: offense, defense and special teams.”
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Kickoff Time Set For USA’s Homecoming Game Against Kent State
The University of South Alabama announced that kickoff of their homecoming game against Kent State is officially scheduled for 2pm on Saturday, October 19.
This will be the Jaguars first home game since their 31-24 win over Western Kentucky back on September 14. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3.
This will be the second time the two teams have faced off, the first was a 33-25 loss in Kent, Ohio on September 24, 2011. In the game, the Jags fell behind but roared back in the second half. They had the ball when time expired after a deep throw but the Jaguar receiver could not get into the end zone.
This is the final non-conference home game for the Jags this season as they will travel to Navy for a game on November 16. They will rotate home and away games the remainder of the season with home conference games against Arkansas State on November 2, UL-Monroe on November 23 and Louisiana-Lafayette on December 7.
USA Women’s Soccer Win Both Weekend Games On Road
The South Alabama Jaguar women’s soccer team earned it’s seventh shutout of the year and capped off a two-win Sun Belt Conference road trip this weekend.
The Jags (9-3-2, 2-0-1 SBC) defeated Arkansas State 2-0 giving them their first home loss of the 2013 season. Nini Rabsatt-Smith and Clarissa Hernandez netted goals in the span of 10 minutes about half way through the second period. Lauren Allison picked up two assists as well.
The Jags will next travel to Atlanta to face Georgia State on October 10. Georgia State are 1-3 at home this season.