Men’s Basketball Team Begins Individual Preseason Workouts
Its time to take a short break from all of the buzz around football to talk about basketball.
Head basketball coach Ronnie Arrow and his staff have started its preseason individual workouts. They will begin working two hours per week in preparation for the 2009-2010 season.
However there are alot of questions about this team that have yet to be answered and probably won’t be answered until the season starts. With the loss of DeAndre Coleman, Brandon Davis and Ronald Douglas to graduation and the transfer of DeAndrae Ross and C.J. Garner away from the program, it leave Coach Arrow with few experienced players.
Phillip Tabet, a senior, and Charles Tabet, redshirt Junior, have experience inside and are both letterwinners on the inside, but neither started a game last season. DeAndre Hersey redshirted last season. That leaves Bryan Sherrer and LaShun Watson, both seniors, as the only other experienced players left over from last season.
But Coach Arrow isn’t too worried. He said, “We will be bigger, quicker and better shooters on the outside than we were last year. LaShun Watson, Tim Williams and Martino Brock bring a lot of size and quickness to the wing.”
Coach Arrow has brought in a mixture of JC transfers and freshmen signees to fill out the ranks for the season, so its not like the Jaguars will be a group of inexperienced players. “The seniors have shown good leadership and have been able to share their knowledge in how to do the drills and what we expect of them,” Coach Arrow said. “The newcomers have put forth a good effort in learning the system.”
One of those newcomers that has put forth a good effort is Rob Phillips. He was a 2006 high school graduate that averaged 23.1 points per game, hitting 57% from 3-point range and 92% from the free-throw line at Charis Prep, one of the top prep schools in the country. He has a history of hard work off the court and leadership on the court. His outside shot will definitely benefit the Jaguars this season.
It will be interesting to see how the preseason workouts go and who Coach Arrow will replace long-time assistant Coach Andy Helton with.
Jaguars Practice Despite Bad Weather
Quarterback Myles Gibbon looking for his receiver at Saturday’s scrimmage. He has been listed at the top of the teams first released depth chart on Monday. Photo by Doug Roberts
The Jaguars hit the practice field despite the effects of Claudette on Monday. Heavy rains only delayed the Jaguars practice by about ten minutes as they took the field after a day off for their first post scrimmage practice. They hit the field for just over two hours at around 3:30pm, which is their new practice time now that classes have started on campus.
Their practice schedule was similar to the previous two weeks of camp. Special teams, position drills, skeleton drills and so forth. In the final hour they had their 11-on-11 drills and workouts against the scout teams. In the situation play, the coaching staff had them work on two-minute drills and red zone plays.
While the routine stayed pretty much the same, today did mark another first that will have many peoples attention in the coming days. Coach Jones finally released the team’s first depth chart based on the previous two weeks performance and the scrimmage on Saturday. There is a list of 27 starters on offense and defense due to different formations with six of them true freshmen that did not take part in the spring practice. A total of 22 players from the signing class are on the depth chart and should see action in the coming fall schedule.
Not surprisingly, the offense is the more experienced unit taking the field. Three of the four projected starting receivers have used at least one year of eligibility playing at other schools while four JuCo transfers are listed as potential starters on the offensive line. Both players at the tight end position have experience at the collegient level as well as Brandon Ross, who is also a potential starter in the backfield. While quarterback Myles Gibbon and receiver Corey Waldon are the only true freshmen listed as first in their respective positions.
The defense is a different story all together, with six of the nine linemen and five of nine secondary players are all true freshmen. The players with experience are Andy Dalgleish who took part in spring practice and John Mark Patrick who played at Troy last fall. While cornerbacks Anton Graphenreed (Lenoir-Rhyne University) and Jerron Mitchell (Birmingham-Southern), both sophmore transfers will likely be starters. Also Justin Dunn (Birmingham-Southern) and Charlie Higgenbotham (University of Alabama) are set to be starters at the inside linebacker slots.
Coach Jones spoke about the evaluation process after Mondays practice. He had this to say, “We were just looking for guys who wanted to compete. Saturday’s scrimmage provided game situations, so we were able to see how they reacted. We discounted the first few plays since a lot of the kids were nervous when we first got out there, but once they got into it we could see how they play in front of a crowd. Some guys practice well but play even better in game situations. Other guys practice better than they play in games. That’s something we’re trying to evaluate as well. It’s still a long process, there’s two weeks before we have a game week. There are guys who are listed second and third who could end up as ones, and there are listed starters who could end up third at their position. They know that, so until we get to game week we won’t make a final depth chart.”
He also spoke about the practice itself and unlike previous practices, he did not have the best things to say about his team. “I don’t think we had a great practice, I thought it was average. I told the guys they can control two things – their effort and their intensity. Balls were wet and we were dropping passes, but that’s to be understood since this was really the first time we practiced in weather like this. That doesn’t worry me. But, the mindset that we came out with today is what bothered me. We have to come out with a different attitude this week or we will just be average. We are going to play like we practice, and I think they understand that.”
Coach Jones went on to speak about the change in routine and how it affected the players. He said, “I think the change in routine affected a lot of the guys today, but as a coach I tell them there are no excuses for that. I expect them to come on the field and be ready. Sure we were in class today and it was raining, and we can’t control that. We can control how we come out and practice, so hopefully we will learn from this. We’re still in camp even though school has started. Some of the practices may be a little longer, but we are trying to get as much work done as we can.”
The Jaguars will return to the practice field on Tuesday at 3:30pm.
For the full South Alabama depth chart, click here.
South Alabama Cruises to Win Over Northwestern Florida State
South Alabama cruised to a 16-2 victory over Northwestern Florida State on Sunday at Stanky Field on the exceptional effort by Sean Laird. Laird homered twice and drove in five runs. Northwest Florida State took the lead early with two runs scored off of the Jaguars starter Miles Ethridge. The Jags answered back in the bottom of the first inning with three runs and never looked back.
In the bottom of the fourth the first four batters, Chris Davis (double), Jake Overstreet (single), Dereck O’Reilly (triple) and Laird (home run), combined to hit for the cycle in an impressive offensive showing.
Go Jags!
Jags Baseball rout Meridian
Jaguar pitcher Matt Jackson only allowed one run in four innings to lead South Alabama in a 10-3 rout of Meridian. After allowing three consecutive singles driving in the one run in the top of the first inning, Jackson only allowed two more hits to 12 more batters. Jags responded to the one run in the top of the first with four of their own in the bottom of the first and never looked back.
After four innings, Jackson gave way to freshman lefty Phillip Byrd. This was the first time he had faced outside competition at the collegiate level. Byrd struggled early and allowed the first four batters he faced to reach base on three walks and a hit batsman. The next batter hit into a ground ball double play and limited the damage to two runs and closed out the 5th inning with a score of 10-3. The sixth inning saw Byrd allow a single and a walk but no runs scored.
Jake LeBlanc pitched the final inning, giving up a lead off walk but then three consecutive outs ended the 7 inning match.
The Jags play again on Sunday when they host Northwest Florida State College at Stanky Field starting at 1pm.
Go Jags!