Football Season Tickets Available Beginning Monday
On Friday, South Alabama announced that season tickets for the first year of South Alabama football will be available. For two weeks, donors to the Football Support Club or basketball season ticket holders will be able to purchase their 2009 season tickets in advance. Season tickets will then go on sale to the general public on Monday, November 17th.
Since the 2009 schedule has not been released, the ticket prices are based on a six game home schedule. The prices are quite affordable with tickets costing only $75 each for either sideline or endzone tickets for $39 each. Students get in free with seating in the fan section.
There are 4 different plans to choose from with the first three being mulit-year commitments that lock in the current price for tickets through 2011. The forth plan only commits for the 2009 season and does not guarantee prices for future seasons.
Depending on cash received, gifts-in-kind and outstanding pledge balances those factors will determine access to and seating locations for football, men’s basketball, baseball, ncaa tournaments, bowl games, SBC tournaments, ncaa events hosted by USA, tickets for away games, priority parking at home contests and any athletic event where demand exceeds ticket availability.
Seat selection for USA Football will begin in the spring with these priority points being used to determine appointment times for season ticket holders to choose their seating location.
Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling the ticket hotline 251.461.1USA.
Go Jags!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-10-29
The big news at the top of the show was the press release about the Jags playing in Knoxville in 2013. Coach Jones explained why we will play Tennessee instead of an Ohio State or another team that pays more money for a school like us to come in and play. They wanted a big game in the region that payed a fair amount of money but allowed our fans to travel better than to an Ohio State or Nebraska.
The question was asked if Coach Jones had spoken with Alabama or Auburn to schedule a game. Coach Jones said he had been in touch with people at Auburn but neither Alabama or Auburn play in-state teams. He referred back to USAs upset victory over Alabama in the late 80’s. It was a devestating loss for Wimp Sanderson, which he considers his worse loss still after all of these years.
Joining Coach Jones on the show was Brian Turner, recruiting coordinator/defensive staff for the Jags football team. Coach Jones tauted Coach Turners recruiting ability at Troy and how it will help the team to have such a good recruiter on the staff. Troy has been recruiting great players and had one player chosen in the first round of the NFL draft last year. With the prime recruits in the local area watch closely to see what kind of recruits come to play for USA.
A caller asked about scholarships, how many does USA have to give out in its first year. Jones replied that by rule they only have 30 scholarships in the first year, with 16 already given out. So they have 14 they could use between now and the end of december that they can count toward this years number. They are looking for older, more experienced players like JuCo transfers to possibly come play for the Jags.
Another question was asked about game days. Will USA play many Thursday night games, Friday games or Saturday games. Coach Jones, while in Birmingham, saw that Thursday night games worked well because of the lack of conflict with other college games. So USA will definitely have some Thursday night games. But they will also test the waters with various days and times in the first couple years before getting into the FBS (Division I) full time in 2013. They want to have the best experience for USA fans that they can give and in the true southern tradition, great tailgating.
It was noted that something unique for USA right now in Division II is that Coach Jones can contact recruits many times when Division I coaches cannot. So this should benefit Jaguar recruiting for the next few years before going into Division I. If USA hears that SEC teams are recruiting a player then they will be targeted by USA as well.
Another recruiting question was asked about facilities and its role in recruiting. With teams pushing to build better practice facilities and bigger stadiums, what are the USA staff saying to recruits along those lines? Coach Jones pointed out that there has been a shift in what recruits are looking for in the last several years. It used to be the case that the Coaches was the number one reason a kid chose a school. But now the focus has turned more towards the facilities and training areas.
USA staff have been talking about the new fieldhouse plans, coaches offices and player lounge. But one big recruiting tool is student housing in The Grove. Coach Turner said that The Grove beats what Troy had easily. While players who are offered scholarships to Auburn or Alabama will most likely go there, we are targeting players that are just below them. The players that could play at Alabama or Auburn but didn’t receive a scholarship there. Again, The Grove and our forthcoming facilities are playing a part in helping to land those players. It will help tremendously to sell out Ladd-Peebles stadium every game in recruiting and exposure.
Go Jags!
Jags Football Travel to Knoxville in 2013
Joe Gottfried announced this morning that the 2013 Jaguar Football schedule will include a trip to Knoxville to face the Tennessee Volunteers on November 9th. This contract is for only one game. The Jags will also start a four-game, home and home series with Navy during the 2013 season.
Coach Jones was quoted saying that “When you look at South Alabama football, Tennessee is where we want to be in the long run.” This news should further energize the excited South Alabama fans to know that in just five short years our program will be taking the field against teams like Navy and Tennessee.
As for information about other opponents and the 2009 season schedule, those will be released in the future. As soon as any scoop comes along we will be covering it here on Thunderjags.com.
-Go Jags! Beat Tennessee!
Basketball Season Tickets Now Available
I received an email stating that the time is now to get reserve seats for the upcoming basketball season. Starting at $50 this will guarantee you a seat for all of the home games. This works out to less than $3 a game, how can you go wrong there? Plus with games against Arkansas and WKU (Who made it to the sweet 16) its going to be a great season.
Call 461.1USA to get tickets today and cheer on the Jags from the stands.
Go Jags!
Jags Women Soccer Win In Double Overtime
The Lady Jags pulled out an exciting double overtime win over Louisiana Lafayette Sunday. Midfielder Kristin Sutton netted the shot at the 108:13 mark of the second overtime to give the Jags its first consecutive road wins of the season. This lifts the lady Jags to 4-4-2 in SBC play (6-10-2 for the season).
This was the next to last game of the season and the last road game of season for the lady Jags. The lady Jags will end the season at The Cage friday night with kickoff set for 7pm against Troy University.
Go Lady Jags!
Jaguar Football Defensive Scheme Scoop
On the noon radio broadcast today of the Joey Jones radio show, defensive coordinator Bill Clark was the guest from the coaching staff. One of the callers (not myself unfortunately) asked about the Jaguar defensive scheme. More specifically what would be their base scheme.
I suspected it was going to be the widely used 3-4 and those suspicions were confirmed on the show. Coach Clark said they would be utilizing a 3-4 base. To break it down for those who may not know football lingo too well the 3-4 scheme uses three down linemen, typically two defensive ends and a nose tackle, and four linebackers. Your linemen are typically larger and a little on the slow side, while your linebackers are still fairly large but are more manuverable. This leaves four defensive backs which are normally two cornerbacks and two safeties. The safeties may merely be referred to as safeties or could be broken down into a strong safety and a free safety. These guys cover the receivers downfield and are typically fast.
Many high school teams will use a 4-3 base defense (four down linemen and three linebackers). Since high school football tends to be more run oriented, the 4-3 is better suited for a strong run defense. This is not to say that a 3-4 is weak against the run.
Its all about a thing called ‘gaps’. When looking at the offensive line you have five linemen. Two guards, two tackles and a center. Between each of the linemen is a ‘gap’ which is four, then you have the left side and right side ‘gaps’ that bring the total up to six and if there is a tight end used as a blocker then there could be a seventh gap. Its easier to cover the inside gaps with four down linemen than it is with three typically. But if you look at Alabama and their nose tackle, you can get an understanding of how a 3-4 can be as good or better in stopping the run. Alabama’s nose tackle, Terrance Cody, is considered a ‘two gapper’ which means he is big and strong enough to take away the two gaps up the middle (on either side of the center). Which leaves you with six guys to cover four (or five) gaps. Its all pretty complicated with analytical geometry (not really just a Better Than Ezra quote there). But a 3-4 can also typically give you more speed on the field (another faster linebacker than a slower defensive lineman).
Back to what I started talking about. The jags defense will be a base 3-4 but will be flexible and will be able to run the 4-3 just as well. This is pretty typical, but he emphasized the fact that they want to be flexible which can also be translated into “we want to give the offense many different looks to keep them guessing”.
Other points of interest from the radio show was tickets. Hopefully in the next few weeks ticket information and prices will finally be available. They stated that it would be very affordable for everyone in the area. Also Joe Gottfried, and I suspect Coach Jones, is working on schedules. Scheduling is a long term thing and they are not put together a year or two in advance. It is a true vision of where you want the program to go in the future. So not only are they dealing with schedules for 2009 and 2010 but they are working on schedules six, eight and even ten years down the road. Its a long term plan to make South Alabama a strong and successful football program.
So keep checking back for the scoop on tickets and schedules and like always,
Go Jags!
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!
USA Runner Named Runner Of The Week For Third Consecutive Week
Jaguar Senior Micah Tirop was awarded his third consecutive Sun Belt Conference Runner of the Week award on Tuesday. Tirop won his third straight individual title at The Great American XC Festival, setting a new course record while doing so. That win marked the seventh straight first-place finish dating back to 2007 and the eighth in his career. This helped the Jaguar men capture the a second place team finish.
The Jaguars cross country meet October 18th in Troy, Alabama at the Coach “O” Invitational.
Go Jags!
USA Baseball Releases 2009 Schedule
The 54 game schedule for the regular season features 27 games at home in Stanky Field. With 13 of those games being played against teams that were in the 2008 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. Some of the headlining non-conference games are: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Southern Illinois, Iowa, Stetson, Mercer, Baylor, UAB, UC-Irvine, Vanderbilt, Southeastern Louisiana, Auburn, Nicholls State, and Alabama.
To see the full USA Baseball schedule visit the 2009 schedule page Here.
Go Jags!