Jags To Start Preseason Camp On Thursday Night
When the University of South Alabama takes the practice field to begin fall camp, they will be doing it under the lights as they begin with a night practice on Thursday at 6:30pm. Head Coach Joey Jones has favored early morning practices for sharp minds and focus.
Actually the Jags will hit the practice field at 6:30pm on the first three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before taking a day off to close out the week. They will then return to the practice field for a full week of drills and squad practices as well as returning to early morning practices. They will go for five straight days at 7:15am.
The team has scheduled three fall scrimmages. The first two are scheduled on back-to-back Saturdays on August 11 and 18 beginning at 8am. With the final scrimmage scheduled for Thursday, August 23rd, one week before the Jags season opening game versus UT-San Antonio.
Additionally, Coach Jones has scheduled two-a-days for Thursday August 9 and Thursday August 16 then have the Jags off on Sunday’s August 12 and Monday August 20, the first day of fall semester classes, and Saturday August 25th. Also, as with each previous season, the Jags will have an off campus team exercise on Friday August 17th.
“We’re very excited. We’ve had a chance to get away from each other a little bit this summer because we can’t practice,” coach Joey Jones stated. “But you can see the look in everyone’s eyes, they are ready to go. I know the players and coaches are looking forward to this year, so it is a pretty exciting time.”
As reported before, the Jags have had a very intense workout regimine this summer as they prepare for a full Division I schedule and their first Sun Belt schedule. Most of the 100-plus student-athletes in the program have been trainging since January. “We challenged our kids back in January when they returned to school. We needed to have a great offseason through the spring and a great spring training, and the summer was very critical for our chances to be successful in the fall,” Coach Jones said. “I think they have done what they needed to do. They were challenged early, and I think they followed through. What I am most pleased with is that we have leadership with 13 captains who have groups underneath them that we have been meeting with weekly. I have really seen our leadership grow in the last six months, it has been incredible. We’ve finally got more older individuals too, guys who have been around the program four years. So our leadership has started to stand out, which I think will have a positive effect on this team.”
Check back at Thunderjags for continuing coverage of South Alabama’s preseason camp. GO Jags!