Senior Linebacker Jake Johnson Wants To Earn Respect
South Alabama senior linebacker Jake Johnson was not named to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team during Monday’s Media Day. No Jaguar was in fact. But if any Jaguar should have been included, he should have been. But the media, who votes on this, have not had exposure to what Johnson has done as a Jaguar.
But they will this season. Jake isn’t concerned about being left off the list, but will be added motivation for this season.
Johnson led the team with 83 tackles in 10 games and was second on the team in tackles for loss in his first season as a starter. In 2010, he was on the second team behind starters Justin Dunn and Charlie Higgenbotham.
This season Johnson’s leadership will be called upon as much as his performance. At Virginia Tech in 2009, Johnson led the Hokies with 13 total tackles, nine of them solo, against Alabama in the season-opener. “I’m not so sure they are going to ask for advice,” Johnson said of his teammates. “I don’t think any college player wants to ask, like a little kid. But what I try to do is, when we watch film and things like that, I may see something that they won’t see.” Johnson has great intelligence, knowledge and instincts both on and off the football field. He doesn’t need outside incentives to improve, he is driven naturally to be the best.
He has big goals for the season. “I want to be first-team All-Sun Belt. I want to be the Sun Belt defensive player of the year,” Johnson said. “That’s what I want and that’s my goal and that’s what I’m shooting for, and I think I have the potential to do it.”
Johnson also mentioned that the Jags have a different, better attitude this year. They have been working with the goal of individual improvement and collective improvement has they prepare for a season of tests that this team has never seen before.
If the Jags want respect, they will have to earn it on the field as they did not receive any at Media Day. They were voted last in the preseason coaches poll and no Jaguar was named to the preseason All-SBC team. They will have their chances though, the Jags will play 13 games in 14 weeks this season with what Coach Jones is calling their ‘Bowl Game’ on December 1 when they travel to Hawaii.
UVa Transfer Quarterback Metheny Joins Team
Head coach Joey Jones working with the field goal unit during one of South Alabama’s Spring scrimmages.
Transfer quarterback Ross Metheny graduated from the University of Virginia just two short weeks ago. He earned his degree in sociology in only three years, now he is at the University of South Alabama entering the masters program and looking for playing time at quarterback.
Metheny is a 6’3″ 205 pound quarterback who played two seasons at Virginia. He has a little over two weeks to get settled in before the Jags being fall practice. But he will need to make a quick impression on Coach Jones and Coach Matthews.
Metheny played in a pro-style offense while at Virginia. He was 15 of 19 for 207 yards adn three touchdowns. His game against Florida State as a redshirt freshman in 2010 was his best performance where he hit on 7 of 9 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown.
Metheny has two years of eligibility left and is eligible to play this season per NCAA Rules since he is transferring to a school to persue his masters.
“Just a couple of Fridays ago I graduated from college, which in itself is a big accomplishment,” said Metheny. “Then the next day I started my journey down here. I finally got the first week under my belt. Its been great to jump in and start working out with the guys and going through the workouts with coach Schwind (the Jags strength and conditioning coach) and doing 7-on-7 and things like that. I’m just trying to mix in with my new teammates and get to know each other and learn about each other. It’s still a learning process but it’s good to finally be here.”
“Luckily I’m not taking classes this month so that leaves me a lot of free time,” Metheny continued. “It hasn’t been as tough (a transition) as you would think. I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by good people and they’ve helped me make the steps I needed to make along the way and they’ve put me in situations to be successful so it’s been pretty easy and pretty smooth. I’m just looking forward to keep going.”
“Luckily, while I was still at UVa, coach Matthews sent me the hard drive of the playbook so I was able to learn it while I was still up there and kind of get a grasp of it this spring and summer while I was still there,” Metheny said. “I come over to the football building and get three or four hours a day of just studying and asking questions and watching film, really trying to nail down the offense. I would like to think I have a better good handle on it now, I just need to practice it.”
Metheny is ready for the challenge and competition for playing time. “I’m excited to finally get on the field with my new teammates,” he said. “Me coming down here, it wasn’t about me. It was about this program and the people who are already here and if I can help them win games in any way possible, that’s what it’s all about. I think it’s a neat opportunity to be able to start up with a program at zero, this being their first year in Division I football. We’re setting the bar for what South Alabama football is going to be. That’s a neat opportunity and I’m excited to be a part of it and I’m excited to start working for it.”
Coach Jones spoke about Metheny’s place in the offense, “I think it depends on him. “He’s a very intelligent young man, there’s no doubt about that. Going out and being able to do something – really, in a two-week period we kind of start finalizing things, not that it’s over but you kind of have to give reps, especially at quarterback, to the top two guys and so we just need to figure out where he is at that point. It’s very tough and they’ve got to fight for reps. One thing about our guys, they know they have to compete for any position on the field and they understand when it gets to game week we’ve got to really narrow things down, so whoever wants to play better get out there and do something early.”
As for playing time, Coach Jones said it’s there for him to grab as well. “We wouldn’t have brought him in here if we didn’t think he could (play),” Jones said. “He’s a tall guy and he can run and throw and he’s intelligent. We’ll just have to see how fast he can pick up on things.”
Sun Belt Media Day
The Sun Belt Conference held their Media Day yesterday, a day before the SEC begins their three-day media day festivities. ESPN3 covered the Sun Belt Media Day and the video is available to view, see links below.
As part of the 2012 SBC Media Day, the Sun Belt released their preseason coaches poll where the Jags were ranked last. Team name, total points and first place votes in parentheses.
- Florida International 92 (5)
- Arkansas State 85 (2)
- Louisiana-Lafayette 81 (2)
- Western Kentucky 70 (1)
- Troy 60
- Louisiana-Monroe 47
- Middle Tennessee 42
- North Texas 36
- Florida Atlantic 23
- South Alabama 14
The Sun Belt made the headlines a few times since last football season. They will lose two schools, Florida International and North Texas, to Conference-USA, but will add three schools two of which sponsor football. Georgia State and Texas State both sponsor football and Texas-Arlington which does not sponsor football.
Plus Commissioner Wright Waters retired as conference commissioner and was replaced by former WAC commissioner Karl Benson.
Benson took the podium at Media Day wearing a shirt with a different Sun Belt logo tan other conference staff members wore. It had bright yellow lettering with “Sun Belt” in all capital letters with the S and B in larger type.
He said, “We’re anticipating a branding analysis. We will evaluate the current logo. I see a bring future for the Sun Belt Conference and I hope you got the subliminal meeting.”
Later he said, “In my mind, the Sun Belt came out as a big winner in realignment and conference shuffling. Adding Georgia State, Texas State and UT-Arlington clearly put the Sun Belt in a strong position for the future.”
“The competitive gap between us and others has shrunk considerably,” Benson said. “The Sun belt is poised to contend to become the best of the so-called ‘Non-AQ conferences’, which are our peer conferences.”
Benson also mentioned how the Sun Belt Conference has put attention on lowering travel expenses and getting student-athletes back on campus quicker and also fostering closer regional rivalries. This will help with ticket revenues for all schools.
Also on hand were the head coaches of Texas State and Georgia State, both former head coaches at the University of Alabama, Dennis Franchione and Bill Curry. Their schools will join the Sun Belt in July of 2013.
See below for school specific information.
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Commissioner Benson Explored Membership Options For SBC
A good article in The Tennessean about the Sun Belt Conference, Commissioner Benson and conference expansion talks earlier this year. This included trying to persuade four current Conference USA members to join the SBC.
Here’s the opening part of the article.
The path toward the Sun Belt Conference’s recently announced realignment was far more expansive and ambitious than first appeared, as revealed by an open records request of MTSU administrative emails and a candid conversation with new league commissioner Karl Benson.
The Sun Belt proposed a massive four-conference merger, tried to persuade four current Conference USA members to switch leagues, put a 48-hour deadline on two other prospective schools to join the Sun Belt and even listed 21 schools (including Belmont University) as potential targets in Sun Belt expansion.
What Does A Four Team Playoff Mean For Mid-Majors
What most people, who are not part of the “Big Six” conferences, are afraid of happening to a four-team playoff system.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about the new four team playoff system that has been given the okay by University Presidents recently. This was begged for by many fans and sports pundits on television. But how will this impact schools like the South Alabama’s and the Boise State’s (prior to joining the Big East)?
Well clearly it opens their opportunity up from a shot at one of two spots in the BCS National Title game to a shot at one of four spots in a four team playoff. But will that actually mean a mid-major school will actually be selected for one of those open spots?
Only time will actually answer that question. What we do know is that it will be a selection committee but we do not know who will make up that committee. Can you get impartial people to truly serve what is best for the sport? Or will they have some sort of bias for one team over another if they are close?
Will it ever come down to criteria that is not on the field? Would a team be selected for the number of tickets they sell if the on-the-field statistics are basically equal? Would this be bad?
Obviously there is a lot of unanswered questions that may continue to go unanswered for quite a while yet. Coach Jones thinks its good for the game and for South Alabama. Our opportunity has increased. But also as Coach Jones said, they have to go out and show that they can beat teams like NC State, Mississippi State and Hawaii before those questions will be answered.