USA Quietly Updates 2012 Schedule With Viewing Options
South Alabama quietly updated the online schedule recently. It added that the Jaguars second game of the season on September 8 against Nicholls State will be carried exclusively by ESPN3.
ESPN3 is an online streaming service provided by ESPN that delivers both live streams and replays of sports events. The network is available to households who receive their high-speed internet connection or cable tv subscriptions from an affiliated service provider. It is also available to about 21 million college students and US based military personnel with college/university and US Military IP addresses. It is not carried by traditional cable and satellite provider.
Jags Prepare For Final Scrimmage Before Game-Week Planning
Wide Receiver Bryant Lavender waits on the ball during Jaguars preseason camp.
South Alabama returned to the practice field to continue preparing for next Thursday’s season opener against Texas-San Antonio with a two hour session.
Players began with position drills before moving into goal line and short-yardage situations in the opening sessions of the practice on Wednesday. Then the offense faced the scout team defense.
Later, the offense practiced blitz pick-up against the defense. It was highlighted by a three receptions by Bryant Lavender and a touchdown run by Brandon Bridge. C.J. Bennet connected with Lavender twice while Ross Metheny also found him.
Towards the end of practice the Jags practiced skeleton passing drills. Metheny highlighted that session with two touchdown passes.
“I thought it was good,” head coach Joey Jones said after practice. “They came ready to work. I think our staff is doing a great job of getting the kids ready to practice. We talked to them about winning the game now, and not on Thursday or on a Saturday. We have to win it now and they bought in. We certainly have some things we have to clean up and get better at, but I’m pleased with the effort. We just have to get ready for that ballgame.”
The Jags will have their final scrimmage on Thursday morning which will be closed to the public. They will begin their full game-week preparation beginning Friday.
Jaguar Volleyball Opens Season This Weekend In Hattisburg
The South Alabama Jaguar volleyball team is set to open the 2012 season this weekend in Hattisburg, Mississippi when they compete in the Southern Miss Invitational. It’s a two day, three-match tournament that begins on Friday with two matches. The Jags will face Central Arkansas at 11am then turn around to face the USM Golden Eagles at 7pm. Then on Saturday they will face Louisiana Tech at 3pm.
This will be head coach Amy Hendrichosky’s first season as the Jaguars volleyball coach. Hendrichovsky believes that success lies early in the non-conference schedule by minimizing errors. “First-and-foremost, I would say that it’s going to be about minimizing unforced errors. Leading into the first weekend any year, it’s about the team that’s making the least amount of errors that’s going to win the match.”
“Something we’ve also been focusing on during the spring and the summer is just about competing for each point,” she continued. “I think our team’s excited and ready to go and start this year’s new journey.”
Hendrichovsky came to USA in December from Middle Tennessee State, one of the top programs in the Sun Belt. As an assistant at MTSU, she was primarily focused on player development, game preparation, planning and scouting opponents and recruiting. While with MTSU, she helped the team go to six-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, four Sun Belt tournament titles (’06, ’07, ’09 and ’10) in addition to three regular-season championships (’06, ’07, ’10). During that time MTSU had 24 players honored as All-Sun Belt, eight SBC All-Tournament selections and nine AVCA All-Region and All-American selections. She also coached two Sun Belt Players of the Year (’07 and ’10).
Hendrichovsky played at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama and was a four-year starter for the perennial power as they were routinely one of the Top 10 programs in NCAA Division II. She graduated from UNA in 2001 and is a native of Boca Raton Florida.
There are eight letterwinners and three starters returning from last years team. Katariina Kananen is one of the returnees, she ranked third in the Sun Belt in assists per match with just under 9.9.
Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Maelter and junior libero Jenna Hassell are also returning for the Jags. Waelter was the top defensive threat with 244 kills and averaged just under 2.6 per set. Hassell anchored the back court with an average of 3.8 digs per set, seventh in the Sun Belt.
Olivia Mohler, who started all 28 matches and competed in every set for the Jags in 2011. As a junior, she moved from middle blocker to outside hitter and had her best offensive season at South Alabama. She finished third on the team with 232 kills and kills per set with 2.34. She led the team in solo blocks (7), block assists (76) and blocks per set (0.84). Additionally she ranked fourth on the team in service aces with 22. She was named to UCF Classic and Colonel Classic All-Tournament teams.
Redshirt sophomore Torlandria Jones returns from missing the 2011 season with a knee injury. As a freshman she tallied 74 blocks. Lindsay Schwartz, who returns after two seasons away to focus on track. She ranks among Jaguar career leaders in both block assists and blocks per set. While focusing on track, she won All-America honors and several Sun Belt Championships in multiple events.
Help Jordan Means Kick His Cancer
Jordan Means – Photo from usajaguars.com
Former Jaguar kicker Jordan Means is fighting cancer. Friend Jacey Blaire has graciously announced that 100% of her tips from 5pm til close today will be donated to Jordan for his fight against cancer.
Jordan, the first Jaguar football All-American, graduated in May then diagnosed in June with cancer. After surgery to remove it in July, he received bad news from his oncologist that most recent bloodwork showed that he needs chemotherapy immediately.
Jacey works at Picklefish at 5955 Old Shell Road, right across from campus and the Jaguar Softball Complex.
Come out Jaguar Nation and help one of our own.
If you can’t make it out today you can also donate online at http://www.giveforward.com/insuranceexpired
Jags Return To Practice Field And Begin Prep For UTSA
Junior tight end Jared Palmer jumps to bring in a pass during preseason camp for the Jaguars.
After a day off to get settled into classes, the Jags returned to the practice field and the coaching staff began their preparation for their first game of the season.
The Jags practiced for almost two hours Tuesday morning with more time devoted to installing their game plan for Texas-San Antonio. The defense ran plays against the scout team for nearly an hour. The offense went against the scout team as well, but split into two sessions with the last one being about half an hour.
Near the midway point of practice, a 10 minute session was dedicated to inside running plays followed by a 10 minute session was dedicated to blitz pick-up for the offense and finished off with another 10 minute session of skeleton passing drills.
“There was good focus this morning,” head coach Joey Jones stated. “Sometimes after the first day of school they come in and are not focused on what they are doing, but I thought they looked pretty sharp on offense. I didn’t get on the defensive field as much, so I don’t know what they did.”
The coaches and players will return to the Jaguar Practice Facility on Wednesday at 7:25am. This will be the final preparation for Thursday’s final preseason scrimmage that will commence at 8:25am also at the Practice Facility. They will then return to practice on Friday morning before taking Saturday off. They will then return to the practice field Sunday afternoon for a practice before “Fan Day” at the Mitchell Center from 5-7pm.
“Our goal right now is to become perfect in our game plan between now and then [Thursday],” Coach Jones continued. “We’ve got a few days to work on that. We just started working on [Texas]-San Antonio, we’ve got a few days to work on that. We’ve got to keep it up in meeting rooms and on the field, and I think right now they are doing that.”
“I feel good about where we are, we just have to keep working,” Jones said. “One thing this football season is going to be about is just playing and practicing the next day and getting better. We can’t always focus on just results, we have to focus on the process. If we do that we will be good.”
Brendt Bedsole Glad To Be Back Coaching Again
The South Alabama football program’s newest on-field coach, Brendt Bedsole, has been waiting for this opportunity for about three seasons. Bedsole joined the program as the director of football operations but he said his true calling was to be on the field.
He last coached in 2008 which was his second year as an assistant coach for Hoover High School. Prior to that he served as a graduate assistant, Student assistant at Auburn, Trinity High, Murray State and Samford.
Bedsole is back coaching, but not the way he envisioned. The unexpected death of former assistant coach Kurt Crain hit the players and staff, including Bedsole, very hard.
When Head coach Joey Jones hired Bedsole for the director of football operations shortly after he was hired to start football at South Alabama, he let Coach Jones know that he was very interested in getting back to coaching when the opportunity arose.
“That was my original hope and I let that be known to coach Jones,” Bedsole said. “That’s where I feel more comfortable. It’s my natural position. It’s what I got into this profession to do, to coach on the field and affect young men’s lives. Not just coach them football but to teach them about other things outside the white lines, things about life and how to be a good daddy and be a good husband. … Not that I couldn’t do that as a football operations director, but you get more of a personal relationship with your players when you coach them on a day-in and day-out situation.”
Bedsole is thankful for his position to be back coaching again. “There’s 124 FBS teams and nine assistant coaches on each team,” he said. “The odds of getting one of these jobs is pretty slim. I’ve sat down before and done the math. There’s only 1,116 such jobs in the United States and I have one of them. That makes it pretty special. And I don’t take it for granted. Coaching isn’t a job, it’s a calling. It’s something I couldn’t get out of my system.”
Jaguar Baseball Announce Walk-On Tryouts
Head baseball coach Mark Calvi and his staff announced that the Jags baseball team will be holding walk-on tryouts on Wednesday, September 5 beginning at 3pm at Eddie Stanky Field.
Anyone who wants to tryout will need to be present for a pre-participation exam which will include medical clearance, complete sickle cell requirements and proof of medical health insurance before they will be allowed to participate in the workout.
You can find these forms here.
For further information, contact USA baseball director of operations Andrew Carden at 251.460.6876.
Go Jags!
USA Officially Announce Home-And-Home Series Against Bowling Green
South Alabama Athletics Director Joel Erdmann officially announced a two-year, home-and-home series with Bowling Green State University.
As prevously reported, the Jags will visit the Falcons on September 11, 2021 and then hosting BGSU in Mobile on September 3, 2022.
This marks the second contract between South Alabama and MAC schools. The Jags traveled to Kent State last season and will host Kent on October 19, 2013 before returning to Ohio for a third game on September 6, 2014.
In the 2021 season, the BGSU game will be the second non-conference game of the season following facing Southern Mississippi in Mobile the prior weekend.
Lady Jags Soccer Split Opening Weekend Games
South Alabama women’s soccer opened the first weekend of the season by splitting their first two games.
They recorded their first win of the season by defeating Nicholls State 2-1 on Friday but fell to Mercer 1-0 on the road on Sunday to open the season with a 1-1-0 record.
Scrimmage Photos
Here is a link to photos from the second scrimmage on Saturday morning.