Coach Jones Q&A With C Spire CIRCLE Blitz A Success
Coach Joey Jones was the first participant in the C Spire CIRCLE Blitz College Football Question and Answer series on Monday where several area coaches answered questions posed by fans online. Here are a few questions answered by Coach Jones.
- Do you see any true freshman being on the two-deep roster? “Yes. Cam Broadnax at WR. Possibly Daniel Aust at guard.”
- Was the move to a more spread offense necessary to be able to score easier on the deffenses in the Sun Belt; if not then why the switch? “Personnel was the main reason…Also creating a tempo offense which I am accustomed to.”
- Fans will want to look at this year’s win/loss record as the determining factor of “success.” What would you consider to be a successful year this year? And, what do you think is the players’ definition of a successful season? On a related note, are the coaches and players aware of the recent changes to this year’s bowl eligibility requirements, and how South Alabama now has the possibility of being bowl eligible this year? What has been the reaction to this? Used as further motivation? “That’s a great question…I know we are picked to win 2 games by most. I don’t want to settle for less though. We just need to prepare every game, regardless of how people say we match up on paper. Second part…Yes, it is a big motivation for us to have a “chance” to get to a bowl.”
- What are the current plans for any further facility upgrades/construction? Are there plans in place to further improve on what we already have, which would likely further carry over and help in recruiting? “Not much on the table…but there will always be talk @ an on-campus stadium and indoor facility. Would be tremendous in recruiting.”
- To echo a previous question: What factored into the decision to move to a spread, up-tempo offense? Was it based on available personnel, conference, or something else entirely? How well do you think the players on offense have adjusted to the new scheme? Do you think they are “almost there” or will it still be a major learning process as the season progresses? “First of all, the offensive staff and players have totally bought in to the new offense. I am extremely happy where we are at this point…we are not a finished product yet, but I have seen tons of progress. The tempo offense is also an equalizer in my opinion.”
- Coach with Navy and Tennessee on your schedule next year, how do you feel the program is progressing in to a ncaa school like Alabama, LSU just to name a few? “To be the best, we have to play the best. We will continue to play those types of schools to make us better.”
- With your all of those running backs, do you think you’ll be able to find carries for everybody, or will you try to find a couple of workhorse backs? “We are trying to find guys who can do it all…but if they can’t, we need to give them more specialized packages. It’s too early to tell the amount that each back will get.”
Thanks to C Spire for hosting this Q&A session and thanks to Coach Jones for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer questions for the fans.
Go Jags!
Jags Get 15th Verbal Of 2013 Signing Class
The South Alabama Jaguars received their 15th verbal commitment for the 2013 signing class. Caleb Alves a 6’3″ 185-pound Wide Receiver/Safety from Melbourne Florida’s Palm Bay Senior HS. He chose the Jags over offers from Bowling Green, Florida A&M, Florida International, UMass, and Memphis. He is rated a two-star by Rivals.com and Scout.com.
In an interview he said that he committed to the Jags because he liked the area and that the school was on the rise. Alves has not visited campus yes, but has extensively researched the area and the school online and does not plan on visiting any other schools. He said that if the opportunity arose, he would visit just for the experience but he was quoted as saying, “I’m all Jag, I’m happy to be a Jag.”
Alves excels at two sports, Football and basketball. He would like to play both in college if possible as he has played both all his life.
But he also excelled at two positions on the football field. As noted above, he has played both wide receiver and safety in high school. He said he is a receiver, but he would love to play defensive back in college. However, he will play at what ever position will help the team.
The other verbal commits are:
- Tiquan Lang CB Lowndes GA. 5’8″ 168-lb 73 tackles, 3 int, 1 kick block, 5 KOR for 201yds and 1TD, 6PR for 113yds in 2011.
- Terrell Pinson FS Itawamba CC 6’3″ 200lb As a freshman he played WR and caught 10 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown.
- Xavier Johnson RB Chamberlain, FL. 5’9″ 170lb Rushed for 1,736 yards and 16 TDs in 2011.
- Caleb Hayman WR/TE Gainesville, FL. 6’1″ 193lb
- Dejon Funderburk WR Washington (Pensacola), FL. 6’0″ 175lb Caught 31 passes for 720 yards adn 7TD’s while rushing for 362 yards and 4TDs.
- Taylor Lamb QB Calhoun, GA. 6’1″ 190lb Had a 73% completion rate for 3,635 yards, 40TDs and 9Ints.
- Justin Jones RB Northeast Miss. JC 5’6″ 180lb Rushed for 920 yards and caught 27 passes as a freshman.
- Roman Buchanan S Daleville, AL. 6’2″ 195lb 72 solo tackles, 45 assists, four sacks, three forced fumbles and two recovered, two interceptions, four passes defended and a field goal blocked as a junior.
- Tevaris McCormick WR Biloxi, MS. 5’9″ 170lb 769 yards receiving, 213 yards rushing and 265 yards on returns with 16 total touchdowns.
- Jacob Chaffin DT Spain Park, AL. 6’3″ 260lb 38 solo tackles, 8 tackles for loss and three sacks as a junior.
- Devon Earl S Hoover HS, AL 5’10” 180lb 61 tackles, 5 INTs, 10 pass deflections and 3.5 tackles for loss as a Junior
- Noah Armstrong OT Lawrence Co. 6’8″ 300lb Offered by Arkansas State, Western Kentucky and Southern Miss.
- Willie Williams Jr DE Americus, GA. 6’2″ 255lbs Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and UCLA were also recruiting him.
- Brandon King 6’2″ 212lbs 118 tackles last season, 70 sol0, 6TFL, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble. Received recruiting interest from a few FBS schools such as Northern Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers and Auburn among other schools.
- Jalen Wells, DE, 6’4″ 230lbs, Dublin GA. Wells is listed at different positions by scouting services, one has him projected as a TE while another at linebacker. He had interest from Florida, Georgia, NC State, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech.
Jags Return To Field After Scrimmage
Quarterback CJ Bennett prepares to take a snap in the light rain at the Jaguar Practice Facility.
The Jaguars returned to the practice field on Monday to begin their second full week of practice as they are only 16 days away from their 2012 season opening game against Texas-San Antonio. After their day off on Sunday, Coach Jones thought they opened the second week with another strong effort after a rest day.
The practice on Monday spanned about two hours in full pads. Most of the first hour focused on individual skills drills before progressing to skeleton passing drills then full 11-on-11 team drills in the second half of practice.
The skeleton drills focused on open field and red zone plays while the 11-on-11 drills focused on the base playset. In the first four plays of team drills sophomore C.J. Bennett completed passes to four different Jaguar receivers.
Bennett and Metheny both found open receivers and enjoyed good protection as the offensive line only allowed two sacks during team drills. Jereme Jones hauled in an impressive one-handed touchdown pass. Wide receivers Cameron Broadnax and T.J. Glover both added some very nice catches as well. Kendall Houston and Senior Brandon Ross stood out amongst the running backs in individual drills.
Defensively the secondary allowed some receivers to get open during the skeleton drills. Safety Charles Harris broke up two passes while his counterpart B.J. Scott continues to be a vocal leader on the field. During individual drills Montavious Williams and Lucas Melo almost flipped a sled.
Also, the Jags got a visit from former Jaguar receiver Courtney Smith during practice.
“I thought it was great, it was one of our better practices,” Jones said after practice. “The kids came out ready to go and were mentally sharp. I told them that if we can practice like this, we’re going to be a pretty good football team. But we have to continue to do that. They can’t worry about what happened in the scrimmage, on the last play or last week, all they can do something about is what is ahead of them. The kids understand that, and if they take each day and get better we will have a shot.”
“This week is a tough week, the second week of camp. There is no school and no game coming up this weekend, so we have to make sure it is a good work week,” Jones explained. “We’re going to finish this week getting a ton of reps, next week we will start backing off and focusing on quality reps. We just need to throw a lot at them and see what they can do.”
After Saturday’s scrimmage the coaching staff reviewed the scrimmage video and Coach Jones said he was pleased with what he saw. “I was real pleased, I thought there were some good things offensively. We executed much better, the offensive line is really starting to come along and the quarterbacks understand the offense,” he said. “Defensively we are real banged up right now, a bunch of starters are out but will be back by the middle of the week. Once we get all those guys out there I feel really good about what we are doing defensively.”
The players and coaches will return to the practice field on Tuesday morning at 7:40am and will keep that schedule all this week leading up to an 8am scrimmage on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Scrimmage Photos
A Jaguar fan posted photos from Saturday’s scrimmage. He has posted 26 photos from the scrimmage and the photos are excellent. Click here to view the slideshow.
South Alabama’s Scrimmage Goes Well
Wide Receiver Bryant Lavender waits on the ball during Jaguars preseason camp.
South Alabama’s first scrimmage of the season saw the ball flying through the air early and often on Saturday. Four quarterbacks combined to go 27-of-39 for 280 yards. The offense scored four touchdowns and a field goal during the hour-and-a-half scrimmage at the Jaguar Practice Facility.
Seventeen different Jaguars notched at least one pass reception during the scrimmage. Freshman Cameron Broadnax caught three for 35 yards and Greg Hollinger had a scrimmage-high 43 yards on two receptions. Jereme Jones, Bryant Lavender and Wes Saxton all hauled in multiple pass receptions as well.
Defensively, Ben Giles and Bryson James lead the first-team with six tackles each. Anthony Taylor added four more himself with 1.5 of them being tackles-for-loss. Terrell Brigham and Phillip Press both added five tackles with Jesse Kelley leading all players with eight total tackles in the scrimmage.
C.J. Bennett lead the retooled offense on an 11 play, 65 yard drive to open the scrimmage. Facing third-and-two, Bennett found Lavender for an 18-yard completion to cross midfield and to keep the drive alive. That gain was followed up with a 12-yard gain by freshman Terrance Timmons. After Bennett threw his only incompletion on the opening drive, he found T.J. GLover for 24-yards to set up Demetre Baker’s one yard touchdown run. Bennett went 4-of-5 on that opening drive and would end the scrimmage with 90 yards passing.
Both Baker and Timmons would finish the scrimmage with 26 yards rushing with the entire backfield totalling 124 yards on the day.
Transfer quarterback Ross Metheny lead the offense down the field on his drive to get into field goal range. He had completions to Saxton for 13 yards and Broadnax for 15 yards. However the drive would stall at the 32 yard line. Metheny would throw for 106 yards total in the scrimmage.
After Metheny’s drive, the Jaguar defense would tighten up and in the next four drives the offense would not allow the offense to get past the defense’s 45 yard line. Before the mid-scrimmage break, Julien Valentin would cap off a 10-play, 65-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
After the break, Metheny would lead the offense’s next possession. he would use three consecutive completions to drive inside the defense’s 10 yard line. He would then find Hollinger in the end zone for an eight yard touchdown.
Hollinger would also set up the final touchdown of the scrimmage. He would haul in a 35-yard pass from Bennett to set up Kendall Houston for a five-yard touchdown reception.
Aleem Sunanon added a 43 yard field goal to round out the scoring in the first scrimmage of the preseason.
“Overall it was good,” said head coach Joey Jones after the scrimmage. “The offense came out and made some plays today when they had to. Right now we’re beat up on defense, we held out three starters inside and some other guys are banged up, but I know that we are going to be really, really good. We have some great athletes over there, and once we get those guys back we’re going to be in great shape.”
“It’s tough to know exactly how each individual did,” Coach Jones continued. “What we are looking to do is find our depth chart, the guys who we are really going to give reps to. We’ll know more after watching film. It was a good day overall, but I was a little disappointed in special teams. We have to practice better there. It’s almost like we came out here for an offensive and defensive scrimmage and we weren’t ready for special teams. We’ve got to change that, and that starts with me.”
Coach Jones responded to a question posed asking if the break on Sunday will help to rest and rejuvenate the players. “There’s no doubt about it,” he responded. “We’re nine days into camp, the guys are pretty beat up right now. They need a day off, which will be good. We’ve got to be smart about what we do. We’ve had a good physical week, they need some time off.”
The players had Sunday off before returning to the field on Monday morning to continue preparation for the 2012 football season.
Reminder: Coach Jones Participates In Online Forum Today
At noon on Monday Head coach Joey Jones, in a partnership with C Spire Wireless, will be participating in an online forum to answer questions from Jaguar fans.
C Spire Wireless is kicking off its first-ever CIRCLE Blitz College Football Question and Answer series on August 13. They will be directly connecting fans with the coaches they love and admire. Fans will be able to get the inside story on their teams’ winning strategy for the 2012 college football season.
The forum will take place in C Spire’s online community called CIRCLE. Fans will post questions on CIRCLE and coaches from the top football programs in the region will be able to respond directly to the fans. They will be offering valuable information about the upcoming football season. Also fans posting questions to the forum will be entered into a drawing for prizes ranging from game tickets to autographed school and team paraphernalia.
Coach Jones will be the first of seven head football coaches. Others that will be participating includes Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, Ole Miss’s Hugh Freeze and Southern Mississippi’s Ellis Johnson.
Any fan can join the online forum and post questions by visiting the CIRCLE Blitz website. Each forum will last one hour and will be dedicated to a specific coach and school.
Get your questions ready and post them online at www.cspire.com/circleblitz.
Go Jags!!
2012 Preseason Ranking By SportsRatings
SportsRatings, a website dedicated to rankings, power ratings, BCS projections, analysis and more, put out their preseason rating of South Alabama. The number should not surprise anyone as the Jags enter their second and final season of a two-year transition into the FBS.
They ranked the Jags #116 out of 124 schools and last in the Sun Belt. Lindy’s ranked the Jags #121, Athlon #123 and Phil Steele ranked them dead last. Athlon also had them projected to go 2-11 on the season.
SportsRatings projects the Jags to go 4-9 on the season. The likely wins they have are Nicholls State, FAU and MTSU with Troy and UTSA being toss-up games. They also mention doing better than 4-9 is “out of the question.”
In other projected stats, they rank the offense to be #123 as it faces a tougher schedule. The passing game is ranked #108. They point out C.J. Bennett’s 17 interceptions to only 7 touchdowns last season but point to Bryant Lavender and Corey Waldon, both top receivers last year, returning as positives. But they also point out they gave up 21 sacks in 10 games and that they think that could rise well into the 30s this season with better competition.
They point out that the rushing game returns most of players from last year, but with what should be a more balanced offense so they predict an decline in rushing totals. Their rank seems to be #121, but due to a typo this could be incorrect.
Finally the defense is projected to be #87 which is quite positive. They note the Jags return 15 of the top 17 tacklers from last season and that Ken Barefield is the only loss from the linebacker corps so they think they will improve on their rush defense. they also point out that in the secondary Charles Harris, B.J. Scott and Gabe Loper all return.
Finally they grade the 2012 recruiting as #113. You can read all of their coverage of the Jags here.
Jags Net A Player On CBSSports.com’s All-Sun Belt Team
The University of South Alabama has one of their own named to the CBSSports.com 2012 Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.
Staff Writers J. Darin Darst named guard Darius McKeller, a former Alabama recruit who transferred to South Alabama, as one of two offensive guards on his list. He calls McKeller his “darkhorse in the Sun Belt”. McKeller is at 6’6″ 295 in the article but on the Jaguars roster he is listed at being 325 now.
Look at the rest of the All-Sun Belt team here.
Go Jags!
Coach Matthews Speaks About Offense
Offensive lineman running position drills in preseason camp.
One of South Alabama’s most daunting tasks this preseason is to solidify the offensive line. Three starters have graduated from last year’s squad. Gone are veterans Chris Brunson, Jon Griffin and Brian Krauskopf.
So far this preseason, offensive line coach and Offensive coordinator Robert Matthews, is currently rotating 13 different players on the offensive line. Trey Clark at center is the anchor to the line as he has started all 27 games in South Alabama’s history. Tremain Smith has earned playing time as a reserve in the previous two seasons.
“We do have some young guys, a lot who are getting reps, including some who have been here but have not been starters,” Coach Matthews said. “We have been rotating 13 different guys on the line right now, They have been changing positions because we are trying to find the best five. For the first week-and-a-half of practice there have been a lot of good things, and there have been some things we need to clean up. I think we are headed in the right direction.”
“Tremain and Trey have been tremendous leaders, they are vocal leaders and they lead by example, and a huge help to us,” Matthews continued. “They have been real good telling the young guys that it is going to be OK. It’s a big transition coming from high school, but our young guys have done a good job getting through that.”
On the right side of the line, Melvin Meggs is expected to continue solidify that side of the line. Meggs has started 19 games through two seasons. But coach Matthews doesn’t want Meggs to only settle for playing time, he wants him to keep getting better.
“Melvin’s biggest challenge is being the best Melvin he can be,” Matthews explained. “Everyone knows he is a good football player, he’s been a starter on the line. Any time you are that guy on a team, you have to push yourself to be better than just that. He’s been working hard on that. Melvin knows he is going to play, let’s be honest, everyone knows that. But he needs to play at a level he is capable of being at. Our challenge, and his challenge, is to continue to push himself to where he can be more than just a player. We want Melvin to be a great player.”
Drew Dearman and Shaun Artz entered camp with a golden opportunity to earn the starting left guard and right tackle positions respectively. Shane Doty and Ucambre Williams both could provide help as well. Chris May, who was redshirted last season, should be another contributor this season. Coach Matthews likes his footwork and also says that he has worked hard to study how the offense works and to discipline himself within the system. “He is very athletic, he was a state championship wrestler coming out of high school,” Matthews said. “I’ve been extremely happy with the progress of Chris, he is only a redshirt freshman so he has four years left to play. Certainly we want him to be game-ready in a couple of weeks, but his long-term future is really good.”
Four incoming freshman from the 2012 class have also been receiving reps on the line. Daniel Aust and Clay Machen have been working at outside positions on the line while Steven Foster and Joseph Scelfo have been working at interior positions on the line.
This is a fresh start for the offensive line. With no seniors and only two juniors, the line is stocked with young talent. With eight players weighing in at 300-pound or more, they also have size. What they lack is experience in the new system. In the spring, the Jags began the transition to a spread offense, while the players that were already in the program were accustomed to the pro-style offense that the team used in it’s first three seasons.
The fundamentals are the same, but the semantics and certain aspects of the position is different. “We play a lot faster than they used to play, but some of the schemes are very similar. Football is football, pass protection is pass protection and run blocking is run blocking,” Matthews said. “Our terminology is a little different, but I would say there is about a 50-percent carryover from a skill set and things of that nature. We’ll see how it goes. I think they are headed in the right direction, but we have a way to go before we are any good. This is coaching cliché, but we have to come out to work every day. It’s the truth. We’re not great, but we’re not bad and we have to get better.”
As they head into the first scrimmage of the preseason, the offensive line get the most attention. “We’re going to find our best five,” Matthews said. “A guy that played guard today might be playing center tomorrow… We’ll start to narrow that down in the next week or so. … Saturday will be a big day for those guys to show what they’ve got and how they’ve progressed so far.”
Coach Matthews not only plays faster, but in practice he is constantly in motion and he keeps the players in almost constant motion. Like he is doing with the offensive line by rotating in lots of players and moving them around to see where they fit. He is doing that on a larger scale with the whole offense. “The thing I like is we’re moving a lot of guys around right now trying to see where everybody fits,” he said. “Nobody is backing away or turning away from that. Guys are learning two, sometimes three positions, and they are embracing it, so I really like the attitude of how they’re doing that. I think there’s no question we’re a lot better right now than we were in the spring. We’ll continue to be a work in progress and every day is important for us.”
Coach Matthews brings a thorough knowledge of the spread offense with him and a thick playbook to go along with it. Matthews came to South Alabama from Southern Miss through Oklahoma State. He is well steeped and is ready to unleash it’s potential at South Alabama. And the key is pace. Action needs to swift and constant and decisions need to be made quickly and correctly.
Matthews also spoke about other positions.
“People don’t realize how much you run in this offense as a wide receiver. They’re changing sides of the field, they’re running routes. We might throw a 6-yard route, but someone else may have had to run 30 yards to get that route open and he didn’t get the ball. He has to run back and get lined up. They have worked extremely hard and I’m proud of their progress.”
“It’s good to see Kendall (Houston) healthy again. We’ve been working about five [running] backs back there, and I think that’s good for competition.”
“We’ve been going two groups at once and we have five quarterbacks right now getting reps. Obviously, we’ve got to find out who our starter is, but even some of the younger guys on the roster, the reps they are getting right now are invaluable to them as they continue to learn the playbook.”
“I think they’re [tight ends] getting better every day, and we’ve got about two or three guys who hopefully will help us win on Saturdays.”
Trey Fetner returned to the field on Thursday after missing a day and a half with an illness. Senior linebacker Jake Johnson missed much of Thursday’s practice with a mild ankle injury but is expected to be ready for Saturday’s scrimmage. Tight end Wes Saxton missed part of yesterday’s morning scrimmage but should be ready for Saturday as well.
Saturday’s scrimmage is closed to public and the team will be off Sunday.
Lady Jags Soccer Annual Alumni Game Set For Saturday
The Jaguar Soccer team will unofficially open its 2012 season with the annual Alumni game. The Jags will take on USA Soccer Alumni at The Cage on Saturday evening at 7pm.
The Jags will officially open the season against Nicholls State on Friday August 17 when they begin their non-conference schedule. Last year, the Lady Jags scored five goals against the alumni with returning midfielder Morgan Motes scoring one of them. This game will serve as a soft opening to the season.
Head Coach Mike Varga spoke about his team. “The biggest difference this year, as opposed to the past two, is that we have a lot of returning players who have two years of experience. We’ve moved along a lot faster than we have in the past couple of years. We still have a long way to go, but I’m happy with our progress and I think we’re where we need to be at this point.”
Lots of rain last season led to less than ideal playing surface last year at The Cage, but it did not stop fans, parents and Alumni from participating in the annual event. “I’ve gotten confirmation from about 30 (alumni) saying they’re coming back,” Varga explained. “They’re actually talking a little smack that they’re going to come and compete well against us. Usually, in the first 10 minutes, they do a pretty good job and then fade the last 80, but it’s always fun to see the girls and the guys that played and have a history here. It should be a lot of fun, and hopefully the weather will hold off.”
All home soccer matches are free to ALL attendees throughout the season. The Cage is located on Old Shell Road just east of Stanky field and next to the Lady Jaguar Softball Field.