Coach Jones To Participate In Online Fan Forum
On Monday afternoon 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. Coach Jones’ forum is scheduled to begin at noon on Monday, August 13.
Go Jags!!
Jaguar Men’s Basketball To Hold Public Scrimmage On Friday
The USA Men’s Basketball team will hold a public intrasquad scrimmage on Friday afternoon. The scrimmage will be held at the Striplin Practice Facility next to the Mitchell Center.
The scrimmage will begin at 4pm.
This is the teams final prep before they begin a preseason exhibition tour through Canada. They are scheduled to play three games next week against Canadian universities.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Completes First Two-A-Day Practice
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
Thursday morning, the Jags completed an hour-and-a-half practice session. It was the first half of the Jags first two-a-day scheduled for preseason camp.
They opened practice with special teams work before they broke off and went into individual group position drills. Later in the practice the offense and defense worked against each other. Kendall Houston notched a touchdown running the ball and C.J. Bennett found Jereme Jones for a touchdown pass as well.
The morning session had lots of emphasis on routes. Receivers were tasked with getting seperation from defenders in certain instances, improvising routes on the fly. Nathan Sassaman bumped a defender on a fly route and caught a pass for a touchdown.
During the full team drills, the defense caused problems. C.J. Bennett had problems finding players and had at least three interceptions. A string of three pass defenses in a row was followed by an interception by a defensive lineman. Enrique Williams had an impressive stop on Demetre Baker up the middle. Eddy Cabrera notched a couple of pass breakups.
Ross Metheny had similar problems as Bennett did, but did showcase some impressive scrambling ability. Corey Besteda continued to impress observers with a behind the back, one-handed catch.
The staff closed the practice with more special teams work followed by conditioning drills.
“I thought we came out with a great attitude this morning,” said head coach Joey Jones. “We looked real sharp. I was pleased with it overall. They worked and had a good session with the offense going against the defense. I thought we achieved what we needed to achieve today. We have to come back out this afternoon and be ready to go. There’s nothing easy about it, we just have to suck it up and go.”
He continued by saying, “We have to fight through the tough things. Toughness is one of the three things we talk about. We have to practice toughness to be tough, so that’s why we do it.”
The Jags returned to the Jaguar Practice Facility for a 4:30pm practice session. The second half of the Jaguars two-a-day practice saw some emphasis on running backs working on holding blocks on passing plays.
After a session of 11-on-11 work, the team moved to red zone passing plays. Bryant Lavender and Greg Hollinger made some great catches against the Jaguar defenders.
The team also practice a two-minute drill for the first time this preseason. The first string, led by Bennett, failed to convert on 4th down at the 34 yard line. The second string, led by Metheny, drove down to the 26 yard line with ten seconds left before having to settle for a field goal.
Kicker Michel Chapuseaux kicked for the first time this preseason. Both he and Aleem Sunanon were kicking well from 40+ yards out. Chapuseax nailed a 47 yard field goal in a hurry-up situation with 3 seconds remaining.
The Jags will return to the practice field for a lighter practice session as they prepare for their first scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday. The Saturday scrimmage will be closed to the public.
Jags Basketball Prepping For Canadian Tour
A Frustrated Coach Arrow sheds his coat.
The Jaguar basketball team is gearing up for its summer exhibition tour through Canada. While preparing for this trip, Coach Arrow knew a few things must be addressed from last season. Last year’s Men’s basketball team ranked near the bottom of the SBC in the assist/turnover ratio and in turnover margin.
But with the experience of returning seniors Trey Anderson and Wendell Wright to help steer their new teammates Dre Connor and Barrington Stevens, Coach Arrow believes this team will be better. Anderson finished sixth in the conference in assists per game.
Coach Arrow has plans to help improve ball security. He is utilizing basic drills with high-pressure, game-like conditions with pressing defensive intensity to help ready them for game time.
“It doesn’t do you any good to dribble and pass with nobody on you—you have to do it with ‘heat’ on you to be able to fully develop those skills,” Arrow said. “We’ve tried to put as much pressure on those guards as we can. Today we’ll start working on our presses and working full court, which will enable them to not only do it in half-court situations, but in full court, with double teams and making decisions in the full 94 feet.”
Connor is a JuCo transfer while Stevens is a freshman. The third new member of the backcourt is Junior transfer Antoine Allen. He is formerly from Miami and will give the Jags an additional outside shot threat. “Antoine is further ahead than the other two guards,” Arrow commented. “I think a lot of it has to do with strength. He’s a lot stronger than they are and he’s able to maneuver and get open better because of that strength factor. He’s played at a higher level than they did at Miami. All of those things combined have allowed him to be further ahead than those two.”
The Jags will continue to work throughout the week before opening their exhibition tour on August 13 against Windsor.
Two SBC Teams Could Be The Next “BCS Buster”
Holly Anderson wrote a great article about the new “busters”. She wrote about how Boise State has become a household name and that TCU and Utah have joined “power” conferences. She identified what she thinks will be the next generation of “busters.”
She mentioned two schools from the Sun Belt Conference. Arkansas State who won the Sun Belt last season with a 10 win season and Florida International who thrilled the nation with back-to-back upsets over Louisville and UCF to go 8-5 on the season. However, Florida International will be joining Conference-USA next season.
Go read her article on SI.com. Hopefully the next time she writes about the next “buster” schools, South Alabama will be included. Former Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters thought so in 2010.
Odumosu Falls Short Of Medal Stand
Former Lady Jaguar Track and Field star Ajoke Odumosu finished eighth in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles on Wednesday.
While she finished eighth in the finals and fell short of the medal stand, she did not go home empty handed. Odumosu was already the national record holder, but she extended her all-time mark in the semifinals with a 54.40-second time.
Odumosu was an eight-time SBC individual champion, three time title holder in both the outdoor 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles and two titles in the indoor one-lap sprint.
She was a three-time NCAA qualifier as well as the first female Jaguar to receive All-AMerican honors. Then in 2006, she was named to the SBC All-Time Outdoor team. Odumosu still holds the South Alabama records in the indoor and outdoor 400-meter dash, the 400-meter hurdles and the indoor 4×400-meter relay.
She was on the Jaguar Track and Field team from 2004-2007.
Jags Continue To Make Strides In Preseason Camp
Coach Tommy Perry talks with running back Terrance Timmons during preseason camp.
The Jaguars returned the to the field for their third consecutive day of practice this week and their sixth thus far of preseason camp. It was also their second day of practice in full pads as well.
Coach Jones and his staff backed off slightly today, instead of practicing for nearly three hours, they only went for about two hours in a hot, humid morning practice.
“Practice was good,” Coach Jones explained. “I challenged them today. I thought there were times we were up and times we were a little bit down, the heat really got to us a little bit. But, I kept seeing them fighting back and getting better. When they dipped down, I thought they might be done, but they fought back which I was real proud of. We have to concentrate in those times when it’s hot, the mistakes you make when you’re tired are what loses ball games. We have to be able to concentrate and do what we are supposed to do.”
They began practice with team drills with the ball placed at the offense’s 35-yard line. Returning starter C.J. Bennett began the drill with a 10-yard pass to Bryant Lavender. Demetre Baker picked up at least five yard on rushes twice as well. Ross Metheny and Wes Saxton combined for a 20-yard completion as well. Terrance Timmons made a couple good runs as well.
The final period of team drills had the first and second teams running three goal-line plays from the defense’s three-yard line. Kendall Houston was stopped twice by Ben Giles in the first three plays from scrimmage. Ross Metheny found Wes Saxton in the end zone for a touchdown. Demetre Baker found his way into the end zone twice.
“It was good,” Jones said of the goal-line drills. “The defense came out first series and stopped the offense, but the offense got better on the next set of downs. It was like two heavyweights punching each other, I liked it.”
While being satisfied with how the offense has been progressing so far during preseason camp, he knows what they need to continue to focus on as they progress through camp. “The consistency has to be there,” he stated. “You want them to be successful every play, that’s not going to happen, but the offense hit some plays today. I see some good things. If we can shore up the line of scrimmage where we can really block and protect, we have enough skill to where we will be able to do some good things. We’re putting a lot of pressure on those guys up front to do what they are supposed to do.”
With the Jags facing their first two-a-days beginning tomorrow, Coach Jones knows the players are getting tired. “The biggest thing is we have to fight through,” he said. “We’re at the point where our legs are getting tired, but we will have to battle through that. We’ll back off Friday before the scrimmage, so the coaches are going to stop installing and getting things ready for Saturday. That way we can evaluate the kids better. We don’t want them confused Saturday, we want them to be able to execute and show us what they can do.”
As mentioned above, the Jags will go out onto the practice field twice tomorrow. Their first practice will begin around 7:15am then they will return to the field for the second session around 4:30pm. Each should be around one and a half hours in duration.
Former Women’s Hurdler Competes In Olympic Final On Wednesday
As reported before, former Jaguar track and field standout, Ajoke Adumosu advanced into the semifinals of 400-meter hurdles for her home nation of Nigeria.
Odumosu finished atop her heat and advances to the finals of the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the 2012 London Olympics. Odumosu ran a personal and Nigerian best time of 54.40 seconds in her semifinal heat. She will compete against sevel other world-class hurdlers on Wednesday to see if she can place on the medal stand.
This will mark her second finals appearance in the Olympic games. She made the finals four years ago in Beijing China.
NBC will air coverage of the Women’s 400-meter hurdles finals with a rolling broadcast schedule beginning at 2:45pm CDT.
Go jags! And Good luck Ajoke!!
Big Ten Conference Considering Goal-Line Cameras
It was announced earlier this year that the Southeastern Conference will experiment with wireless communication for officiating some football games this season. This technology has been used by soccer referees for several years now.
The NCAA football rules committee approved a waiver for the SEC to test the system only in SEC games. They hope this will help officials communicate and to identify pre-snap reads. It could also help the efficiency in penalty enforcement by reducing the need for huddling. It could also help coaches get better explainations.
Yesterday it was released that the Big Ten Conference is strongly considering an experiment with goal-line cameras at some football stadiums. This is meant to help instant replay officials get better reviews for goal-line plays.
Goal line cameras were tested this spring at Michigan and Michigan State. If they are approved they may move around the Big Ten stadiums in 2012. If the Big Ten makes them perminent, they would be installed at all Big Ten stadiums.
Last season Michigan State defeated Wisconsin on a last-second Hail Mary where the ball was deflected and caught right at the goal line. Some of the replays came from angles that were not directly on the goal line, but one angle appeared to be very close to the goal line. After several minutes of review the officials determined that Michigan State did score a touchdown to win the game.
The Jags will play at Nebraska on September 12, 2015 and, if approved, goal-line cameras could be installed by then. Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011.
South Alabama Hits The Field In Full Pads
Quarterbacks Trey Fetner and transfer Ross Metheny participating in position drills.
The Jaguars took to the practice field for their fifth time during preseason camp on Tuesday morning. Though this was the first time they were able to don full pads.
Practice went for almost three hours at the Jaguar Practice Facility behind the Football Fieldhouse on the South Alabama Campus. After warmups, they began with special teams and position-specific drills. Then the offense and defense faced off against each other in first and third-down situational drills which lasted for about 15 minutes.
Highlights from this segment included a 35-yard completion from Trey Fetner to Cameron Broadnax, a 15-yard run by Ross Metheny, a 10-yard gain by T.J. Glover and another 10-yard gain by Fetner. While on the defensive side of the ball, Will Thompson notched a sack and a fumble recovery and Bryson James and Eddy Cabrera both notched a pass breakup each.
The next session was the 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills for about 15 plays. C.J. Bennett went 4-of-7 with a touchdown pass to Wes Saxton for five yards. Metheny recorded three pass completions with one of them going for a 10-yard touchdown to Cameron Broadnax.
The Jaguar offense and defense met in the next session with the ball placed at midfield. Highlights from this drill was a 15-yard rush by Kendall Houston and a 17-yard completion from Bennett to Terrance Timmons. Defensively Thompson added a tackle-for-loss to his daily total, Cabrera added another pass breakup as well and Jake Johnson also recorded a pass breakup.
Coach Jones thought practice went well again. “I thought we had a good practice intensity-wise,” Jones said. “The defense is getting better in pass coverage. I’ve noticed that and talked with coach Walker about that during practice. We’re sticking much tighter to the receivers and the zone coverages are harder to find, so we’re getting better on defense. Offensively, it’s a continuation but I think we’ve made some progress. I really like the effort again. They came out with intensity and practiced hard, so we’re excited about that.”
Senior Linebacker Jake Johnson was excited to put the pads back on as well. “It’s always good to get the pads back on,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this season since I came here to play. It’s a great opportunity to really show what our team is made of. We have gotten bigger, faster and stronger, which is really key.”
B.J. Scott also mentioned that the Jaguars are getting better. “We had good weather and guys were flying around. We got better today,” said Scott. “We are preparing and getting ready every day, and we’ll see what we can do when it’s time. But we should be better off with the experience and leadership we have on defense this year.”
The Jags will return to the field at 7:15am on Wednesday.