South Alabama Completes First Preseason Practice
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
The University of South Alabama opened preseason camp on Thursday night at the Jaguar Practice Facility behind the Football Fieldhouse. The Jags begin preparing for their season opening match-up against UTSA on August 30 a nearly three hour session. (See videos at end of article)
The players hit the field in shorts and helmets as they began preseason camp which began with individual position drills, one-on-one position drills, multiple 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills, group position skills and about 10 minutes of 11-on-11, offense vs defense drills where they ran around 30 plays.
After warm-ups practice began with individual skill drills for around 30 minutes before going into the first skeleton passing drills which lasted for about 15 minutes. The first and second team units combined for about 24 snaps and the third team was on the field for about 15 or more plays.
The squad came together for another skeleton passing session over an hour later. The first and second teams run about 16 plays each while the third team added at least 10 snaps themselves.
Head coach Joey Jones was pleased with the session but was quick to let the players know that more is expected of them and they still have a long way to go.
“It was a long practice and it was hot out here,” Coach Jones stated. “They came out with great effort and intensity, but we did have a few guys cramp up. They were mentally sharp, but what I challenged them with is to work on everything individually to make our team better. If they can do that and we are better on August 30 than we are now, then we will be achieving our goals. We can’t rest, we need to keep pushing.”
Coach Jones said that he expects a similar distribution of plays to continue next week as they get closer to the first of three preseason scrimmages. After the scrimmage, the coach staff will begin to focus on potential starters and forming a depth chart. “For a week and a half, I would say that we will give equal reps at least through the threes,” he explained. “After that, we’ll have to start to make some decisions.”
Coach Jones was also pleased with the performance of the quarterbacks and receivers. He attributed their success today with their voluntary workouts over the summer.
“I thought our quarterbacks distributed the ball very well,” he said. “You could tell that they have been working through the summer. They knew where to go with the football, and they placed the ball in some good spots. I was pleased with that.”
Some notable players were not on the roster today, Receiver J.J. Keels and Linebacker Logan Bennett were both absent from roster. We were unable to get any reasons why they were not on the roster, however it is suspected it was academics.
The Jags will return to the Practice Facility at 6:30pm on Friday and are scheduled to wear shorts and helmets again.
Head Coach Joey Jones speaking about the first practice of preseason camp.
Demetre Baker speaking after the first practice of preseason camp.
Quarterback CJ Bennett speaking after the first practice of preseason camp.
Brandon Ross speaking after the first practice of preseason camp.
Linebacker Jake Johnson speaking after the first practice of preseason camp.
Jags Opener Versus UTSA To Air On ESPN3
Yesterday the University of South Alabama announced that their Sun Belt opener against Troy will be televised. Thursday, South Alabama announced that their season opening game on Thursday, August 30, 2012 versus the University of Texas-San Antonio will be aired nationally on ESPN3 as part of the Sun Belt’s network in the fall.
This is the first of two Jaguar contests that will be broadcast on ESPN3. The Jaguars game in Raleigh versus North Carolina State on September 15th is the other game scheduled on the network. The Jags game against Troy will likely be broadcast on the network as well, but there has not been a formal announcement.
ESPN3 is the live multi-screen sports network for ESPN. It is available nation wide online and also available on many mobile devices via the WatchESPN app. ESPN3 is freely available to around 73 million homes nationwide through their high-speed internet service provider or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.
It is also available at no cost to around 21 million US college students and US-based military personnel.
Go Jags!
Jaguar Golf Honored By Coaches Association
The Jagua
r golf team is honored, for the fourth straight year, by the Golf Coaches Association of America by being named an All-Academic Team. In order to be eligible for this honor, each player on the team must carry a minimum 3.0 GPA for the academic year. The school must submit the grade points earned and the hours attempted by each player on the official team list to be considered.
Last season 11 Jags had a minimum of a 3.0 GPA and four of them had a 3.5 or higher. As a team, they had a 3.35 GPA for the 2011-2012 season.
79 NCAA Division I schools were honored for the 2011-2012 season.
McLain Leberte was recognized by the GCAA as a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar as well. He will be a senior this coming season.
Go Jags!
ULL’s Hudspeth Named Outstanding College Coach In Louisiana
University of Louisiana-Lafayette head football coach Mark Hudspeth was named the Outstanding College Coach for the state of Louisiana as part of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Awards.
He will be honored along with Christi Orgeron, who was recognized as the Outstanding Female Amateur from New Orleans.
Under Hudspeth, ULL improved the Cajun’s from a 3-9 record in 2010 to a 9-4 record in 2011 which included a thrilling win over San Diego State in the New Orleans Bowl. That was their first bowl game in 41 years and tied the school record of nine wins in a season. They were also a perfect 5-0 at home.
Additionally, they set a school and conference record with an average attendance per game of 29,171. That was an increase of 11,788 per game which lead the nation in attendance increase.
The Jags will travel to face the Rajin’ Cajun’s on November 24, one week before the Jags travel to Hawaii to end their regular season.
Vote For The Jags In ESPN’s Wear Your College Colors Contest
Go vote for your Jaguars!!
ESPN is hosting a ‘Wear Your College Colors’ contest right now. We blew up the voting for the Coach Of The Year the last two years before fading behind some of the bigger schools. We can do it again with this.
Visit http://ESPN.com/CollegeColorsDay and vote for YOUR South Alabama Jaguars! Vote Early and Vote Often!!
Go Jags!!
Jags Sun Belt Debut Vs Troy Will Be Televised
It was announced today that the Jaguars first-ever Sun Belt Conference football game will be televised. This historic game will feature the Jaguars versus Troy University and will be televised on a regional basis as it will be included in the league’s broadcast package this fall.
The September 29th game will be available on the Sun Belt Network which is a joint partnership with Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) and Cox Sports Television (CST). It will be available in 13 states across the southeast and it is likely to also be carried on ESPN Game Plan and ESPN3 nationwide outside of CSS and CST markets.
In order to accommodate television, the kickoff time will be moved up to 2:30pm on Saturday, September 29.
It’s Our Time! Go Jags!
Players Report Wednesday, Coach Jones Quotes
Head coach Joey Jones working with the field goal unit during South Alabama’s Scrimmage on Saturday, March 3, 2012.
The players are scheduled to report today and they will participate in their first preseason practice on Thursday at 6:30pm at the Jaguar Practice Facility. Below are more quotes from head football coach Joey Jones.
“The thing you look at as we go into Division I is obviously we have a tough schedule and we really respect all the teams we’re going to play. But I also have a lot of respect for our team and our staff and everyone involved in our football organization and the price they’ve paid to get us where we are. It’s an exciting time for us.”
“The thing is, to get better you’ve got to play the best. I think we’re at the point where we’re playing the best. This is going to be the toughest schedule we’ve played, and I’m excited to see our kids step up to the challenge.”
“If our offensive and defensive lines will hold up, we’ll be in pretty good shape. I think a lot of pressure will be put on those guys, as it always is, to be successful. I think our team’s success will definitely be on their shoulders, but I tell them that every year.”
“It’s good to feed off the excitement. There’s no doubt that the kids are excited about this season. But then you look at 13 games in 14 weeks, you’ve got to be steady in what you do. You can’t get too high or too low at any point in the season.”
“You realize you play N.C. State, then Mississippi State, then Troy and then Arkansas State. You start looking at a run like that and there’s no way you can play that roller-coaster game. You’ve got to stay steady. I think that’s up to our team to learn, and it’s something we’re stressing with the staff.”
“(Only one open date) is going to be different for us and it’s something we’ve anticipated and worked on in the offseason to get the players to understand what type of deal we’re going to be in. We’re going to have to do a good job of monitoring that and monitoring our team’s health and their legs and even their mental side. We’ve got to be smart about what we do.”
“One of the big things I think for me and the staff and our players is the fact we’ll be able to measure ourselves against people in our conference. When you’re not in a conference, you kind of play for wins and losses and that’s all well and good. But when you come up against competition against other teams in your conference, that’s what it’s all about. That makes you competitive. It makes you competitive in recruiting, it makes you competitive on the field and every day you’ve got to get better. That’s something that excites me and I know it excites everyone else that’s involved.”
“(Thursday’s first practice) is going to be fun. I was able to get away and get some time off, but all of a sudden now you’re ready to get back. It’s been a good break for everyone, and we’re ready to go to work.”
Continue checking back as Thunderjags covers preseason camp and the entire season.
Dennis Dodd “Jags Could Go Bowling”
Dennis Dodd, a well respected CBS Sports writer, posted a new article yesterday that has the South Alabama fans potentially excited. On the heels of the NCAA’s announcement of penalties against the University of Central Florida, Dodd’s headline stated, “UCF bowl ban means, gulp, South Alabama could go bowling.”
You may be asking, What does this mean? Well, UCF joins three other programs who have a bowl ban for the 2012 season. Those four teams are Ohio State, North Carolina, Penn State and UCF. OSU, North Carolina and Penn State have been perennial bowl participants while UCF was expected to challenge for the C-USA championship this coming season.
In 2010 the postseason expanded to 35 bowl games, which requires 70 teams. However there were only 72 bowl eligible teams last season.
He also pointed out that Jerry Palm, a CBS Sports writer, has also projected that there will not be enough teams to fill the 35 bowl games in 2012 before the UCF sanctions were announced.
Dodd also points out that there are outstanding cases for Miami and Oregon. Miami self-imposed a bowl ban for 2011, however it is currently still bowl eligible but the Nevin Shapiro case is still heating up. Then the Oregon case with Will Lyles third-party influence on recruits, most notably the aggressive recruitment of Lache Seastrunk.
Former Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters is now the executive director of the Football Bowl Association. He stated in the article, “It’s an issue that we’re monitoring closely and working with NCAA to develop a backup plan.”
Dodd then points out the options that the NCAA Board of Directors would consider if this possibility occurs.
- Allow a team with a record of 6-6 win a win over an FCS team (formerly Division I-AA) that does not meet the scholarship/financial requirements. Current rules allows an FBS team to count one win over an FCS team towards bowl eligibility but only if that school sponsors an average of 90% of the 63 scholarships allowed in FCS (IE 56.7 scholarships).
- Allow a team with a record of 6-6 who has two wins over two FCS (formerly Division I-AA) schools. FBS rules states that they may only count one victory over an FCS school towards their bowl eligibility. However, most FBS teams try not to schedule two FCS schools for that very reason.
- Allow a team with a record of 6-7 that lost it’s seventh game in a conference championship game. (How many 6-6 teams go to their conference championship?)
- Allow a team with a record of 6-7 that played 13 regular season games (Hawaii rule applies here).
- Allow teams with a record of 5-7 to be bowl eligible ranked by APR.
- Allow in a team that is reclassifying.
The last one is where South Alabama, UT-San Antonio, Texas State and UMass all come in. Each of these schools are currently in their second year of the two-year reclassification process from FCS. None of these schools are bowl eligible nor are they eligible for their conference championship games.
Dodd pointed out that the reclassification contingency is far down the list, but he added “But when you were 7-0 three years [ago] playing Hargrave Military Academy, it sounds more than encouraging. The Jags, located in Mobile, drew 26,000 for the first-ever game in 2009, an example of that Alabama football madness.”
South Alabama went 7-0 in their first season as he pointed out. Then went 10-0 against stronger competition in 2010 including a huge win over UC-Davis. The Jags went 6-4 in 2011 with losses to NC State, Kent State, Georgia State and their first ever home loss against Cal Poly.
You can read Dodd’s full article on CBS Sports here. You can also follow him on twitter.