Coach Jones Adds Freddie Roach And Travis Pearson To Staff
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp. Chase Smith looks on behind Jones.
Head coach Joey Jones announced additions to his staff to fill open positions. Freddie Roach and Travis Pearson have joined the program and were in the football field house on Friday hitting the ground running.
Former University of Alabama linebacker Freddie Roach will join Brian Turner in coaching the defensive linemen. Roach was a four-year letterman for the Crimson Tide from 2002-2005. He was an assistant on the Alabama staff with the strength and conditioning program and was on the staff for the 2009 national championship team.
Roach was on the Murray State staff last season as defensive line coach. Prior to joining the Murry State staff, he helped the East Mississippi Community College team to a 12-0 record and the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship.
He ended his collegiate career as Alabama’s 10th all-time leading tackler and signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2006 but was released during the preseason due to injury. Travis Pearson was hired to coach the linebackers for the Jaguars.
Pearson was the defensive coordinator at Colquitt County High school the last two seasons where they had back-to-back semifinal appearances in the state 5A playoffs. He was also the head coach and athletic director at Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery for two years prior to Colquitt County HS. In 2002-2004 he was the head coach at Elmore County High School. His final year at Elmore, he was selected the Metro 4A Coach of the Year after finishing the season 12-1 and an appearance in the quarterfinals.
He also served as director of football operations at Iowa State for the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
“You can tell when you meet Freddie Roach how hungry he is to be a great coach. He has that look in his eyes that I’m sure he had when he played,” Coach Joey Jones said. “He is going to demand a lot out of our players. And he is very technical, when I interviewed him he knew everything about playing defensive line. He understood it inside and out, from hand placement to the steps and how to attack offensive linemen. He’s a great coach now, and is going to be a tremendous coach as he gets some maturity about him.”
“I’ve known coach Pearson over the years going back to meeting him when he was the defensive coordinator at Oxford High, I’ve always been real impressed with the presence he had around the players,” Jones said. “He is one of the best coaches that I’ve seen: he is a motivator, he knows football and kids will do anything for him. When you’re coaching linebackers, you need a guy like that.”
“Everything is on the rise here,” Roach said. “It’s a new program with great facilities, the administration has done a great job of helping to get it going, and there are great coaches including a lot of Alabama guys. There are just a lot of great things going on, and I wanted to be a part of it and help this program be successful. I am in this business to help kids mature and become men, and also teach them how to play football. I was fortunate to play for and work with a bunch of great coaches, I’ve been fortunate all my life, so I would like to take what I’ve been given to help guys learn and accomplish what I have and more. And, there’s nothing like being back home.”
“First, I’ve known coach Jones, what he is about and the vision he has for this program, and that excited me,” Pearson said. “The opportunity to coach at South Alabama is also exciting to me, especially since I am from Southern Choctaw an hour and 45 minutes up the road. I want to win, particularly a conference championship, and get this program where coach Jones wants it to be. I think coach Sherrer is going to do an outstanding job and it is going to be a pleasure working with him as well.”
Sources have indicated that that’s not quite the end of the staff changes however. First year director of football operations, Chase Smith, may get a promotion to running backs coach to replace Tommy Perry who left for a position at North Texas. Prior to being named director of football operations before last season, Smith served as an offensive graduate assistant. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2005 and masters degree in 2008, both in physical education, from Jacksonville State University.
He also served as assistant coach at Spanish Fort High School from 2007-2010.
That would move Brendt Bedsole off the field and back into the position of director of football operations. Bedsole has performed that job since the beginning of the program until he was promoted to linebackers coach last season.
It is unknown who will take on the position of special teams coordinator that Coach Tommy Perry also held.
It’s a very opportune time to announce the hire as the Jags have their big recruiting weekend this weekend with about 21 recruits on-campus for visits.