South Alabama Looking To Finish Strong In 2013 Recruiting Season
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
With about two weeks left until National Signing Day, the Jags continue to look to get verbal commitments from recruits as well as holding onto the ones already verbally committed to the program. Verbal commitments are non-binding. But the 2013 class may be the best yet for the Jaguars.
This season South Alabama will have a full compliment of 85 scholarships as all other FBS schools have. They can assure recruits that they can compete for the Sun Belt Conference Championship and can be eligible to play in a bowl game as they have finished their two-year transition period into the FBS ranks.
The Jaguar program have received more verbal commitments this recruiting season than they any previous recruiting season. If they can attract just a few more players they are actively recruiting, then Coach Jones will be quite pleased with this recruiting class they have worked hard to obtain.
In previous recruiting classes, Jones and his staff focused on recruiting players for the secondary and offensive line. Those positions were considered areas of need. They needed players who could contribute immediately. Those positions are now strengths on the team, so the coaching staff is now targeting needs at defensive line and the skill positions on offense. But they will be signing players at other positions as well, especially if a talented player becomes available regardless of the position.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we’re looking for playmakers, and that means running backs and receivers,” Jones said in an interview with AL.com. “Defensively, we’ll try to find more defensive linemen because we have a lot of senior d-linemen this year and we’re obviously trying to recruit some depth there.”
Romelle Jones, Pat Moore, Ridge James, Alex Page, Montavious Williams, Randon Carnathan and Byron Sneed will all be seniors on the defensive line for the 2013 season. Some of those names are well known by Jaguar fans and have contributed to South Alabama’s defensive strength since the program began, including their second place ranking last season in the Sun Belt Conference.
Six junior college players signed in December and have enrolled or are expected to enroll in classes this week. If so, they will be available to participate in spring practice, which may start near the end of February. There may be some in that group that may not be able to enroll until May though.
As previously reported here back in December, junior college signees running back Cristobal Dinham, twin defensive backs Steffon and Steven Fuller, linebacker Desmond LaVelle, running back Jay Jones and cornerback Montell Garner have enrolled or are expected to enroll this week.
South Alabama had some recruits visit campus over the weekend but their biggest recruiting weekend is coming up in two weeks. They will be in town when the Senior Bowl and Mardi Gras are both taking place for a whirlwind recruiting weekend.
“The guys we signed from junior college, we feel good about them and the guys we have,” Jones said to AL.com in reference to the defensive backs in particular but also the junior college group as a whole. “We feel good there. I feel like our needs have been met there.”
“We do feel good about where we are, but we’ve got to finish,” he continued. “That’s one thing we’ve got to do. It’s just like every year, we’ve got to finish strong. There are a lot of times when it comes down to three or four players at the end. If you land those guys you’re in really good shape and you can have a great year.”
Just like Jones and his staff preaches to the players during practice, Jones also says it to himself and his staff. “We’ve got to finish strong.” The Jags have verbals from some great players and in about two weeks we will see how well they finish and how well they build on their progress this past season.
Go Jags.
Coach Tommy Perry Leaving USA for North Texas
Coach Tommy Perry coaching the running backs during halftime of the Red & Blue Spring Football Game on March 24, 2012.
South Alabama’s running backs coach and special teams coordinator Tommy Perry is leaving the staff to accept a position on the North Texas Mean Green coaching staff. The official announcement is expected on Monday.
With the news of Perry leaving the program, head coach Joey Jones will need to hire two assistant coaches to fill vacancies on the staff. Late last week Jones hired Kevin Sherrer to fill the vacancy left when Bill Clark left for the head coaching position at Jacksonville State University. Defensive backs coach Duwan Walker joined Clark’s staff as defensive coordinator. Walker and Clark arrived together from Prattville High School where he served as Clark’s defensive coordinator there.
This move by Perry will put him back in Texas where he played at Tyler Texas Junior College and Texas A&M. He was the strength and conditioning coach at Texas, a graduate assistant at Texas A&M-Commerce, an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe league. Before coming to South Alabama, he was a graduate assistant/intern at Alabama.
Tommy and his wife have lots of ties and family in Texas.
North Texas will leave the Sun Belt Conference at the end of the academic year to joing Conference USA so it is unlikely that the two teams will meet each other on the sidelines in the near future.
Thanks for everything you have done for us Coach Perry and good luck in your future endevours!
Slow Start Against UNT Dooms Jags
The South Alabama men’s basketball team could not overcome a slow start early against North Texas to fall 66-56 in Denton, Texas on Saturday. The Jags would only make two of their first 19 field goal attempts with Augustine Rubit picking up two early fouls.
The Mean Green jumped out to a 26-7 lead early into the game and held onto that lead the remainder of the game. The loss drops the Jags to 8-8 on the season (5-3 SBC) while UNT improved to 7-11 overall (2-5 SBC).
The Jags shot a miserable 28.1% from the floor and a mere 51.7% from the free throw stripe. This was the Jags fourth consecutive loss to North Texas in Denton. It was also the Jags first loss on the road in Sun Belt play.
“We got off to a slow start and I thought Aug’s (Rubit) two early fouls certainly took our team out of rhythm,” interim coach Jeff Price said after the game. “When you shoot 28 percent from the field and you give up 17 points at the free throw line, it’s hard to win games on the road like that. Our team just needs to learn that when shots aren’t falling, you have to play both ends of the court.”
The Jags attempted a come back midway through the second half. They rallied from a 21-point deficit with a 21-6 run to get within six points with 1:55 left in the game. The Mean Green could only manage one field goal during the final 7:47 of the game. However they would stretch their lead back to 10 points on free throws. But a short run would put the Jags within six points again, 62-56, with 27.4 seconds left after Freddie Goldstein hit a three-pointer. Unfortunately that would be the last points by the Jags. The Mean green would continue making their free throws.
“This team will never die,” Price said. “They get it. They don’t miss shots on purpose. We won’t die and I thought we did a good job of showing character and fighting to get back in the game.”
“We just missed a lot of shots and we missed a lot of free throws,” Price said. “I think we missed eight points worth of free throws in the first half because some were frontends of one-and-ones. That’s enough for a whole game for sure.”
Rubit and Goldstein led the Jags in scoring with 12 points each. Rubit added a team-high nine rebounds to just miss another double-double. Mychal Ammons added 10 points off the bench.
The Jaguars will open a three game homestand beginning Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe. Tip-off between the Jags and the Warhawks is set for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Jags Win Double Overtime Thriller In Lafayette
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team survived a double overtime thriller in Lafayette Louisiana to defeat the Ragin’ Cajuns Thursday night. The Jags record improves to 8-7 overall and 5-2 in Sun Belt play while Louisiana-Lafayette’s record drops to 6-12 overall for the season and 2-5 in Sun Belt play.
The Jaguars led by as many as 13 points in the second half but were forced to rally from a late deficit in order to force overtime against the Cajuns.
“It was a hard-fought win on the road,” coach Jeff Price said. “I thought our guys did a great job of being very resilient in what became a tough atmosphere as the game went on. We had our lapses but we drew things up well late in the game and got a great look from Mike in regulation that didn’t go down. With about three minutes to go in regulation things didn’t look real good for us and I thought our guys did a really nice job of fighting back.”
“Mychal had some huge plays—some steals and plays at the basket and that dunk at the end of the game,” Price said. “He just took it strong to the basket and buried it with two hands.”
Mychal Ammons drove the left baseline to throw down a two-handed dunk with 19.3 seconds left to put the Jags ahead 91-89. This gave Ammons his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
But ULL had a shot to win the game at the end. Shawn Long threw up a 3-pointer that went halfway down the basket before bouncing out as time expired to leave the Jags with the win.
Augustine Rubit had 26 points for the game, 21 of them after halftime, and nine rebounds lead the Jags in scoring and falling one short of extending his double-double streak. However Rubit did take over second place on the South Alabama all-time rebounding list. Dre Conner added 19 points in the game, 15 of them in the first half, before fouling out of the game for the first time this season. Antoine Allen added 19 points as well.
“I thought Aug did a really nice job late of understanding he had two or three guys on him and kicking the ball out. We just have to knock those shots down, regardless of who’s shooting them,” Price noted. “Aug just affects the game so much when you go in to him and he continues to get better at understanding he can make other guys better.”
ULL’s Elfrid Payton matched Rubit in scoring with 26 points with 22 of them coming after halftime. He also recorded seven assists and three steals. Bryant Mbamalu added 19 points, Long had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the game.
The Jags never trailed in the final period. Rubit and Allen combined for seven points to put the Jags up 89-84 early in the period. But ULL would resond with four unanswered points with Payton’s back-to-back layups. A period of almost two minutes would pass without either team scoring any points before Long hit the back end of two free throws to tie the game at 89 with 37.5 seconds left in the period. Ammons would get a two-handed slam with 19.3 seconds left for the final score.
In the second half of regulation, the Jags trailed by six points with 2:51 left in regulation after a three-pointer by Mbamalu. But Freddie Goldstein would answer with a three of his own on the subsequent possession to cut the lead in half. After a ULL free throw, Goldstein would nail another three with 1:42 left in regulation to pull the Jags within one point.
Both teams would trade free throws. Ammons would give the Jags a 74-73 lead with 34.3 seconds after a steal and a layup. ULL’s Payton would hit a free throw at the other end to tie the game. Ammons would miss a shot from the right baseline in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.
“If there’s a guy you want shooting them, it’s him,” Price said about Goldstein shooting three’s. “He’s an experienced senior and he jumped up and made a couple.”
In the first overtime neither team would lead by more than two points. Allen would tie the game at 82 with 44.4 seconds remaining in the period which would send the game into the second overtime period.
The Jags will continue their two-game road swing at North Texas on Saturday. The Jags and the Mean Green are scheduled to tipoff at 7pm.
Jags Travel To Lafayette To Take On The Ragin’ Cajuns Tonight
The South Alabama Jaguar Men’s basketball team travels to Louisiana-Lafayette for a 7pm game tip-off with the Ragin’ Cajuns. The Cajun’s are in fourth place in the Western Division of the Sun Belt Conference with an overall record of 6-11 this season and 2-4 in Sun Belt play. While the Jags are currently tied with Western Kentucky for second place in the eastern division of the Sun Belt Conference. The Jags are 7-7 overall on the season and 4-2 in Sun Belt play
The game will feature the top two players in double-doubles in the Sun Belt. Augustine Rubit is on a career-long streak of six double-doubles and has nine overall this season. Rubit ranks eighth in Division I players overall in double-doubles. ULL’s Shawn Long has eight double-doubles on the season.
Mychal Ammons led the Jags in scoring with 15 points against MTSU last Saturday, which marked the first time in five games that Rubit did not lead the team in scoring. However he still ranks second in the conference with a 19.3 points per game average.
Aug has tallied double-digits in rebounds in seven consecutive games and 10 of his last 11 games. That streak has eclipsed his previous streak of five consecutive games during his freshman year. He is ninth in the nation in rebounding with 11.2 rebounds per game.
Rubit is five rebounds away from moving into second place and passing Ed Rains in rebounds at South Alabama. He has already moved into 12th place at South Alabama in career scoring with 1,078 points.
Ammons leads the Sun Belt in three-point accurancy. He is shooting 48.6% from behind the arc and went 3-of-6 against the Blue Raiders. Meanwhile Javier Carter extended his block streak to eight games with his two blocked shots against MTSU. He is third in the conference with an average of 2.2 blocks per game. Last season Carter came up one rebound short of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds while adding six blocks.
ULL’s Elfrid Payton leads the conference in assists with 5.2 per game and steals with 2.3 per game.
The Jags and the Ragin’ Cajuns tip-off at 7pm in Lafayette Louisiana this evening. The game will be carried on 105.5 WNSP.
USA To Name Sherrer As New Defensive Coordinator
The University of South Alabama should announce the hiring of Kevin Sherrer to fill the defensive coordinator position this Friday. Sherrer will be filling the position of former defensive coordinator, and longtime friend, Bill Clark who accepted the head coach position at Jacksonville State University last month. Sherrer was a friend and confidant of Clark whom he often consulted with concerning defensive philosophy and gameplanning.
Sherrer comes from the University of Alabama where he has served in the position of Director of Player Development for the Crimson Tide. His duties consisted of focusing on the off-the-field activities of the schools student athletes. He helped the players to balance the demands of academics, athletics, community outreach and their personal lives as well as assisting with the strength and conditioning program and peer intervention group.
Prior to his stint at the University of Alabama, he served five seasons on the Hoover High School staff from 2005-2009. He served as a defensive assistant for two seasons, then spent three seasons as defensive coordinator. During his stint at Hoover, they won two state championships in 2005 and 2009.
Sherrer played tight end at Alabama from 1993-95 earning a letter in 1995. After graduating in 1996, he spent two seasons at Tuscaloosa County High School as an assistant coach which included a state title in 1997.
In 1998, he returned to Alabama as a graduate assistant on defense for three years. They won the Music City Bowl in 1998 and won the SEC Championship in 1999 which resulted in a trip to the Orange Bowl. He earned his masters degree in higher education from Alabama in 2000.
From Alabama, Sherrer spent four years at Spain Park High School (2001-2004) as an assistant coach on defense.
He and his wife have two childred, twin boys Kaleb and Kyle.
Additionally it is expected that a new defensive backs coach will be named early next week to fill the position vacated by Duwan Walker when he left to fill the defensive coordinator position at Jacksonville State under Clark.
Scott, Johnson To Participate In NFLPA Collegiate Bowl All-Star Game
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson zeroes in on a NC State runner for one of his 14 tackles in Raleigh, NC.
South Alabama will have two representatives in the 2013 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. On Tuesday it was announced that both Jake Johnson and B.J. Scott have accepted invitations to participate in the annual game.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is an all-star game that features top draft-eligible seniors. The game will be held in Carson, California at The Home Depot Center on Saturday, January 19. It will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and will be available online via WatchESPN. The Thursday prior to the game, ESPNU will have four hours of coverage from team pratices.
The two teams will be coached by former NFL head coaches Herm Edwards and Dick Vermeil.
Jake Johnson, a 6’1″ 240-pound Fredericksburg Virginia native, was the only Sun Belt player to average more than 10 tackles per game and was a first-team all-conference selection after finishing the season with a school record 131 tackles and 15 tackles for loss. He was the leading tackler for the Jags in seven of their 13 games and notched double-digits in tackles on five seperate occasions. He had a season-high of 15 tackles against Florida International and Middle Tennessee. He also collected 14 tackles against NC State and 10 against Mississippi State.
Johnson collected 245 total tackles and 25.5 stops for loss and nine sacks with two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two pass break-ups during his three seasons with South Alabama.
Scott, a 5’11” 205-pound Prichard Alabama native, was chosen for honorable mention all-Sun Belt after collecting 84 tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, three passes broken up and two forced fumbles. He notched a career high 12 unassistend tackles in Hawaii. He was credited with double-digit tackles four times in the 2012 season and seven times as a Jaguar. One of those double-digit games came against Mississippi State and in the Jags first-ever FBS and SBC win over Florida Atlantic.
In two seasons at South Alabama Scott collected 132 tackles, nine pass break ups, three forced fumbles and averaged 29 yards per kick return. He also missed the final three contests in the 2011 season with a knee injury.
Johnson and Scott will join the only other South Alabama player to participate in a postseason all-star contest Courtney Smith. Smith participated in the 2011 Senior Bowl.
Jags Late Rally Fall Short Against MTSU
A late rally by South Alabama falls short as the Jaguars fell to Middle Tennessee at home 60-56. The Blue Raiders held the Jaguars to 37 percent shooting for the game and held them scoreless over the final 1:41 of the game at the Mitchell Center.
The Jags fall back to 7-7 overall for the season and 4-2 in Sun Belt play. MTSU improves to 12-4 overall for the season and 4-1 in Sun Belt Play to move into first place in the Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division.
The Blue Raiders used a 17-3 run at the end of the first half and into the beginning of the second half to lead by as many as 15 points in the second half. They led by 11 points with 3:57 left in the game before the Jags rallied to get within two points in the final two minutes of the game.
“When you play a team that good, a unanimous pick to win your league, you have to play 40 minutes and we got 35,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “You can’t play 35 with these guys, you have to play 40. You can’t compound mistakes with mistakes. I thought we made a couple of mistakes and got our head down and missed a couple of layups when we didn’t need to. We got down and we could have laid down and quit but we didn’t. We fought and we had our chances.”
The Jags led 27-23 with 1:22 left in the first half before a 6-1 run to end the half put them ahead 29-28 at halftime. The Blue Raiders would take that momentum into the second half as they opened with a 11-2 run, nine consecutive points, over a 3:36 time frame to take their largest lead of the game until that point 40-30.
“That was the key to the whole game,” Price said of the beginning of the second half. “We didn’t play the last minute of the last first half well either. We were up by maybe three and then we had a turnover and that last half court turnover and kind of broke our momentum a little bit. We went in down one. Instead we should have been up. And the first four minutes of the second half, you always tell your guys (about) the first five minutes and they just have to buy in. You can’t put your head down against a team this good, you just have to keep battling. Sometimes we just got a little mentally weak and we can’t do that.”
MTSU would stretch their lead out to 15 points in the second half on an 8-0. The Jags went through a stretch of nearly five minutes without a field goal, which included five missed layups.
“We just missed so many easy shots around the basket for a stretch there that would normally go in,” Price said. “For about four minutes it was like Arkansas State when layups wouldn’t go in by very good players. I mean Aug and Mike were missing them.”
The Jags comeback attempt began during the final four minutes when they were down by 11 points. Javier Carter got it started with a tip in and a blocked shot on the other end of the court. Rubit then made two free throws followed by Freddie Goldstein hitting a three-pointer to cut the lead down to four points at 58-54.
The Jaguar defense forced a missed shot and Antoine Allen would go almost the length of the court for a layup with 1:41 left in the game to cut the lead down to two points. However the Blue Raider defense would then force three missed shots and hold the Jags scoreless the rest of the way.
Augustine Rubit would miss a layup with 56 seconds left then MTSU would convert two free throws for the final score of 60-56. A final three-point attempt by Ammons would miss and a last second attempt from Allen would be blocked.
MTSU head coach Kermit Davis praised the Jaguars in his post-game press conference. “I’m so impressed with how South Alabama has competed. It’s shown up on all the tapes,” he said. “It looked like we’d built a good lead, but, against an experienced team, I have to give them credit. They were physical and made a bunch of plays. We were lucky to hang on there at the end.”
Ammons led all scorers with 15 points off the bend and added eight rebounds to fall short of a double-double. Although Augustine Rubit extended his double-double streak to six in a row with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Goldstein added 12 points and a team-high four assits. Javier Carter chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
Xavier Roberson continues to serve his indefinite suspension for breaking unspecified team and athletic department rules.
Bruce Massey led MTSU with 12 points while Shawn Jones was the only other player in double-digits with 11 points.
The Jaguars travel to Lafayette, Louisiana to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns on Thursday. The game is set to tip-off at 7pm.
Jags Hold On To Defeat ULM 77-72
Augustine Rubit scored a career-high 32 points against Louisiana-Monroe. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Jaguar Men’s basketball team held off a late surge by Louisiana-Monroe to notch a 77-72 Sun Belt win. It took a career night by junior Augustine Rubit to do it though. South Alabama moves into a tie for first place after the Western Kentucky loss to UALR. The Jags overall record improves to 7-6 on the season and 4-1 in Sun Belt play while ULM falls to 2-8 overall and 1-3 in Sun Belt play.
Rubit broke his career high in scoring with 32 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to get his fifth consecutive double-double and his 34th in his career. He only missed one shot from the floor and two from the foul line.
“He was outstanding,” said interim head coach Jeff Price about Rubit. “He was a dominant factor in the game. Their posts were undersized and had a hard time with him. I thought he did a nice job of sharing the ball and kicking it out. We got some nice looks outside because of him. He’s just been playing great lately. His effort’s been great, his attitude is good and he’s playing extremely well right now.”
This win came one game after a season low shooting performance by the Jags. They shot a season best 59.1% from the floor however they tied their season high of 25 turnovers which translated into 33 points for the Warhawks.
“Anytime you win on the road, it’s good,” Price continued. “We all know that road wins are hard to get and I’m obviously happy we were able to pull the game out. I thought the margin should have been greater. We hurt ourselves turning the ball over so much and we didn’t need to. We got a little too careless. We need to learn not to get too comfortable with the lead and let people back in the game. We have to play better down the stretch. I’ll look at the tape and see what I can do better to help us finish. We just didn’t finish the game real well.”
“Again, I need to look at the tape, but a lot of them were just unforced turnovers,” Price said about the turnovers. “It’s not like Monroe is a big pressure team. To our credit, we were trying to share the ball, but at times we were forcing it too much, trying to force it in to Aug, make a big play or thread a needle. We just have to understand the value of the basketball and how important it is. We’re not good enough to throw the ball away like that.”
The only other Jaguar to score in double digits was Dre Conner who had a season-best 12 points.
The Jags lead by as much as 17 points in the first half and led 71-59 with under three-and-a-half minutes left in the game. However the Warhawks would muster a 10-2 to get within four points of the Jaguars with 1:16 left in the game.
Conner would put back his own missed shot on the Jags next possession to extend their lead to six points. Rubit would add a free throw after the Warhawks would miss a three-point attempt.
However on the next ULM possession they would hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds left in the game to cut the lead back down to four points. However freshman Barrington Stevens III would convert from the foul line the Jags would force a turnover before the final buzzer to preserve the win.
“We did what we had to do and that’s a good sign,” Price said of the ending. “In the last minute we did what we had to do to win the game and made our free throws down the stretch. We got some stops when we had to and got some big rebounds. We just got careless in the last three minutes of the game and I need to take a look at that and see what I can do to make us better in those situations, but we’ll move forward.”
Unlike the last game where the Jags got behind early and never lead, this time the Jags jumped out to a 23-6 lead and kept that lead for the entire game. Rubit scored nine of those 23 points and the team hit 10 of their first 15 shots.
“The biggest difference early was us defensively creating some offensive opportunities,” Price said. “We did a nice job of getting the ball inside and not taking some jump shots. I thought that was real important.”
The Jags return home to the Mitchell Center to host Middle Tennessee State on Saturday with tipoff set for 7:05pm. Middle Tennsee is 11-4 overall and 3-1 in Sun Belt play with a 3-2 record on the road.
Come out and support YOUR South Alabama Jaguars!
Walker Officially Joines Clark at JSU
The speculation about Duwan Walker joining Bill Clark at Jacksonville State was confirmed on Thursday as Clark announced his coaching staff. Duwan Walker will be the defensive coordinator and safeties coach while Chuck Dunn, a former Jaguar assistant coach, will coach the inside linebackers.
Walker and Clark have worked together since 1999 when Clark became head coach at Prattville High School. Walker started as defensive backs coach for two years before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2001.
Along with Walker, there are two graduate assistants on the defensive side that are heading to Jacksonville State.
That opens up another coaching spot that needs to be filled on the Jaguar staff.
As for the defensive coordinator position, reports are still out there that Ron Roberts was offered the position and there was one report that he has accepted. However there has not been any official word by South Alabama or Ron Roberts.