Jones Pleased With Thursday Scrimmage
Offensive lineman Drew Dearman signals pre-snap as the Jaguars work in Spring drills last season.
The South Alabama Jaguars held their final practice prior to the University dismissing for a week for Spring Break. The session was half practice and half scrimmage.
The scrimmage covered over 80 snaps and used six different quarterbacks running the first, second and third string units. Though, Coach Jones said that there were no special designations as to what players were with the first team and those who worked with the second and third teams. The offense got started fairly quickly with some big plays as Ross Metheny hit Wes Saxtor for 13 yards then two plays later scrambling for 15 yards.
Next up was Brandon Bridge who opened the drive with a 19 yard completion to newcomer Jay Jones. Four plays later Bridge found Shavarez Smith on the sidelines, who shoved down the defender and took it 43 yards for a touchdown. Jay Jones also broke a 32-yard run on the day.
About midway through the scrimmage Bridge would notch another touchdown when he connected with Corey Waldon in the corner of the end zone for a 10 yard score. Earlier in the drive he sprang loose on a 3rd and 11 from their own 29 yard line for a 36 yard gain.
Metheny narrowly missed connecting with Bryant Lavender for a score from about 40 yards out, but Lavender was one step out of bounds. But Metheny did connect with Corey Besteda for a 30-yard score.
Qudarius Ford, who missed all last season with a knee injury suffered in preseason camp, had the lone turnover with an interception in the end zone. The defense had three three-and-outs during the second half of the scrimmage including a stop on fourth-and-two.
Logan Gunn attempted six field goals as part of the scrimmage. He connected on four of the six including kicks from 37 and 39 yards.
“We had a really good work day today,” head coach Joey Jones said after practice. “I can’t tell who did what running plays. We ran seven-play segments because we were trying to get a lot of plays in today. We got in about 80 in a 50-minute time period because the kids were hustling and doing a good job of getting to the ball on defense. We’ll watch film to get the results of who did what.”
“I think our leadership has been really good this year,” Jones continued. “The guys are mature and working hard to fix some of the little things behind the scenes. The offensive staff has done a good job in the offseason of trying to tweak some things and make our offense better. I though you saw some really good things out there today. We’re running the football better, that’s the big thing.”
“We’ll use the off time as a staff to work the whole week on recruiting and of course evaluating where we are at this point,” Jones explained. “I told the players that we’ve gone through five practices now, which is close to halfway, so we are seeing where we are lining up. We won’t make [depth chart] determinations until the end of the spring, but obviously we’ll start looking at the personnel as well.”
One of the most obvious differences was how well the Jags moved from unit to unit and play to play. The coaches did a great job in organizing and preparing the players to be ready on the sidelines. They ran on and off the field and looked sharp. The offense was able to get the ball snapped quickly, which is an improvement from last season. The defense also jumped offsides a few times, which Jones said will be addressed.
“I think we came out kind of slow, everybody was late,” linebacker Clifton Crews commented after practice. “We probably looked better the first three days of practice to tell you the truth. The coaches have come in and taught us a lot, but we are keeping it to fundamentals and sound technique. If we mess up, then mess up at full speed. We don’t want effort to be the problem.”
The Jags will pick up with practice after spring break on Tuesday, March 19 at 6am as they lead up to the Red-Blue game on Saturday, April 6th at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
USA Pefect On The Diamond Friday
Baseball
The Jaguars baseball team stayed undefeated at home this season as third baseman Bud Collura came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Jags defeated North Florida 6-5 Friday night.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Jags were tied 5-5. Jeff DeBlieux doubled down the right field line with one out. Then Collura came up to bat and put the 0-2 pitch into left field to score DeBlieux to win.
The Jags improve to 13-2 on the season while UNF fell to 10-4. They will play again today with first pitch set for 2pm at Eddie Stanky Field and again on Sunday with a 1pm first pitch.
The game can be heard on WNSP with Pat Greenwood handling the play-by-play.
Softball
The Jaguar softball team swept the first day of Long Beach State Invitational to improve their overall record to 20-2 on the season.
Hannah Campbell pitched a no-hitter to defeat UC-Santa Barbara on Friday morning then pitched two innings of relief as the Jags were tied with Idaho State 1-1 and allowing the Jags to score the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.
The no-hitter by Campbell was the first of her career and the first for a Jaguar since 2009 when Beth Pilgrim lead the Jags over Saint Louis.
Hannah Campbell improves her record to 9-2 on the season with a 0.75 ERA in 65.2 innings pitched. This was her third shutout of the season.
The Jags will hit the diamond at 4pm against #9 UCLA.
Sun Belt Tournament Preview
The Sun Belt Conference Tournament begins today in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Middle Tennessee State earned the #1 seed with a 27-4 overall record and a 19-1 record in Sun Belt play.
MTSU has a big bulls eye on their back. Number one seeds in the Sun Belt Tournament have not fared well over the last few years. Even last season MTSU had a similarly impressive record but fell in their first game of the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament to #9 seed Arkansas State. Their record coming into the game was 27-7 (14-2 SBC).
MTSU has been tearing through some of their opponents this season without abandon. They defeated ULM by 41 points, the Jags by 35, Troy by 52 and UALR by 32 all since the beginning of the year. Their only loss was on the road against Arkansas State, who had their number in the tournament last season in Arkansas, 66-60 in overtime.
After their loss last season, they were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament and settled for the NIT. The same could happen this season if they lose their opening game of the tournament, but many think that if they don’t get embarrassed they would get an at-large berth in the tournament. They enter the SBC Tournament with a 16-game winning streak and 10 consecutive win by double digits. Their RPI is #24th in the nation.
The rest of the teams are looking to win the tournament for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. South Alabama is one of those teams. Augustine Rubit was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year for his performance this season. The Jags will look to use him as they have thei season to advance in the tournament.
MTSU will face the winner of the #8 seed UL-Lafayette and #9 North Texas who tip off at 6:30pm this evening. While the Jags will face the winner between the #6 WKU and #11 UL-Monroe gam that tips off at 6pm.
The other game this tonight is #7 FAU and #10 Troy who tip off at 8:30pm.
Lady Jags Softball Defeats Nicholls State 8-0
Jaguars Softball earned it’s eighth run-rule win of the season after downing Nicholls State 8-0 in six innings at Jaguar Field wednesday night.
A three-run homer to center field by Kaitlyn Griffith in the bottom of the fifth inning followed by triples by Britany Campbell and Brittany Fowler to score a pair of runs. An inning later Alex Breeden scored from second on an error followed by pinch-runner Britany Campbell scoring from third on a wild pitch.
The Lady Jags improved to 18-2 on the season while the Colonel’s falls to 7-11 on the season. Beard improves to 8-0 on the season with an ERA of 1.24. The Jags defeated Nicholls State in Louisiana last month 7-1.
The Jags improved their home record to 6-0 this season.
They will return to action this weekend at the Long Beach State Invitational with two games slated for Friday. An 11am game against UC-Santa Barbara followed by a 4pm game against Idaho State.
Jags Baseball Down Southern Miss 6-5
South Alabama defeated regional foe Southern Miss 6-5 Wednesday night at Eddie Stanky Field. Left-hander James Traylor struck out a career high seven batters in 5 2/3 innings of relief to lead the Jags to the win.
Traylor entered in the bottom of the first inning in relief of starter Andrew Fonzi. Kyle Bartsch earned his third save of the season with a perfect ninth inning where he struck out two Golden Eagles batters.
South Alabama improved their record to 12-2 on the season while USM fell to 6-6.
The Golden Eagles took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Jags responded in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single that was followed by consecutive walks and by the end of the inning would have the lead at 4-3.
The Jags would load the bag in the bottom of the second inning on a walk then a two-run single up the middle would give the Jags a 6-4 lead. USM would only manage one more run int he top of the fourth inning as the Jags held on the rest of the way for the win.
South Alabama will host North Florida for a weekend series at Eddie Stanky Field. Friday night’s game is scheduled for a 6:30pm first pitch. Saturday is a 2pm first pitch and the final game on Sunday is scheduled for a 1pm first pitch.
Augustine Rubit Honored As Sun Belt Player of the Year By League Coaches, Media
Rubit was named SBC POTY conference coaches and media on Wednesday as he averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game during the regular season. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
As many South Alabama fans expected, Junior Augustine Rubit was honored by the coaches and media on Wednesday. He was named the 2012-2013 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
In addition to his Player of the Year honor, the first for a Jaguar player since Jeff Hodge in 1989, he was also earned his second consecutive First Team All-Sun Belt team honor. Rubit was honored by CollegeInsider.com as their Sun Belt Player of the Year on Monday as well.
Rubit averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game this season with 16 double-double performances. He scored 20 or more points in 13 games, including a carrer-best 34 points against Louisiana-Lafayette on Valentines day, which was one of his three 30-point games this season.
He also set a school record for free throws made in a season with 177 while being one of the nation’s top players in reaching the free throw stripe. He was third in NCAA’s Division I in free throws made and attempted per game.
In the midst of all of this, he scored his 1,000th point and currently ranks ninth in school history in scoring with 1,337 career points. He has also moved into second place all-time in career rebounds in school history with 878 which also puts him in 10th place in Sun Belt history. his 302 rebounds so far this season is fourth best in Jaguars single-season records.
Rubit led the Jaguars to a 17-11 regular season record while going 14-6 in Sun Belt play, the most conference wins since the 2007-2008 season. The Jags earned a bye in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and thus will play their first game on Saturday night.
SBC Football Schedule Released
Start making your travel plans Jaguar fans!
The Sun Belt Conference released the conference football schedule on the league website on Friday. This is complete Jaguars football schedule.
- Thursday, August 29: Southern Utah @ Ladd-Peebles
- Saturday, September 7: @ Tulane
- Saturday September 14: Western Kentucky @ Ladd-Peebles
- Saturday September 21: BYE
- Saturday September 28: @ University of Tennessee
- Saturday October 5: @ Troy
- Saturday October 12: BYE
- Saturday October 19: Kent State @ Ladd-Peebles
- Saturday October 26: @ Texas State
- Saturday November 2: Arkansas State @ Ladd-Peebles
- Saturday November 9: BYE
- Saturday November 16: @ Navy
- Saturday November 23: Louisiana-Monroe @ Ladd-Peebles
- Saturday November 30: @ Georgia State
- Saturday December 7: Louisiana-Lafayette @ Ladd Peebles
The Jaguars will have three bye weeks this season and will be in action on the last weekend of the season, December 7, when some conferences will be holding their conference championship game. Conferences with 12 or more members can host a conference championship game, the Sun Belt will only have eight football schools for the 2013 season.
The conference also announced that the Sun Belt will have two midweek appearances on ESPN or ESPN2 and four Thursday night appearances on ESPNU.
Two-time defending R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Champions Louisiana-Lafayette will be featured on both of the ESPN/ESPN2 matchups. First ULL will face WKU who is coached by former Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino and will be played in Bowling Green, Kentucky on either October 15 or 16.
The next week, ULL will face the defending GoDaddy.com Bowl Champions and two-time defending Sun Belt Champion Arkansas State on either October 22 or 23.
ESPN can also add additional games through their 12-day selection open. ESPN3 will also air this year’s Sun Belt Conference Football Media Day on July 15 in New Orleans for the second year in a row.
Rubit Earns SBC POTY Honor From CollegeInsider.com
Rubit was named SBC POTY by CollegeInsider.com as he averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game during the regular season. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit picked up another honor on Tuesday when CollegeInsider.com named him the Sun Belt Player of the Year.
Rubit, a 6’6″, 235-pound junior from Houston, Texas was one of three players honored by the website. Along with Rubit, Brandon Peterson was named Most Valuable Player and Kermit Davis was named Coach of the Year, both from Middle Tennessee State.
Rubit was a preseason All-Sun Belt Conference pick and was named first-team All-Sun Belt last season.
It’s expected that Rubit will also be named to the 2012-2013 All-Conference team by league coaches and media on Wednesday. They will also honor Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Rubit finished the regular season with an average of 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game. He also added 36 blocks, 31 assists and 19 steals this season.
The Sun Belt Tournament tips-off Friday in Hot Springs, Arkansas with the Jags earning a #3 seed in the tournament and a bye in the first round of the tournament. The Jags will face the winner between #6 Western Kentucky and #11 UL-Monroe on Saturday night.
Jones Pleased With Progress On Defense
The Jaguars fourth practice of the spring, the second in full pads, lasted over two hours on Tuesday at the practice fields on campus. Afterwards coach Jones indicated that he was happy with the team’s progress so far this spring.
“I’m real happy”, Jones said. “We’ve got some things to work on like any spring, but we’re trying to work a lot of guys. I think we will be able to evaluate ourselves a little more in a couple of weeks, but right now we are on track.”
The Jags worked on several fundamentals during the first half of practice including a turnover circuit, screens and run plays and individual skill drills. Then in the second half of practice they moved on to short-yardage plays and 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills. The 7-on-7 drills included first, second and third down passing drills. The players came together for a team segment working on perimeter drills, second-and-10 situations and other first and second down plays.
Defensively though, the Jags caught coach Jones’ eye as they began to get the new scheme and terminology. “I thought, defensively, it was a much better day,” Jones explained. “The guys are starting to get it scheme-wise and were flying around to the football. I think that’s due to understanding better what they have to do. They took a big step today. There’s not much change, we’re still going to play hard-nosed football. Kevin Sherrer has done a heck of a job getting these guys to understand how we need to play.”
The team will have Wednesday off before returning to the practice field on Thursday for a half-practice, half-scrimmage at 6am. It will be the last practice before spring break.
Coach Jones and his staff want to see how the players react to game-like situations on the field. The coaches don’t have to stress how important it is, they are working hard to earn playing time this fall.
Coaches are looking to get players as many reps as possible, not really worrying about who is first or second string. “We really haven’t looked at it (depth chart),” Jones explained. “We obviously have to have people lined up to have an organized practice.”
“The bottom line is, we want to get them all reps right now,” Coach Jones reiterated. “We’ll evaluate that more after this week. Really throughout spring we’re going to try to stay away from who’s first-string and second-string. We’re trying to get everybody reps and make them better.”
Jags Open Second Week Of Practice Tuesday
South Alabama opens their second week of spring practice Tuesday morning for their fourth practice session.
The staff continue to get as many players repetitions as time and circumstances allow them to do. They continue to add some new wrinkles to the offense and evaluate players as much as they can. With over 100 players taking part in spring practice, the focus continues to be on fundamentals and evaluation.
But the learning process continues. The new plays have been filmed and reviewed. The coaches have broken them down, players have reviewed them and mentally prepared for Tuesday’s workout.
Offensively, running back Jay Jones has garnered attention in the Jags first three practices. He has showcased his speed to get to the edge but also the ability to run off-tackle up the middle as well. That was something the Jags staff wanted to get when they recruited him.
He joins some experienced players in the backfield in Kendall Houston, Demetre Baker and Terrance Timmons among others. Cristobal Dinham and freshman Kaleb Blanchard will join them this fall.
Jay actually ran a similar offense in his first season at Northeast Mississippi Community College, which has helped him grasp it quicker than anticipated. While he still has a long way to go, he believes that coach Matthews’ scheme fits him well and factored into his decision to come to South Alabama.
Jay will definitely have the upper hand on the players who will join the team this summer. He will know more about the offensive playbook and will have plenty of time in the weight room and conditioning program ahead of the newcomers.
Coach Jones likes having competition at positions on the team. He believes the players work harder and allows the staff to get a good evaluation of the players from that competition. Plus it’s good to have more options and styles to choose from on game day. Competition will make the team better.
Injury wise, the Jags have had only one serious injury. Cornerback Eddy Cabrera will miss the rest of spring practice with a broken fibia. Cabrera’s had another players leg whipped into him, breaking the fibia in the process. He had surgery performed by Dr. Albert Pearsall, the team physician, and is expected to be ready by fall practice.
Two other players are recovering from concussions. Defensive back Charles Harris suffered his on Saturday while defensive end Ridge James suffered his on Sunday. Once they are cleared by the medical staff, they will return to the practice field for the Jags.
The players will hit the field looking to improve their execution in preparation for what coach Jones referred to as a “half-scrimmage” coming up on Thursday. The Thursday session will begin as a normal practice, but with the scrimmage at the end. It will also be the last practice session for over a week as the team will have spring break off before returning to the practice fields on Tuesday, March 19 at 6am once again.