Jags Finish Fall Camp With Scrimmage On Saturday
South Alabama Head Coach Joey Jones talking to his team after their scrimmage at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday, August 17, 2013.
The South Alabama Jaguar football team held their second scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium under dreary skies. Unlike last time, the offense was the standout until in this scrimmage with some big plays and 470 yards of total offense.
Ross Metheny went 12-of-15 for 125 yards and opened the scoring with a 19 yard scamper down the right sideline to cap off a seven play, 75 yard drive. The touchdown came two plays after a 31 yard pass completion to Cris Dinham.
Brandon Bridge passed for 101 yards on six completions, one of them to Danny Woodson Jr. for a 45 yard touchdown. Trey Fetner went 7-of-8 passing for 40 yards. All Jaguar quarterback combined to go 26-of-40 for 289 yards.
Fetner was the only quarterback to move the team during two-minute drills late in practice in the rain.
Woodson led all Jaguar receivers with 68 yards on three catches. Dinham added 63 yards on four catches. Bryant Lavender added three catches while Shavarez Smith, Caleb Alves and two other catched two passes each.
The Jaguar offense rushed for 181 yards on the day with Julien Valentin’s team leading 47 yards on 10 carries. He scored on a six-yard run during red-zone drills for the final points of the scrimmage. Terrance Timmons rushed seven times for 37 yards, Kendall Houston rushed for 27 yards on five carries and Kaleb Blanchard added 26 yards.
Head coach Joey Jones said, “He (Julien Valentin) came in there and showed me that he can be an every-down back. And Danny made a couple of big plays, not that that was surprising.”
Special teams added five field goals during the scrimmage. Aleem Sunanon connected on kicks from 32, 34 and 31 yards out. Logan Gunn connected from 29 and 37 yards out.
Defensively, Terrell Brigham and Devon Earl picked off two passes. Earl’s pick game on a pass deflection by Bryson James. Pat Moore led the team with six tackles, four were unassisted. Desmond LaVelle had five tackles and Bryson James, Anthony Harris and DeMarion Harper each recorded four. Harper collected 2.5 tackles for loss.
Jones also said that eight players, some projected starters on the defense, were limited or saw no action in the scrimmage. He indicated that those that were held out or saw limited action were four-year starters and didn’t need to see them in action on Saturday. They wanted to see the younger players in action for evaluation purposes.
The Jags will return to practice on Tuesday since Monday is the first day of classes on campus for the fall semester. However the coaches will be reviewing film and meeting to make decisions on the starting lineup, depth chart and travel team rosters.
The Jags are less than two weeks away from opening their season against Southern Utah on Thursday, August 29 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.