USA Volleyball’s Daniel Earns Second Freshman Of The Week Honor
Freshman Mechell Daniel was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Week for the second time this season. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
South Alabama volleyball player Mechell Daniel earned her second Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Week honor on Tuesday.
This is the third honor for a Jaguar this fall and the ninth time overall that a Jaguar has earned a conference honor. Jessica Lewis was named the conference’s freshman of the week on September 6 and Daniel earned her first on September 16.
This is the first time that South Alabama’s Volleyball squad has earned a weekly award three times in a single season and Daniel is the first player in the program’s history to earn multiple player of the week honors.
Daniel is tied for second in the conference in points (4.32) and ranks third in both kills (3.73) and serving (0.32).
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday to face the Ragin’ Cajuns at 6pm. They will then return home to host new SBC member Georgia State at 7pm on Saturday.
Rubit Named To Two All-America Teams
SBC player of the year from last season, Augustine Rubit, earns two preseason All-America honors. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit of the Jaguar Men’s Basketball team was selected to two pre-season All-America teams on Tuesday. These are his first honors of the 2013-2014 season.
Rubit was named to the Lou Henson Preseason All-America team and was a finalist for the Lou Henson Award last season. The Award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a great coaching career that spanned 41 years. The award is given each ear to the top Mid-Major player in Division I college basketball. ULL’s Elfrid Peyton joins Rubit on the preseason list as well.
He was also named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Mid Major team. He was named to the second team.
Rubit was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as he averaged 19.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last season. He is the first player in conference history to lead the conference in rebounding for three consecutive seasons and is 120 away from setting a new Sun Belt Conference record.
The Jags will host an exhibition game at the Mitchell Center on November 5 against University of Mobile.
Troy Has Two Players Suspended For First Half Of Next Game By SBC Office
Troy will be without the services of two football players during the first half of their game against Georgia State this weekend.
Chris Pickett and Tyler Roberts were both ejected from the game against South Alabama. Pickett was ejected based on Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA Football Rules And Interpretations which defines targeting and initiating contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless player. The penalty was called during the game and video review confirmed the call on the field. By rule, this penalty carries an automatic disqualification from the game as well as a half game suspention in the next game. Since the foul occurred late in the fourth quarter, Pickett will miss the first half of the Georgia State game.
Roberts will also be suspended for the first half of the Georgia State game due to Rule 9-1-3 which is targeting or initiating contact with the crown of the helmet. Though no penalty call was made on the field, video review after the game showed that the player led with his head and initiated contact directly to the chest of a defenseless South Alabama quarterback. The play occurred late in the third quarter and thus will also miss the first half of the next game.
Troy also had a player ejected in the first half of the game, but missing the second half fulfilled his suspension and will be available to play against Georgia State.
Seven Jag Softball Players Named To All-America List By NFCA
The 2013 South Alabama Softball Team earned their second consecutive SBC Tournament title after defeated WKU 2-0 on Saturday, May 11, 2013 | sunbeltsports.org
The University of South Alabama Jaguar Softball team had seven members of its 2012-2013 team named All-America Scholar Athletes by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) on Monday.
Alex Breeden, Blair Johnson, Hannah Campbell, Jessica Dobson, Julie Moss, Kaitlyn Griffith and Meghan Collins were all honored. Players are submitted by a member coach and must have earned a 3.50 GPA or higher during the 2012-2013 academic year.
This is the fourth time since the program began in 2007 that USA has had that many student-athletes honored with this award.
Collins, who is now a graduate student, made the list all four years of her athletic career. Current seniors Campbell and Moss were selected for the third time in their career. Johnson and Griffith are entering their Junior years and have both been honored twice now.
The school was also named an Academic All-America Team after posting a team GPA of 3.285.
Monday Press Conference
Below are highlights from Monday’s press conference covering the Jags game against Troy and a little preview of their upcoming game against Kent State on October 19.
Head coach Joey Jones kicked it off with his opening statement. “It was a gut-wrenching loss. Any time you are up six points with 40 seconds left in the game, you feel pretty good about it. We let it slip away, but we’re a lot better football team this year versus last year, it’s not even close. We’ve made a lot of strides to get where we are, but you still don’t like losing a game like that. The good thing going forward is that we can learn from it. We have to continue on our quest for our goals. If we continue that, then we are going to achieve them. Just because you have a setback and lose a close ballgame late in the game doesn’t mean you fold your tent. That’s where we are, and I think our kids understand that.”
Jones then spoke about playing close games this season. “Before the season I talked about how we were going to have to win a lot of close ballgames to have a good year. I didn’t know it would be that way through the first five games, but it’s a good thing. We’re right there in the mix with a chance to win it. I think it is good for us. It’s going to make us more mature. If nothing else, it is going to create that confidence in us that we can handle it the next time around.”
He then addressed how the team must move forward and put the loss behind them. “It’s vital. It (Kent State game) obviously doesn’t have anything to do with the conference championship, but we want to go to a bowl game. That’s one of our goals. It’s important for us because we really want to get there. It’s achievable for us if we do what we have to do, so I’m going to keep our eyes set on that goal.”
Jones then spoke about the Jags upcoming game against Kent State while reflecting on their previous matchup against them. “We played against Roosevelt Nix two years ago. He’s probably one of the quickest defensive linemen I have ever seen. He really creates a lot of havoc. They know how to win as well. They had a great season last year. But they have built their team on playing really good defense over the last couple of years, and that’s what they have continued to do.”
Jaguar quarterback Brandon Bridge spoke about what he and the team learned from the loss to Troy. “What I learned personally and I think what the team learned as well is that no game is officially over (until it’s over). We have to keep playing until the clock says triple-zero. We have to keep fighting and keep on battling and work these next two weeks on getting better.”
“Kent State is a big opponent. It’s out of conference but it’s still a big game for us. We have to get back in the winning column. We’ll make a lot of strides this week, look at the film and get better. Next week we’ll come out with guns blazing and finish 60 minutes of football. That’s what we haven’t been doing in our losses, we haven’t been playing 60 minutes. We need to have a complete game in three aspects: offense, defense and special teams.”
Read more
Kickoff Time Set For USA’s Homecoming Game Against Kent State
The University of South Alabama announced that kickoff of their homecoming game against Kent State is officially scheduled for 2pm on Saturday, October 19.
This will be the Jaguars first home game since their 31-24 win over Western Kentucky back on September 14. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3.
This will be the second time the two teams have faced off, the first was a 33-25 loss in Kent, Ohio on September 24, 2011. In the game, the Jags fell behind but roared back in the second half. They had the ball when time expired after a deep throw but the Jaguar receiver could not get into the end zone.
This is the final non-conference home game for the Jags this season as they will travel to Navy for a game on November 16. They will rotate home and away games the remainder of the season with home conference games against Arkansas State on November 2, UL-Monroe on November 23 and Louisiana-Lafayette on December 7.
USA Women’s Soccer Win Both Weekend Games On Road
The South Alabama Jaguar women’s soccer team earned it’s seventh shutout of the year and capped off a two-win Sun Belt Conference road trip this weekend.
The Jags (9-3-2, 2-0-1 SBC) defeated Arkansas State 2-0 giving them their first home loss of the 2013 season. Nini Rabsatt-Smith and Clarissa Hernandez netted goals in the span of 10 minutes about half way through the second period. Lauren Allison picked up two assists as well.
The Jags will next travel to Atlanta to face Georgia State on October 10. Georgia State are 1-3 at home this season.
Special Teams Key Between Wins And Losses
South Alabama’s Aleem Sunanon attempts a 22-yard field goal from the right hashmark against Troy.
South Alabama has two examples this year demonstrating how special teams play can be the difference between a win and a loss.
The Jags game against the Trojans saw a missed 22-yard field goal and a blocked PAT for the Jags in their 34-33 loss. He also missed a 36-yard field goal, but it did not count as an official play because of a penalty which kept the USA drive alive.
If you go back a couple of weeks a blocked punt for a touchdown led the Jaguar charge to defeat Tulane in New Orleans. Then the opening game of the season against Southern Utah, the Jags were 0-for-2 in field goal attempts against the Thunderbirds in the 22-21 loss.
I’m sure the coaching staff will be working with Aleem Sunanon on his kicking as well as getting more reps for true freshman Brandon McKee, who usually handles kickoffs for the Jaguars, and redshirt freshman Logan Gunn.
An interesting stat from the game involves third downs, or the lack of them. On the first possession of the game the Jags converted 2 of 3 on their way to their first score. Ross Metheney converted on a 6 yard completion to Bryant Lavender. They later converted a 3rd and 14 when Metheny connected to Danny Woodson for 11 yards, then a fumble bounced forward and was recovered by Jereme Jones.
For the entire game, the Jags converted 7 of 16 third downs and 3 of 8 in the second half. But in their three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, the Jags did not face a single third down.
Production on first and second downs were the obvious keys there but also absence of penalties and negative plays in early downs kept the Jaguars from getting behind in the down and distance.
Second quarter play, and first quarter play even, need to improve. The Jags offense tends to come out quick on their first possession, but tend to struggle throughout the rest of the first and second quarters, with the exception of the Tulane game.
The halftime adjustments the coaching staff have made in each game have been excellent. They come out in the second half and roar back. But, as Romelle Jones said in his postgame remarks after Troy, if the Jags could come out and play a full four quarters like they tend to play the second half, I don’t think anyone on the Jaguars schedule could beat them.
Go Jags!
Jags Fall To Troy In Final Seconds 34-33
South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones waits for an explanation for penalty flags in the Jaguars game against the Troy Trojans.
South Alabama traveled to Troy for their first time and only their second game between the two schools in football on Saturday. It was a hard fought game, but Troy scored the winning touchdown with seven seconds remaining in the game to send the Jaguars home with a 34-33 loss.
The Jags fought back from a double-digit deficit in the second half and finally take their first lead of the game with just :48 left in the game. But the ending of the game was an example of how experience and perseverance wins games.
It was Troy who struck first in the game after receiving the opening kickoff of the game. They used a 12 play, 73 yard drive which spanned 4:12 that was capped off with a nine yard touchdown pass from quarterback Deon Anthony to Bryan Holmes to take the 7-0 lead.
The Jaguars answered right back with a drive of their own going 75 yards in 12 plays and 4:47 to tie the Trojans at 7 in the first quarter. Two key plays on the drive were when the Jaguars were facing 2nd and 28 at their own 28 yard line. Metheny connected with Saxton to gain 14 and cut the needed yardage in half. Then on the next play, Metheney then connected with Danny Woodson for 11 yard, but a fumble would roll forward and be recovered by Jereme Jones at the Troy 34 for a first down.
The scored would stay tied until early in the second quarter when Troy’s Deon Anthony connected with Eric Thomas on a 62 yard touchdown pass with 13:53 left in the second quarter. The drive covered 70 yards in five plays and only took 1:42 off the clock.
USA would be unable to do anything on their next drive and gave Troy the ball with fairly good field position after a 33 yard punt.
Troy would then march it down the field in 11 plays to cover the 63 yards in 4:57 to score their second touchdown of the game to take a 17-7 lead.
South Alabama would attempt to score prior to going to the locker room for halftime, but Brandon Bridge would be forced to run on 3rd and 6 at the Troy 7, but would only be able to manage to gain two yards. Head coach Joey Jones would opt to go for the field goal, but Aleem Sunanon’s attempt from the right hashmark would sail right of the upright.
The Jags would open the second half with a three-and-out and after a 50 yard punt by Scott Garber, Troy would be forced to start at their own 30 yard line.
The Trojans would only need five plays and 1:38 to drive the 70 yards for the touchdown to put the Jags behind 24-7. But there was still lots of time to play.
South Alabama would answer with another drive of their own. It would begin with a 37 yard kickoff return by T.J. Glover. Bridge would connect with tight end Wes Saxton for a 34 yard gain to the Troy 29 yard line. A few plays later it would be Jay Jones scoring on a 10 yard rush to put the Jags back on the board. However, Sunanon’s extra point would be blocked to leave the Jaguars trailing 24-13 with 10:05 left in the third quarter.
With Troy trying to drive and facing 3rd and 4 at the Jaguar 46, Romelle Jones sacked Corey Robinson for a 10 yard loss to force them to punt. Glover would field the punt at the Jaguar 7 and return it five yards to the 12 yard line.
The Jags would drive again late in the third quarter but would face a 4th and 4 at the Trojan 19 yard line. Coach Jones would opt for the field goal again, but it would miss wide right again, however an offsides call would give the Jags a first down at the Troy 14. A couple plays later, the Jags would face a 4th and 1 at the Troy 5. Jones would call on Trey Fetner to go for it for the second time in the game. However, Fetner would get stopped short of the first down to give the Trojans the ball back with 13:29 left in the game.
The Jags would force a three-and-out as Troy escaped a possible safety when two holding penalties were called on 3rd and 9, but none of them occurred in the end zone. The Troy punt would be downed by T.J. Glover at the Jaguar 44 yard line after being booted 50 yards.
It would not take long for the Jags to respond either. After an incomplete pass on first down, Bridge would connect with Bryant Laveder on the left sideline and he would break loose for a 56 yard touchdown to cut the Trojan lead to 24-19. Ross Metheny would enter the game on the two-point conversion attempt, but his pass would fall incomplete in the end zone.
Sunanon’s kickoff would be fielded at the eight yard line and returned 51 yards to the Jaguar 41 yard line. But the Jags defense would force another three-and-out and a punt.
USA would take over at their own six yard line after the punt rolls out of bounds. But the Jags would not be able to get anything going and would go three-and-out themselves. Scott Garber’s punt would be caught at the Jaguar 46, but the returner would lose five yards on the return.
Troy would drive down to the Jaguar 6 yard line, but the Jags would hold them to a 23 yard field goal as the Trojans lead would increase to 27-19 with 5:22 left in the game.
The Jags would begin their drive at their own 26 after Glover returned the kickoff 26 yards out of the end zone. With Ross Metheny back in at quarterback, the Jags would drive down the field to the Troy 16 yard line with a 1st and 10. Metheny would see an opening up the middle and he would exploit it all the way to the end zone. Again, the two-point conversion would fail and leave the Jags trailing the Trojans 27-25 with 2:51 left in the game.
Troy, expecting the Jags to kick an onsides kick, would only send one player deep to field the kickoff. Sunanon’s kick would be fielded at the Troy 8 yard line and he would slide down at the 17 to prevent a possible turnover.
The Jags defense would be helped out by Troy as incomplete passes and players going out of bounds would stop the clock with the Jags only using two of their three time outs. The Troy punt would roll down to the Jaguar 1 yard line with 1:27 left in the game.
A personal foul for targting on Troy’s Deon Anthony would eject him from the game and move the ball out to the Jaguar 16 yard line. Metheny would connect with Jay Jones for nine yards before he stepped out of bound at the Jaguar 25 yard line. Metheny would call his own number and run up the middle for 10 yards and a first down at the Jaguar 35 yard line.
Then Metheny would throw down the left sideline picking on the corner that replaced the ejected player. The defender would tip the ball and fall down but the tipped ball would fall into Jereme Jones’ arms and he would have nothing but turf between him and the end zone to get the go-ahead touchdown. Metheny would then connect with Corey Besteda to convert the two-point conversion to take a 33-27 lead with :48 second left in the game.
However the Jaguar celebration was a bit premature.
Sunanon’s kickoff would be fielded at the 3 yard line and returned 26 yards to the Troy 29. Robinson would connect with Holmes for 11 yards then Burks for seven more yards before calling a time out with :25 left and the ball at the Jaguar 48 yard line.
Robinson would then complete passes to Williams for nine yards and Burks again for 19 yards before the clock stopped as he went out of bounds at the Jaguar 20 yard line. Defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer then called an all-out blitz that was a split second away from getting to the quarterback, but Robinson was able to get the ball away in time. Qudarius Ford would do everything to keep Thomas from catching the ball, but his effort, an obvious pass interference, did not work as he came down with the ball and ruled a touchdown with :07 left in the game. The extra point put the Trojans up 34-33.
Brandon Bridge would get one chance with :01 second left from his own 32 yard line. The Trojan rush had him roll to his left and heave a prayer down the field. Shavarez Smith would come down with it at the Troy 18, but the Jags was unable to get it into the end zone.
South Alabama put up record numbers in the loss with 630 yards of total offense and 471 yards through the air.
South Alabama had 30 first downs compared to Troy’s 24. They out rushed the Trojans 159-129, out passed the Trojans 471-305 for the total yardage totals of 630-434.
South Alabama also held a 32:11 – 27:49 advantage in time-of-possession. Though, the Jaguars only converted 7 of 16 third downs and 1 of 3 fourth downs.
Ross Metheny was the leading rusher for the Jags with 10 attempts for 55 yards, but close behind him was Brandon Bridge with 54 yards on 11 carries. Jay Jones added 44 yards on 13 carries with Cris Dinham adding 19 on six carries.
Passing Ross Metheny went 15-of-21 for 236 yards and a touchdown and was sacked once. Bridge went 11-of-20 for 235 yards and a touchdown.
Shavarez Smith led the receivers with 106 yards on six catches. Wes Saxton added 95 yards on six catches, Jereme Jones had 84 yards on three catches with a touchdown, Bryant Lavender added 68 yards on three catches, Danny Woodson had 61 yards on three catches, Jay Jones added 43 yards on four catches and Dinham caught one pass for 14 yards.
Corey Robinson went 20-of-26 for 210 yards and two touchdowns while being sacked three times. Anthony went 4-of-8 for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
Burks rushed 17 times for 100 yards, Anthony rushed 10 times for 38 yards and Jordan Chunn added 26 yards on six carries.
Eric Holmes gained 129 yards receiving with five catches and two touchdowns. Holmes added 93 yards on six catches with two touchdowns. Six other Trojans catch passes.
Sunanon was 1-of-2 in PAT attempts and missed his only official field goal attempt. Though he did attempt a second that did not count due to offsides penalty by Troy.
Maleki Harris led the Jags with nine tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery. Romelle collected four tackles with two sack for a 24 yards.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Coach Jones said after the game. “With 40-plus seconds left in the game when you go up six points you feel good about it. My hat’s off to the guys in our locker room, they’ve got a lot of fight in them. We’re a way better football team than we were last year, they proved that today. But credit to Troy for making that last drive and putting it in the end
zone.”
“When I talked to them after the game, I told them we can’t expect to put ourselves in a hole and win on the road,” he continued. “We had some penalties in the first half, with a block below the waist after returning a kickoff past the 50 and three offensive holding calls killing drives. We haven’t really been called for that many penalties [this season], but we have been putting ourselves behind. It’s tough to win a ballgame when you do that on the road.”
“We aren’t going to quit, I can promise you that. You can get that out of everyone’s mind. I’m damn sure not going to quit, and these kids aren’t either. Does it hurt? Heck yeah it hurts, if you’re a competitor you’re going to hurt after that one.”
Quarterback Ross Metheny spoke about the drive that gave the Jaguars their first and only lead of the game. “Offensively, getting the ball on the 99 1/2-yard line and being able to go that length and make a big play there – Jeremé made a big play. That speaks volumes for our offense about how we didn’t quit. We kept battling trying to respond to adversity. We did a good job up front all day long, so my hat’s off to those guys. It’s heartbreaking – you put yourself in a position to be successful but Troy did a good job coming out on that last drive and making some plays to end up winning the game.”
Romelle Jones spoke about the game by saying, “Our Achilles heel all season has been that we haven’t been able to start fast. If we can start fast, it will be a lot easier on us in the second half. We always seem to put a burden on ourselves, but it’s just too late at times.”
“The mentality of this team is you don’t quit,” Romelle said about the Jags coming from behind in the fourth quarter. “It’s just the way we’re built. The core guys on this team are built like that, and all you can do is reflect those core guys.”
Then Jones pointed out what many fans also believe about this team, “It seems like every week we go in at halftime and make our adjustments, and we come out angry and motivated. If we could play like that for four quarters, I don’t think we can be beat.”
The Jags drop their second consecutive game to fall to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 on Sun Belt play. Troy breaks their three game losing streak to even their record to 3-3 on the season and even their conference record at 1-1 on the season. Troy travels to Georgia State next Saturday while the Jags have a week off before hosting Kent State for homecoming on October 19.
Gameday: South Alabama Vs Troy
South Alabama faces a determined Troy team today in Troy, Alabama. The Trojans have dropped three-straight games and are looking to even their overall record as well as their Sun Belt Conference record.
The South Alabama defense will have to play well because the Trojan offense can roll up some yards and points quickly. The Trojan defense has been pretty suspect this season, but came out and played strong in the second half against Duke last week.
Both teams use a dual-quarterback system. They tend to use them as a “change of pace” to their play.
The game can be heard on 105.5 FM WNSP and on http://wnsp.com/ or you can watch it if you have Comcast television service on CSS or online through ESPN3 with kickoff scheduled for 12:00pm CDT.
Go Jags!