Jags Make Progress In Second Preseason Scrimmage
Head coach Joey Jones observes the Jaguars scrimmage on Saturday, August 15 2014 at St. Paul’s Episcopal School.
The Jaguars held their second scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday at Fairhope Municipal Stadium as they continue to prepare for the season opener on September 6 at Kent State.
After the scrimmage the previous Saturday, head coach Joey Jones said there were a lot of areas that needed improvement and he saw some of those improvements in the second scrimmage. Some of the focus of the second scrimmage after execution was substitutions and organization. And by what he saw on Saturday, he thought the team was getting close to being game ready in those categories.
“I think the thing we challenged them with yesterday (Friday) coming out here today was to be mentally ready and I think they were,” Jones said. “I told them when they were warming up I could tell that their minds were on the task at hand and they treated it like a game. You’ve got to be ready to play.”
They also devoted a lot of time to situational work such as two-minute drills, goal-line situations and special teams play. Several times situational work was interrupted to send out the field goal unit or the punt team in order to practice those moves in a near game-like simulation.
On offense, the team really focused on substitutions, especially rotating offensive lineman. Defensively the team played much more solid after allowing some big plays in the first scrimmage.
Quarterback Brandon Bridge went 15-of-21 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Braedon Bowman caught one of Bridge’s touchdowns, a two yarder. The other touchdown went to Shavarez Smith for 20-yards. Hunter Vaughn went 2-of-5 for 47 yards and Matt Floyd went 1-of-7 for 8 yards.
Jay Jones was the top running back with three carries for 73 yards and two touchdowns, one of 48-yards and the other was 17-yards during red zone drills. Terrance Timmons carried the ball six times for 36 yards. Kendall Houston got four touches for 15 yards while Montavious Stewart carried seven times for 12 yards.
Smith narrowly led the wide receivers with two catches for 36 yards and a touchdown. Cameron Broadnax had two catches for 36 yards. Jereme Jones caught three passes for 32 yards. Marvin Shinn caught two for 31 yards and Claude Garrett also caught two passes for 25 yards.
Defensively Antonio Carter led the way with five stops. Tre Alford, Akeen Lewis, Jerome McClain, Jeremy Reaves and Ridge James all recorded a sack. Terrell Brigham picked off a pass. Alford T’Quan Robinson, Demarius Rancifer and Roman Buchanan all added three stops.
In special teams work, Aleem Sunanon went 5-of-6 in field goal tries with a long of 47. Grant McLaurin went a perfect 3-for-3 with a long of 50 yards. Freshman Corlis Waitman wow’ed those in attendance when he ended practice by making his one and only field goal attempt of practice from 55-yards out with room to spare.
Waitman had one punt for 37 yards and Brandon McKee punted once for 46 yards.
Now Jones and his staff will review film and decide on a depth chart and travel roster for the Jaguars first game. This decision will determine what players get the majority of repetitions in practice over the next two weeks leading up to game on September 6.
Jones said that they will begin working on Kent State on Tuesday. He also said that with a travel squad of 70 players, it’s up to the players to figure out a way to get on the travel team by either being a starter, a backup or a special teams player. Ultimately it’s real life but it does not make the decision any less difficult. The reality is that they will have to leave some good players at home because of the travel limitation. “You have to fight for what you get,” Jones said.