South Alabama’s First Scrimmage Highlighted by Clement’s Three TD Passes
Jaguar starting quarterback Cody Clements and running back Xavier Johnson look to the sideline for signs during the Jaguars first scrimmage of the fall. | Photo credit: Mike Kittrell AL.com
The Jaguars held their first scrimmage on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium with the recently named starting quarterback Cody Clements tossing three touchdowns as he went 9-of-19 for 127 yards on the day.
The former UAB starter threw one of those touchdowns to fellow former Blazer Gerald Everett which went for 40 yards. The second touchdown that came during regular game-situation drives went to Claude Garrett which also covered 40 yards.
In all the Jaguar offense gained 469 yards on 83 plays, which averages out to more than 5.5 yards per play without a single turnover.
Freshman quarterback Dallas Davis, 6-of-7 for 74 yards, threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as he is battling for the backup position. Another former Blazer, Evan Orth, threw a touchdown on a screen pass to Xavier Johnson that went for 33 yards. Orth finished 5-of-11 with 61 yards and the lone touchdown. Hunter Vaughn went 4-of-7 for 53 yards.
Also catching touchdowns for the Jaguars were Josh Magee and Kevin Kutchera.
Johnson rushed six times for 45 yards and a touchdown, Davis ran five times for 43 yards and the one touchdown while Terrance Timmons carried the ball three times for 21 yards.
The defense had eight tackles for loss including two sacks. Leading the day was Nigel Green with six tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Aleem Sunanon went 3-for-3 with field goals from 35, 41 and 50 yards.
“We need some work in some situations, but I saw some good things; I want to watch the film to see,” head coach Joey Jones said after the scrimmage. “The effort was good. We have some people who were leading out there and some who were, and once we get enough to lead we will have a good football team. We have to learn from this scrimmage and be able to get better every day so we can come back and have a better week of practice.”
“We’ve got to look at it for what it is when we evaluate it [the film],” Jones said on how the scrimmage will help USA focus on areas of improvement. “The only time we can put our guys in a situation like this is to have a scrimmage or to play in a game, because you just don’t get the same intensity level in practice. It was good for our guys to see that and will be good to evaluate. We told the guys that not everyone is going to be perfect, but we have to fix those mistakes and weaknesses.”
“It was not as good as it should’ve been,” said Cody Clements on his performance on Saturday. “I had a few too many mental mistakes — simple things where I wasn’t totally locked in — but turned it around later in the day. But I can’t have that kind fo start.”
“We know we have to pick it up,” said junior linebacker Kalen Jackson on the defense’s play on Saturday. “This is a starting point, not the end, so we have three more weeks until the first game. We need to do small things better, continue to compete and not get down on each other. We need to hold each other accountable and do our job.”
Xavier Johnson’s 33 yard touchdown reception on the screen pass was named the play of the day on Saturday.
The Jags will return to the practice field on Tuesday morning after having Sunday and Monday off to start the fall semester. The Jaguars begin their 2015 schedule on Saturday, September 5 when they host Gardner-Webb.