Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-02-18
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| Artists rendering of what Ladd-Peebles Stadium could look like in the fall. |
Brian sitting in for Lee Shirvanian who is heading to Tennessee with the basketball team for a matchup with MTSU. In the studio at Wings Sports Grill is Coach Joey Jones and the new Offensive Coordinator for the South Alabama Jaguars, Coach Greg Gregory.
Coach Jones was the Grand Marshal of the Mardi Gras parade Wednesday night. At the end of last week, Coach Jones announced Greg Gregory as the new Offensive Coordinator for the Jaguars. Coach Jones said he tried to stay patient in the light of how important the position was on the staff. He wanted to fill it as soon as possible so the players can start to get to know him, his philosophy and start getting stuff together. But he also did not want to rush to fill the position with just anyone. Coach Jones wanted to get a good coach with the philosophy that he wanted that fit the players and the staff he already has in place.
Coach Jones and Coach Gregory have very similar philosophies. Both feel that a balanced offense is a necessity to keep the defenses from targeting the run or the pass. Coach Jones did not want a coach that was of the fun-n-gun mentality who throws every down and has only a handful of running plays. But he did not want a coach that ran the wishbone either. Probably above all, Coach Gregory wanted to be at USA. He wanted to be part of a new start-up program. Obviously he has been around that with his time at South Florida, which is to date the fastest program from inception to playing Division I-A football in the history of the NCAA.
Coach Gregory said that he and Coach Jones talked about a month ago and some things happened at USF as well. He said it was not negative but from what I have gathered online he may have talked with Urban Meyer at Florida about the open OC position there and Coach Leavitt stripped him of the Offensive Coordinator name and/or duties. Coach Gregory also said that it has been a goal of his to be at a program that is starting its football program. He wants to be a part of starting a quality program and be there when the history is made and when the traditions are started.
Brian asked the question that everyone wants to know obviously, what the offense going to resemble when we see the Jaguars take the field this fall. Coach Gregory said they want to be pretty balanced. Last season at South Florida they ran the ball a little over 500 times and threw the ball somewhere in the 400’s which is pretty balanced. The passing game yielded a little more yardage than the running game but was still pretty close. But his goal for the offense is to be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want on the field. Being able to run the ball or throw the ball in any given situation really gives the offense a huge advantage over the defense and allows them to dictate the pace and tempo of the game. They also want to have the tough, hard-nosed element as well as the exciting element of the game. This translates into them having the ability to run through or over someone for those tough yards but also having the spark for an 80 yard run or pass reception for a touchdown.
During Coach Spurrier’s time at Florida their offense was seen as a passing offense however if you look back at the play breakdown, they probably passed about 60% of the time and ran about 40% of the time. Plus if you look at the yardage breakdown it would roughly be about the same. However their offense was perceived at a passing offense. The coach can craft the image of the offense to be what he wants it to be and Spurrier wanted it to be perceived that way. Their philosophy was to throw early and run late so they would throw the ball to open up the running game. So they were still a pretty balanced offense but not in the conventional manner.
But really what it boils down to is doing what it takes to win game. If it takes throwing the ball to win games, you want to be able to throw the ball well. If it takes running the ball and grinding out yards then you want to be able to do that well also. Additionally it’s a team sport, so the offense cannot just do what it wants to do at the expense of the offense. An offense cannot pass and throw interceptions all game long and expect the defense to bail them out every time. But in a similar way the defense cannot blitz every down and give up quick touchdowns and expect the offense to bail them out as well.
A listener called in asking about how important is it for USA to get a stadium on campus. Obviously, if it were not for Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile we still may not have college football at USA and Coach Jones also acknowledged this. He went on to say that there are possible plans for a stadium on campus but nothing solid and also nothing in the near future. Teams who have gone with on campus stadiums tend to have larger student turnout for the games. Currently, they (the staff and players) are only focused on playing at Ladd-Peebles. South Florida play in Raymond-James Stadium which is the Tampa Bay Bucs stadium which is obviously off campus so Coach Gregory is familiar with this type of setup.
In the Sunday edition of the Mobile Press-Register, there was an article about a group of people from the C.P. Newdome Foundation that that wants to build an extensive network of sports facilities in the county for a price that could reach $1 Billion. Included in their plan was a 50,000 seat stadium. When brought up by Brian, Coach Jones said he had not heard of it which was not surprising since he has been working diligently on the recruiting class announced recently. Most small Division I-A schools average about 25,000 per game Coach Jones said. With USA playing at Ladd-Peebles, which seats 40,646 (but is said to have a maximum of capacity of 50,000), it will be very good if every game is a sell-out.
While the size would be great, he acknowledged he does not know anything about it. However my thoughts about it is, yes it sounds nice if it comes to fruition, however the place they have been talking about building it is less than ideal to say the least. Their idea is for more than 1,000 acres near Interstate 10 and McDonald Road which is, at the shortest distance, is at least 15 miles from both campus and downtown Mobile and is roughly a 40 minute commute from campus. If a location that is large enough could be found that is closer to the campus or downtown Mobile, then I think it would be a more realistic dream but at the moment I think this is still a dream in this groups mind.
Brian said that he has gone on record before saying that Ladd-Peebles stadium is not the nicest facility in North America but it is located in a good place. It is close to what is happening downtown as well as the nice hotels like the Battlehouse which is where they put recruits when they visited Mobile. However, campus is where everyone wants to build a stadium but, as he was saying, $20-30 Million dollars could be invested in Ladd-Peebles to make it a much nicer facility and it would satisfy South Alabama’s needs for several years to come.
Coach Jones said he likes where it is and the tradition behind the stadium as well. He had several recruits make their official visit to USA over Senior Bowl weekend and while he could not give them tickets to the game, he did get to let them on the sidelines at one point and he credited that as a great recruiting tool for them. He does not have any negatives about Ladd-Peebles Stadium however it will be the President’s choice ultimately about future stadium possibilities.
Coach Gregory said he does not believe that the stadium being off campus (or being Ladd-Peebles Stadium) makes that much difference in where they choose to go play. It is about the coaches, the environment and the school.
Coach Gregory was asked about the offense again and he was talking about his previous experience how his team went from like a regular I formation offense to a wishbone offense from one year to the next. But they had experience with the offense and college ball. At USA with a new program it’s a bit different. Coach Gregory said he has to keep in mind how much can they put it, play wise, for the offense. That will depend on how well the players internalize the offense and the plays as to how much he can get installed before the fall.
Most teams by now at least have some idea of who is going to start under center at quarterback or as running back and so forth. But in USA’s case, these are all unknowns. Coach Gregory hardly knows their names right now much less who is going to start where. But all the players will have a chance and the good ones will come to top.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-02-11
Coach Jones is in the studio with Lee Shirvanian at Wings Sports Grill. The Joey Jones show has been extended through March thanks to Bo and Gene Bishop and others. Thus as a thanks to the Bishop’s and Wings Sports Grill I wanted to pass along their Valentines Day special which is kids eat free for those who cannot get babysitters. They have a special Mardi Gras in Mobile menu that has some really great dishes to choose from. So go visit Wings and thank them for extending the Joey Jones Show and encourage them to keep it going beyond March. Plus if you don’t order from the Mardi Gras menu, then order “The Joey Jones Special” and if they don’t know what that is remind them that its the Black and White Chicken, a dinner fit for USA Football.
Four more signees have been added to the Football program. Keairon Wilson from Davidson High School here in Mobile was being recruited by several schools and decided to go with USA late. He is a 6’ 180 pound defensive back but he can play Safety, Linebacker or something in the nickel package. He was selected first-team all-region as a senior after posting 90 tackles and five interceptions.
Darious McMullen, 6’2” 280 pound, is ranked as the 33rd top defensive lineman in the nation by Scouts.com and ranked as the 21st best player in Alabama and 5th best in the state at his position in the state. He was being recruited by Florida but something happened there, he then committed to Vanderbilt and they eventually backed out late and took another lineman. Coach Clark was in the area and found out about him, talked to him and invited him down. He liked it and wanted to think about it another week and eventually decided to come to USA.
Mardavian Martin is a 5’11” 185 pound player out of Millbrook. He was a first-team all-county and all-metro choice as a senior. Coach Jones said he could be a cover corner or receiver type. He was being recruited by Georgia Tech but his grades are a little questionable so they are going to work with him on that.
Mytez Madden is a 6’1” 195 pound true inside linebacker from Anniston. He earned honorable mention all-state and first-team all-county honors. Coach Jones said he is very physical and runs the field very well.
USA also possibly has a kicker from Davidson HS that will be a walk-on for USA. They also have another kicker that will be coming in who went to Florida then transferred to Alabama. They also have a long snapper who is a transfer from Alabama who was not able to get on the field and play.
With all of these incoming freshmen, how many of them would you want to redshirt and have around in 2013 for Division I football? Coach Jones said that this is a very difficult question to answer. They cannot answer that right now and it will be a difficult thing to do. They will know more after spring and summer workouts. They have to have the players to play in the fall but if they have pretty good depth at positions they will look to see who they can redshirt.
They will definitely have some practices open to the public but the first week will probably be closed for the first week of practice. They will have some workouts at Ladd-Peebles but since many of the students get out of class at 2pm and have class again at 6pm they cannot take a bus, dress out, work out, shower and get back for their classes so they will be having practices on campus so they can dress out, work out, go back to their dorms to shower then go to class. While it is not that bad of a situation, it is not ideal by any means. This will only be a temporary thing until the field house is complete in late May.
Coach Jones then went through the signing class that was announced on Wednesday in the Mitchell Center but could not be named at the time of the Joey Jones Show last week.
Don’t forget to visit Wings Sports Grill and thank them for extending the Joey Jone Show and order “The Joey Jones Special” which is the Black and White Chicken, you won’t regret it.
GO JAGS!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-02-04
The entire coaching staff is at Wings Sports Grill for the Joey Jones Show. Coach Jones begins the show talking about the Signing Day Event at the Mitchell Center to present the players to everyone who is in attendance. As previously reported it will also be streamed online.
Great news as well is that the Joey Jones show will continue for a few more weeks and hopefully throughout spring practice.
At show time they have signed 27 to this point with a couple pending this afternoon but cannot name names. Coach Jones feels great about the ones they have signed and a couple have popped up late and could be great additions to the class some of them will be worked on this afternoon. Majority of recruits are from Alabama but several are from out of state. Rough numbers are about 5 GA, 2 or 3 from MS, 3 LA or so. They signed more defensive players than offensive players so probably 2/3rds are defensive players.
Did not go head-to-head against Alabama or Auburn, once they offered a scholarship USA would back off but would sometimes keep contact to make sure that everything continued to be okay. Its hard to get a kid if they think they might be able to go to Auburn or Alabama.
Coach Clark (Defensive Coordinator) speaking first on the show. They were looking for runners and hitters and stressed character, they were even looking for Defesive Lineman who can run. Emphasized speed over size, not just 40 yard dash speed but also speed in changing directions, hip speed etc. Multiple 3-4 defense so your defensive backs could be linebackers and linebackers could be defensive backs.
Kurt Crane (Linebackers) talked about the situation where if you wanted to sign about 9 linebackers you have to recruit about 65 linebackers. He praised the USA staff at doing a great job at targeting linebackers to get and actually landing them. He also cautioned the offenses that they will be playing to make sure and wear their gear and mouthpieces because these guys are going to hit and they are going to hit hard.
Brian Turner (recruiting coordinator and defensive coach) said that defensive line is going to sign 8 guys, about 4 inside and 4 outside. Some from will come from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana I think since he was speaking pretty fast.
Duwan Walker (defensive backs coach) has ties to south Georgia area. He has been looking at speed starting with hips and then foot speed. Have been looking far and wide from New York to California for Defensive Backs.
John Turner (Offensive Line, Guards and Centers) said the they have signed about three Offensive Linemen and he is really excited about them. He also said they could turn out to be some big strong top Offensive Lineman.
Mitch Rodrigue (Offensive Line, Tackles and Tight Ends) has ties to south Mississippi and Louisiana area and Coach Jones said these areas will be a key area for USA especially with Mitch’s ties to the area so look in the future for possible big signees from these areas. He was hired in July and was a bit behind on recruiting but he has already gotten on top of recruiting for next year. They have picked up some good tight ends with good hands and can block as well.
Dameyune Craig (Wide Receivers) is known around the area and also recruits this area. He won some championships in high school and was quarterback at Auburn. He is really excited about the guys coming in. Some big guys who can run as well as smaller guys who can make you miss. There are receivers in this class he thinks can play on the next level. He thinks in two years USA will be ready to compete against the other Division I schools.
Some names will be released at press conference at 3pm but all names will be released at 4pm at the Mitchell center.
Also when asked about the Offensive Coordinator position, Coach Jones said that Tony Franklin will not be his Offensive Coordinator (unlike what was said on the WNSP morning show in speculation). He will not reveal who it is going to be but he did not rule out naming him at the Mitchell Center event this afternoon.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-28
Lee Shirvanian is on the road with the Men’s basketball squad as they travel to Denver for their match-up tomorrow night. Brian Stross is taking his place on the radio show and he has recruiting coordinator Brian Turner and Wide Receivers coach Dameyune Craig. With just one week to go until National Signing Day is upon us we will talk a little about recruiting, the Signing Day Party, the unique situation these kids are coming into and a possible tradition to start for game one.
USA will host about 9 or 10 potential recruits this weekend for their official on campus visits. As for recruiting, Sunday it goes ‘quiet’. That means they can have recruits on campus but the coaches cannot leave campus to recruit. Then on Monday it begins the recruiting dead period. The coaches may only call a recruit one time a week during the dead period to check in with them. During open recruiting they can call as many times as they wish.
They spoke about the Signing Day Party that is scheduled for 4pm on February 4th at the Mitchell Center. Joe Gottfried will speak about the football program, Coach Jones will speak about the signing class and the position coaches will speak about the position players. They are at work on compiling videos to show for each of the recruits they sign.
In previous shows they talked about how the facilities are a huge recruiting tool for USA. They spoke today about the impact the Senior Bowl will be to incoming recruits as well. They really think its going to help with landing recruits because if a player is good enough for the Senior Bowl and with USA’s proximity to the game they will definitely look for talent nearby.
The situation at USA will be very unique. New kids will be coming in but they will not have older guys to learn from so the coaches must work extra hard to teach them in a way that they will understand so they can go out on the field and execute. However, thier teaching will extend beyond the sidelines of the stadium. They will have to mentor them about what they should and should not do off the field and on campus. They expect to see them get better and better as time goes on.
Looking ahead to fall football, a caller asked about when the football team would arrive at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for the game. Dameyune said they would normally arrive two hours before the game to being their warm-ups and such. Brian Stross also asked about possible traditions like what Clemson, Alabama and Auburn have and others like Georgia have picked up recently with their walks to the stadium. Coach Jones is eager to start a tradition like that from Game 1. He is thinking about having the buses let them off on Virginia Street somewhere and have them walk the rest of the way to the Stadium.
Get your football season tickets now, also come out and support the Jaguar basketball teams. Go Jags!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-21
Lee Shirvanian was in the studio with Brett Bedsole while Coach Jones was on the while being on the road recruiting in New Orleans.
The beginning of the show was Lee asking Coach Jones about his experience at the Senior bowl when he was a Senior at Alabama since the Senior Bowl is coming up this weekend at Ladd-Peebles Stadium right here in Mobile, Alabama. Currently NFL coaches and scouts are in town looking at potentially draftable players in this all-star game.
They also started talking about the signing day festivities that will happen at the Mitchell Center on Wednesday, February 4th starting at 4pm. Coach Jones said that Joe Gottfried will be speaking first then Coach Jones will about the overall recruiting class. Then individual position coaches will speak about the recruits a little more in depth and somewhere along that timeline they will show some short videos that have been compiled about the recruits.
Recruiting right now is open for all coaches right now. This weekend is another on-campus recruiting visit weekend. A total of 13 potential recruits came last weekend to tour the campus and see the facilities. As many as 18 could come in this weekend and next weekend they may have about 8 or 9 recruits coming in for visits. The number could go up or down depending on how many recruits verbally commit while here. January 30th will be the beginning of a recruiting dead period from then through signing day on February 4th.
Brett Bedsole, Director of Football Operations, who was in the studio since Coach Jones was out recruiting were talking about season tickets with Travis Toth, USA’s marketing director. The season tickets are on sale and priced based on a 6 game home schedule. However, they basically have a 7th game locked in and are also working on an 8th game. If you order tickets now, the $75 for sidelines and $49 for endzone tickets will include these extra games for no extra charge. However, they will be a cutoff date in which the price will go up. Possibly in March or April.
When asked about what caliber teams USA will be playing in 2009, Coach Bedsole and Mr. Toth could not say precisely who USA would be playing but they did say that they will be playing teams that they can compete against. A good example would be Hargrave, which is a school that some schools will place recruits who do not clear for those Division I schools.
When asked about recruiting and recruits attitudes toward USA and their visit here Coach Bedsole said they have been receiving very positive words. They are enjoying their times here, part of it could be just being away from home and family in a way. But USA also houses them at the Battlehouse Hotel, which is very nice in downtown Mobile, Alabama.
Lee Shirvanian and Coach Jones seemed to indicate that Wednesday February 4th will be the last episode of the Joey Jones Show for this season. I expect it to pick back up in the fall before football season starts. But many listeners, readers and myself will miss the insights that we have gotten from the show thus far.
Go Jags!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-14
Joey Jones, Lee Shirvanian, Haven Fields and Daniel McCarthy were all at Wing’s Sports Grill in Mobile today for the Joey Jones Show. Most of the episode was dedicated to recruiting talk since we are in the home stretch before national signing day.
This weekend is a recruiting weekend at the University of South Alabama. About 13 prospects and their families are coming to tour campus and what Mobile has to offer. Most are verbally committed but there are some in the group who are not committed. They wil lbe housing them at the Battlehouse Hotel in downtown Mobile and will take them to a coupld good restaurants to eat, including Wing’s for lunch one day. While they are at USA they will have a chance to meet with some of the academia at USA. What the staff wants is for the recruits to leave USA and not have any unanswered questions.
USA is actively recruiting about 50 students heavily in order to fill their 30 scholarship alotment for the 2009 signing period. When asked, Coach Jones said that there are about 20 more students that are sort of on the fence. In the case of oversigning, one option is a gray shirt. A gray shirt is when a scholarship is held for them the next signing season and they agree not to enroll into school until that next spring. So, a 2009 recruit would hold off from enrolling at USA in the fall of 2009 and would enroll the spring of 2010. He would still get a scholarship and would then count against the 2010 scholarship alotment.
Haven Fields is the assistant athletic director for football, he was hired by athletic director Joe Gottfried. He was a former linebacker for Auburn from 1996-1999. He was associate director of athletic development at Auburn University before coming to the University of South Alabama. He works for the football program on the school side to work out things so Coach Jones and his staff’s day-to-day life is much easier and so they can focus on working with the student athletes and prepare for gameday.
Keith Ayers, in the Office of Public Relations for USA, stopped by for a few minutes to talk about a couple things. First he wanted to let the listeners know about the schools plans for national signing day on February 4th. At 4pm in the Mitchell Center they will announce the schools first signing class and they will have some video to show to everyone in attendance. This will be a historic moment for the University and the football program. Free T-shirts, autographs and much more will be available.
The second thing Mr. Ayers wanted to let everyone know is that ticket sales have been ramping up and wanted to urge everyone to call 461-1USA to get their season tickets before they are all gone. The third and final thing is that tomorrow evening the USA Men’s Basketball team will host Troy and it will be K-12 appreciation night so kids in K-12 will get free admission and the first 1,000 will get free USA Football T-shirts as well. This is all tomorrow night at the Mitchell Center.
Daniel McCarthy’s former team in Richmond just won a national championship for Division I-AA football. Lee Shirvanian asked if a playoff would work in Division I-A since it seems to work fine in Division I-AA. Mr. McCarthy said that going through it with his former team was probably the most exciting thing he has ever gone through. Just like every game in the Division I-A regular season is like a playoff game, every game in the Division I-AA is also like a playoff game as well because there are only a limited number of spots available in the playoff for schools to get in.
Mr. McCarthy is the compliance officer for USA, so he is the go-to guy on questions about proper and improper conduct by the staff on recruiting visits. Coach Jones says that when recruiting, “Its pretty much just use your common sense.” But he and the staff do sit down with Daniel from time to time in order to ask him questions, not to try to find a loophole, but to make sure everything is done within the rules set forth by the NCAA.
Mr. McCarthy said he would like to see football recruiting treated more like the other sports in college and have it opened up somewhat. Other sports are much more open than football so the kids get to know the coaches much better and he thinks this would help cut down the number of transfers by students to other schools. This will help players choose the right school and program for them and would allow the school of find good players that fit well in their program.
When asked about how they educate their student athletes about rules, both Mr. McCarthy and Coach Jones responded that they have meetings to go over what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. The caller who asked the question mentioned the Andre Smith situation with the University of Alabama before the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Mr. McCarthy said that it has gotten to the point where agents have to be approved by the NFL and in some states they have to be approved and licensed by the state legislature to operate in that state. Sometimes they employ a back door runner, someone who might want to get into the agent market or whatever, to work their way into befriending student athletes to steer them to their ’employer’. It can start out innocently by giving them a few dollars then it can easily escalate to more and eventually becoming an NCAA violation. The staff and everyone involved work hard to make sure nothing like this happens.
It was mentioned in the show that Coach Jones is working hard trying to find the right person to fill the offensive coordinator position left vacant when Les Koenning left for Mississippi State recently. Lee Shirvanian made light that if people knew who has been contacted, interviewed or even were interested in the position, we would be amazed. But one person who was interviewed by Coach Jones for the position was former Hoover High School head coach Rush Probst. However, since his interview he has since let Coach Jones know that he is uninterested in leaving his position at Colquitt County High School, at least that is what he has told the local newspaper. We will see what transpires over the next few days.
So come out and support your Jaguars tonight as the Women take on Troy and tomorrow night when the Men host Troy both in the Mitchell Center.
GO JAGS!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-07
Lee Shirvanian was in the studio at Wings Sports Grill but Coach Jones and crew are all out on the road recruiting. But over the phone he still reveals a new hire for his Jaguar staff. Brett Bedsole was hired and started his duties on Monday as Director of Football Operations, which was an unfilled position on his staff.
His explaination of what a Director of Football Operations does is that he takes care of anything the coach needs to do administratively, help the recruiting coordinator and help organize and run the summer football camps among other things. He jovially said he would have something like 14 or 15 different hats that he will wear. Basically, he is there to make sure Coach Jones and the rest of the coaching staff are ready to go onto the field. He takes care of the administrative side for the coaching staff. While the associate athletic director will take care fo the football program at a higer level than the coaching staff.
One example was made by Travis Toth, Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions, was that a local company wants to get Coach Jones to make an appearance at their grand opening. While it would take Travis a long time to get ahold of Coach Jones and work out his scheduling and get it ironed out with the company. However, Travis can contact Brett and he could get it done much quicker and more efficiently while letting Coach Jones continue working on recruiting or preparing for the Jags next game.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, the staff are out on the road recruiting. This is a new recruiting period after the recruiting black-out in late December. Recruiting will continue through this week and next week will be another black-out period while the National Football Coaching Convention takes place. The recruiting will pick back up after that through the end of the month.
Coach Jones also informed the listeners that this weekend was not a recruiting weekend on campus, however the next three weekends will be. The first two are pretty well booked up and then they will see from there about the third weekend.
On to recruiting. So far the Jaguars have 27 out of 30 possible spots verbally committed. As always with college recruiting, other schools are talking to our guys just like our staff are talking to guys who are leaning towards other schools. We are working hard to keep our recruits and to help get some more to come down to Mobile.
The 10 Junior College recruits who joined the program were going through orientation at USA on Wednesday. Mr. Bedsole has been working with them to make sure housing and cafeteria needs are all taken care of for them. Monday was Mr. Bedsole’s first day on the job, so he was learning where things were on campus and now has been the source of information for these incoming recruits.
The JuCo transfers will start classes on Monday when USA begins the spring semester. They will begin their winter workout period of weightlifting and running throughout the month of January. Then in February, they will being spring practice.
As Coach Jones has indicated previously, at least some of the practices and scrimmages will be open for the public to view, but Mr. Bedsole has not delved into that with Coach Jones yet. Again, Coach Jones will have autonomy over that and will say what they can and cannot do. He hopes to talk to Coach Jones about that soon and will hopefully have more about that next week on the Joey Jones Show.
When asked about redshirting decisions, they said nothing will be decided upon until after spring practices. They want to see how well all of the players perform together then look to see what they have and decide upon redshirts accordingly. Players may be good with their former teams and players but they must be evaluated in the USA system first before any decisions are made.
Big games coming up for Jaguar Basketball so come out and help the Jaguars by taking in a game in the Mitchell Center. Also don’t forget to get order your Football season tickets at 445-1USA!
Go Jags!
(Note: I cannot find confirmation about Brett Bedsole’s hiring as Director of Football Operations at USA. I hope I have his name correct from the radio show. When confirmation comes in, it will be passed along.)
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-17
Coach Jones was back in Mobile for his radio show this week with Brian Turner, the recruiting coordinator for the South Alabama Jaguars. Today marked the first day for Junior college transfers to sign with new schools.
Coach Jones had 13 scholarships available from this signing year and would be able to sign up to about two weeks into 2009 if necessary to use all of the 30 allocated scholarships in a given year. Jags staff have been busy recruiting their areas as well as hotbeds like California and Texas for players. They have been focusing on offensive and defensive linemen.
When the show went on the air, Coach Jones and his staff had already received six faxes from signees and expected about five more to come in relatively soon. Here is a rundown of some of the signees from the show.
Early James, quarterback from Jones County Junior College who is listed at 6’2″ and 191lbs. Coach Jones said he was a dual threat and was very athletic. He can play all over the field from Wide Receiver to Safety in addition to Quarterback. LSU and some other big SEC schools were recruiting him and some had dropped off. His family lives in Moss Point, MS so he wanted to stay close to them which factored into his choice of USA. Many schools do not have the type of offense that West Virginia has so many of the schools recruiting him were trying to decide if they wanted to move him to safety. He was ranged 44th among all junior college players by rivals.com. Last seasons stats: completed 115-239 passes for 1,406 yards and 12 TD’s leading Jones County to a 7-2 record and a #14 ranking in the final National Junior College Athletic Association poll.
Kevin Helms is a tight end from Mississippi Gulf Coach Community College. He is listed at 6’3″ and 225lbs. His hometown is Gulfport, MS. He is skilled at both blocking and has good hands. He can line up on the outside or down in a three point stance and be respected and each. He is willing to block or catch on any given play. Coach Jones also gave the hint that they will be using the tight end alot in their offensive scheme. He was named to first-team all-state and his team was rated fourth in the final NJCAA rankings and he helped lead them to a 12-0 record and the NJCAA National Championship in 2007.
Corey Pittman, also from Mississippi Gulf Coach Community College, is listed as being 6’5″ and 300 lbs from Chickasaw, Alabama. He was selected first-team all-state as a sophomore.
Heath Blount from Northeast Mississippi Junior College is 6’6″ and weighs 290 lbs as an offensive lineman.
Chris Brunson from Tyler, Texas is listed at 6’3″ and weighs 300 lbs as a lineman.
Brian Krauskopf is another offensive lineman from Texas. He is listed as being 6’3″ and weighing 285 lbs. He was named second-team all-region and all-state last season at Blinn Junior College. He helped them to a 9-3 record and a final ranking of 11th in the NJCAA polls. They finished the season 3rd in the nation with an average of 427.5 yards of total offense per game in 2008.
Chris Payne from Vicksburg, Mississippi is a 6’3″ offensive lineman weighing in at 320 lbs.
Levi Slaydon from Pearl River Community College in Mississippi is a 6’3″, 270 lb offensive lineman. His squad finished 8-3 and ranked 13th in the last NJCAA poll. They also was 14th nationally with an average of 370.8 yards per game of total offense.
Steven Pease is a Freshman listed as 5’11”, 175 lb defensive back from Williamstown, New Jersey. He helped Millford Academy (N.Y.) to a 9-3 record by breaking up 10 passes, four tackles for a loss and one interception. He was chosen as the teams most improved defensive player.
Each of these players will enroll at USA in January and will be able to participate in the program’s first ever spring practice. The schedule still can not be released until sometime after the new year since it still has not been finalized.
USA has been recruiting against teams such as Memphis, Southern Miss, other Sun Belt teams, Conference USA teams, and SEC teams. One they are expecting to sign was being recruiting by UCLA.
The Jags may pick up more players in the coming weeks as they go home and think about things. They may decide that they are not where they want to be and after talking with family could decide that South Alabama is the school for them.
Lee Shirvanian asked if Coach Jones believed in giving kickers scholarships. He replied yes, that one reason why he believed in giving them scholarhsips is because they are starting a new program and they need to make sure to have kickers on the team.
After what they have signed, they are pretty much done on offense with the exception of another quarterback. On defense, they want to get more defensive linemen and defensive backs. Also, they would not turn away any good linebackers either, but the DL and DB’s are the spots they identified as being spots of real need.
Continuing with other aspects of recruiting, someone asked if building a program around too many junior college transfers is a bad idea, Coach Turner replied that you want to build your programs foundation with freshmen then use Junior college transfers to fill in needs.
Someone asked if Gene Chizik’s recruiting could put a dent in Saban’s recruiting in the state of Alabama. Coach Turner said that he is a good recruiter wherever he has been but probably not. He was a hot coach coming out of Texas two years ago but his tenure at Iowa State has seen him cool off alot since then.
On the topic of recruiting players who are verbally committed to other schools but are in the midst of a coaching change (hint, Auburn), there is a feeding frenzy for their recruits. When asked if USA would get into that and have they, Coach Jones said yes they will and yes they have and indicated that they have made some calls to players that have been recruited by Auburn.
A caller said that he saw on ESPN that an assistant from Iowa State was being interviewed by Gene Chizik and that two coaches from South Alabama were also being considered for positions. His question was that if they lost two coaches would that set the team back. Coach Jones said that they would not want to lose any of their coaches but they want to move up and he wants the best for them. Its the nature of the business. But if they did leave they would have to find coaches and work hard for the players to make sure that their loss does not negatively impact the team.
If anything about this comes to our ears here at Thunderjags.com, we will pass it along as quickly as possible.
Go Jags!
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-10
Coach Jones joined the program over the phone since he was just across the state line from Auburn in Columbus Georgia for recruiting. He left out early this morning and will return late tonight. Also Travis Toth joined Lee Shirvanian at Wings Sports Grill, he is the marketing director at USA.
First off Lee wanted to bring everyone up to date on recruiting. Coach Jones said that they are at the point where they can be more specific about what they are looking for such as defensive linemen, linebackers, getting another quarterback or so and they would be looking pretty well. They seem to be set with offensive linemen, running backs and wide receivers for now.
It was brought up that a letter was sent out by the SEC and SBC clarifying an NCAA rule that they had been back and forth on for some time now. The rule maybe was a bit fuzzy so they ruled that coaches could not attend the game or practice of the Alabama – Mississippi All-Star Game coming up soon. Even though they are in a contact period with recruits they cannot go to these events. A lot of good players have played in this game and it’s a huge honor for any high school player to be selected to play in this game.
When asked about the challenges the coaches have when it comes to preparing for this game coach Jones answered that the key was offense. Defensive schemes are easier to prepare and get the kids ready for, but offense is a huge key to get prepared. They will be bringing together kids that play in a multitude of different offensive schemes. Some may have played in the Wing-T, Veer, or Spread offenses so bringing them together and creating a cohesive offense that they can run together is a huge task. The key is to keep it simple so they can learn, understand and execute it over the course of a four day period.
The holidays is coming up and Travis Toth talked about an ad they are running in the Mobile Press-Register as gifts for that sports loving fan this holiday season. They have a choice of two sideline tickets ($75 for the season) or two endzone ($48 for the season). It will come with a certificate for the tickets and a USA Football T-Shirt. So if you know a USA sports fan, this would be a great holiday gift for them to open on Christmas day.
Coach Jones said they have set dates for spring football practice and when I talked to one of the team members last night he told me that it will start February 18th. So after the holidays, they will jump right back into the grind to get ready for South Alabama Football in the fall. When asked about something like an A-Day game, similar to what Alabama and Auburn have in the spring, coach Jones said that they would have something special for the last day of spring practice. He did not indicate if it would be a full on A-Day game like experience or if it would be a more low-key scrimmage but something will be planned and we will know about it on his radio show for certain.
Daniel McCarthy has been hired as directory of compliance so he will be working closely with the football program to make sure everything is done by the book and no rules are broken accidentally. The rule talked about earlier with the All-Star game was mentioned again and he expects that it may be changed in the future. Kids may be recognized at the game who may not have received a scholarship otherwise which is a huge benefit to the kids.
Recruiting trips will continue through December 20th and then they will pick back up on or around January 4th, Coach Jones could not remember the exact date since he was on the road recruiting. USA will be able to sign up to 30 kids in February but they could receive more than those in verbal commitments. Some may not qualify academically, but they are talking to a lot of interested kids that have good grades so that may not be a concern come signing time.
Lee Shirvanian then asked Coach Jones what his first roster could look like. Jones responded that they could have anywhere from 50-60 on scholarship this fall and about 20 of those would be Junior College transfers and the rest walk-ons. He expects them to be 120-130 players by the time they start next summer preparing for the fall schedule. He started recruiting Junior College kids fairly close to home but they are now recruiting them from Texas, California and other places to find the best players they can to fill the positions they need. So far this year, 17 kids have been signed to scholarships and they have 13 more they can sign this calendar year. They have been working on some and can announce them around the December 17th deadline hopefully.
Lee brought up an interesting thing, why don’t Junior Colleges in Alabama play football? Coach Jones and others agreed it would be great for kids in our state. The economy and money are probably the biggest factors.
Coach Jones is not close to releasing the schedule yet for next year. Many of the coaches he is talking to for contracts have been in the midst of their season so negotiations have been put on the back burner for the last few weeks. They will be getting back into that soon. Currently, even the players do not know who they may be playing and I know at least one of them is quite eager to know.
Going back to the rules talk, Lee Shirvanian stated that lately he has not hear much about football rules violations. Mr. McCarthy said that rules compliance for football is much harder than for basketball. Basketball has maybe from 7-10 players they have to monitor. Football they could have 120-130 as Coach Jones indicated on their roster, that they have to monitor and make sure no rules are being breached. Its really a whole team effort to get this done. USA has a group of faculty volunteers that help advise these players when they come to see the school and it really helps that they can talk to faculty from their potential chosen majors too.
When asked about the sports dorms that the NCAA has gotten rid of, Coach Jones was outspoken about them. He likes the sports dorms for players so they are held responsible and are kept out of potentially bad situations. When he was a player at Alabama he knew that there were people there watching out for them. Kids are going to be kids, nothing has changed since he was in college. They do not need babysitting but they can sometimes use a big brother as a mentor.
Lee asked Coach Jones about how soon USA could have a senior in the Senior Bowl, which is held each year in Mobile, Alabama. Coach Jones was very optimistic and enthusiastic stating that it could be in the next few years. They are really bringing in good, talented players that could be selected. Its also a good recruiting tool to say that the Senior Bowl is located in Mobile and that they will definitely be looking at USA for potential players.
Travis Toth then mentioned that USA will be hosting our basketball rival, Western Kentucky on Thursday, December 18th and we need everyone we can get into the Mitchell Center to help kick off the Conference season with a big win over the Hilltoppers. They have been playing well and so has USA. So come out and join us for the game!
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-02
Coach Jones was not on the show today, he is recruiting in his regions of New Orleans. However, Dameyune Craig filled in with Lee Shirvanian from Wings Sports Grill.
The first topic on the show was the buzz going around today about the job security of Coach Tubberville up at Auburn. Today marks the third day of meetings with the Athletic Director without any real press releases or vote of confidence in the Auburn coach. This has led to many people calling the WNSP radio station with rumors, unnamed sources and so forth stating that either Coach Tubberville was out or still in as coach of the Auburn Tigers in 2009. Unconfirmed reports of a 1pm news conference has circulating but at the time of writing, nothing has come out about it.
We are in the midst of recruiting season and that is exactly where Coach Jones is right now. One caller asked if USA was recruiting the quarterback from Leroy, who is playing in the state championship game later this week. Coach Craig would not say anything about it directly, but did affirm that USA coaches are busy recruiting the best quarterbacks in the area and the region to come play for the Jaguars.
Craig also made light that Alabama and Auburn are only recruiting about 5-8 players in Alabama this year. There is no immediate cause for that but that situation would give USA a prime opportunity to try to get some local talent that may be overlooked by those schools.
Another caller asked about receivers and quarterbacks that are on the team right now. Coach Craig said that they have two Division I receivers right now. One is a transfer from UAB that is pretty quick and they hope to have him cleared to play next fall. The other is a transfer from Southern Miss, also with good speed. The Jags currently have a quarterback from Louisiana and they are recruiting more at all positions.
When asked about what kind of responses potential players are giving USA coaches since USA is a new school starting a football program, Coach Craig recounted a question that was asked to the staff. One kid called up and asked how likely the program is to fold before he graduates. It was obviously not a question that came from the kid himself. It was something that other coaches hinted or dropped in his ear during the recruiting process. That’s part of it.
When asked about recruits who have verbally committed to Auburn. If Coach Tubberville is relieved of his duties, how likely is it that they will still go there? Coach Craig said that some players commit to coaches or playing styles. Many commit to the school itself and they are not likey to change their commitment. USA is committed to football. Its very evident in the money being put into top notch facilities and the campus and that is a big reason how we will get good recruits.
Finally, when Lee Shirvanian asked Craig for his SEC Championship pick, he chose Florida over Alabama. I pick Alabama, not because I am an Alabama fan, but because I think Alabama matches up well with Florida. Coach Saban and Coach Steele are very good and devising defensive schemes to disrupt the other teams offense. Auburn has a pretty good defense and the Alabama offense did a good job early of breaking tendencies and keeping Auburn on their heels. Then when the Auburn offense failed to move the ball and give the defense a rest, Alabama’s offensive line just dominated their defense.
With Harvin possibly out it will take away a big offensive threat from Florida but don’t let tha fool you. They have some players and lots of speed. If it gets into a footrace, Florida has the advantage. But if its a smash mouth, dig into the trentches game it is Alabama’s advantage.
Go Jags! and Roll Tide!