Saturday’s Game Is Still On Officially Despite Alcorn State’s Covid Situation
As of now the Jaguars home game against Alcorn State is still officially on. However it seems to be a bit in limbo due to a lack of athletic trainers.
The Braves were not allowed to practice on Monday or Tuesday due to all of the part-time athletic trainers for the team testing positive for Covid.
Due to NCAA rules, team cannot practice without on-site medical staff present.
According to people who spoke with USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity, the football team’s activities on Tuesday were “limited to a walkthrough where University-employed nurses – not a certified athletic trainer – were allowed to pass out ice bags.”
“We’ve got a big game (at South Alabama) that’s going to make the university money, and we can’t go out and get treatment for the young men and women,” head coach Fred McNair said via Football Scoop. “We can’t get treatment or rehab on this day, not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow.
“This is something that needs to be fixed. This is an administration issue. I could talk about it all the way till I turn blue. This has got to be fixed. We’ve got to be able to pay somebody to be the Alcorn State athletic trainer, and we don’t have one. That’s disheartening.”
While most of the FCS played their 2020 season in the spring of 2021, Alcorn State opted out entirely. It was framed as Covid-19 concerns.
According to sources talking with USA TODAY, the team’s upperclassmen opted not to play because the school did not have a full-time strength coach or an athletic trainer during the pandemic and they did not feel prepared to play.
A full-time athletic trainer was hired at the end of January but left in July for a health care job in the private sector. Instead of hiring a replacement, the athletic department chose to use two part-time trainers who were not vaccinated, according to the source.
No players or coaches have tested positive for Covid. The two part-time trainers tested positive prior to Saturday’s game against Northwestern State. The trainer that left in July was brought back on a temporary basis to get through the game. When players came in on Sunday for treatment, he informed the staff he would not be able to come back on Monday.
South Alabama would be owed $360,000 in liquidated damages if the game isn’t played per their contract.
South Alabama vs Southern Miss Scheduled For National Broadcast
The South Alabama Jaguar football team will open the 2020 college football season with a nationally-televised match up against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles per Conference USA.
The Jags and the Golden Eagles will kick off at 8pm CDT on Thursday, September 3 at M. M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
It will be the first time the Jags have been on CBSSN since their November 13, 2013 game at Navy.
As all South Alabama football games they can also be heard on 96.1 FM The Rocket and 99.5 FM The Jag locally in Mobile. As well as nation wide on the iHeartRadio app.
We will be there to give you in-game updates on twitter at @USAThunderjags.
Reports Swirling Big Ten To Cancel Football Season
After the reports yesterday that the Big Ten had enough votes internally to postpone the fall sports season to the spring, we all knew Monday would be a very interesting day.
Dan Patrick reported early Monday morning that the Big Ten had voted internally 12-2 to postpone the season. The two votes for a fall season were Nebraska and Iowa.
Now the Detroit Daily News is reporting that the Big Ten will announce on Tuesday that the conference has officially decided to postpone fall sports until the spring of 2021.
Meanwhile the SEC is reportedly recruiting ACC and Big 12 teams to play this fall. Both the ACC and Big 12 seem to be on the fence as to playing football this fall. Even the Big 12 may be cozying up to Nebraska, who left the conference to join the Big Ten in 2010.
Big Twelve to Nebraska: Come on home Nebraska. Let’s find a partner, make it a dozen and renew one of college football’s great rivalries! pic.twitter.com/uCfwOLQ8LE— Spencer Tillman (@SpenceTillman) August 10, 2020
All the while the Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA are still practicing and moving forward towards a 2020 fall season. It’s being rumored that some early games are moving up to week zero (August 29th). Troy and Middle Tennessee may be renewing their rivalry this year, and they may make it home-and-home in one season!
When you thought 2020 could not get any more crazy! This scheduling and will they/won’t they discussion is bringing out some borderline unimaginable stuff!
The Fate Of Fall Sports Likely To Be Determined In The Next 72 Hours
The next 72 hours will determine if we have college football this fall, or any fall sports for that matter..
On Saturday, the Mid American Conference announced that they were postponing their fall sports until the spring, which includes football.
The MAC, considered a Group of 5 conference, is starting to look like the first domino to fall among the FBS conferences.
The Big Ten presidents met on Saturday and, while they did not vote to postpone the season, they did vote that football practices should remain in the “acclimatization phase” until further notice, which means helmets only and without contact.
Apparently commissioners of the Power 5 conferences held an emergency meeting as concerns continue to grow among college football athletics officials that the upcoming football season, and other fall sports, will not be able to be played due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It appears that, even though the Big Ten presidents did not vote to postpone the season, they are ready to pull the plug on the fall season and wanted to gauge whether the other commissioners and university presidents would join them.
The Big Ten presidents could meet as soon as Sunday Night with the feedback from the other Power Five commissioners and could be the first to vote to postpone fall sports season to the spring among the Power Five.
The PAC-12 is set to meet again on Tuesday.
Basically no one wants to be the first, nor the last.
However if all of the power five conferences vote to postpone fall sports, including football, to the spring they will need to have some sort of plan ready to announce to the fans and student-athletes. They will not want to hear “we’ll get back to you on that.”
I fall into the camp that having a football season is probably one of the best things for the student-athletes. They will be on campus with excellent medical care and rigorous testing. Probably the biggest threat would be college parties and girls. Because, lets face it, some college kids are going to have some parties and athletes will be invited.
Jags 3-Peat As SBC Champs; Will Host LSU In First Round Of NCAA Tournament
The Jaguar Soccer team earned their third-consecutive Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship and will host LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the first time in Jag and Sun Belt Conference history. | Photo credit: Sun Belt Conference sunbeltsports.org
Jags Defeat Georgia State 4-0 For Third-Consecutive SBC Title
The South Alabama Jaguar soccer team earned their their consecutive Sun Belt Conference title with a 4-0 win over Georgia State on Sunday to punch their card to the NCAA Tournament.
Sophomore Rio Hardy scored the lone goal in the first half with help by Danielle Henley who drove a low cross to Hardy who hit it home.
Just three minutes into the second half Sophomore Chelsea Followwell hit home a loose ball in front of the net after a corner kick at the 60:36 mark.
Charde Hannah took advantage of a defensive miscue at the 63:35 mark to make it a 3-0 lead. The final score came in the 85th minute when Nini Rabsatt-Smith headed the ball into the net on a corner kick from freshman Jemma Purfield.
“I’m obviously delighted that we managed to win,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. “I was really happy because usually at this time of the year, it’s about the result and not the performance, but today we put in a fantastic performance and got a fantastic result. I was really happy for the girls; it means a lot to them and to me to lift the trophy again.
“We’re scoring lots of goals and they’re coming from lots of areas,” Winkworth noted. “They really showed up today; it was maybe one of our stronger performances of the season.”
The Jags had five players named to the All-Tournament team: Sophomore Ashlynn Jones, senior Nini Rabsatt-Smith, Sophomore Rio Hardy, sophomore Charde Hannah and junior Sarah Hay. Hannah was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
“All five of them were crucial to our success, but in all honesty, we could have picked anyone that played this weekend,” Winkworth said. “Those five humble young ladies would be the first to admit that if it wasn’t for the squad that we’ve got, they wouldn’t be receiving those awards this weekend and we wouldn’t be taking the big one home.”
“We were solid from front to back,” Winkworth said. “The forwards worked hard limiting quality longballs from their back line and the midfield pressed extremely well. The defense dropped when they needed to drop and intercepted passes rather than needing to make tackles. Only once did they get in behind us, and when that happened, Sarah pulled off an excellent save on a 1-on-1. All in all, I’m very happy with the defensive performance from front to back.”
South Alabama Set To Host LSU In First Round Of NCAA Tournament
On Monday afternoon, the Jags learned their fate for the NCAA Tournament from the Division I Women’s Soccer Committee and it was not only historic for South Alabama, but also for the Sun Belt Conference.
South Alabama will host LSU for the first-round match on Saturday night. The first in South Alabama history and also the first in Sun Belt Conference history.
This will be the Jags third consecutive tournament appearance and enter the tournament with a 17-2-2 record overall and a 14-match unbeaten streak.
“This is huge,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. “We’ve created something very special here. It wouldn’t have matter who they sent us, we’d have been excited to have a game on campus. We need the whole community to come out on Saturday and cheer us on.
“It will be great for our community to have such a big team coming into town. We know a lot of people will think they’re the big favorites coming from the SEC, however, we feel like we’ve got a good product here as well. We hope it’ll be an excellent game and hopefully we’ll get the right result.”
LSU (13-5-4) earned their way into the postseason for the first time since 2011 after advancing to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. The Tigers lead the all-time series against USA 5-4 with wins in their last three meetings, the most recent in 2010.
With the Jaguar Football team’s game on Thursday night, the Saturday night date against LSU is a great opportunity to support the Lady Jaguars in their quest for a National Title.
Tickets are $7 for Adults, $3 for Seniors, Children between 2-12 are also $3 and Children under 2 are Free.
Student tickets are also $3 however the first 300 students are able to claim free tickets on a first-come, first served basis Saturday night when the gates open by showing a valid student ID.
Tickets can be purchased over the phone only by calling 251.461.1USA (1872). All tickets will be held for pickup on Saturday night and no tickets will be distributed before the match. Gates will open 90 minutes prior to the match.
The match is scheduled for 7pm on Saturday.
All tickets will be general admission and grandstand seating is first-come-first served. Fans are recommended to bring portable outdoors chairs with them.
GO JAGS!!
Purfield Named SBC Defensive Player of the Week; Erdmann To Chair NCAA Baseball Committee
Soccer
Jemma Purfield, a freshman from Cottingham, England, has started every game for the Jaguars and becomes the second Jag to earn the SBC Defensive Player of the Week. | Photo credit: usajaguars.com
South Alabama freshman Jemma Purfield was named the Sun Belt Conference Women’s Soccer Defensive Student-Athlete of the week on Tuesday. She is the second Jaguar to earn this recognition this season after Charde Hannah earned it last week.
Purfield, a native of Cottingham, England, scored a goal with an assist and helped lead the Jaguar defense in two shutouts. She played all 90 minutes against Louisiana Tech in a 1-0 victory where she recorded two shots on goal as the Jag defense only allowed two shots in the match.
Two days later, Purfield scored her first career goal in a 7-0 win over Tennessee-Martin. She also added an assist as the Jag defense held UTM to only six shots to record their second consecutive shutout.
Purfield has started every game this season and played all but 22 minutes.
South Alabama, who received three votes in the latest NSCAA Top 25 poll, will host the Jaguar Classic this weekend as South Florida, Troy and Austin Peay all come to The Cage for weekend matches. The Jags will face USF on Friday at 7pm then Austin Peay on Sunday at 2:30pm.
Baseball/Athletics
USA Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann has served for three years on the NCAA Baseball Committee, he will chair the committee for the 2015-16 academic year.
The NCAA announced on Tuesday that University of South Alabama Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann will serve as chair of the Division I Baseball Committee for the 2015-16 academic year.
Erdmann represents the South Region in the 10-member committee just completed his third year with the group. His role serving with the committee includes helping to select and seed the field for the NCAA Tournament as well as assisting in site administration.
“I am humbled and honored for the opportunity to serve as chair of the committee,” Erdmann was quoted as saying. “The committee is made up of highly capable professionals who understand the core of our duty is to provide the best championship field and experience for our student-athletes, coaches and fans. I look forward to the upcoming year as we continue to move the baseball championship and the great game itself forward.”
As USA’s AD, Erdmann has been members of the baseball, softball, golf and tennis committees in the Sun Belt Conference. When he was AD at the University of North Alabama, Erdmann was a member of the NCAA Division II Football Committee during the 2006-07 academic year and also co-chaired the NCAA Division II Football Southeast Region Advisory Committee.
May Added To Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List
Chris May, 6’5″ 290-pound offensive lineman from Tuscumbia, AL., joins Joseph Scelfo on the 2015 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List that will be awarded on December 9, 2015. | Photo credit: John Adams usajaguars.com
Earlier this week it was announced that senior offensive lineman Chris May was named to the 2015 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List.
May, a 6’5″ 290-pound native of Tuscumbia, AL. joins center Joseph Scelfo on the watch list which now has a total of 176 student-athletes in consideration for the award. Scelfo was one of the original 34 student-athletes announced.
May, like Scelfo, was voted preseason first-team All-Sun Belt Conference last month by the league’s head coaches and select members of the media. As he heads into his final season with the Jaguars he also has preseason All-Conference selections from both Athlon Sports (first-team) and Phil Steele Publications (second-team).
During his career May has received league recognition in each of his three seasons as a Jaguar. He was named by Sun Belt beat writers to the All-Freshman team in 2012, he was a first-team All-SBC selection in 2013 then received an honorable mention last fall. He enters his senior year with 32 consecutive starts dating aback to the middle of his freshman year, which is the longest active streak on the team.
Last season May recorded 33 knockdown blocks and graded out 80% or better on six occasions. Against Texas State in November May recorded 11 pancakes, more than half of the team’s total of 18, in their win over the Bobcats which made the Jags bowl-eligible and eventually helping them to earn a bowl invitation for the first time in program history. In May’s sophomore season he led the team with 65 pancake blocks and his overall grade of 87% was second-highest on the team; which included earning a mark of 90% or better four times. He has also earned the coaches’ offensive line award in a game on eight occasions during his three seasons as a Jag.
The Rotary Lombardi Award is limted to down linemen – end-to-end on either offense or defense – who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball or linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deep from the line of scrimmage. On November 5, the field will be narrowed down to 12 semifinalists and the winner the 46th annual Rotary Lombardi Award will be announced at the Bayou Music Center in Houston on December 9.
USAToday Ranks Top 128 Programs, Where Do The Jaguars Place?
USA Today released their preseason rankings from 1 to 128. Where did South Alabama place? They were ranked #85.
They are ahead of teams such as Syracuse (88), Tulane (91), Colorado (92), Indiana (95), Oregon State (98), Virginia (99), Southern Miss (100), Illinois (102), South Florida (103), UTEP (107), Tulsa (108), Massachusetts (109), Purdue (112), Iowa State (115), Wake Forest (116), UConn (119), Vanderbilt (121) and Kansas (124) to selectively name a few.
If you would like to see who placed where in the full top 128, click the link here.
Shinn, Woodson Named To 2016 Senior Bowl Watch List
Jaguar receiver duo Marvin Shinn and Danny Woodson II were named to the 2016 Senior Bowl Watch List as announced on Tuesday.
Shinn and Woodson are on a list that includes more than 350 student-athletes on the collegiate level from across the nation. Only 110 individuals will be selected for the two rosters for the postseason all-star game to be held on January 30, 2016 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Shinn is entering his second season with the Jaguars after a junior season that was curtailed by an injury which limited him to only 173 yards on seven catches. His longest gain of the season, 58 yards, came in the second quarter of his debut against Kent State leading to a touchdown an a 16-0 advantage in the season opening victory. He averaged 24.7 yards per catch, the best on the team with more than one catch.
Woodson enters into his third season with the Jaguars after starting seven games and playing in all 12 games. He caught 30 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns. In the Jaguars first ever bowl appearance, the had career-highs with six catches for 122 yards. Woodson caught an 18 yard scoring pass with just over four minutes left against Georgia State to lift the Jaguars over the Panthers.
In 2013, Woodson caught 26 passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns in eight games before a season-ending injury.
Woodson enters into his final season with the Jaguars ranked among the top 10 in school history in three categories. He is sixth in receptions (56), yards receiving (821) and fourth in touchdown catches (8).
Three Jaguars have been selected to compete in the Senior Bowl since the program’s start in 2009. Courtney Smith was chosen for the 2011 game. Two years later both Jake Johnson and B.J. Scott were extended invitations to the game.
2015 Sun Belt Conference Media Day
The 2015 Sun Belt Conference Media Day was held on Monday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Head coach Joey Jones along with student-athletes Chris May and Roman Buchanan all spoke to the media.
Below are highlights from their time with the media.
Joey Jones
Opening statement:
“We had a good year last year, going to our first bowl game was a big deal for us. But our guys want to achieve more. They want to win a bowl game and a conference championship — those are our two goals. We have some great leadership on this football team, probably the best we’ve had. These guys are meeting once a week, talking to all the players and doing things behind the scenes that make a team great. Everybody knows we had 31 seniors last year who graduated, including 17 starters, and is concerned about that, and I am too. But if you could look in that locker room, be around the guys and be on the practice field with them, maybe we will surprise some people this fall.”
Jones spoke about the potential impact UAB transfers will have on the team this year:
“We’ve got several. I think Cameron Blankenship will start for us at right guard, he’s a tough, athletic football player. Cody Clements has a chance to be the starting quarterback, I feel real good about him, and D.J. Vinson is doing really well at the slot receiver. Gerald Everett is doing extremely well, he’s a lot like Wes Saxton in that he’s an athletic tight end. I could go on and on, but those are some of the guys who have shown that they can really play the game. The great thing is they have been able to take our system, which [assistant] coach [Bryant] Vincent brought from here to UAB last year, so there was no learning curve with terminology. From day one [of spring practice] they were able to play at a high level. With us losing so many seniors and starters, they have been able to fill some voids on offense that were highly needed.”
Jones spoke about the leadership he’s seen in this year’s senior class:
“I think they have stepped up well in that regard. I’ve been extremely impressed with their ability to lead. Talking about leading and leading is two different things, and I think these guys are truly leading every day. We’ve had some great leadership in the past and they have learned from those guys, just like you learn from your parents.”
Jones spoke about what Chris May means to the offense:
“He’s completely changed in that regard. Chris’ attitude is A-plus, his effort is A-plus, he’s a great athlete. I expect great things out of him not only on the field, protecting our quarterback and run blocking, but also as a guy who can lead, which is going to bring some of these young guys along. I’ve been real impressed with Chris May.”
Jones on the experience gained playing at the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl:
“Every time I think about coming on the field for that game, I think it’s one of the most emotional moments I’ve ever been involved in. To see our players who had fought to get there all those years, and to look up into the stands and see all of our fans who had come up from Mobile, all of our alumni who had come from across the Southeast yelling as loud as they could, it was a chilling moment. It was a moment that I and all of our players had dreamed about, so it’s exciting that we were able to do that in our second year as an NCAA Division I program.”
Chris May
May on his role of being a leader entering his senior year:
“Honestly, I just want to leave a legacy of building leaders, not just being a leader of our offense or our team. It’s more about putting time in with the younger guys and trying to develop them as well because when the older guys leave we have to have someone who will provide the foundation.”
May spoke about how the transfers from UAB have fit in:
“When they first got here it, even though they fit in, it was kind of awkward. What they went through was a traumatic situation. But this summer we’ve been able hang out — cooking out, going bowling, things like that — to build chemistry with them, which has been awesome.”
May on the goals of the offense in 2015:
“Coach Vincent has been pounding into our heads that we want to be the best offense in our conference and one of the best, if not the best, in the country. We had the weapons last year to be a lot better than we were, and we have the weapons now to be a lot better than we were last year. A lot of people are pointing out that we lost a lot of people from our defense last year, but I think the finger should be pointed at us [the offense]. We need to learn how to develop better chemistry and instead of underachieving we need to overachieve.”
May on adjusting to [assistant] coach [Bryant] Vincent returning just before the bowl game last season:
“He did a very good job of using what we were already doing, but tweaking it to make it his own. He didn’t really change a lot of terminology, he didn’t change a lot of plays, he just tweaked some stuff to do what he wanted to do. We only had one game, and we couldn’t completely reinvent our offense in one week. We really haven’t changed a lot of stuff, we’re going to do things a lot faster and be a lot more aggressive, so it’s not a huge transition. It’s a different mentality but the same type of system.”
May on his experience taking the field at the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl last year:
“The process of getting to the bowl was really cool, and then running onto the field with the fireworks was a cool experience even if it caught me off guard. But once the game started the feeling was gone, it was just another game. It was a really cool experience.”
Roman Buchanan
Buchanan on how important is it for the program to take the next step:
“I feel that this year is the year for us to prove that we are a unit. Losing some players [from last season] on defense doesn’t mean anything. The way in which we do things [on the field] is why we win. What we are trying to implement in our program is that the way you watch film, the way you run, just everything you do every single day. Our ways is what makes us win.”
Buchanan on what he has seen in practice from the defensive unit and what he expects from them:
“I’m just ready for fall camp, because based off our 7-on-7s, workouts and everything we’ve been doing, the competition level is neck-and-neck. Right now, I feel we are two-deep at the corner. I feel like the battle at the corner position is going to be so steep that if you stub your toe, you may lose your starting job. It hasn’t always been that way for us. At linebacker, Demarius Rancifer had an extremely good spring and he’s still learning. On the defensive line, I really expect Tyree [Turner] and Roy [Albritton] to come in and make a splash. They’ve shown the will to learn the defense, the will to get better every single day. They came in this spring with the right attitude and I love it. As a whole though, I feel that we’ve taken what we did last year and shown that we believe we can be even better than that.”
Buchanan on how important he feels his role on the team will be this season:
“What Maleki [Harris] was last year and what Romelle [Jones] was the year before, I feel that that’s me now. Those guys helped me so much to get to where I am right now. I can’t remember exactly when it was last season, but Maleki came to me during a practice and told me that it was my turn. He told me that this was my defense now, that I had to take ownership of it and that I had to hold guys accountable. I think I’ve done that. I wasn’t a very vocal guy when I got here, but I’ve gotten better.”
Buchanan on how his versatility in high school has helped him at this level:
“I feel like from that experience that I understand the game so much better and deeper than your average defensive player. There are very few things that an offense can throw at me that confuses me or causes me to play slower. I think the triple-option offense, which you rarely see in college, is the only thing that I’ve had to get used to. Because of those experiences, I feel like I know what the offense is trying to do and I know what I would do if I was an offensive player, so there is very little that you can do to get me off my game. What I love about playing safety is that I have total control over the defense. I can make calls at all three levels. Because I know what the offense is trying to do, [assistant] coach [Travis] Pearson has a lot of confidence in me and gives me freedom back there. It’s kind of like being a quarterback back there.”