A School-Record Receive SBC Academic Honors
In addition to earning the Vic Bubas Cup in May for being the Sun Belt Conference’s top member in competition, which included four programs that won league championships (Soccer, Men’s Cross Country, Baseball and Women’s Tennis) the Jaguars capped off the previous academic and sports year with success in the classroom.
The Sun Belt Conference office announced on Wednesday that the University of South Alabama had a school record-breaking total of 162 student-athletes receive Conference academic recognition for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Those 162 were part of the 2014-2015 SBC Commissioner’s List and Academic Honor Roll, which put USA sixth in the conference. This is an increase of seven from the previous academic record of 155.
USA tied for second in the conference with 88 student-athletes on the Commissioner’s List which goes to those with a GPA of 3.5 or higher during the previous two semesters. Another 74 Jags were recognized in the Academic Honor Roll which honors students with a 3.0-3.49 GPA over the previous two semesters.
Football, Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field and Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field each featured more than 20 student-athletes on the list with 28, 25, 21 respectively. Baseball had 15, soccer had 13 and softball had 12 individuals on the list as well with other programs contributing the remainder of the individuals.
Sunanon Named To Second Preseason Watch List
South Alabama’s Aleem Sunanon attempts a 22-yard field goal from the right hashmark against Troy.
The Award watch lists announcements keep coming and Jaguars student-athletes continue to placed on them. On Wednesday it was Aleem Sunanon who picked up his second preseason watch list honor.
It was announced that junior placekicker Sunanon was among a group of student-athletes in consideration for the Wuerffel Trophy, which is also known as “College Football’s Premier Award for Community Service”. It is presented annually by the All Sports Association and is named after 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel from the University of Florida. The award is given to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision player that best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.
Voting for the award is performed by a national selection committee that includes college football television and print media, industry notables, former head coaches and prior Wuerffel Trophy recipients.
On November 3 semifinalists will be announced then three weeks later the finalists will be announced and the winner will be announced on December 8 at the National Football Foundation’s press conference in New York City. The presentation of the 2015 Wuerffel Trophy will be held at the 47th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on February 12, 2016 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Sunanon holds a school record with 33 field goals in his career so far with an 80.5 percent conversion rate. He has accounted for 160 points over the previous two seasons, included 69 points last season after making 15-of-18 attempts. He was selected as honorable mention All-Sun Belt Conference in 2013 after posting 91 points while going 18-of-23 on field goals as a redshirt-freshman. He finished the season with a program-record 12 consecutive field goal and tied a Jaguar single-game record with four field goals at South Carolina last season.
Scelfo Named To Another Watch List; Track and Field and Cross Country Earn Team GPA Award
More preseason football watch list action and academic honors for the track and field and cross country teams.
Football
The preseason watch lists are being announced one-by-one as the college football season is quickly approaching and one Jaguar offensive lineman just picked up his second watch list announcement on Tuesday.
Joseph Scelfo, a junior, was selected to the Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List last week and has been selected for the Watch List for the 2015 Rotary Lombardi Award.
The Rotary Lombardi Award is eligible for linemen only, both of offense and 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 deel from the line of scrimmage.
Scelfo was one of only two Jaguar offensive linemen who started all 13 games last season and earn the coaches’ weekly award on more than one occasion. In 2014, his first season as a starter for USA, he had a season-high grading of 88 percent in the Jags win over Troy as well as an 87 percent grade against Bowling Green in USA’s firt-ever bowl game. He also graded better than 80 percent agaisnt both South Carolina and Mississippi State with grades of 83 and 81 respectively.
He helped the Jaguars become the fastest NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision school to play in a postseason bowl game after receiving their first invite to the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in only their second season of full FBS membership.
The Rimington Award honors the most oustanding center in NCAA Division I-A college football at the end of the year. In addition to the two watch lists, Scelfo was selected to the First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference by Phil Steele Publications and preseason Second-Team All-League by Athlon Sports.
Track and Field/Cross Country
The Sun Belt Conference released the 2014-15 Team GPA award winners on Tuesday with USA men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams claiming honors in both the fall and spring semesters.
The men posted a combined cumulative GPA of 3.19 to earn honors in cross country in addition to winning the league title at the Sun Belt Championships in Mobile on November 2 at Battleship Memorial Park.
The women’s cross country team posted a 3.67 GPA during the last year to be honored as well.
Both programs received the Team GPA award in track and field as the men had a 3.17 GPA over the last two semesters. This made USA the only male track team in the conference to finish with a group average over 3.00. The women posted a GPA of 3.41.
This marks the second year in a row that USA has earned the Team GPA award in men’s and women’s cross country as well as the second consecutive season that USA also earned the honor in track.
Individually 26 women and 22 men from the two programs had a 3.0 GPA or higher last semester with a combined 28 team members earning spots on the Dean’s List.
Sunanon Named To Groza Watch List; USA Men’s Basketball to Face NCSU and LSU in Legends Classic
Football
More preseason watch list action this week for the South Alabama Jaguars as Aleem Sunanon was selected to be among the 30 student-athletes selected to the Watch List for the 2015 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award.
Sunanon is the only representative from the Sun Belt Conference on the list.
Over the last two seasons Sunanon has led the Jaguars in scoring. Last season the 5’7″ 170-pound junior was a second-team All-Conference selection by Phil Steele Publications after he went 15-of-18 on field goal attempts, including making his final eight attempts. He also went 24-of-26 on extra point attempts. He tied for 12th nationally after converting 83.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and shared the league lead in the category. He also ranked third in the SBC and 55th in the country with 1.15 field goals per game.
Sunanon recorded a season-best 12 points on two occasions by connecting on three field goals and all three extra points in a win over Georgia State. He tied a school record after going 4-for-4 on field goal attempts against South Carolina.
In 2013 as a redshirt freshman he scored a school season-record 91 points by going 18-of-23 on field goals and 37-of-39 on extra-point attempts and was selected as honorable mention all-conference. He led all Sun Belt kickers in points and field goals per game and ranked among the top 20 nationally in the latter category. He finished second among all players in the conference in scoring average. He hit a season-high three field goals on four occasions, including a school-record 12 in a row over the Jaguars final seven games.
After only two seasons as the Jaguars placekicker, Sunanon has already set a program career record with 33 field goals and stands second on the all-time list with 160 total points and an 80.5 percent success rate on field goal attempts.
The award is named for Lou ‘The Toe’ Groza, an NFL Hall of Fame kicker who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954.
On November 5, semifinalists will be announced. On November 23, three finalists will be announced. The Winner will be announced on December 10 as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show.
Men’s Basketball
The Jaguar Men’s Basketball team will face North Carolina State and LSU in November as part of the Legends Classic as announced by the Gazelle Group on Thursday.
USA and NC State will face off on November 15 and then LSU on November 19 with times for both games will be announced at a later date.
NC State and LSU are two of four regional hosts for the multi-team event with semifinals and finals set for November 23 and 24 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
This will mark the first meeting between the Jaguars and the NC State Wolfpack on the hardwood, led by former Alabama men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried who took NCSU to the Sweet 16 of the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a 22-14 record.
The USA vs LSU matchup will mark the third time these two teams have faced off since 2010 and the second in the Maravich Center. The last time the two teams faced each other the Jaguars defeated LSU 79-75 in overtime in 2011.
USA will be one of four teams scheduled to participate in the Legends Classic subregional in Kennesaw, GA including IUPUI, Belmont and host Kennesaw State.
Scelfo Named To Watch List; Fico, Campbell Competing for Akron; Three Women Golfers Earn Academic Honors
Football
Jaguar center Joseph Scelfo has been named to the 2015 Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List on Wednesday. The list includes 63 individuals, which included only three from the Sun Belt Conference, who were recognized by the Rimington Trophy Committee.
The award is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I-A college football. It is named after consensus first-team All-America center Dave Riminington at Nebraska in 1981 and ’82.
Scelfo was also named to the preseason all-Sun Belt team by Phil Steele publications and as a preseason second-team All-SBC by Athlon Sports this summer.
He is entering his second season as the starter for the Jaguars at center. He was one of two lineman to start all 13 games as the Jaguars earned their first bowl invitation to the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.
Scelfo, a 6’1″ 295-pound junior from Bogart, Georgia graded out at 80 percent or better following six of the teams outings. He also earned the teams highest grade five times. He also earned an 88 percent after the Jags win over Troy, which was one of two games he earned the coaches offensive line award. He earned an 87 against Bowling Green in the Camellia Bowl. He also paced the team against SEC opponents when he earned an 83 against South Carolina and 81 against Mississippi State.
The finalist for the award will be announced on December 7 with the winner being announced at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 16, 2016.
Women’s Golf
Three Jaguar women golfers were named to the 2014-2015 Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars.
Elisa Axelsen, Ingrid Hagen and Madison Connell each earned their distinction after maintaining a 3.50 GPA and participated in half of the team’s tournaments.
This marks the fourth consecutive season Hagen has earned the honor, while it was the first time for both Axelsen and Connell. It is also the 10th consecutive academic year the Jags placed three or more students-athletes on the WGCA Division I All-American Scholor Team. In all 15 Jaguars have been honored 39 times as WGCA All-American Scholars since the 2005-2006 academic year.
Axelsen had one top-10 and two top-20 finishes this season while Hagen earned three top-20 finishes in her senior season. Connell competed in seven tournaments in her freshman season.
Softball
Jaguar assistant softball coach Rachelle Fico and former Jaguar Hannah Campbell, who is now a graduate assistant at USA, are competing with the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch this summer.
Currently Akron is third in the NPF standings with a 12-12 record trailing the league leading Chicago Bandits (17-6) and runner up USSSA Pride but the Racers have one eight of their last 12 games.
Fico is 1-0 in the circle in her only appearance this year when she faced Dallas Charge on July 1. She struck out four with only one walk while allowing one earned run on four hits in a complete game effort. The 9-1 win marked the largest margin of victory for the Racers this season.
Campbell is 0-2 with six strikeouts and a 6.24 ERA in four appearances. She has allowed 11 earned runs on 18 hits in 12 1/3 innings pitched. Her first appearance came on May 30 in Akron’s season opener against the Pennsylvania Rebellion when she entered a scoreless game in the fifth inning and allowed five earned runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning before leaving the game. Akron would lose the game 6-3.
Fico finished the 2014 season with an 11-7 record with a 3.59 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 23 appearances. Campbell was 5-6 with a 5.78 ERA and a team-high three saves in 23 appearances.
The CBS Sports Network is broadcasting an unprecedented amount of coverage for the 2015 NPF season. They will also air the NPF Championship at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, AL on August 14-18. Additionally Jaguar fans can watch the Racers in action against the Rebellion on August 10-11 on CBS Sports Network.
Frenchou, Hill Earn All-America Honors; Billingsley Named To All-Region Team
Track and Field
Renaldo Frechou, a junior from Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa, represented South Alabama in the men’s hammer throw in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Wednesday and earned First-Team All-America Honors.
Frechou competed against 24 other competitiors and steadily increased his distance on each of his first three attempts with his final throw reaching 68.84m. This is the second year in a row that he has received first-team All-America honors after finishing seventh in the same event last year.
He is the first since the 2006-2007 pair Tonny Okello and Vincent Rono both earned All-America recognition in consecutive seasons.
On Friday, fellow Junior Jan-Louw Kotze will be the second of three Jaguars to compete at the national championship meet when he competes in the men’s discus throw at 6:05pm (CDT).
Kaitlyn Beans will compete on Saturday at 4pm in the women’s triple jump.
Baseball
Baseball honors keep coming in for members of the Jaguar baseball team.
South Alabama right-handed pitcher Kevin Hill was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America third team on Wednesday.
Hill was the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and led the SBC in wins (10), ERA (1.73), opposing batting average (.208) and strikeouts (107). He was also named to the Louisville Slugger Division I All-American second team on May 28 to become the first Jaguar pitcher to earn All-America honors since P.J. Walters in 2006.
Hill completed his redshirt junior year this season with four complete games, all four coming in a stretch against conference opponents, and recorded two shutouts in 80 2/3 innings pitched. He perfect 10-0 mark was the first 10 game winner at USA since D.D. Hanks in 2010 and his 107 strikeouts was the first triple-digit strikeout season since Walters in 2006.
Hill is the 27th Jaguar all-time to earn All-America honors and is only the seventh pitcher to do so in the program’s 51 years.
Hill and Cole Billingsley were both named to the 2015 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings NCAA Division I South Central team with Hill earning first-team honors and Billingsley earning second-team honors.
Billingsley led the conference with 30 stolen bases and finished tied for second in the conference with 80 hits and 4 triples. He tied for fourth in runs scored with 46, tied for sixth in batting average .345 and tied for eighth in walks with 34.
The redshirt sophomore did not commit an error in 163 chances in center field while recording three assists in his 55 games played.
Ben Taylor Selected In MLB Draft; Softball Finishes #23 In Final Poll
Baseball
Jaguar baseball right-hander Ben Taylor was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday by the Boston Red Sox. He was the 201st overall selection in the draft and just the second pitcher taken by the Red Sox.
Boston chose Tayler with their seix pick in the draft which was the sixth pick in the seventh round.
Taylor was a first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection as a relief pitcher this past season with a 6-3 record, 1.48 ERA and seven saves in 25 relief appearances. He struck out 68 batters with only 13 walks in 42 2/3 innings pitched. In his 13 appearances against SBC teams he was 4-2 with three saves and a 1.12 ERA while striking out 44 with only six walks in 24 innings.
Taylor finished his senior season ranked fifth in the conference in saves and tied for fifth in wins while helping the Jaguars to a 3.22 ERA which was tops in the conference, held opposing batters to a .242 batting avarage as a team and the most strikeouts in the conference with 474.
“It’s unbelievable,” Taylor said. “It’s been a dream of mine to play professional baseball my entire life. I can’t put into words what it’s like to now have the opportunity. It’s huge to become a part of an organization with as much tradition and history as they have, and I just want to go in and make them happy and provide for the team. It’s crazy to think that I will be putting on the same uniform that so many other greats have through the years.”
“I made the transition from starting pitcher to the bullpen during my two years at South Alabama,” he said. “I’m not sure what the Red Sox are going to want me to do in the organization; I might be a starting pitcher again. But during my time at USA, I had a change in mentality that made me a better pitcher. I have become more ferocious on the mound with more of a bulldog mentality – just getting after guys and using my stuff with confidence. That’s something Coach (Mark) Calvi and Coach (Bob) Keller have really helped me with. They have helped make me a much better pitcher.”
Softball
The Jaguar Softball team finished ranked #23 in the final USA Today/NCFA poll and #28 in RPI. Florida repeated as the National Champion after defeating Michgan twice in the best of three championship series.
Sophomore Chloe Rathburn who helped lead the Jaguar team to the Sun Belt Conference championship this past season was granted her release from the team after the season because, as she told the USA Vanguard student newspaper, that she wanted to play somewhere closer to home. She posted on social media and it was reported last week by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she has transferred to Missouri in the Southeastern Conference.
Rathburn, a catcher and infielder, regularly served as the Jaguars designated player. She helped the team to a 40-13 regular season record with a .371 batting average and a school-record 53 RBIs while earning first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors the last two seasons.
Rathburn will be eligible to play in the 2016 season for the Tigers and will have two years of eligibility remaining. Missouri finished 42-16 this season. They were defeated by UCLA in the NCAA super-regional.
Track And Field Regional Preliminaries; Softball and Baseball News
Latest news and updates on South Alabama Sports.
Track and Field
Jaguar Men’s Track and Field Renaldo Frechou qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a hammer throw of 66.54m at the East Region Preliminaries in Jacksonville, FL on Thursday.
His throw was 6th place out of the 12 competitors that are advancing to the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, OR on June 10-13.
Zach Blahnik finished 39th in the hammer throw, Mark Watts was 45th in the men’s 400 meter dash. LaMia Miller finished 33rd in women’s shot put and Barbara Rivera was 38th in the women’s javelin throw.
On Friday Jan-Louw Kotze (men’s discus), Nick Farrell (men’s pole vault), Matthew Dillon (men’s 110 meter hurdles), Patrick Rohr (men’s 3,000 meter Steeplechase), Phoebe Dawson (women’s discus), and Kaitlyn Beans (women’s long jump) will all compete to qualify to travel to Oregon for the Outdoor Championships.
Softball
Former South Alabama pitcher Farish Beard, who earned her degree this spring, was named to the 2015 Senior CLASS Award Second-Team All-American as announced by Premier Sports Management on Wednesday.
She earned all-Sun Belt Conference honors for the third consecutive season and was named to the SBC All-Tournament team after helping the Jaguars claim its third title in the last four years.
She finished with an 11-4 record, 2.53 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 88 2/3 innings pitched this season while only allowing 32 runs all season and holding opposing batters to a team-low .168 batting average.
The Senior CLASS Award in an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. It honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition and is designed for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards a senior season can offer.
Baseball
Jaguar right-hander Kevin Hill was named to the Louisville Slugger Division I All-American second team as announced on Thursday by Collegiate Baseball.
Hill was also named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and is the lone representative from the conference. He is also the first Jaguar pitcher to earn All-American honors since P.J. Walters was a second-team selection by Collegiate Baseball and a third-team selection by Baseball American in 2006.
Hill completed his redshirt junior season and led the Sun Belt in wins (10), ERA (1.73), opposing batting average (.208) and strikeouts (107). He threw four straight complete games against Sun Belt Conference opponents. He recorded two shutouts in 80 2/3 innings ptiched. He was also the first Jaguar to eclipse the century mark in strikeouts since Walters’ 166 in 2006.
Hill is the program’s 27th All-American in 51 years of baseball.
Additionally, Cole Billingsley, a redshirt sophomore, will compete in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox this summer. He is the third Jag in the last four years to play in the CCBL after former Jaguar standout and 2013 SBC Player of the Year Jordan Patterson competed with the Bourne Braves in the summer of 2012. J.T. Files also competed with the Brewster Whitecaps in the summer of 2012 as well.
He earned first-team All-SBC honors as an outfielder this season after leading the conference in stolen bases (30). He also finished tied for second in the SBC in hits (80) and triples (4), tied for fourth in runs scored (46), eighth in on-base percentage (.437) and tied for eighth in walks (34).
Jag Record 12 Individuals Advance To NCAA East Regional For Track and Field
The University of South Alabama track and field program will send a record number of individuals to the NCAA Preliminaries.
On Wednesday the NCAA released the entries for the East Region Preliminaries and the Jaguars will be represented by a record 12 individuals. The meet will include the top 48 individuals in every event in the region will be hosted by North Florida in Jacksonville May 28-30. Those who finish in the top 12 will move on to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon next month.
Among those representing the Red, White and Blue are eight men and four women, including a pair who won their event in the Sun Belt Conference Championships two weeks ago.
Renaldo Frechou is the highest seeded Jag entering the east region preliminaries by ranking fourth in the men’s hammer throw. Jan-Louw Kotze ranks 13th in the men’s discus. Both Frechou and Kotze both broke conference records during the season.
The USA men’s contingent consists of: Zach Blahnik (hammer throw), Matthew Dillon (110 meter hurdles), Nick Farrell (pole vault), Christoph Graf (5,000 meters), Patrick Rohr (3,000 meter steeplechase) and Mark Watts (400 meters). Spencer Anderson also posted a qualifying time in the 400-meter hurdles but will not participate as he has earned his degree earlier this month and has joined the military on a full-time basis.
The USA women’s contingent include: Kaitlyn Beans (triple jump), Phoebe Dowson (discus), LaMia Miller (shot put) and Barbara Rivera (javelin).
This marks the third consecutive regional for Kotze while Farrell and Frechou both has postseason experience from last season.
This marks the second consecutive postseason selection.
Jags defeat Chattanooga 11-1, Advance to play #4 Auburn
The 22nd ranked South Alabama softball team used 11 unanswered runs in four innings to defeat Chattanooga 11-1 in five innings.
The Jags found themselves trailing 1-0 after the top of the first inning when Sarah Beth Roberts hit a two-out solo home run, but that would be all the scoring the Mocs would muster against the Jags.
Emily Messer led the Jaguars at the plate with a career best four hits as she went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.
Sophomore designated player Chloe Rathburn went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. She also tied a single-season record with 52 RBI and 15 doubles.
Senior shortstop Kaitlyn Griffith and sophomore center fielder Amanda Minahan both had two RBI in the game.
Farish Beard started the game with a pair of strikeouts but, after being called for a series of illegal pitches, was relieved by freshman right-hander Devin Brown. Brown would throw 4 1/3 innings of one-hit shutout relief with eight strikeouts and no walks against the Mocs to extend her shutout streak to 11 1/3 consecutive innings dating back to the Sun Belt Conference Championship game against 10th ranked Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Jags advance to face 4th ranked Auburn in game 3 of the regional tournament at noon on Saturday. Game 4 will follow at 2:30pm as an elimination game between Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech, who lost to Auburn Thursday evening 4-1.
The winner between USA and Auburn will advance to the finals while the loser will face the winner of game 4 in an elimination game with the winner advancing to the finals against Auburn on Sunday.
The game against Auburn will also be the first time the Jaguars have faced former Jag Haley Fagan, who transferred to Auburn after the 2013 season.