The Sun Belt Conference Officially Welcomes Four New Members
The Sun Belt Conference said their farewell’s to one school and welcomed four more to the conference on Tuesday.
Western Kentucky officially became a member of Conference USA as Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, New Mexico State and Idaho all joined the Sun Belt. Georgia Southern and Appalachian State both join as full members while New Mexico State and Idaho both join as football-only members.
The with the loss of one and addition of four, it brings the total number of schools in the Sun Belt playing football to 11.
Georgia Southern and Appalachian State join the conference from the Football Championship Subdivision Southern Conference as they are both completing the second year of a two-year transition to Football Bowl Subdivision membership.
Idaho and New Mexico State both were recently members of the Western Athletic Conference and both were previously Sun Belt members.
Western Kentucky joins a number of other former SBC schools in Conference USA.
This brings the Sun Belt Conference membership to South Alabama, Troy, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State, Georgia State, Georiga Southern, Appalachian State, Idaho and New Mexico State in football. Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington are both members of the conference, but do not sponsor football.
All 11 football teams will be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference football championship this season.
It has been repeated several times by Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson that it is the goal of the Sun Belt to get to 12 football-playing members so they can break into divisions and most importantly have a football Championship game.
ULL and Arkansas State shared the regular-season title last year with a 5-2 conference record while South Alabama, in it’s first season as a full FBS member and first season eligible for the title, finished second in the conference with a 4-3 record after defeating ULL 30-8 in the season finale. Though the Jags were bowl eligible at 6-6, they were not extended an invitation.
The conference begins play on August 27 when Georgia State hosts Abilene Christian. The Jags open their season on September 6 when they travel to Kent State.
South Alabama Releases 2014 Women’s Soccer Schedule
South Alabama released the 2014 women’s soccer schedule on Tuesday. Out of the 20 matches scheduled, 11 of them will be in Mobile.
A home exhibition match against Jacksonville State on August 15th will get their schedule underway before the regular season debut when they host UAB on August 22. UAB defeated the Jaguars 3-2 last season in Birmingham as they finished the season 11-7-2. Nicholls State will visit on August 24, they finished the 2013 season with a record of 12-6-2 with one of their two ties coming against the Jaguars in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
The following weekend the Jags will travel to Troy for the Trojan Classic where the Jags will face Tennessee Tech and Kennesaw State on August 29 and 31 respectively.
On September 5 they will return home to host Southern Miss before three-consecutive games on the road against Southern (September 7), Mississippi State (September 12) and Alabama A&M (September 14).
South Alabama will then host the Jaguar Classic to start a five-match homestand which will also begin conference play for the Jaguars. USA will face North Florida and Fancis Marion on September 19 and 21 respectively. Then they will begin their Sun Belt Conference schedule with Troy on September 26, Louisiana-Monroe on October 3 and Louisiana-Lafayette on October 5.
The Jags will then rotate between pairs of road and homestands to finish out the season. It will begin with a two match road trip at Texas State on October 10 and Appalachian State on October 12. Followed up with a two match homestand against Georgia Southern and Georgia State on October 17 and 19 respectively.
They will then finish out the season with two matches on the road against Arkansas State and Arkansas-Little Rock on October 24 and 26 respectively.
The Jags will look to defend their Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship on November 5-9 at The Cage on the South Alabama campus.
“The opening weekend is going to be big for us,” coach Winkworth said. “We play two teams that we failed to beat last season, so we know we’re going to be in for a test.”
“Our conference schedule is very tough,” Winkworth continued. “We have a lot of traveling to do with flights and long bus rides, so that’s going to be very difficult. The hardest thing is that we’re going to have such a young squad and getting them used to the rigors of such intense travel is going to be difficult, but we have some pretty good leadership with the 10 that are returning so I’m excited about that.”
South Alabama Announced Kickoff Times For Mississippi State, Troy Home Games
Jaguar Pat Moore closes in on Mississippi State quarterback Tyler Russell in the first quarter of the Jaguars 30-10 loss to the Bulldogs on September 22, 2012.
The University of South Alabama announced the times for two more football games this fall.
The Jaguars home opener against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday, September 13 will kick off at 3pm (CDT) at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. It will also be be nationally televised on ESPN News.
The Jags game against the Bulldogs will be the second game in a 2-for-1 series. The Jags traveled to Starkville in 2012 and will return to Starkville in 2016 in the third and final game of the three-game series.
The Jaguars will host Sun Belt Conference and in-state rival Troy on Friday, October 24 with kickoff time scheduled for 6:30pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. In the third meeting between the two schools, it will also be the third time that their match-up will be televised. This season it will be televised on ESPNU nationally.
Last season the Jaguars trailed 24-7 early in the third quarter but the Jaguars scored 20 points in the fourth quarter with the 65 yard touchdown pass from Ross Metheny to Jereme Jones and a two-point conversion from Metheny to Corey Besteda to take a 33-27 lead with 0:48 left in the game. However a desperate heave into the endzone by Corey Robinson was caught by Eric Thomas to tie the game with the extra point giving the Trojans a one point lead 34-33 with 0:07 left in the game. The Jags were unable to get it into the endzone with one second left from their own 32 yard line.
Tickets for the Mississippi State home game are currently available only as part of a 2014 Jaguar Football season ticket plan with limited availability on the West side of the stadium. According to the South Alabama Ticket Office, single-game ticket availability is not guaranteed. A season ticket purchase will give you ticket to Mississippi State and Troy along with Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Texas State and Navy. Visit the South Alabama Athletics home page for tickets or call the South Alabama Ticket Office by calling 251.461.1USA.
Jaguar Football Announces Two Road Kickoff Dates This Fall
The University of South Alabama announced kickoff times for their first two road games of the 2014 season.
They will open the season on Saturday, September 6 at Kent State with kickoff scheduled for 1pm CDT and will be broadcast live on ESPN3. This will be the Jaguars second trip to Kent, Ohio and the third time overall they have met on the gridiron. The Jags lost the first game in 2012 in Ohio, then defeated them last season in Mobile.
The Jags will then return home for two games, including their home opener against Mississippi State and their conference opener against Sun Belt newcomer Georgia Southern.
Their next road game will be on September 27 when they travel to Moscow, Idaho to take on the Idaho Vandals in the Kibbie Dome. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 4pm CDT. This will be the Vandals first season in the Sun Belt as they joined as football-only members.
Kickoff times for all remaining games are still yet to be determined.
Phil Steele Selects League Leading 18 Jaguars To All-Conference Teams
Phil Steele, sportswriter and analyst who releases one of the most popular preseason magazines each season, recently released his preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team with South Alabama well represented.
In all 18 Jaguars made it into his list, which is tops for the conference. The next closest is co-defending conference champion Louisiana-Lafayette with 15, then co-defending champion Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe and Texas State with 13.
Shavarez Smith WR, Wes Saxton TE, Melvin Meggs OG and Aleem Sunanon K all received First-Team selections.
Drew Dearman OG, Chris May OT, Ucambre Williams OT, Maleki Harris LB and Montell Garner CB all received Second-Team selections.
Jay Jones RB, Danny Woodson WR, Jerome McClain DT, Qudarius Ford CB, Terrell Brigham S and TJ. Glover KR received Third-Team selections.
Marvin Shinn WR, Jimmie Gipson LB, and Jesse Kelley DT received Fourth-Team selections.
Last season the Jaguars only had eight selections to Steele’s Preseason team. This season, four of the five starting offensive linemen were selected to either the first or second team. Three players from the secondary were selected and three wide receivers were selected.
If his selections are any indications as to how the Jags may fare against Sun Belt opponents this season, the season looks bright for the Jaguars.
South Alabama opens the 2014 season at Kent State on September 6 and open their home schedule the following week when they host Mississippi State on September 13.
USA’s Jereme Jones Selected One of 14 for ’14 Freakish Athletes In College Football
Jereme Jones was included in the list of 14 freakish athletes in college football for 2014 by Mike Huguenin on NFL.com. Jones will be a senior in 2014. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Jereme Jones was selected as 14 for ’14 Most Freakish athletes in college football by Mike Huguenin.
The Jaguar fans were posting this all around on Social Media sites, for good reason. Jereme Jones was named #12 on the list with his 84 receptions and 10 touchdowns over the past two seasons. But little did many know that he was pound-for-pound the strongest guy on the Jaguars team.
According to the article he reportedly is 5’8″, 167-pounds, squats 545 pounds, bench presses 365 pounds and hang cleans 335 pounds. He also has been timed with a 4.48 40-yard dash can vertical jump 37.5 inches and broad jump 10’1″. He reportedly only has 7.5% body fat too.
But what they did not note was his consecutive games with a pass-reception streak is currently sitting at 39-consecutive games and also his ability to make some amazing catches. Jereme has the heart of a Jaguar with the hands that seemingly are coated with stickum spray.
Jones is in good company with players from Arizona State, Oregon, Iowa, Florida State, Northwestern, Georgia, East Carolina, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Syracuse, Auburn, Baylor and Louisville.
Congratulations Jereme! I know all of the Jaguar fans look forward to see what you do your senior season.
Head over to NFL.com and read the article for yourself. Click here for the link directly to the page.
Jag Football Has Two Honored At SBC Banquet; New Additions To Team Are On Campus
Junior Rush Hendricks was named to the CoSIDA’s Academic All-District team last season and was named the Sun Belt Conference Postgraduate Scholar Athlete of the Year at the SBC Spring Banquet. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
During the Sun Belt Conference Spring Banquet, the Jaguars had a member of the football team and a former member of the team honored last week.
Rush Hendricks was selected as the Sun Belt Conference Postgraduate Scholar Athlete of the Year. The 6’3″, 235-pound tight end from Jay, Florida earned his degree in exercise science earlier this month while graduating with a 4.00 GPA. Last fall he was voted to the first-team CoSIDA All Academic All-District IV team and has been twice named to the Sun Belt Commissioner’s List.
He was ranked among the team leaders in special teams tackles with six, two of which came against Kent State in the Jaguars homecoming win where he also caught a pass. He has lettered three times while playing tight end and on special teams since joining the team in 2010.
Hendricks will enroll in the physical therapy program this fall and has one season of eligibility remaining.
Ross Metheny was selected to be a representative on the Leadership Team after he earned second-team All-Conference honors in the fall after leading the team to a 6-6 record overall and a 4-3 record in conference play as the teams quarterback in the schools first season as a full member of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.
Metheny, a native of Stephens City, Virginia, received his master’s degree in education leadership with a 4.00 GPA earlier this month. He ranked in the top 10 in the conference in total offense, passing yards per game, pass efficiency rating and rushing yards per game.
He was also voted as the Jaguar Male Student-Athlete of the Year after his second season as a Jaguar and after his final season of eligibility.
New Additions On Campus
In other news about the football program. A number of junior college transfers and an incoming freshman are reportedly now on campus.
Defensive tackles Bryson Johnson and Dondre Chanet are now on campus. Johnson was listed at 6’4″, 295-pounds with a 4.8 40-yard dash. Chanet is listed at 6’2″, 304-pounds. Both come in to help replace a number of defensive linemen who graduated after five years with the Jaguars.
UL-Lafayette Set To Host Baseball Regional
Coming off of winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns have earned a top ranking in the polls for the first time in program history and will host the Lafayette Regional in their quest to get to the College World Series.
The Cajuns (53-7) earned their first-ever top ranking in the Baseball America and USA Today polls and regained their top ranking in the Collegiate Baseball ranking, which they held for three weeks earlier this season.
Lafayette holds the national best record and the longest winning streak as they head into the NCAA Tournament with 10 games. Sophomore Blake Trahan was named the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player and was named as one of six Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week. His home run against UT-Arlington in the championship game of the SBC Tournament gave the Cajuns a 6-5 win. In the past four games he has gone 7-for-11 with a home run, a double, two triples and 5 RBI.
The Cajuns will open play on Friday, May 30 at 7:00pm against #4 seed Jackson State. They will then face the winner of #2 seed Mississippi State and #3 seed San Diego State who will play at 2:30pm on Friday, May 30.
SBC Baseball Tournament Update
On one side of the bracket, #1 seed UL-Lafayette defeated #4 seed Texas State 11-4 to advance to face the winner between #4 Texas State and #8 UL-Monroe in Game 11 scheduled for Saturday at 11am on ESPN3.
Texas State and UL-Monroe will face off in Game 9 scheduled for 3:00pm on Friday.
In the other side of the bracket #6 seed Troy fell to #2 seed UT-Arlington 7-3 to advance to play in game 12 scheduled for 12:30pm Saturday on ESPN3. They will face the winner of Game 10 between #6 Troy and #3 Arkansas State which is scheduled for 6:30pm on Friday.
Jags Eliminated From SBC Tournament
The South Alabama baseball team was eliminated from the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Thursday after they fell to #3 seeded Arkansas State 4-3 at Eddie Stanky Field.
Jaguar Locke St. John took the loss after throwing 7 2/3 innings where he only allowed one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. ASU’s Bradley Wallace allowed one earned run on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks to earn the win.
Arkansas State took the lead in the top of the first inning after a leadoff walk to Zach Maggio. He would move to second on a throwing error by St. John in a failed pickoff attempt at first base. Tanner Ring would hit a one-out RBI single up the middle to score Maggio for a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, the Jaguars loaded the bases on three consecutive singles by Garrett DeGallier, Bud Collura and Cole Gleason. DeGallier would score when Erik Hindmon reached on a fielder’s choice to tie the game at 1-1.
In the bottom of the second, Davis Knapp would hit a leadoff single to right field. Collura would single with one out then Gleason would single again to load the bases. However Wallace would get Connor Hawthorne to fly out to right field ending the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Jags took the lead after DeGallier reached on a two-base fielding error by the ASU first baseman to lead off the inning. Hawthorne would hit a two-out RBI single to right field to score DeGallier for a 2-1 lead.
ASU would tie the game in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by pinch hitter Derek Birginske. The would then retake the lead 3-2 with an RBI single to center field by Austin Baker and forcing St. John from the game.
The Red Wolves would add an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Stuart Levy would hit a one-out single to right field then advance to second when Cameron Cummings mishandled the ball in the gap. A two-out RBI single to center field by Lucas Feddersen would put them up 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth.
With one out, DeGallier doubled down the left field line. He would then score the final run of the game on a two-out RBI single to right field by Gleason, but the Jags were unable to push another run across the plate to send it to extra inning.
Cole Gleason went 3-for-5 with one RBI to lead the Jags at the plate. Garrett DeGallier went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored. Bud Collura had two hits.
The Jags season ends with a 22-33 record overall while Arkansas State (31-26) to Advance.