Jaguars Recruiting Effort Pays Off With Strong Signing Class
The 2015 South Alabama Jaguar Football Recruiting Class is a very good one. This could easily be the most talented recruiting class that Coach Jones and his staff has landed in the programs six years of existence.
The Jaguars class was ranked 3rd in the conference after a late addition bumped them up a spot. But that rating only includes the JUCO and High School student-athletes in the class, it does not include the UAB transfers. Head coach Joey Jones said at his signing day social that he has no doubt in his mind that USA has the best signing class in the conference overall.
Two things you will notice about this signing class: 1) the secondary players are tall with three of the five who signed are over six feet tall, and 2) great size.
Roy Albritton, 6’2″ 310-pound defensive lineman from Pensacola HS. He played in both the Max Emfinger All-American Bowl and the Pensacola Subway All-Star Game.
Dami Ayoola, 5’10” 200-pound running back from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. via Arizona Western CC. He helped his team go 11-1 and finish 5th in the NJCAA poll.
De’Themeus “Bull” Barge, 5’9″ 220-pound linebacker from Colquitt County HS in Georgia. He was rated a three-star athlete from 247Sports.com. He helped his team go 15-0 en route to the state 6A championship.
Cameron Blankenship, 6’5″ 285-pound offensive lineman from Alexander City, AL via UAB. He was a three-year letterwinner for the Blazers and started all 11 games he appeared in as a sophomore at Dodge City CC in Kansas.
James Bynes, a 6’3″ 230-pound tight end from Miami, FL., by way of Dodge City CC. He caught 30 passes for 269 yards in all 11 games as a sophomore at Dodge City C.
Austin Chipoletti, 5’11” 190-pound quarterback from Jacksonville, FL. by way of UAB. Chipoletti completed 172-of-302 attempts for 1,650 yards and eight touchdowns with 142 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in 2013 for Weber State.
Cody Clements, 6’2″ 200-pound quarterback from Whittier, CA. via UAB. In his first and only season with the Blazers, Clements finished 4th in Conference USA in pass efficiency rating (145.6) as he wetn 183-of-275 for 2,227 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Tavon Cox, 6’3 195-pound linebacker from Kissimme, FL., Haines City HS. Cox was rated a three-star prospect by Scout.com, ESPN.com and 247Sports.com. He had 71 tackles and four sacks his senior season.
Lee Dufour, 6’4″ 285-pound offensive lineman from Saraland, AL. by way of UAB. Defour was going to redshirt his freshman season but played in the last three games of the season to help the Blazers earn bowl eligibility for the first time in 10 years.
Gerald Everett, 6’4″ 215-pound tight end from Decatur, GA. by way of UAB. He cause 17 passes for 292 yards in his only season with the Blazers. He started one game but saw action in all 12 games.
Sean Grayer, 6’2″ 240-pound defensive end/outside linebacker from Glay HS in Green Cove Springs, FL. He recorded 81 stops and fourced five fumbles in his senior season as he was selected to the first-team All-District and second-team All-State teams.
Kalen Jackson, 6’1″ 200-pound linebacker from Magee, MS. by way of UAB. Jackson started the first two games for the Blazers but suffered a season-ending injury. Against Troy he had five tackles and a fumble recovery.
Quinton Lane, 6’1″ 185-pound cornerback from Ackerman, MS. by way of Itawamba CC. He recorded 25 total tackles, 20 solo, with a team-high eight passes broken up as a sophomore.
Nigel Lawrence, 5’11” 175-pound defensive back from Smiths Stateion HS in Alabama. He was rated a three-star athlete by 247Sports.com and among the top 35 players in the state. He had 91 stops his senior year of school.
JarMarkus Sims, 6’1″ 210-pound safety from Dothan HS in Alabama. He was rated a three-star athlete by 247Sports and was rated as the second-best safety in the state of Alabama by ESPN.com. He was also selected First-Team All-State.
Troy Thingstad, 6’5″ 275-pound offensive lineman from St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile. He was rated a three-star athlete by Scout.com, ESPN.com and 247Sports.com. He was also named to the first-team All-State team as a senior after helping his team with the 5A state championship.
Jalen Thompson, a 6′ 170-pound cornerback from St. Paul’s Eposcopal School in Mobile. He was rated a three-star althlete by Rivals.com, Scout.com, ESPN.com and 247Sports.com. He was also rated the second-best cornerback in the state of Alabama by Scout and ESPN.
Tyree Turner, 6′ 265-pound defensive lineman from StockBridge GA. HS. He was selected to the All-Region team twice, including last season after helping his team to the semifinals of the 5A state playoffs and to an 11-3 record overall.
D.J. Vinson, 5’10” 180-pound running back from Pinson, AL. by way of UAB. He finished second on the team with 670 yards and nine touchdowns on 166 attempts last season. He also added 65 yards on 15 catches and a touchdown as well.
Rashaan Watson, 5’10” 180-pound cornerback from Pinellas Park HS in Largo, FL. He was a first-team All-District, All-County and All-Conference selection in 2014 after helping his team go 8-3 and qualifying for the 7A state playoffs.
Jeffrey Whatley, 6’1″ 265-pound defensive end from Dale County HS in Midland City AL. He was selected to the first-team All-State team his final two seasons and helped his team to the 3A state championship game as a senior with 105 total stops along the way.
Curtis Williams, 6’4″ 285-pound offensive lineman from Miami, FL. by way of ASA CC in New York. He was a second-team All-Northeast Football Conference selection in 2013 as he helped his team to a 7th place finish in the final NJCAA rankings.
Tyrone Williams, 6’2″ 200-pound wide receiver from Kiln, MS via Mississippi Gulf Coast CC. He was a first-team All-MACJC selection as a sophomore after leading his team with 46 catches for 812 yards and 12 touchdowns.
De’Arius Young, 6’7″ 310-pound offensive lineman from Cincinnati, OH by way of San Bernadino Valley, CA. CC. He was named to the first-team All-Region and All-Mountain Conference as a sophomore as his team averaged 413 yards and 36.2 points per game.
Alex “Speedy” Byers, 6’2″ 175-pound wide receiver from Antelope Valley College in California. He had 23 catches for 398 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games. He also returned 14 kicks for 496 yards and three touchdowns. He has three years to play two at USA.
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Jaguar Softball opens season against Crimson Tide Thursday
#23 ranked South Alabama hosts #3 ranked Alabama on Thursday evening in their season opener and it will be in front of a sold-out crowd at Jaguar Field.
The Jaguars 2014 season ended with a 1-0 loss to the Crimson Tide that they hope to avenge to start the 2015 season.
Leading the Jaguars is a trio of Preseason All-Sun Belt team members.
Senior Farish Beard was one of two pitchers named to the All-SBC team after being a first-team All-SBC honoree in 2014 and finishing the year as a National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-South Region selection for the second season in a row. She also finished sixth in the NCAA in ERA with a 1.23 and helped the Jags finish atop the NCAA statistical category with a 1.29 ERA. She was also named to the Top 50 Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List.
Stephanie Pilkington and Blair Johnson combined to take two of the three Preseason All-SBC spots in the outfield. Pilkington was an All-Conference first-teamer last season with the second highest batting average on the team with .292 while leading the team in hits, triples and sacrifice hits.
Johnson was a second-teamer last season and was second on the team in hits, sacrifice hits and sacrifice flies. This is her third Preseason All-SBC team honor.
Additionally the Jaguars were voted to finish second in the conference behind Louisiana-Lafayette. The Cajuns had 79 total points and 7 first place votes while the Jaguars finished with 74 total points and two first place votes. No other school received first place votes.
2015 National Signing Day is here
Today is National Signing Day. This is the first day that football recruits can finally officially sign their National Letter-Of-Intent to join football programs around the nation.
Recruiting a never-ending job. Most of the recruits were probably evaluated as many as two years ago or more. Through all that time coaches have kept tabs on them, offered them, talked to them, visited them and re-evaluated them time and time again to ensure they have targeted players to fill the needs of the team.
Similarly, recruits are looking at schools who have offered them to see if they feel like its a good fit for them. They have coaches, family and friends in their ear almost every day telling them where they should go or where they shouldn’t go. Which leads to some interesting National Signing Day’s.
Each year fans and coaches eagerly wait for signatures to come in from the recruits because, until that signature is in, who knows where recruits will actually sign.
There are writers and analysts who make their living just by analyzing recruiting. Whole websites have started based on recruiting. It’s become big business and cause for speculation. Diehard fans read recruiting analysis daily. Some send tweets to recruits endlessly congratulating them for choosing their school or villifying them for shunning their school for another school or a rival institution.
It can get quite sickening to see supposed grown-ups tweeting such things to teenagers to be honest.
While this list is not a guarantee as to who will sign with South Alabama, these are prospects who have verbally committed to the Jaguars. It’s always likely that some of them will suddenly choose to sign with someone else and be replaced with names not on this list who have done the same thing to another school.
Current players who have already signed LOI’s with the Jaguars:
- Dami Ayoola RB Arizona Western College
- James Bynes TE Dodge City CC
- Quinton Lane CB Itawamba CC
- Tyrone Williams WR Mississippi Gulf Coast CC.
This list of commits have given their verbals to South Alabama and seem to be fairly solid at some point.
- Jalen Thompson CB St. Paul’s Episcopal (Mobile, AL)
- Roy Albritton DT Pensacola FL.
- Ryan Alexander TE Holy Trinity (Hicksville, NY)
- Bull Barge OLB Colquitt Count GA.
- Zach Davis OT Lauderdale County AL.
- DeSean Grayer OLB Clay (Green Cove Springs, FL.)
- Nigel Lawrence S Smiths Station AL.
- Uvakeious McGhee WDE Jefferson Davis (Montgomery, AL.)
- Gavin Patterson K Bradley-Bourbannais (Bradley, IL.)
- Jervohnte Riles WR Jones County JC (Ellsville, MS.)
- JaMarkus Sims OLB Dothan AL.
- Nelson Santiago OT Oakleaf (Orange Park, FL.)
- Troy Thingstad OT St. Paul’s Episcopal (Mobile, AL.)
- Tyree Turner DT Stockbridge GA.
- Rashaan Watson CB Pinellas Park (Largo, FL.)
- Jerrery Whatley WDE Dale County Christian (Ozark, AL.)
- Curtis Williams OT ASA College (Brooklyn, NY)
Check back this evening for a recap of who signed with South Alabama and a review of the 2015 signing class.
Jags use big second half to defeat ULL 89-85
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team overcame a 10-point halftime deficit by scoring 56 points in the second half to sweep the season series against Louisiana-Lafayette with an 89-85 win Thursday night.
The victory improves the Jaguars record to 7-14 overall and 5-5 in Sun Belt Conference play. ULL drops to 11-10 overall and 5-5 in conference play as well.
Taishaun Johnson had a career night with 23 points, 15 of which came in the second half, as he went 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Ken Williams added 19 points, Barrington Stevens III scored 17 points with a game-high six assists, and Dionte Ferguson scored all of his 16 points in the second half.
USA used a 15-4 run in the second half to take a 58-54 lead with 10:36 left in the game. But ULL would not go away so easy as they went on a 6-2 run to tie the game 60-60.
The Jags would responnd with a 13-4 run to take a 73-64 lead with just under five minutes remaining.
In a stretch of 1:38 seconds, the Jaguars went 6-of-15 from the charity stripe which kept the Cajuns in the game. This allowed the opposition to get with three points in the final 31.4 seconds of the game. However the Jags shugged off the sudden cold streak at the line to make their final five attempts and hold on for the win.
“Overall, we had a solid first half except for our transition defense and rebounding the ball,” head coach Matthew Graves said. “In the locker room we talked about how if we do those two things, we would really like the results in the second half. I thought we did an outstanding job in the second half of fighting through fatigue and a little bit of adversity. Ken [Williams] and Taishaun played with four fouls for a vast majority of that. Adbul got hit in the mouth and his tooth was hurting. Guys came in and played really well. It was a hard-fought victory.
“(UL Lafayette) is a really deep, physical team. I think you can tell by watching the game that their bodies are more physically mature than ours. It’s a great lesson for us moving forward on how much we have to invest and get in the weight room. Overall, I’m really proud of our effort and how we fought all the way to the end.”
“I think they made timely shots,” Graves said of Williams, Stevens and Johnson. “It wasn’t just one guy. It was by committee. They’re understanding how to play off of each other even better. When Taishaun drives, our spacing is getting better. He did a better job tonight of not over dribbling. He has a tendency to do that, obviously. Tonight he didn’t over dribble as much as he normally did, and we got the ball moving side to side more in the second half. We talk about getting the ball to three sides of the floor, and we really did that. It made them guard a little bit longer, and I think they wore down because of it.”
Lafayette’s Shawn Long scored 20 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and came away with 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Kasey Shepherd added 20 points with five 3-pointers and five assists off the bench.
“We couldn’t stop them in the second half,” ULL head coach Bob Marlin said. “We came out and couldn’t defend at the level we should. We are last in the league in defense and our defending was horrible. We didn’t defend, giving them 63 percent. We didn’t get a whistle, missed a couple free throws, didn’t get a break and still had the ball to be tied.”
The Jaguars travel to Monroe, Louisiana to face the Warhawks on Saturday with a 4pm tipoff.
South Alabama announces home-and-home series with SDSU
South Alabama has filled two open spots in their 2015 and 2016 schedules by adding a home-and-home series with San Diego State University. The open spots were created after the sudden announcement that UAB would cease sponsoring football.
The Jags will travel to San Diego State on September 19 this year and SDSU will visit Mobile on October 1, 2016 for the return.
USA Director of Atheltics Dr. Joel Erdmann said that during the fall of 2013 they were beginning to work on a home-and-home series with SDSU but the opportunity to schedule UAB came up and in the interest of local interest, short bus ride and reasonable cost for a road game, it was “more logical choice to play UAB.”
However, when UAB shut down football the Jags were left with two open dates on their schedule. It was very fortunate that San Diego State had yet to find a FBS opponent that fit perfectly into their schedule for 2015 and ’16.
While the 2015 Sun Belt Conference schedule for 2015 will be announced in March, it will feature road games at Troy, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Texas State with home games against Idaho, Appalachian State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State.
The Jaguars 2015 non-conference schedule include a home date against FCS Gardner-Webb on September 5, a road game at Nebraska on September 12 and at San Diego State on September 19, then back home to host North Carolina State on September 26.
Head coach Joey Jones told AL.com “We look forward to playing those guys [San Diego State]. It’s a football program with a lot of tradition and we look forward to the series.”
He also mentioned that its a great addition to assure a tough schedule for the Jaguars.
USA’s 2016 non-conference schedule includes a trip to Mississippi State on September 3, home games against Nicholls State on September 24 and San Diego State on October 1, and a road trip to LSU on October 15. Sun Belt Conference opponents for 2016 have not been announced yet.
As previously mention, the school also formally announced the home-and-home series against Memphis for 2018-’19.
Jaguars hire former UAB tight ends coach Richard Owens
The University of South Alabama has filled another offensive coaching spot. Former UAB tight ends coach Richard Owens has joined the staff, presumably filling the same position.
Owens spent three seasons in Birmingham with the Blazers. He was tight ends coach in 2012 then switched to wide receivers in addition to offensive coordinator. Then under first-year head coach Bill Clark he went back to tight ends as Bryant Vincent assumed offensive coordinator duties.
Prior to UAB, Owens spent two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas where he also worked with the tight ends.
Owens played collegiately at Louisville before a five-year NFL career where he played for the St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings and N.Y. Jets. He appeared in 53 NFL games between 2004-09 and started seven games.
As a redshirt freshman at Louisville he played in all 12 games with three starts adn was selected to the Conference USA All-Freshman team at tight end.
He is a native of Middleburg, FL.
Jaguar Softball #23 in NFCA/USAToday Preseason Poll
The University of South Alabama softball team starts the season ranked in the top 25 for the second consecutive season. On Tuesday, it was announced that the Jaguars were ranked #23 in the NFCA/USAToday Division I Preseason Poll.
The Jaguars finished the season last year ranked #22 after posting a 42-14 (15-6 SBC) record. They finished second in the Sun Belt Conference regular-season standings and appeared in an NCAA Regional final for the third consecutive time.
USA returns 11 letterwinners from last year including eight starters and eight seniors after losing only two to graduation.
South Alabama opens their 2015 schedule against #3 ranked Alabama on February 5. Other notable opponents in the top 25 are: #9 Louisiana-Lafayette and #19 LSU. South Carolina also received votes but not enough to appear in the top 25.
Florida topped the poll for the second time in program history after winning their first-ever Women’s College World Series title last year. Oregon, a semifinalist in the WCWS last year was voted #2 by a narrow margin behind the Gators.
Alabama Director of Player Personnel to join USA staff according to reports
Reports have surfaced that South Alabama head coach Joey Jones will be announcing the hiring of University of Alabama Director of Player Personnel Tyler Siskey to coach wide receivers.
Siskey formerly coached wide receivers at Arkansas State from 2008 to 2011. After ASU he was the Coordinator of Recruiting Development at Ole Miss. He helped the Rebels’ recruiting efforts that landed a top 10 ranked class for 2013. He joined the Alabama staff in March 2013.
Jags hold off late rally to defeat UALR 66-64
South Alabama held off a Arkansas-Little Rock’s late rally with two key free throws by Ken Williams for a 66-64 win Monday night. The win evens the Jaguars conference record at 4-4 and 6-12 overall while UALR falls to 6-11 and 1-6 in Sun Belt play.
The Jaguars led by as many as 14 points early in the second half and led by 12 midway through the second half before a 15-3 run by the Trojans over a span of almost seven minutes tied the game at 61 each with 3:31 left. During that span, the Jags had eight turnovers.
However freshman Abdul Lewis answered for the Jags and junior Barrington Stevens III hit a free throw with under a minute left in the game to give USA a three point advantage.
But the Trojans would tie it up in the final 40.9 seconds on three free throws with the final two coming with 15.5 seconds left to tie the game at 64-64.
Williams would take the possession from the Jags half of the court and drove the rest of the way before the Trojans could foul him. After a UALR time out, Williams sunk both shots.
Josh Hagins put up a desperation shot that fell short of the basket giving the Jaguars the 66-64 win.
The Jags were led by Williams and his 20 points which is his fourth consecutive 20-point game. Williams made three 3-pointers, tied a career high with seven rebounds and a team-high four assists.
Dionte Ferguson added 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Taishaun Johnson added 12 and Lewis added 10.
South Alabama will look to win their third consecutive game when they travel to Boone, NC for the first time to face Appalachian State on Thursday. Tip off is scheduled for 6:30pm.
Jags Upset ULL on the road 89-82
South Alabama men’s basketball team came alive in the second half against Louisiana-Lafayette to rally and defeat the Cajuns 89-82 on Saturday at the Cajundome.
The Jags ended the Cajuns 12-game home win streak and improved their record to 5-12 overall and 3-4 in Sun Belt play. The Cajuns fall to 10-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
USA rallied from a 15 point deficit in the first half to trail by nine at halftime 44-35. Sophomore Ken Williams led the way with a career high 28 to lead the Jaguars to their third win in their last four visits to the Cajundome. Williams is also the first Jaguar to score 23 or more points in four consecutive games since Jeff Hodge in 1988-89.
Freshman Taishaun Johnson added 15 points, 13 of them in the second half, and pulled down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
The cajuns closed to 77-74 with 2:15 left in the game but USA responded with the next four points and were able to put the game away at the free throw line with six consecutive conversions in the final 37.4 seconds.
ULL was led by Shawn Long with 22 points and a game-high 22 rebounds. Kasey Shepherd and Brian Williams each added 13 points and Jay Wright had 12.
Georgi Boyanov came off the bench to score 14 points while going 2-of-2 from distance. Abdul Lewis and Dionte Ferguson both added 11 points with Ferguson also blocking three shots.
The Jaguars will end a run of three games in five days when they host Arkansas-Little Rock at the Mitchell Center on Monday for a 7:05pm tipoff. The Trojans enter the game with a 6-10 record overall and 1-5 in conference play.