Defense Stiffens Up In Second Preseason Scrimmage
Saturday morning was beautiful day for South Alabama to have their scrimmage. It was completely opposite of how the weather had been all week when it force practices to be cut short or canceled. It was also very different for the defense from last weeks performance when they gave up six touchdowns and nearly four hundred yards.
The defense came out with something to prove on Saturday and did they prove it to the offense. They only gave up one touchdown and two field goals outside of the red zone and goal line situational drills. Justin Dunn lead the defense with five tackles and one assist behind the line of scrimmage. Five players, Chris Cooke, Clifton Crews, Bryson James, Matt Saucier and Enrique Williams all had four tackles with Cooke and Williams both having two tackles for loss. Charlie Higgenbotham added three tackles while Josh Chestang had two tackles, both being sacks on quarterback Myles Gibbon. Zach Rone recovered a fumble and Brett Hancock came away with an interception to accound for the two first-half turnovers.
The scrimmage began with the Jaguar offense starting deep in their own territory at the two yard-line. In four plays the offense picked up two first downs. Brandon Ross gained six yards on a run for one of the first downs and Gibbon hitting Kevin Helms on the left sideline for 21 yards for the other first down. On the offenses second series, Enrique Williams tackled Eli Smith for a safety on the second-team’s first snap. However they regrouped and picked up a pair of first downs. Brennan Sim found Corey Besteda for 11 yards for one. Then three plays later Sim found Bryant Lavender for 17 yards for the other first down.
On Saturday, Kim Shugart posted an article on al.com for the Mobile Press-Register about the place-kickers. It covered their troubles in last weeks scrimmage and continued struggles to become consistent. You can read the article here. But it was Michel Chapuseaux who scored the first points for the offense on Saturday with a 38 yard field goal. A key play setting up the field goal attempt was a 35 yard completion from Gibbon to Ralph Turner. On the very next series, Chapuseaux had a 48 yard attempt hit the left upright and bounce off. That attempt was set up by a 19 yard completion to Lemontis Gardner by Gibbon on a third and nine from their own 41 yard line. While Lawson McGlon hit both PAT attempts and Jordan Means hit a PAT as well.
The next series the first-team drove inside the 15 yard line but the second sack of the day by Chestang, eventually led to a fourth and four situation from the 11 yard line. Gibbon then ran a quarterback draw but was stopped one yard shy by Anthony Taylor.
On the second-teams second drive, they drove to the defense’s 38 yard line but Nick Owens was sacked by Alex Tamariz for an eight yard loss on third down to end the series. However, Owens would lead the offense to the events first touchdown the next time on the field, capping off a five play 50 yard drive with an Eli Smith rush off right tackle for 27 yards.
The second possession by the third-team offense crossed midfield as well, but was ended by a fumble recovered by Rone.
After a short break, the defense came back and prevented the offense from scoring on both series following the break. On the first of two red zone possession drills starting at the defense’s 20 yard line, Chapuseaux hit a 39 yard field goal. The scrimmage ended with two touchdowns on goal line drives starting at the 5 yard line. Ross found the end zone on the first team’s first play. Then on third and goal from the six, Owens rolled left and hit Nick Brunson in the corver of the end zone for the other touchdown.
Myles Gibbon went 8-for-13 for 105 yard in the air and 21 yards rushing on six carries. Nick Owens went 6-for8 for 45 yards and a touchdown. Brennan Sim went 2-for-7 for 28 yards and an interception. Gabe Graham went 3-for-4 adding 28 yards also. Each quarterback was sacked once. Combined all four South Alabama quarterbacks went 19-of-32 for 206 yards. Ross had 10 rushes for 47 yards, Eli Smith had four for 30 yards and Anthony Mostella had 3 rushes for 20 yards. Combined the offense rushed 43 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns. The offense combined for 310 yards for the scrimmage. The complete stats can be found here.
After the scrimmage, Coach Jones commented on the defense by saying, “Defensively, they did a great job of bracing themselves in the red zone. They bent between the 20-yard lines, but toughened up. Offensively, we need to learn how to punch the ball in the end zone. That’s where most offenses have problems early in the year, and some of that is not allowing cut blocks because we don’t want to do that to our own guys. When you’re in the red zone, it’s hard to overcome a loss on first or second down, because the defense really has you where they want you.”
“One thing that the defense needs to work on is coming off the goal line,” Coach Jones observed. “One of my pet peeves is when we can’t keep teams pinned deep in their own territory. If we have them on the 2-yard line, let’s keep them down there, make them punt and get the ball around the 50. Then you have a greater percentage chance of scoring a touchdown.”
Jones continued speaking about the offense, “Nick had one of his better practices, he really did well this morning. I thought Myles had a good day too, he didn’t make any glaring mistakes that I saw. He was real poised out there, and he’s not getting flustered running our offense, which I like to see from a young quarterback. Brandon was tough running the ball. He’s not in shape yet because he’s been out a good deal with an injury, so he is not totatlly ready for a ball game. But, he is very tough on the inside.”
Gibbon spoke after the scrimmage saying, “We need to become more effective inside the red zone, because the most important part of an offense is being able to score when you get there. We had some big plays, but when we get down the field we need to execute better. Hopefully we can run the ball better in the red zone because when you’re passing there is so little space to throw to.”
Overall Coach Jones was happy with how the team responded and performed in their second preseason scrimmage. “Overall, I’m very pleased with both sides of the ball,” he said. “I thought we were a little more organized today, especially on the sidelines. One of the things we were trying to do was get them in the types of situations they’ll see in games as best we could, I think they learned a lot from that today. This was a real successful scrimmage.”
However, this team is quite different from the team that showed up for the spring scrimmage at Ladd-Peebles Stadium back in April. Coach Jones knew they would react differently because of that and he was right too. “It’s not that they were tight, but you could sense a little difference,” he said. “That’s why we brought them out here. We’ll do it again one more time before the first game to get them used to these surroundings.”
Myles Gibbon spoke about his visit to the stadium after the scrimmage by saying, “It felt good to finally come to where our home will be this fall and be in this atmosphere. When we walked out on the field, I just tried to imagine what it is going to be like having loads of people in here cheering and the stands filled from top to bottom. We’ll see what happens, but it’s exciting thinking about it.”
The Jags will have Sunday off and will return to the practice field for their 3:30pm practice time on Monday.
Thoughts And Observations After Jag Fan Day
In the last week, freshmen quarterback Myles Gibbon has separated himself from his competition to move up to first quarterback. Gibbon went 8-for-11 for 118 yards and a touchdown in the scrimmage on Saturday. While those numbers may not seem too impressive when you hear Greg McElroy went 19-for-29 for 188 yards and a touchdown. However, it was quite obvious that Gibbon’s talent is shining for the Jaguars and he has the ability to lead the offense.
While it might be preferable to have junior transfer Brennan Sim be the starting quarterback. However his off season medical problems has set him back. After his ordeal over the summer, its actually a small wonder that he is even on the field and playing at the level he is currently playing at. Not to diminish his skills in the least, he did go 5-for-7 for 78 yards himself in the scrimmage.
Gibbon did mention that the crowd that turned out for the scrimmage would rival the crowd that would turn out for his games in Canada on a good day. He was also very appreciative of everyone coming out just to watch a simple scrimmage. But he wasn’t the only one saying that either.
McGee, Mostella, Hill and Smith all showed that they have the ability to start in the backfield. Each one proved that they can run, block and catch the ball out of the backfield, which is what Coach Perry and Coach Jones was looking for in their running backs.
Not to say anything that any observer did not see in the spring or the fall scrimmage, but Courtney Smith has alot of talent. He will probably draw double coverage from defenses, but he has the strength and ability to still catch some balls. But double coverage on Smith will open up some of the other Jaguar receivers to make some big plays.
On defense, junior linebacker Justin Dunn, was always near the ball and in position to make the play. With 10 tackles for the game, he accounted for a tackle on nearly 1/10th of the plays. However the secondary play was suspect at times. Coach Jones acknowledged this by saying that they are still looking for kids to step up and make some plays in the secondary.
At times the offense was out of sync with each other. But with three more weeks of practice before the schools first-ever football game, there is plenty of time for these guys to improve and get more consistent.
Coach Jones has put together a really great staff and that is truly showing with how prepared their players are and how far they have come during this two week football camp. Like many other Jaguar fans, I cannot wait for September 5th to arrive, and neither can the players.
Jaguars First Fall Scrimmage Was Full Of Big Plays From Both Sides Of The Ball
Coach Jones looking over the field at the Jags first fall scrimmage.
Big plays was the name of the game at the University of South Alabama‘s first fall scrimmage. Both offense and defense put on a good show for the crowd who came out for the scrimmage.
The offense collectively had 393 yards and score six touchdowns on the day. The defense posted 15 sacks and 24 tackles for loss as well.
Myles Gibbon lead the first team offense and completed 8-of-11 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. Brennan Sim went 5-of-7 for 78 yards. The Jags totalled 217 yards through the air for the game. Courtney Smith lead the Jags with three catches for 68 yard and two touchdowns. Corey Besteda also caught three passes. Corey Waldon had two receptions for 61 yards.
Santuan McGee had 74 yards on eight carries to lead the Jaguars rushing attack. Anthony Mostella had 11 carries for 55 yards. Ellis Hill had 10 carries for 34 yards and Eli Smith had 19 yards. Each of the listed rushers reached the endzone.
The defense was led by Justin Dunn who had 10 tackles. Clifton Crews had seven tackles with four of them for a loss and a team high three sacks. Alex Phifer also had seven tackles. Charlie Higgenbotham, Bryson James and Enrique Williams all had six tackles. Josh Chestang, Andy Dalgleish and Anton Graphenreed all had two sacks each. In the second half, Marquise Diamond came away with the only turnover on an interception near the goal line. The defense allowed less than three yards per carry.
The defense was strong at first, only allowing one first down in the offense’s first four possesions of the scrimmage. However, the offense adjusted and had four big running plays. Eli Smith started it with a 12 yard run, followed by Gibbon’s scramble for 11 yards, then Smith ran for seven yards and finally McGee broke free on the left sideline for a 30 yard touchdown.
Gibbon took a short break while Sim guided the offense for two series. When Gibbon came back onto the field he immediately made a big play. The safeties bit on a play-action fake and Gibbon took advantage with a strike to Courtney Smith for a 55 yard touchdown pass.
The next two series would see the offense start to threaten but the defense would respond with a big play. The first series the offense had three plays of 12 yards or more to get down to the 15 yard line. But the defense would sack Gibbon which lead to a missed field goal by Jordan Means. The next series saw the offense get down to the 24 yard line before stopping Hill for a four yard loss and another missed field goal.
Gibbon returned to lead the offense after the half-time break. The offense started at midfield with McGee opening with a six yard run. Then Ralph Turner was stopped for a two yard loss on a completed pass. Then Gibbon scampered for 10 yards for the first down. Three consecutive run plays gave the offense another first down at the 24 yard line. However Gibbon was sacked on first down for a six yard loss putting the pressure on the offense with a second-and-16 on the 30 yard line. But Gibbon stepped up and found Corey Waldon for a 29 yard gain and a first-and-goal inside the one yard line. Eli Smith was stopped behind the line for a loss of five yards but would score on the following play.
Nick Owens had his best drive of the day two series later. He completed both of this two pass attempts and ran twice for 14 yards. Again, Eli Smith broke a six yard touchdown run, this time up the middle.
Brennan Sim lead a drive late in the day day. He hit Waldon for 32 yards to set up for a 13 yard scoring run by Ellis Hill. Then on the final drive of the day, Eli Smith had runs of nine and four yards to set up Nick Owens for a two-yard touchdown pass to Courtney Smith, his third of the day.
Key third down stops by the defense lead to four missed field goals on the day. They stopped Mostella short of a first down in the red zone on a pass reception. They forced two three-and-outs and ended another drive by stopping Eli Smith short of a first down on a fourth-and-three on the 13 yard line.
“I thought it was a good day, it was a typical first scrimmage. The guys were a little nervous out there with the crowd,” said Coach Jones. “But that’s the reason you do this, to get them exposed to game situations. We have two more weekends to do this.”
Coach Jones continued, “The effort was there, though we did get a little tired towards the end. The emotional level might not have been as high as it has been this month, but the bottom line is that a lot of the things we need to look at will be on film. The biggest thing the guys need to take from today is to learn from their experiences out there.”
“It went well today, we did a little better than I think we should have because it’s harder for the offense going against a defense that has seen our plays for a couple of weeks now,” said first team quarterback Myles Gibbon. “We had some ups and downs, but overall I thought we did pretty well.”
“You can always get into a rhythm, but all it takes is one bad play to get you out of it,” Gibbon explained. “Once we start moving, we want to stay consistent and keep pounding the ball – we don’t want our heads to get too big. If we get good protection up front a big play is going to happen. Our front five blocked well every time we made a big play today,” he continued. “Any time a quarterback can drop back and not feel pressured by the rush, he’s going to be able to throw the ball up and complete some long passes.”
“We ran the football a little better offensively, and had a couple of big throws as well,” Jones commented. “I was proud of the way that the quarterbacks controlled things on the field, and our running backs are really coming along. I think we can stick any of our running backs on the field and they will make plays.”
But Coach Jones reiterated, “Still, we had too many plays on first down where we lost eight or 10 yards – now you’re stuck with second-and-long, which the offense didn’t realize until they were put in a game situation. When it happens in practice and you lose eight yards it’s no big deal because you’re not driving to score a touchdown. In a scrimmage situation, they realize what a problem it is to overcome second-and-18.”
“Defensively I think our team speed is very good,” said Coach Jones. “We need to find a couple more guys who can play in the secondary and come through for us. The defense is playing real hard, their coaches have them playing at a fast pace. We’ve got to do a better job of preventing big plays – anytime you can keep the offense from breaking a big play you give yourself a chance to win the ball game.”
With a crowd of about 1,000 people turning out for this first scrimmage, it was quite refreshing to see the support from the area. The support really impressed some of the players as well. Myles Gibbon said, “It was interesting, this was bigger than anything I’ve seen back home. It’s nice to have that support and have a lot of people come out. They don’t know what to expect yet, so it’s nice that they were out here rooting for us.” He also said they were tired and a bit beat up from the last two weeks of camp. He also mentioned the pain in his legs when running the ball, but his strength of character, his leadership and the crowd helped him to keep going.
“What I told the kids is that we’ve been on the field for two weeks. We have two more weeks, and then we have a game week, so we’re really just halfway through camp,” said Coach Jones. “We’re not a finished product yet. If we get a little better every day, we’ll be fine in a couple of weeks.”
With classes starting on Monday, August 17th, the Jaguars will begin practicing at 3:30pm.
Coach Jones And The Jags Complete Final Practice Before Scrimmage And End Of Camp
The Jaguars hit the practice field twice on Thursday, their last day of practice before their scrimmage on Saturday ends their fall camp.
The morning session of the two-a-day saw the team take the field at 7am in shells. Practice began with special teams work on field goals. After that, they went into position drills for a while. Next they broke into separate groups with recievers and defensive backs working one-on-one while the offensive and defensive lines worked practiced against each other. Following that, they had a period of 7-on-7 practice which was followed up by full squad passing plays.
Next the offense and defense separated to different ends of the field and worked against scout teams. Then, to end the practice, the first and second teams each got a shot to run a two-minute drill.
The first run saw freshman quarterback Myles Gibbon leading the offense. Gibbon hit the freshmen receiver Corey Besteda down the left sideline for a 45 yard gain. However, time ran out with the team inside the 10-yard line.
The second run at the two-minute drill saw junior Brennan Sim and freshman Nick Owens both taking snaps at quarterback. Their result was a field goal.
The afternoon session was less physical and saw the team focusing on plays for the scrimmage on Saturday without pads. They worked mostly in position groups but they did have some time in 7-on-7 passing drills and 11-on-11 running drills with some focus on receivers working on blocking.
Coach Jones said that the scrimmage on Saturday help the coaches in making decisions towards who will start and who will be second string. “Number one is that it’s a great evaluation process for the kids,” Jones said. “They’re under the gun so to speak, and they’re out there in a live situation. They know the pressure is on them, so we’ll so how they react in a game-type situation. It’s more of an evaluation time. We’ve been teaching fundamentals all week long, and we’re going to treat it like a game and see how they perform when the lights are on.”
However, Coach Jones was quick to say that the scrimmage will not necessarily determine who starts. Just because a player has a good scrimmage, he might be way behind another guy. But several positions have players that are pretty even so a good showing at the scrimmage will definitely move them up on the chart.
Coach Jones had this to say about positions that he was worried about, “We have depth at a lot of positions. I’m worried about the secondary, and I’m worried about the tight end situation. In those two areas we don’t have as much depth, but the other positions I feel good about. We’ve got players that can fill in.”
Running backs coach Tommy Perry indicated that he was looking for more than one running back to step up and win the starting job. “You’ve got to have at least two, and if you’ve got three that really helps. That third guy has got to be able to do a little of everything. Ideally we’d like to have three. Everybody kind of has their strengths, and you’ve just got to know as a coach, feel the offense and know when to have that guy in there. The guy that’s going to be playing the most is the guy that can do everything the best.”
Perry also mentioned that he has some specific things he will be watching for on Saturday. “I’m going to look for running after contact,” he said. “We’ve got something we call Jag yards, and those offensive linemen do a great job of opening holes, but some of those five and six-foot holes I can run through and look pretty good. That doesn’t take a lot of talent. I’m looking for the guys that get the extra yards. After contact how many yards are we picking up, and how sharp and crisp are we in pass protection. Those are the two big things I’m looking for.”
Coach Jones said they are looking at about 120 plays and will try to get every player into the scrimmage with the ones and twos having more time than the threes and fours will.
The Jags will have a day to rest on Friday before hitting the practice field for their scrimmage starting at 9am which will be followed by “Family Fan Day” to end their fall camp.
Roundup of Wednesdays and Thursdays Jaguars Football Practice
Redshirt junior quarterback Brennan Sim preparing to thow a pass under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Greg Gregory. Photo by Doug Roberts.
Wednesday, August 5th
The second day of practice was another early to rise event for the players and staff. Another two-hour-plus practice beginning at 7am for another day in helmets and shorts.
The second day of practice was very similar to the first day. The Jags began with about 15 minutes of special teams work with a focus on punt returns being the difference between the two days. This was followed by about 20 minutes of position drills. Then the offensive and defensive units combined into groups for the nex portion of the practice.
All 11 players on defense worked on trapping runners near the sidelines while the quarterbacks threw passes to running backs. After that the offensive line was brought in to run through formations and plays.
Towards the midpoint of practice the defensive and offensive units came together for about 15 minutes of practice against each other. It was first broken down to 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills with the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers against the linebackers and secondary. Meanwhile, the offensive and defensive lines faced off in one-on-one drills to protect the passer. Then there was about a five minute segment where the offense and defense squared off in 11-on-11 action.
For roughly the last 45 minutes of practice, each unit worked on one half of the field with the offense continuing to go through formations, motions and plays and the defense also focusing on formations but also personnel substitions depending on down and distance.
With only two days of practice, Coach Jones said that almost the entire game plan, about 85-90%, has been installed with the Jags still two days away from practicing in full pads. Which goes back to what he had said several times on the Coach Joey Jones Show, that he believed in throwing the whole thing at them, then coming back with a more narrow focus and building it back up to the whole.
Coach Jones commented about how the offense tends mature more slowly than the defense. “Offensively, you’re always going to be behind the defense early on,” observed Jones. “That’s just because defense is easier to play mentally. What I’ve told the coaches that we have to do is make sure that we get as many players as we can involved now. To evaluate them, we need to get them reps – once we get to game week we will be getting the ones who are going to play ready. We have time now to make sure that we evaluate kids, so we want to make sure we do that and get them all on the field if we can.”
Coach Jones also commented that a days worth of practice was apparent on the second day of practice and manifested in what they were able to accomplish on their second day. “I thought we got better. The intensity level was higher and the concentration level was better today,” said Coach Jones. “I’m sure that was because of what everyone learned from yesterday’s practice. If we can continue to do that we will keep getting better. I saw some kids who made improvements too, so I’m pleased right now.”
Thursday, August 6th
Thursdays intensity picked up with another 7am practice but with shoulder pads for the first time this fall. However, full pads will not be used until Saturday morning. But, the third day saw a bit of a change in practice with different drills for the team.
Beginning the practice was special teams again for about 15 minutes with focus on pur and kickoff coverage.
For the first two days, the 11-on-11 practice lasted only about 15 minutes each day practicing running plays, on third day they practiced for about 30 minutes on run plays. The offense also worked on running plays against the defensive seven and safeties between 11-on-11 drills. Both sides were focusing on their game plans against a scout team for about 15 minutes each.
Also in addition to about 10 minutes of 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills, quarterbacks threw passes to wide receivers in one-on-one coverage against cornerbacks for another 10 minute session early in the practice.
Coach Jones commented on the intensity on Thursday saying that it might have been a bit more intense than he wanted it to be without using full pads. With lots of jawing between sides coach Jones commented, “That’s good. I would rather pull the reigns back than try to get them going.”
Coach Jones also mentioned that putting on shoulder pads to work out is not to increase contact in practice, but helps to prevent injuries. He followed that up with the statement, “It’s tough falling on the ground when you’re not wearing them. I wish we could use them most of the time.”
Running back Santuan McGee was quoted saying, “We’ve got to be more physical if we’re going to be able to pound the ball like coach Gregory wants us to. He’s told us that if we can run first it will open up the passing game for us.” McGee added, “There was a lot more flying around out there today,” he added. “The defense definitely got after us, so we just need to make sure we match their intensity come tomorrow and Saturday.
Coach Jones said that the staff will be concentrating on every position when watching the film of the increased 11-on-11 workouts. “My emphasis will be on the interior guys – the offensive and defensive linemen, and the linebackers – to see how they’re playing,” Coach Jones said. “Sometimes they get lost in the shuffle at practice. When you watch a ball fly through the air and a guy catches a touchdown pass that’s great, but I didn’t see the guard make that key block to keep his man from getting to the quarterback.”
Talking about the quarterback position, Coach Jones mentioned that Myles Gibbon and Nick Owens looked good throwing the ball. He added that redshirt Junior transfer Brennan Sim also threw the ball better in the third day of practice. However, Coach Jones said that a major concern of theirs right now is finding guys who can step up and and make plays in the secondary.
Jaguars Hit The Practice Field Early To Begin Their First Ever Fall Camp
Coach Jones looking on during the Jaguars first practice of fall camp. Photo by Doug Roberts.
The Jaguars had two firsts today for the program. This marked their first preseason football camp for their first season. But it was also the first time the Jags used their new field turf practice field on campus near the new fieldhouse.
Everyone was so excited that more than 150 people, including graduate and student assistants, managers and training staff were on the field before the 6:30am schedule and were ready for the day. The Jags practices for over two hours and worked through team and individual drills dressed in helmets and shorts.
Practice began with about 15 minutes of special teams work. Players not involved with this were working with position coaches around the perimeter of the field. Next they had about 25 minutes of individual drills for all players. Then the majority of the remaining practice time was focused on team drills with the offensive and defensive units separated on either end of the field. About midway through this portion of the practice, there was about 15 mintues of skeleton passing drills which was 7-on-7 drills. Then there was about a 10 minute session of 11-on-11 practice which included running plays.
Probably one of the biggest questions coming into practice is who will be the Jaguars’ starting quarterback. With Saucier, the most experienced quarterback in the Jaguars system, making the move to safety leaving that question without a definite answer right now. It wasn’t decided on the first day of practice, but coach Jones has said that the staff has a definite timeline in mind for deciding who will be where on the depth chart. Coach Jones reiterated, “By the end of week two we would like to have our ones and our twos picked. That doesn’t mean it will be over for the other players, but at some point we do have to make decisions.”
Coach Jones continued about the quarterback position, “Quarterbacks need a lot more reps than other players, it’s much more of a mental game at the position. Receivers and running backs need a lot less reps to get ready to play a game.”
Kyle Stewart, freshman from Tallahassee, FL, was quoted saying, “We’re all new to this, we don’t know the playbook very well but are learning. We’re equally talented, whoever picks it up the quickest and makes the biggest plays during camp is probably going to get the first shot.”
Myles Gibbon, freshman from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, also spoke about the quarterback position, “I think the coaches want to see someone who has some experience and can make the right reads. We have some great competition here between guys who have come from all over the place. It’s friendly and we’re having fun, but you want to make sure when you get in there you make the throw. I’m going to do my best and see what happens from there.”
Probably the player that somewhat has a leg up on the competition is Junior transfer Brennan Sim. His time spent at Oregon State has potentially given him two years of collegiant experience and maturity over his freshman counterparts. He has had two years to learn and understand the rigors of collegiant football.
Both Gibbon and Stewart spoke about the challenges they face in their transition from high school to college level football.
“It’s pretty big, so it was overwhelming when we were first given the book,” said Gibbon. “But, we’ve been working all through the summer in 7-on-7 drills so I’m used to the passing plays even though there’s a lot of concepts and many plays with receivers in different spots.”
“It’s a lot different than high school. The playbook is much bigger with a lot more formations and motions,” Stewart observed. “Plus, you have to read defenses a lot better than you need to in high school, and you need to learn many more signals. With all of this coming at you, you just have to keep working and studying the best you can.”
Coach Jones was quick to caution everyone about how much information one is able to get out of a single workout in helmets and shorts. “We’ll know more when we get into pads. You can tell a little bit about receivers and quarterbacks, and maybe defensive backs, but you can’t evaluate linemen and linebackers without pads on. Some of them may have looked great today but won’t when they start hitting, and others may not be as good in shorts as they are with their shoulder pads on.”
Coach Jones noted that, in addition to the heat and rain factors, two other factor were behind the early practice time. “I want some discipline in this program, and I think that waking up early and going to meetings before an early practice helps with that,” coach Jones said. “Plus, I had to do it when I was playing.”
Otherwise, Coach Jones was very upbeat and pleasant about their first practice. “The kids know it’s for real right now, so you could feel a heightened excitement on the field,” Coach Jones said. “They know that we have a game right around the corner, it’s always more exciting when you are looking forward to that.”
Gibbon said he was so excited that he couldn’t sleep Monday night. “We had to wake up a five, and I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 a.m. It’s great just to be out here, it’s been so long since I finished last season.”
The biggest difference for Coach Jones and his staff, when comparing the first day of spring practice to the first day of fall camp is personnel. He said “I saw a lot of better athletes out there. There are some quick guys out there who also have some size.”
Probably one of the most resonate and exciting statements was from recently announced transfer from Alabama, Charlie Higgenbotham. He said, “It was extremely exciting, I am thrilled to be here. I know a lot of these coaches know what they are talking about, and a lot of the players are great guys — everyone is working hard. Things are being run here the right way, which is really exciting.”
Having a player who has been under Nick Saban for two years say that Coach Jones and his staff are running things the right way is indeed something to be excited about.
The Jaguars will be on the practice field again on Wednesday at 7am to continue their preparation for the programs first ever game against Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy at 4pm on Saturday, September 5th at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
South Alabama Sports Round-Up 2009-07-06
Summer is that time of year when college sports really slows down. Baseball season has ended, football camp is about a month away and most people are trying to find some way to beat the heat. But now that there is some news to write about and its a mere 60 days until kickoff of the inaugural South Alabama football season, we have another South Alabama Sports Round-Up to get out.
Athletic Director
With less than a month until Joe Gottfried hangs up his AD hat for retirement, South Alabama has not been forthcoming about potential replacements as of yet. However I would expect that to start to ramp up very soon with the committee set to reconvene sometime early this month to review candidates. President Moulton has gave the committee a target date of September 1st to have the job filled.
The Mobile Press-Register wrote not too long ago about some candidates that were interested in the position, two of them with previous ties to the university and Mobile itself. John Hartwell, who is the executive associate athletic director for Ole Miss and Joel Erdmann who is the Athletic Director at Southeastern Louisiana have both confirmed that they are interested in the position.
But Erdmann and Hartwell are not the only ones expressing interest in the position. Johnny Williams, former AD at Troy University, has expressed interest in the job. Plus people close to Birmingham-Southern AD Joe Dean Jr. has indicated that he might be interested in the position as well.
Dr. John Smith, vice president for student affairs and faculty athletics representative, is chairing the search committee and has stated that as of late June, there have been 23 applications received for the position with more expected to be received.
Erdmann and Hartwell speak highly of the potential that USA has since the addition of football to its sports program and likening the potential of South Alabama’s success to the quick rise of South Florida since the inception of football at their school.
Football
Speaking of football, coach Jones said that about 95% of USA’s scholarship players were on campus for the first summer session which started in May. Now with the second summer session starting in late June, Coach Jones now has 100% of his scholarship kids on campus as well as most of their walk-ons as well.
Most of the kids have already qualified with the exception of a couple kids they are waiting to see how well they do in summer classes. Matt Autry is expected to enroll in Jones County JC and hopefully will rejoin the Jaguars once he has gained eligibility.
In order to get down to the 30 scholarship limit for the 2009 class, there will be several players grayshirted. So far the grayshirts for this year will be Linebacker Mytez Madden, Saftey Zach Brownell, Defensive Lineman Will Thompson and ATH Mardavian Martin. Jared Palmer, WR from Tuscaloosa, will either be grayshirted or will attend JC depending on his academics. QB Early James and OL Chris Payne, who were mid-semester JC signees, have left the program.
August 2nd will be the first official team meetings and will becing practice on August 4th. Coach Jones anticipates a healthy roster to being practice with only a few players involved in minor rehab at this time. Receiver Christopher Pugh has a torn meniscus, but is currently working out and going to rehab and hopes to be ready once practice starts. Also it was overheard that Coach Turner (one of the brothers) had a staph infection on his hand. I don’t have any details about what type of infection he might have had, but its probably the a simple infection due to a cut.
Staph Infection from WebMD: “About 25% of people normally carry staph in the nose, mouth, genitals, and anal area. The foot is also very prone to pick up bacteria from the floor. The infection often begins with a little cut, which gets infected with bacteria. These staph infections range from a simple boil to antibiotic-resistant infections to flesh-eating infections. The difference between all these is how deep and how fast the infection spreads, and how treatable it is with antibiotics. The antibiotic-resistant infections are more common in North America, because of our overuse of antibiotics. The type of staph infection that involves skin is called cellulitis and affects the skin’s deeper layers. It is treatable with antibiotics. This type of infection is very common in the general population — and more common and more severe in people with weak immune systems. People who have diabetes or weakened immunity are particularly prone to developing cellulitis.”
Obviously lots of interest will be on the quarterback position starting in August. With the #1 guy in the spring, Matt Saucier, moving to safety, the position is really up for grabs. The most experienced should be Oregan State transfer Brennan Sim. But Nic Owens, Myles Gibbon and Kyle Stewart will definitely be battling for the starting position.
Coach Jones was quoted saying, “We have four good candidates coming in. The he hard part of that is that we’re going to have to give reps to someone and get them ready. People don’t realize that when you are starting a new program you have to make a decision on a quarterback fairly quick because if you fool around for two weeks and give four people all the reps than they won’t know many of the plays. We’re going to have to do a great job of evaluating those kids in the first week. I think at the end of the first week we need to decide who is one, two and three, not that it will be etched in stone.”
Like I have been saying, what is probably the best situation for the Jags is to have Brennan Sim (JR) to win the starting job with one of the freshmen as his backup. Then giving the other two a redshirt to give them an extra year of maturity and understanding of Coach Gregory’s system.
Season tickets sales are around 6.000 so far and USA has a goal of selling 10,000. With that many season ticket holders, the Jaguars would lead the Sun Belt before even playing their first season. If you haven’t purchased your season tickets yet, what are you waiting for? Saturday afternoons in Mobile will be a great answer to ‘what are we doing this weekend?’ and for $85 for seven games, you’re not going to get off that cheap anywhere else.