MVSU Gameday is here
The Jaguar offense led by Myles Gibbon, goes four wide on 3rd down late against Henderson State.
South Alabama will host Mississippi Valley State University today with kickoff scheduled at 6:30pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in a White-Out game (Wearing all white uniforms). The Delta Devils are 1-8 on the season after finally coming out on top last weekend against Texas Southern by a score of 12-9.
The Delta Devils previous eight games were against Alabama State (41-9), Murray State (39-0), Alcorn State (39-14), Prairie View A&M (43-34), Southern University (28-21), Alabama A&M (37-14), Jackson State (17-16) and Grambling State (30-24 OT). All were losses for MVSU.
The Jags will be without Jereme Jones after his shoulder injury in last weeks win over Henderson State and B.J. Scott (knee). I wouldn’t expect to see Kendall Houston or Demetre Baker too much if the Jags jump out to a good lead. Both are nursing some knee injuries which are slowing them down. Coach Jones and Coach Perry will want them to get plenty of rest between now and the Cal Poly game on November 19th.
Earlier this week, Clay Machen announced his verbal commitment to the Jags. Machen is a three star (scout.com) recruit out of Auburn High School. He is a 6’4″, 295 pound center but according to his high school coach Tim Carter, he can play any position on the offensive line but he also said he thought center would be his best position long term. Carter also said that he played basketball which indicates he has good feet.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2010-10-05
South Alabama sporting their all red uniforms at Ladd-Peebles Stadium against Kentucky Wesleyan.
Coach Perry was the guest along with Coach Jones and Lee Shirvanian on the radio show on Monday. The show started off talking about Baumhower’s is in the process of changing its name to reflect more of its dishes rather than just focus on their wings. So go out and support the show by visiting Baumhowers and ordering the Joey Jones Special, the black and white chicken with steamed broccoli.
This weeks game will see another new uniform combination with the Jags wearing their white jersey’s with their red pants. So the fans and students are being encouraged to wear their red apparel but get ready for Georgia State when they are having a complete white out.
The coaches spoke about how Kentucky Wesleyan stacked the box and the offense took advantage by throwing the ball and getting some big plays out of the receivers.
Lee mentioned the end of the LSU and Tennessee game and asked coach Jones if he has someone that is responsible to make sure that only 11 players are on the field at any given time. Coach Jones said that first off, the coordinator call the personnel grouping so then the position coaches make sure that the correct players get on the field. So when the players go on or off the field they tell them the package and the players are responsible to get on or off the field.
Coach Perry said he is responsible for making sure all of the offensive players are on the field. He also mentioned that it has been easier this year than it was last year, which means they are improving. But as long as the guys go onto and off of the field at the same time, it makes it much easier to keep up with numbers. If two guys go on, then two guys must come off.
Lee then asked that since USA has so many running backs, how do they determine who gets the most carries or more playing time. Coach Jones they are trying to find the winners on the team. If a player shows that they can win the game, then they will be on the field. The Coach Jones starts talking about the running back and how they have two big backs and two scat backs.
Obviously Brandon Ross (234 lbs) is one of their big backs along with Kendall Houston, while Ellis Hill is a bit between the big backs and the scat backs. TJ Glover and Santuan McGee make up the scat backs. Coach Jones talked about how he has never had such a group of backs before and how they can put Houston or Ross in there and they can pound for about 8 yards for play after play. Then they can put in McGee or Glover and they can get outside and got for 20 or 25 yards really quick. To round out the question, Coach Jones said they are trying to rotate all of the backs to keep them fresh and healthy as they go through the season.
Lee then posed a question to Coach Jones saying “If South Alabama gets into a tight game this year.” But before Lee could finish the question, Coach Jones said “we will, we will.” Lee then finished the question that when they get into that situation, will they continue to do like Alabama has done with Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson and continue to rotate. Coach Perry pretty much said that it just depends on who has the hot hand. Some days its Brandon then there are days when Kendall has the hot hand. Brandon has more experience and also that he has to be among the best in the nation in pass protection may sometimes be a better choice.
Lee said that if Brandon had more carries he would break 100 yards every game and Coach Jones was quick to agree in saying he definitely would. But he also added that there will be games in the not too distant future where he will be needed to carry the ball much more than he has been up to now. But the way that the games have been going, they have wanted to get as many players in the game as they can without overusing their starters.
Coach Jones mentioned that there are several players who are day to day or who will be 50/50 as they get closer to game day this Saturday. He mentioned Levi Slaydan has come back. Chris Brunson with a wrist injury. Brian Krauskoff had a weight room accident and has a big club on his hand. Shaun Artz has a cast on his wrist. Corey Pittman has returned to the team with fresh legs and is doing pretty good. They just have several guys who are a little beat up but if everything keeps progressing the way it has, they should be back to full strength in the next couple weeks.
Lee mentioned that Trey Clark, the center, has been the constant on the offensive line. Coach Jones said he makes all the calls on the line concerning pass protection and identifying the Mike linebacker. He may be considered undersized but teams will win with players like Trey.
After another break, they came back to the show to talk about a very sobering subject that they wanted to announce. Something that is more important than winning or losing on the field. They announced that Coach Perry’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer. At a young age, only 29 years old, it was shocking for them to hear the diagnosis and find it boggling that someone as active, healthy and athletic as Ms. Perry, who runs every day and is a triathlon athlete, to be diagnosed with cancer. Coach Perry encouraged everyone to go downtown to Bienville Square for the American Cancer Society’s ‘Making Strides Against Cancer’ on October 30th. It starts at 8am and there is no fee. Donations are accepted.
Coach Perry stressed that if you do not know of anyone who has faced cancer, it’s only a matter of time with the current rate of diagnosis. So both he, Coach Jones and Lee Shirvanian wanted to make sure to encourage everyone to think about going downtown for ‘Making Strides Against Cancer’ on Saturday, October 30th at 8am starting at Bienville Square in downtown Mobile, Alabama.
The first write in question was about time of possession and asking if Coach Jones agreed that time of possession is a distorted statistic. Coach Jones agreed someone, he did say that about 90% of the time it is a good statistic, but there are games like the Jags have had this season, where time of possession favored the losing team and thus was a bit of a distorted stat. Generally, having the ball longer than your opponent means that you are probably sustaining drives better than your opponent and giving yourself more scoring opportunities.
Lee mentioned he wondered how may yards per rush the team was averaging. Coach Jones mentioned that Tommy Hicks ran some stats and compared them against Division I-AA schools and had them number one in a few categories on offense and defense. However, he was quick to mention that the numbers were distorted because they are not playing all Division I-AA schools so they can’t vouch for the validity.
Lee then asked about Missouri S&T, South Alabama opponent this weekend. Coach Jones said that they are giving them the most fits so far, coaching wise. They have odd looks defensively and offensively. Defensively you they typically see 3-4 and 4-3 defenses as well as the 8 man fronts. But Missouri runs a flex defense which few teams actually run and are making them really do their homework this week.
Lee mentioned the Troy and Middle Tennessee State game that was going to take place that night. Lee asked if he would like to play a Tuesday night game. Coach Jones chuckled and said definitely and that the Jags would play on Monday morning if they could be on television. However, their time on TV is rapidly approaching as the mid-majors are playing Tuesday and Thursday night, midweek games for ESPN and ESPN2.
Jaguars Hit The Practice Field In Shells
Sunday
Sunday saw the Jags hit the field with shells while adding more contact. The hits were easy to hear and were definitely hard but full tackling was not allowed. They were only allowed to hit and hold up short of bringing someone to the ground.
Sunday’s practice began with more special teams practice. On Friday, they began with punt coverage but on Sunday they began with kickoff coverage. After beginning with special teams, the Jags then broke off into positional drills. Quarterbacks worked with receivers on timing and routes while running backs worked on handoffs and blocking. Linebackers, defensive linemen and defensive backs all working on basics as well.
After positions, the Jags then went into an inside drill session, which actually had the Jags hitting for the first time in summer camp. The offensive and defensive units swapped players in and out numerous times to more reps in for the new players. As Coach Jones said after practice, “The only way you can find out about guys is by giving them reps. I think we have some good young players who can build some depth for us at each position. Today, I felt like we got more people in practice, and we need to continue to do that.”
After the inside drill, the offensive and defensive linemen seperated to work on individual position technique. The secondary, linebackers, receivers and running backs worked against each other in pass coverage drills.
Monday
Similar to before, they had an 11-on-11 live-action session for ten plays. Freshman running back T.J. Glover rushed twice and broke one off the left end for 25 yards. In the two carries, he totaled about 30 yards but impressed the coaches and onlookers in the process. The Jaguars running backs coach Tommy Perry said, “He’s fast and you notice it. We’re trying to make things work so we can get him the ball in space, because he is electric. He’s a freshman, so he has to learn what to do, but as a coach you get excited when you see that extra gear, because he definitely has that.”
I would definitely look for Glover to be used in motions, misdirections and screen plays in the coming year with his speed.
The defense stepped up on six plays by stopping the offense for no gain on three rushes. They also forced two incomplete passes and and interception by redshirt freshman Eddy Cabrera.
After the 11-on-11 session, the offense worked on picking up the blitz with the defense. The first play of the drill saw Myles Gibbon hit Bryant Lavender, a freshmen, on a go route for 30 yards. Brennan Sim went 3-for-3 in the passing drill averaging close to seven yards per pass. He completed passes to Jereme Jones and Courtney Smith.
Monday was another practice in shells for the Jaguars. Practice began with a period of special teams practice, again focusing on kickoff returns and ended the practice with kickoff coverage.
The practice was similar to what the Jags will continue to do throughout preseason camp, but only with shells and limited hitting. They had multiple periods of third down situational drills and multiple 11-on-11 drills.
The first third down situational drill had the offensive line and running backs practice running plays against the defensive interior. On the other side of the field, quarterbacks and receivers worked against defensive backs in coverage. During this set of drills, Anthony Taylor and Charlie Higgenbotham came away with sacks as well as forcing and recovering a fumble.
One of the 11-on-11 sessions was running plays in the red zone. The offense started witht he goal of making a first down starting at the 20. On the first play, Sim connected with Courtney Smith for a nine yard gain, short of the first down when Anton Graphenreed tackled Smith one yard shy of the first. The offense then had two big gains on the defense with Houston on a rush and a screen play to Johnny Lockett from C.J. Bennett. But the defense held on the next two plays.
The final 11-on-11 of the day continued the outstanding play by the defense. They only allowed two first down in ten plays with three consecutive sacks. Jake Johnson was in on two of them as well as Ben Giles and Ucambre Williams. The first play saw the offense make a first down with a pass from Sim to Courtney Smith on a slant. The offense’s only other first down was on a quarterback draw by Raymond Cotton on their last play.
The offense was hot early in the third down 7-on-7 drills. They converted about half of their attempts with Bennett being responsible for four first downs with four completions to four different players. Brennan Sim helped to get three first down. Only two Jaguars, Taylor Noon and Bryant Lavender, caught two passes for first downs.
Coach Jones commented on the practice afterwards by saying, “It was a very good practice, though I thought we had a little lull in the middle to latter part for the first time. That’s normal, and what I was proud of is that they fought back at the end of practice. We’re in the middle of nine straight days of practice, and that ‘s tough. They just have to get a little better every day, and so far we have improved.”
The Jags continue their nine consecutive days of practice on Tuesday when they don full pads for the first time this preseason camp.
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.
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.