Ross And Dearman Earn Honors In Spring
Offensive lineman Drew Dearman, his father and Offensive Coordinator Robert Matthews after the annual Red & Blue Spring football game.
If you were at the Red & Blue Spring Game and went onto the field for autographs, you may have noticed a player wearing the honorary #5 jersey. The Jaguar players chose Brandon Ross to wear that number in honor of Anthony Mostella, who passed away in the summer of 2010.
Mostella’s number 5 jersey is given to a graduating senior that is chosen by his teammates to honor his memory.
Also Drew Dearman was chosen as the Most Improved Lineman for the spring. Dearman has solidified the left guard position as he has moved into the starting lineup heading into the fall.
Defense Stands Out In Second Scrimmage
Offensive Coordinator Robert Matthews calling plays during a spring scrimmage.
South Alabama hit the practice field for their second scrimmage of the spring on Thursday morning. Jake Johnson was able to participate after sitting out the first scrimmage with a fever and illness, but he was back to his usual form on Thursday.
The first score of the game came on the third series, the first by the second-team offense, starting at their own 2-yard line. Deonte McDuffy picked off a deflected pass and ran it back the 12 yards for the touchdown. Charles Watson picked off a pass in the second half. Then two plays later Maleki Harris picked off a pass and returned it 54 yards for the touchdown.
C.J. Bennett led the first scoring drive by the offense on the fifth possession of the scrimmage and the third overall for the first-team offense. Bennett would find freshman walk-on Terrance Timmons in the flat for a seven yard gain then Timmons would rush for another six yards for the first down. Demetre Baker then gained another first down after a pair of five yard rushes. On third-and-one, Timmons would come through with a nine yard run to move the chains again. Chapuseaux’s 45 yard field goal would cap off the 11-play 47 yard drive by the first team.
A couple drives later the first team offense returned to the field. Bennett would find Corey Besteda, for the longest play of the scrimmage, on a third-and-eight from their own 42 yard line for a 30 yard gain. Then two plays later he could complete a 20 yard pass to Corey Waldon to move the ball to the 2 yard line. On third down from the 3 yard line, Baker would punch the ball in for a touchdown.
Later in the scrimmage, Logan Rogers added a 3 yard touchdown pass later in the day. Also, Trey Fetner lead the second-team offense to two touchdowns on red zone drives at the end of the scrimmage. The first was to Waldon for 20 yards, then he ran a quarterback draw for 8 yards to score.
Deonte McDuffy and Maleki Harris returned interceptions for touchdowns. Charles Watson also picked off a pass on the day. Also defensively, they only allowed 142 yards on 69 carries for an average of just over 2 yards per attempt. Johnson lead the defense with seven tackles while Jesse Kelley added six and Terrell Brigham, Cordivido Grice and Davin Hawkings all added five each. Additionally Kelley racked up 3.5 tackles for loss. Jake Johnson and Ceasare Johnson both made two TFL’s while Pat Moore added 1.5 TFL’s.
On the offensive side of the ball, six Jaguar quarterbacks combined to go 18-of-27 for 180 yards while finishing with 322 yards in total offense in the scrimmage. First team quarterback C.J. Bennett lead the group by going 7-of-10 for 81 yards. Myles Gibbon went 3-of-3 for 56 yards and Logan Rogers went 4-of-4 for another 56 yards.
Corey Waldon lead the receivers with three catches for 44 yards. Akeem Appleton had one for 34 yards and Bryant Lavender also caught one for 14 yards.
Demetre Baker lead the rushing game with 32 yards followed by Terrance Timmons with 30 yards and J.J. Keels with 25 yards. Additionally Michel Chapuseaux made kicks from 45 and 37 yards in the first half of the scrimmage.
Coach Jones spoke after the scrimmage. “It was very similar to the last scrimmage,” he said. “When you look at the ones on offense and the ones on defense, they both look pretty good. They went back and forth a good bit. Offensively when you start getting down to the twos and threes, they didn’t move the ball very well. We just have to find more players. Once you get to the point where you’ve got two groups of guys who can move it you’re in good shape, but right now depth is an issue offensively, especially at the lineman position.”
“Discipline was one of the things we have focused on this spring,” Jones continued. “They ran a couple of sprints after practice for a turnover or two. We preach that if we stay away from mistakes, we have a chance to win ball games. But they have to learn to practice like that every day, and I think they are getting it a little bit. Concentration on that in the offseason will pay dividends this fall.”
Discipline was definitely visible on the practice field with only one flag on on the day – a false start late in the scrimmage.
“We’ve progressed,” Jones stated. “I’m proud of the players, they have really worked hard. The biggest thing is that they are watching film on their own, they are meeting on their own. That’s when you know you’ve got a team. We’re doing all those things right, so it is just a matter of sharpening things up on the field. We can always get better on the field, there is nobody who plays at a 100-percent level all the time. The challenge is to keep getting just a little bit better as we progress.”
As for Spring break, Coach Jones stated, “It’s a perfect time for a break. We’re a little banged up right now and they were a little tired this morning, but they came out ready to go. My challenge to them is to make sure that we don’t waste any time when we get back, we have to work those last three days and get something out of it.”
The Jags will return to the practice field on Tuesday, March 20 at 6:30 AM as the Jags will have a week off for spring break. When they return they will begin preparation for the Spring Game on Saturday, March 24.
Recap Of South Alabama’s First Scrimmage
Head coach Joey Jones working with the field goal unit during South Alabama's Scrimmage on Saturday, March 3, 2012.
South Alabama held it’s first scrimmage on Saturday in front of some 200-plus visitors. The visitors were high school Juniors who are on the Jaguars recruiting radar for the upcoming class. This was their opporutinity to see campus, tour the facilities and also see the Jaguars in action.
In the scrimmage, Demetre Baker scores two of the four touchdowns on the day while leading the runningbacks with nine carries for 42 yards. On the first scoring drive, C.J. Bennett was 3-of-4, all three completions went to Bryant Lavender for gains of 14, 6 and 25 yards respectively. Lavender’s last reception of the drive moved the Jags inside the 10 yard line and setting Baker up for his touchdown. Terrance Timmons also had a 14-yard rush on the drive.
The second scoring drive saw Bennett connect with Anthony Ingram for an 11-yard catch to begin the drive. On third down and needing one yard to move the chains, Bennett would find Kennedy Helms for a 30-yard completion which would set Baker up for his second touchdown.
C.J. Bennett would end the day going 11-of-17 for 114 yards while adding two runs for nine yards. Trey Fetner would end the day 4-of-7 for 60 yards while working with both the first and second team guys. He would lead the second-team on a 11-play 55-yard drive. He completed two passes to Saxton to move within the ball inside the 30-yard line. Baker would run four consecutive times to get the ball down to the two yard line. A false start penalty would back them up, but Fetner would find Jereme Jones just inside the endzone on the right side for the touchdown. Fetner commented after the scrimmage saying, “Actually, that wasn’t part of my progression. I saw a hole real quick, and I tried to get it in there. It was a mistake, but a good one, so we’ll take it. I did a decent job today, but the line and receivers did a great job. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, though.”
Other scores on the day was a 45-yard field goal by Michel Chapuseaux and a one-yard touchdown run near the end of the scrimmage by Julien Valentin. His touchdown would cap off an 11-play 40-yard drive by the third team offensive unit.
The Jaguar defense gave up 306 yards on 109 plays, which was an average of less than three yards per play. Ben Giles ended the scrimmage with nine total tackles and a pass break-up which was nearly an interception. Charles Harris and Desomnd LaVelle both added six tackles of their own and Randon Carnathan had five tackles. Will Thompson posted five-and-a-half tackles for loss and three sacks while Pat Moore totalled four-and-a-half tackles for loss and four sacks. Ceasare Johnson added five tackles and one-and-a-half sacks. Eddy Cabrera had the only takeaway by recovering a fumble late in the scrimmage.
Bryant Lavender lead the wide receivers with five receptions for 57 yards. While Ingram catching two passes for 39 yards and Wes Saxton also catching two for 25 yards.
“I’m excited about the new offense,” said Demetre Baker after the scrimmage. “I think I’ve still got a lot of things to work on, definitely some reads now that we are not running a lot of power-I. I never will be pleased, though, because I think that every day I can come out here and get a little bit better, run a little harder, make better cuts and read my blocks better.”
Coach Jones commented after the scrimmage by saying, “I thought Demetre had a good day running the ball. He ran real powerful today, he didn’t have any extremely long runs, but he had a lot of five- and 10-yard runs, fighting for tough yards.”
“I believe we are much further along than I thought we would be at this point with the operation of the offense, because the kids have bought in and the staff has done a tremendous job coaching it,” continued Jones. “When they go out on the field they understand what it going on, but it is going so fast they make a mistake or two. But I’m real pleased, because it puts a lot of pressure on the defense when you snap the ball extremely fast.”
Speaking about the depth on both sides of the ball, coach Jones had this following quote. “With the ones on both sides of the ball it was a back-and-forth slugfest. What I see when I look at the offense and defense is a lot more depth on defense. When you put the twos out there there is not a lot of change, but when you put the twos out on offense there is. One of the things we have to work on is our depth offensively.”
Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark commented about the defense after the scrimmage was over. “We saw a lot of good things, and we saw some things we have to get better at,” he said. “sometimes that tempo really shows you some things. A lot of guys did a lot of good things, although you won’t know that exactly until you see the film, but we had some guys on the twos who really looked good. That depth chart may be changing next week.”
New offensive coordinator Robert Matthews commented on what he saw from the offense during the scrimmage. “I saw some good things, though I thought we made too many pre-snap penalty mistakes,” he said. “We had some false starts that are unacceptable. We are getting a lot of guys reps, we had seven quarterbacks take snaps today, which makes it hard sometimes with continuance but at the same time its good for our evaluations.”
The most resounding statement by Coach Jones was, “Today was a very big day regarding our depth chart where those guys could prove themselves. After this Thursday, the bulk of spring training will be over.”
South Alabama only has three more practices prior to spring break with the first being at 4pm on Sunday. The Jags are scheduled to work out in just shorts. Following that, they will return to the field on Tuesday in shells then in full pads on Thursday for their next scrimmage.
Post Scrimmage Videos
Head Coach Joey Jones talks about the scrimmage.
Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark post scrimmage remarks.
Offensive Coordinator Robert Matthews post scrimmage remarks.
Jags Hit Halfway Point In Spring Practice
Wide receiver Bryant Lavender hauls in a pass that he will take in for a touchdown in the Jags "mini-Scrimmage" on Saturday, February 25, 2012.
On Thursday, South Alabama hit the practice field for their seventh practice of spring practice. The Jaguars used the first half of practice to work on individual skill drills. But the highlight of the practice was the continued offense-vs-defense workouts as the new offensive coordinator Robert Matthews continues to install his new offense.
During a period that lasted around 20-minutes, the offense faced third-and-medium distance situations against the defense. The first and second team offensive units each faced the defense in a red-zone situation. The second team would score a touchdown as Trey Fetner would find a crossing Greg Hollinger at the back of the end zone.
Later, C.J. Bennett would run the first-team offense on a two-minute drill. The situation was set as they were trailing by two points with just over a minute to go with only one time out remaining. Bennett found Jereme Jones for a completion followed by a long run by Demetre Baker. This set up Michel Chapuseaux to convert a long field goal attempt.
As the Jags are about halfway through spring practice, Coach Matthews would estimate that he is about halfway through installing the offense as well. “Right now I would say we are probably halfway done,” said Coach Matthews. “We are really focusing on the fundamentals, which was an emphasis that coach Jones wanted to address in the spring. What we’ve been working on is the tempo, the base protections and base runs, and trying to make sure that we get guys into the right spot. The nice thing about going early like we do is that we’ll have a lot of time after we finish from the end of March until August 1 for guys to work on their own, and really study and understand what we are trying to get out of them so that when fall camp gets here they’ll be a lot further ahead.”
When asked about how the change in offensive scheme is going, Coach Matthews answered, “I think the kids are fully in, they are really trying to do what we are asking them to do, and they have been displaying a great attitude. That’s a reflection of what has gone on here before. They have embraced the change, and are working to get better every day, so I am happy with the progress. We have a long way to go, we are not a finished product by any means and we make mistakes every day, but you just work to try and correct those and push forward.”
Coach Matthews said that the first half of the practice schedule was to focus on fundamentals, from this point forward to the annual Spring Game they will focus on game-like situations. “We did a little bit of it today,” Matthews said. “As you get further along teaching the base offense, it’s going through situational practices. Today we got some red zone situations in and got to work on the two-minute drill. Understandinging how to play the game is just as important as knowing what to do in certain plays. I think as we move further along we can get some more situational work in, short yardage and goal line, red zone, two-minute and four-minute situations. You feel like you’re getting batter at your fundamentals, now you want to make sure that you can handle these situations that come up in games. The teams that are prepared the best are the ones that usually end up executing, and we want to make sure that we are giving our kids a chance.”
When asked about if anyone is having an easier time than others at picking up the new offense, Coach Matthews answered ““I don’t know if anyone is having an easier time picking it up or not, but there are certainly guys who have started to stand out this spring. Bryant Lavender is having a really nice spring, I don’t know if coach has mentioned him or not, but from a wide receiver standpoint I think he has done a great job. He’s just a guy that has embraced a leadership role, he’s working hard and learning to play several different wide receiver positions. I hope the rest of the guys follow his lead.”
The Jags will return to the practice field for a scheduled scrimmage at 2:45pm on Saturday which is open to the public.
Rain Threat Does Not Deter Jags From Second Day Of Practice
Even though there were threats of rain, the Jags hit the practice field for their second session of spring practice. They were able to get in a two-hour practice despite the weather threat.
Most of the first half of practice was dedicated to individual work and position coaches.
Near the end of practice, the Jags had two 10-minute sessions of offense vs defense. The first session was a 7-on-7 skeleton passing drill and the second was full 11-on-11. Both sessions were focused on the defense with emphasis on the pass rush and blitz.
Before the offense versus defense session, the defense worked for about 20 minutes on formations and blitzes while the offense worked against the scout team for about 15 minutes.
Some of the challenges facing the players this spring as they go from the power offense the Jags ran previously to the spread offense by Coach Matthews is adjusting to new personnel and the increased tempo. “When you hurry a kid up on the second day of practice in a brand new offense, it multiplies the problems,” Coach Jones said. “I think they have handled it pretty well. The biggest thing is that day 15 has to be much better than day two, that’s what we are shooting for.”
One reason for spring football practice is to evaluate players and help to determine who will be on the field in the fall. With a daunting schedule ahead of them with a full Sun Belt schedule and a very tough non-conference schedule, every position will be observed. “You can’t tell much without pads on, we’re just trying to teach them and get them to learn what they are doing,” said Coach Jones. “Saturday when we put the shoulder pads on, we will be able to tell a lot more about our players.”
“We want to find out who our players are, who will be on the two-deep,” said Jones. “It’s really wide open. There are some spots that are obvious, but there are a lot that aren’t. We’ve got guys who have worked their way up in our program, who are going to be juniors, and have been No. 2 or No. 3 fighting for jobs, and we’ve brought in some new players who are fighting for those spots. I would say that 75 percent of our spots are wide open right now.”
Coach Jones indicated that he was comfortable the linebackers and noted their experience. Jake Johnson and Enrique Williams both started all 10 games last season at the inside positions. Clifton Crews also started all 10 games at outside linebacker while Logan Bennett and Bryson James have both lettered the last three years at the outside position. Plus Ben Giles and Desmond LaVelle both received playing time last season.
Overall, coach Jones thought it was a good day of practice and liked the effort put forth. “I thought it was a good day,” said Coach Jones. “The intensity was there, the kids were working hard. Offensively, we are a long way from being all together, but we were expecting that. The kids have really locked in, they are making some mistakes out there but we had some good things happen when they went against the defense too. It’s just a matter of being patient, of coming in every day and studying what we are doing and getting better. It’s just going to take some time.”
The team will take a day off on Friday before practicing in shells for the first time on Saturday. That practice will be held and the Jaguar Practice Facility and is scheduled to begin at 9am.
South Alabama Completes First Day Of Spring Practice
If the early bird indeed gets the worm, then South Alabama should be in a good position this spring. The Jags kicked off spring practice with an early morning practice on Wednesday by hitting the practice field before the sun had a chance to come into view.
Getting started early, the offense used the first 15-minute session to work on formations as they began learning the spread offense being installed by Coach Matthews. They then worked in groups based on position for about 40 minutes. Then they came together again to work against the scout team for about 25 minutes focusing on running basic plays.
On defense, they began with pursuit drills before working in position groups with their position coaches focusing on individual skills for about 35 minutes. Then there was a 10 minute session of formations. They also worked on different fronts, stunts and coverages. Then they ended the session with 15-minutes working on blitzes.
On both sides of the ball, the first, second and third-team units all had time during workouts.
There were a handful of new players and coaches that have joined the team for the first time. So Coach Jones treated this first practice as a bit of an introductory session. “That’s really what it was,” he said. “The defense needed it, but since they pretty much understand what they’re doing, it was the offense that really needed it.”
“I thought the effort and attitude was extremely good,” Coach Jones continued. “Now, offensively we probably made 400 mistakes, but that was to be expected. The deal from here is to keep chipping away at those. Their heads were swimming. We were calling formations and plays, and they were looking around trying to find out what they were supposed to do. We expected that. I’m really pleased with the effort and attitude they came out with today.”
The team will not waste time. They return to the practice field tomorrow morning for another 6:30 AM practice on Thursday. While the players will be in shorts again, the schedule will be altered a bit by Coach Jones and the rest of his staff. “It will be a little longer practice, probably over two hours tomorrow, and we’ll get into more team situations, more 7-on-7 drills, more inside drills,” Jones explained. “Today we were just completely split, offense and defense. Tomorrow, we’ll have some offense against the defense.”
When you have a lot to learn, you better hit the books early. That’s exactly what the Jags are doing.
Jags Begin Spring Practice Facing Lots Of Changes
As the Jaguars hit the practice field today for the beginning of spring football practice, the offense will begin to make a big change. Players and coaches believe that it will be a change for the better.
With the hiring of Robert Matthews as the new offensive coordinator, the offense will move from a more pro-style offense to a spread offense. Coach Jones believes this will give the team the best chance to put up lots of points. Also, they believe it will take pressure off of the offensive line as they don’t have to sustain their blocks and be pressured to hold protection on every play. The offensive line replaces three starting seniors from last season. While their replacements are larger, they are less experienced than the outgoing seniors.
Additionally Coach Jones believes the switch will also allow the staff to take advantage of the different running types of the running backs on the roster.
Adding to the pressure of learning the new offense, the Jags will be stepping up their schedule in the fall as they go into the season year of the two-year transition into the FBS level. As part of this, South Alabama will play an eight game Sun Belt schedule in addition to a non-conference schedule of all FBS schools consisting of road trips to Mississippi State, NC State, and Hawaii while hosting Texas-San Antonio and Nicholls State.
“It’s a good bit different because it’s a spread offense and we’re going to be in the gun, which is really what I have run most of my years in coaching,” Coach Jones said. “I decided three years ago to run the power [offense] and be a physical football team, but the spread is what I really feel comfortable with and I think we’ve got the people to do it. Sometimes you need some change, I think it excites you.”
“We understand that we are going to have to get it done quickly, because of the schedule we’re playing,” Jones continued. “We’ve got to be as good as we can be, so there is a sense of urgency to getting this done and getting it done right. It’s probably the biggest thing this spring that we’ve got to concentrate on. People are wondering if we are going to win a game next year, I have no clue what will happen from a win-loss standpoint, but I do know that we will be competing at the highest level of college football in the country. We’ve gotten there pretty fast, but we have got to elevate our play and become much better at what we do.”
After the season finale loss to Cal Poly back in November, Coach Jones changed his approach some. The staff has introduced competition to their everyday life. “Not only on the practice field this spring, but going to class, study hall, in the weight room,” he said. Jones believes that if its second nature the Jaguars will do it when on field. “There are consequences now, because there will be in the fall if we don’t play well.”
“We meet after every season as a staff and we meet as a team. The thing I challenged the team with was that I felt that leadership is something we have got to concentrate on this year,” said Coach Jones. “We have broken down into 13 different teams within the team, and each one has a captain. Everything they do in the offseason program is done by that team; there is peer pressure, things they have to do every day. And if they do anything the wrong way or just miss, they pay for it. We were a pretty disciplined team, but we are going to take it to the highest level. We’re not trying to punish them, we’re trying to create great discipline.”
As mentioned previously, Coach Jones announced changes in responsibilities for his assistants, both on the offensive side and on the defensive side of the ball. First year offensive coordinator Robert Matthews will take over working with the offensive line, while John Turner moves to tight ends, and Bryant Vincent moves to quarterbacks. Defensively Coach Clark, the defensive coordinator, will take over coaching the linebackers while Kurt Crain moves to defensive tackles and Brian Turner will concentrate on the defensive ends. Duwan Walker will continue coaching the secondary and Tommy Perry will continue coaching the running backs.
“After bringing coach Matthews in, he knew exactly what he wanted with the offensive line and had coached tackles. Rather than training somebody else and creating a learning curve there, I just felt like we would move him in and let him coach them,” said Coach Jones. “John was extremely happy about it, tight ends are a different dimension but he really liked the idea, and Bryant has been coaching quarterbacks his whole life and is really comfortable with them. Bill wasn’t really coaching a position, which I wanted him to, and he is comfortable with linebackers. Kurt had coached defensive linemen at Auburn, that’s really what he has always coached, and is excited about the move.”
Offensively, all of the changes make very good sense. Coach Matthews did a great job with the offensive line in his previous stints. Also Coach Gregory was the quarterbacks coach, so Coach Vincent’s move there also puts him back into coaching a position he is very familiar and comfortable with.
Defensively, Coach Crain has done a great job with the inside linebackers. His work with the defensive tackles will make a big difference as well.
There are a few players who will not be able to take part in spring drills or will not be at full speed. Kendall Houston and Enrique Williams are not scheduled to practice while they are recovering from offseason surgeries. Bryson James will not be able to return, if he is able to return at all, until late in the spring drills. Brandon Ross and B.J. Scott will take part, but in a limited role.
While the team is coming off a season that saw their first loss, facing a complete change of the offensive scheme and actually ending the season with a loss, Coach Jones is not worried how the team will respond. “I have never seen our team quite this motivated because they realize the challenges ahead. But they’re also excited about those,” he said. “This is where they all wanted to be, they’ve dreamed about playing these kind of teams every week. There’s no doubt there is a difference.”
Tuesday morning quarterback C.J. Bennett joined the WNSP morning show and talked about the changes on offense. He said that he played in a spread offense throughout high school, so the change to a pro-style offense was a bit of a transition for him. So he thinks the transition back to the spread will be an easy one for him. He also mentioned that they replace three offensive linemen and named Drew Dearman, Shaun Artz, Melvin Meggs and Trey Clark while they also expect big things from McKeller as well.
As for the running backs, Bennett said he has never seen a runner like Kendall Houston. He has excellent balance and a hard runner. Baker adds more speed and having a healthy Brandon Ross will make for an excellent trio of runners in the backfield.
They have a big challenge in front of them, but you better believe that this team has the heart and drive to tackle it.