Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2010-10-19
Coach Jones looks on from the sidelines as the Jaguars take on Lamar University.
Chris Brunson out for the year with a broken ankle. When asked, Coach Jones said that we are not deep at that position. Brian Krauskopf was used at center in practice, but he will probably move into Brunson’s spot. Brian is probably the most valuable player on the line because of his flexibility and ability to do whatever the team needs.
Kendall Houston rushed for more yards himself than Lamar’s entire team in the game. Mitch Rodrigue is the other coaching guest on the show.
Caller asked about the logistics of traveling to California. Coach Jones said that they are flying out of Mobile Airport at 9am on Friday and land in California around 12:40 pacific time. When they went to Lamar for the game, they carried everything they needed in trucks mostly.
Everything they needed for the game but not necessary for practice, stayed on the truck and went on to California. Shoulder pads and helmets obviously was needed for practice, so they came back with the team to Mobile. Jersey’s and such went out to California. The stuff they needed for practice they will carry with them on the flight in bags when they leave on Friday.
It’s a very tedious process and has to be well thought out. Even more so when you have to get on a plane. They even continued to have meetings on Tuesday to tie up loose ends.
Lee asked about how USA uses tight ends. Most teams use one tight end if they use one at all. Typical teams that run the spread offense don’t even use a tight end. Coach Rodrigue said he thought Tight End was one of the most important positions on the field. They can be utilized in so many ways and South Alabama uses them in all of them. As a receiver, as a blocker and in the back field as a full back.During the course of a game, coach Rodrigue estimated that they probably use four different tight ends.
Lee asked Coach Jones why they use the tight ends so much. Coach Jones said that they want to be different. Coach Jones went to the spread in the late 90’s when everyone was running the I formation. Now seemingly everyone has transitioned to the spread with four wide.
So when they began to form the program, he knew he wanted to be different. They knew they had Brandon so they had a big strong back for a good running game, which is one thing they wanted to do, run the football. Coach Jones believes that championships are won by running the football. You can run out of the shotgun, but when you use tight ends, you spread the defensive front out. With four wide-outs, that defensive front shrinks and makes it harder to run.
But with a tight end detached from the line, you have more running lanes and also more passing opportunities. With tight ends in the game they have to still be concerned about the run. You can’t block a tight end with a cornerback and you can’t cover a tight end with a linebacker.
Coach Rodrigue also chimed in by noting that defensive coaches want to know, first off, what personnel are in the game. When a defensive coach first hears that they have two tight ends in the game they immediately think that they will be attached to the line and think run. But the South Alabama offense, by utilizing tight ends the way they do, they can pretty much do anything they want. USA can line up with two tight ends but an empty backfield.
With such a good running game, the tight end can easily get open for a pass on a play action pass.
A person emailed a question about the last two games and the Jags being 1-for-20 on 3rd down conversions. Coach Jones didn’t know about the stat but did say that they got quite conservative in the red zone and need to try to do that better.
Coach Jones previews some information about UC-Davis. They are a really good, sound football team. They won their conference last year and picked to win it again this year. They beat Stanford a couple years ago. Defensively they play really hard. While they may not be as athletic as some of the teams that USA has played, he said that they played better as a team. Special teams are good and limit turnovers. They aren’t going to make mistakes and give you the game. You have to go out there and beat them.
UC-Davis is really efficient throwing the ball, but they are trying to find a running game. Sometimes they run it well but it’s not consistent. When you are not balanced, teams try to exploit that and that’s what has happened to the Aggies.
Coach Rodrigue attributes their good practices and success in games to practicing early in the morning. He thinks they are wide eyed and haven’t gone through a day to have stuff lingering in their mind from a normal day of class and stuff. They are out there focused on football. Good practices leads to good games.
Someone asked how competitive the coaches think we would be against a Division I-A team. Obviously we have a ways to go to be competitive against the BCS schools but Coach Rodrigue thinks we could be competitive against some Division I teams, including being competitive in the Sun Belt. He thought our Achilles heel would be our lack of depth. Experience and depth would be negatives for our team.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-10-27
Coach Jones called in for a few minutes during the show while he was traveling to Birmingham. But Lee Shirvanian was joined at Baumhower’s Wings Restaurant by Coach Crain, Coach Craig and Coach Rodrigue. Coach Crain and Coach Rodrigue both got the Joey Jones Plate (AKA the black and white chicken) while Coach Craig ordered the grilled chicken.
The coaches mentioned that they practiced this morning from about 5:30am until about 9:00am and had a really good practice.
Lee asked Coach Jones about Fork Union Academy which he said they were very athletic on defense and will definitely be a challenge for the Jags on offense. Lee then asked Coach Jones and the rest of the staff on hand if the players would favor the flurry of games coming up, three in 12 days. Coach Jones said that he thinks they want to play games and that they will favor this. Typically coaches think they need more practice time while players are ready to play. Coach Rodrigue said that he thought that having a game at the end of a week of practice helps to keep them focused and interested. While Coach Crain said that an open week is good especially to recover from playing week after week and the bumps and bruises you get during a normal schedule. But he likes to get into game week and scheme and do everything that goes with that.
One of the South Alabama marketing people came on and said that they were asking tailgaters to decorate their area for halloween. They are calling it Truck Or Treat. The kids can dress up in their costume and trick or treat from tailgate to tailgate. Kids 12 and under can wear their costumes or their favorite teams shirt (hopefully the Jags) and get $5 tickets to the game.
Lee then moved to recruiting and mentioned Alabama’s Terrance Cody and if there were many of them out there. Coach Rodrigue said they are if you are looking to stop the run. But they are recruiting more speed now, some places are recruiting runningbacks and fullbacks to play linebacker because of their vision. Since they are used to looking for holes, they fit good being a linebacker who is supposed to fill those holes before the backs find them.
Lee then asked the coaches about how much time that USA spends on special teams, which Coach Crain said that they spend alot of time on every phase of it. Knowing when to pick up the ball and when to get away from it and things like that. He said it has really helped the Jags to be as successful as they have been this season. They both also praised Tommy Perry’s work with special teams as well.
Lee ended the show asking the coaches what is the toughest position to recruit for. Coach Rodrigue said he thought it has been defensive line so far for the Jags. Coach Crain said the quarterback would probably be the toughest in his mind, because once you get a good guy, its hard to get another one to commit.
I have to apologize because I missed a segment in the middle due to technical difficulties not related to the radio station. I hope you enjoy the recap nonetheless.
GO JAGS!
