Coach Jones Pleased With Tuesday’s Practice
2012 South Alabama Football Senior class. – Photo from USAJaguars.com
South Alabama returned to the practice field on Tuesday to continue preparation for Saturday’s game against Middle Tennessee State.
“We had a pretty good day today,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I think we had a good one from the standpoint that they were paying attention and they had a good inside drill today, running the football on both sides of the ball, offense and defense. I thought we had a goods crisp period where they got after it and on Tuesday’s you’ve got to have a good physical practice because you’ve got to carry it over to the game.”
Similar to last week, the Jags practiced in shells and will most likely do it again on Wednesday as well. As they are in the midst of a long stretch of games with three more to go the staff does not want to over extend the players while still working on keeping them sharp and implementing the game plan for their next opponent.
Coach Jones also said in his weekly radio show that Demetre Baker was doubtful for the Jags game this weekend. This will likely put Kendall Houston as the starter against the Blue Raiders on Saturday. Baker missed the second half against North Texas with an ankle sprain suffered in the second quarter.
Houston has 185 yards on 71 carries this season and has made appearances in all 10 games. Baker is the teams leading rusher with 595 yards on the season.
Clifton Crews, who suffered a concussion in the second quarter against North Texas, is probable for this weekends game. He will still have to pass a battery of tests to make sure there are no lingering affects from the concussion before that decision is finalized.
Prior to this Saturday’s game, the University will honor 15 seniors in a pre-game ceremony. Trey Clark, B.J. Scott and Jake Johnson have started all 10 games this season. Cori Barnett and Brandon Ross have not seen the playing field this season due to injuries.
Ryne Baxter, Jonathan Cameron, Michel Chapuseaux, Andy Dalgleish, Kennedy Helms, Ellis Hill, Gabe Loper, Chris Rivers, Tremain Smith and Anthony Taylor will all join the previously mentioned players to be honored as the 2012 senior class.
“I want to thank our seniors for all they have done and committed to this football program, for what they have meant not only to this university but to our team,” said Coach Jones. “They are great leaders and great young men, they care about this team and have done all the right things to build this program from the ground up. Some of the guys have been here the whole time, some have transferred in, but the bottom line is that they have all contributed in great ways. They will be forever missed because they have done a good job here, they have created an atmosphere of hard work and character. We will be indebted to them forever.”
“I think this is a special day, it really is, because you almost treat it a little differently since it is your last day to play at home,” he continued. “Not that you are going to go out and play any harder, because those guys are going to play hard anyway, but you look at it with a little different perspective because you realize this is your last one. There are not many things in life that you know are going to end, maybe retirement.”
The parking lot at Ladd-Peebles Stadium will open at 8am for tailgating and gates to the stadium will open at 12:30pm. The Jaguar Prowl will take place around 12:10pm in the South parking lot. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30pm.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2011-08-23
Coach Jones looks on as Demetre Baker looks to the sideline before blocking for a field goal attempt.
The Joey Jones Radio Show started season three with host Lee Shirvanian and guest Joel Erdmann today.
They started the show off by talking about the depth chart now that they are finished with preseason camp and are into game prep mode. The first thing that Lee asked coach Jones about were there any surprises that emerged that he wasn’t thinking about. Coach Jones said that they don’t have many changes.
He mentioned on the offensive line that Levi Slaydon did not return so they had to fill that position. Jermaine Smith and Brian Krauskopf have stepped up and are neck-and-neck for that starting job. Other than that change, the offensive line is the same as last season. At tight end it is pretty much the same with Kevin Helms and Paul Bennett there. A little bit of a change will be the backfield with the addition of Georgia transfer Demetre Baker with Kendall Houston. He indicated that they would be co-starters in the backfield.
When coach Jones moved onto receivers, he mentioned that they have more names out there than they did last year. Last year Courtney Smith was the big name and the other receivers were ‘the others’.
Lee then started talking about the defense and mentioned that there were many familiar names on that side of the ball. He first mentioned Cori Barnett at the Sam position with Ken Barefield as his backup. Barefield played defensive back last season for the Jags.
When asked about how Cori emerged as being a starter, Coach Jones said that he had a great spring and awarded him with a scholarship for how well he did in the off-season. He mentioned that he is a bit undersized but still plays very well, he’s smart and knows all the answers to questions over on defense. Ken will still play alot.
Fan Day scrimmage 2011
Anthony Ingram catches a touchdown pass from Trey Fetner with cornerbacks Travis Brooks and Ameriol Finley.
South Alabama held their first scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday in conjunction with Fan Day at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. They also debuted their new blue uniforms as well, but it not know when and how often they may be used this season.
The first half of the scrimmage was not open to the fans to view but the offense scored three times. The first team offense scored a touchdown and a field goal, while the second team offense added another field goal on their final possession before a break.
C.J. Bennett lead the offense on a 10 play 57-yard drive leading to a Jordan Means 30-yard field goal. Demetre Baker carried the ball four times for 39 yards in his only appearance of the day. Bennett also connected with Corey Waldon for a 25 yard completion on the drive.
On the first team’s last possession, Bennett lead a 60-yard, seven-play touchdown drive. Santuan McGee would pick up the first first-down of the drive on an 11 yard rush. McGee would finish with 26 yards on five attempts. J.J. Keels would move the chains again after rushing for eight and four yards respectively. Bennett would move the the team into the red zone after a 13-yard strike to Waldon. The very next play appeared to be a touchdown pass from Bennett to Waldon again, but it was negated by an offensive pass interference call.
Keels would move the ball 16 yards before Devin Robinson would find the end zone on an 18-yard run.
Trey Fetner lead the second team on a 54-yard drive that culminated in a 28-yard field goal by Michel Chapuseaux on the final snap before the break.
Fetner completed a pass to Jake Howton for 47-yards of the 54-yards the drive covered on a post pattern. Devin Robinson also rushed three times for 12 yards after the big completion.
The only score of the second half came on the next to last series. Fetner found Anthony Ingram open down the middle of the field for the 40-yard touchdown pass.
The Jaguar offense gained 328 yards and averaged just under five yards per play for the day. Fetner went 4 of 7 passing for 106 yards and a touchdown. Bennett finished 2 of 4 for 38 yards. J.J. Keels carried the ball 13 times for 74 yards and Devin Robinson rushed 14 times for 57 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Desmond LaVelle lead the team with seven stops total, five of them were unassisted. Cori Barnett and Cordivido Grice also added five stops themselves. B.J. Scott and Damond Smith added three tackles for the first team. Ameriol Finley, Ben Giles, Maleki Harris, Ceasare Johnson and Ramon Lewis all added three tackles for the second and third team units.
The scrimmage ended with some special teams work on kickoff returns and placekicking. Each kicker attempted three field goals each. Jordan Means split the uprights from 37, 40 and 50 yards. Chapuseaux made a 49 yard attempt and Lawson McGlon also made a 45-yard attempt.
“I thought we responded well today,” said coach Joey Jones after team’s first live scrimmage. “We put them in some situations that they hadn’t been in in practice where you are tackling full speed. There is a difference, I don’t care who you are and how hard you practice — and we practice hard — games are different because there is that little extra burst that you always have to give. We realized in the scrimmage today that we have to do a little bit more of this where they are used to game-type situations. I thought they got a little tired, but that’s due to the fact that we’ve been practicing 10 days in a row. The bottom line is they need to realize that the game is a little different than practice. The kids are fighting through it, I thought they gave good effort.”
Coach Jones continued speaking about the running backs in this scrimmage, “Of course Kendall Houston didn’t play today and Demetre, we got him out after about six plays. We know good and well what he can do. We’re trying to develop some depth, and J.J and Devin looked good. And Santuan has always looked real good, so we feel like we’ve got five guys back there that can play.”
“We had plans to have our No. 1 units go in there for 15-18 plays then have the twos and threes work a good bit today, which is what we did,” Jones commented. “I thought the offense picked it up today and put some things together. It had been looking pretty bad the last few days to be honest, the defense had kind of been dominating them. The offense played a little better today, it was good to see them fight back.”
“We’ve got some good freshmen, I believe they are going to find some playing time,” Jones finished. “We’re going to have to make a decision next weekend after the scrimmage whether to redshirt them or play them; that’s a valuable decision. Some of those guys are stepping up and could fill some starting roles before long, but we’ll see how things progress.”
Jake Johnson, finished with an unassisted sack at inside linebacker, spoke after practice about the scrimmage. “I think we got game speed, because in practice we’re going full speed to the ball but we have to slow up and not hit. Today it was up tempo with linemen coming off hard and cutting us, running backs were running hard. We’re not there yet, but it was good for a first scrimmage to see that and where we need to be.”
The team will be off on Sunday to rest. They will return to practice at 6:15am on Monday at the Jaguar Practice Facility.
Tuesday and Wedensday practice coverage
South Alabama had their first two-a-day practice on Tuesday. In their morning practice, they had a very physical and vigorous workout that might have been a preview for the Fan Day scrimmage coming up on Saturday, August 13.
Practice began with special teams work with roughly the first 10 minutes were devoted to work with the punt team. After that, the offense worked on individual and group work which featured screen drills along with routes for tight ends, receivers and running backs.
The next session had the offense and defense working on the running game, both inside and outside, along with play-action passing. The offense then went to skeleton passing drills against the their defensive counterparts. While the skeleton drills were going on, the offensive line worked on pass protection against the defensive line.
The team then took a 10 minute break from the heat before resuming practice. After a stretching session, the offense took the field against the scout team working primarily on reverses.
The offense and defense then took the field against each other. The first 12 plays from scrimmage were snapped from the offense’s 20-yard line. Demetre Baker took the first ball for no gain. Then Myles Gibbon recovered a fumbled from a low snap which resulted in a loss of yards for the offense. Kendall Houston then rushed for 15 yards on the third play which was followed by a six-yard run by Devin Robinson. Baker kept the momentum with a 10-yard rush on fifth play.
Read more