Jaguars Back On The Practice Field, News About Darrow Fisher
The Jags started preseason camp with nine consecutive days of practice that culminated in Saturday’s scrimmage. Then the team had a much needed day off on Sunday and hit the practice field for two hours on Monday in shells. The last hour of practice was offense versus defense even though they were not wearing full pads.
Coach Jones was pleased with the offense saying, “Offensively, I thought that we came out with a little more spirit today. I saw some good leadership there, and the coaches were coaching harder, I really liked what I saw on that side of the ball this morning.”
Coach Jones was also quoted, “I saw a great attitude today. Actually, when we came out here you could see that some of the things that were mistakes on the film [from Saturday’s scrimmage] were actually fixed, and I thought it might take two or three days to do that. We still have more to work on, because the challenge is they have to be better by Saturday than they are today. If they take that attitude they will be able to accomplish that.”
On Tuesday the Jags were back in full contact drills once again. The defense came up big in the third down red zone drills. They broke up four passes while holding the offense to two yards or less in 14 of 18 snaps. On the fifth play in the drill, Enrique Williams sacked the quarterback, but on the next play C.J. Bennett would find Bryant Lavender for an 18 yard touchdown.
However, the defense would tighten up allowing a total of four yards in the next five plays. But the offense would find a way to get into the end zone when Raymond Cotton would score on an eight yard run. Then the final six plays of the drill the offense would not gain positive yardage with three plays being pass breakups.
A more detailed overview of the practice is available on the usajaguars.com website.
The word coming from campus is that defensive back Darrow Fisher is out for the season with a torn ACL from Saturday’s scrimmage. This is not good news for a thin secondary which been a concern of the Jaguars coaching staff.
South Alabama’s First Scrimmage of 2010 Preseason Coverage
T.J. Glover running down the sideline on his 79 yard reception.
The defense started the scrimmage by allowing a 70 yard touchdown pass from Myles Gibbon to Lamontis Gardner but the defense would come back stronger after that by not allowing another score for the next seven series.
The defense would intercept two passes and recover a fumble during the seven series, scoreless stretch by the offense. C.J. Bennett would lead the offense to drive from mid field to score. However, the touchdown pass went through the intended receivers hands short of the end zone but Bryant Lavendar would catch it in the end zone for the touchdown.
After a break, the offense came back with something to prove. The offense, lead by Gibbon, would see three holding calls on the opening drive of the second half. However they worked hard and eventually put the ball into the end zone. T.J. Glover made it into the end zone twice but each were called back on holding penalties. Hill eventually got the ball into the end zone.
There would be three more touchdowns by the offense with two of them being keyed off of big plays. Santuan McGee had a 42 yard touchdown and 79 yard reception by T.J. Glover set up the offense for another score.
Myles finished 6 of 8 for 119 yards and two touchdowns. C.J. Bennett went 7 of 13 for 162 yards and two touchdowns and an interception. T.J. Glover had two catches for 106 yards. Corey Besteda, Lemantis Gardner and Ralph Turner all had multiple receptions. Brandon Ross only rushed twice for 23 yards. Cotton and Ellis Hill both had 17 yards rushing.
Enrique Williams lead the team in tackles and added an interception. Bryson James added three stops and an interception as well. Kendell Bagnerise and Rodney Thomas both recorded sacks with Thomas.
Watch the video of Coach Jones’ speaking after the scrimmage in our previous post by clicking here. Plus check out http://local15tv.com/ and http://fox10tv.com/ for coverage of the post scrimmage talk as well.