Preview: South Alabama Opens 2024 Season Against North Texas
Kickoff: Saturday, August 31, 4:00pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags on X (formerly known as Twitter): @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Not announced yet
South Alabama enters the 2024 season with momentum that the program has never experienced before. Though the regular season record took a step back from the 10-win 2022 campaign, the 2023 season culminated with a ferocious 59-10 defeat of Eastern Michigan in the 68 Ventures Bowl. It finally gave the school and it’s fans the long-awaited first bowl victory in program history. They unleashed some of their pent up frustration from previous bowl games with talk on the field. Though what happened after the game garnered most of the national spotlight.
However less than a month later, the entire college football world was shocked by the announcement of Nick Saban’s retirement. Less than a week later a new head coach, Kalen DeBoer, was announced at the University of Alabama, which began a series of dominoes falling across the college football landscape.
One of dominoes was South Alabama’s head football coaching position.
After only three seasons, Kane Wommack left to be the defensive coordinator at Alabama alongside his former Indiana staff-mate who had accepted the huge task of replacing a legend of college football.
In a swift but thorough search, South Alabama Athletics Director Joel Erdmann announced the selection of Major Applewhite to become the fourth head football coach in South Alabama football history. Applewhite was a clear and easy choice to make in retrospect. He had already been on staff for three seasons with Wommack, he knew the players and the program, and he knew all about the recruiting for the Jags. But in the new age of the transfer portal and players ability to enter it when their head coach leaves, it was also an opportunity to keep roster as intact as possible.
The Coaches
Long considered one of the great offensive minded coaches in the nation, Coach Applewhite helped lead an offense that set many records over the last three seasons. The 2023 offense set a program record for points scored in a single season with 430, scored 55 points or more in three games (including the 59 points scored in the 68 Ventures Bowl which itself set a program record for most points scored against an FBS opponent). They scored 55 points in back-to-back victories over Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss during the regular season.
This will be Coach Applewhite’s third season overall as a head coach, he previously held the position at Houston leading the Cougars to a 15-11 record with two bowl appearances and a win over nationally-ranked South Florida during his tenure.
In Coach Applewhite’s first game as head coach for the Jags, he will get to host a program that is not unknown to long time South Alabama supporters.
North Texas was a member of the Sun Belt Conference from 2001 until their departure for Conference USA in 2013. While all of the other sports programs faced the Mean Green many times, the football program only faced off on the gridiron once in what would be their final season in the SBC. It happened to be the Jags first season playing a full FBS and SBC schedule, and only their 4th season sponsoring football, as the first year of their transition. They came out on the wrong side of a 24-14 game in route to a 2-11 season, the worst season in program history.
South Alabama will finally get to renew the sports “rivalry” between the two schools and get finally host North Texas for a game in Mobile.
North Texas head football coach Eric Morris enters his second season at the helm for the Mean Green after going 5-7 in his debut season. He is one of the younger offensive minds that is making a mark for themselves in college football.
Since becoming offensive coordinator at Texas Tech in 2013, Morris has put together a top 25 offense in either FBS or FCS eight of the last 11 seasons. He’s also worked with great offensive minds like Mike Leach and Kliff Kingsbury while recruiting and coaching Pat Mahomes at Texas Tech.
Morris served as head coach at Incarnate Word for four seasons where he amassed a 24-18 record with two trips to the FCS playoffs. His first was in his first season where they lost in the first round, then again in his final season where his team went 10-3 but lost in the second round to top ranked Stephen F Austin. Between UIW and UNT, Morris served as offensive coordinator for Washington State, where they went 7-6 with a loss to Fresno State in the LA Bowl days after he accepted the head coaching position at North Texas.
The North Texas coaching staff had some offseason changes to it. They brought in Cutter Leftwich to coach the offensive line from Oregon, where he was an assistant offensive line coach. The 2023 Oregon OL was a finalist for the Joe Moore award, given to the nation’s top offensive line group. They also brought in Brian Odom to coach linebackers from USC where he previously coached inside linebackers as well as associate head coach for defense. He also filled in as interim co-defensive coordinator in 2023.
Defense is definitely where the Mean Green needs attention as you’ll see in the stats section below.
Measurables
Texas State
Let’s start what they did well.
In Coach Morris’ first season they finished 5-7 with an offense that put up some impressive numbers. They were one of only four teams who could say they had a 3,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver. They were also one of only five FBS programs ranked inside the top 25 in scoring, rushing, passing and total offense in 2023. Their offense led the AAC and was 6th in the nation in total offense (495.8 yards per game), 12th in the nation is passing (307.4 yards per game) and 21st in the nation in both rushing offense (191.2 yards per game) and scoring (34.5 points per game).
But they needed that kind of production with their defense.
The Mean Green’s defense ranked 130th or dead last in the nation in Total Defense (5,717 total yards, 6.56 yards per play, 476.4 yards per game) and Rushing Defense (3,062 yds, 255.2 yards per game, 5.63 yards per rush). They ranked 128th in the nation is scoring defense allowing 37.08 points per game. They ranked 63rd in passing yards allowed with2,655 yards for the season, 221.2 yards per game, and 8.09 yards per attempt. But who needs to pass when allowing those kinds of rushing numbers.
North Texas has 77 new players on the roster for the 2024 season, the most of any FBS program. Out of that number, 36 of them are transfers, which is tied with New Mexico State for the most transfers in FBS. A number of transfers will be starting for UNT on both sides of the ball with others sprinkled throughout the two-deep depth chart.
Listed as the starting quarterback, Chandler Morris transferred from TCU where he played in 15 games overall and started six games in 2023. In his standout game he threw for 461 yards and ran for 70 against Baylor in 2021.
Ikaika Ragsdale appeared in two games last year before suffering a season-ending injury. In 2022 he had 755 yards and 7 touchdowns.
UNT returns three of their top six receivers from last year. They combined for 93 catches, 1,235 yards and 11 touchdowns. Damon Ward Jr leads the receiver corps with 39 catches, 487 yards and 5 touchdowns a year ago. His best game came against Memphis with 8 catches for 120 yards.
Jordan Brown returns after leading the team with 83 tackles last season. They added a pair of Texas transfers to bolster their secondary along returners Jayven Anderson and Evan Jackson. Both returners were freshmen last season with Anderson finishing with 30 tackles (21 solo) and Jackson finished with 27 tackles while finishing second on the team with 3 pass breakups.
South Alabama
The Jaguar offense finished the season ranked 24th overall in total offense (440.2 yards per game, 6.38 yards per play). They were 27th in scoring (33.1 points per game), 32nd in passing (268.8 yards per game, 12.17 yards per completion), and T-48th in rushing (172 yards per game, 4.77 yards per rush).
Defensively the Jags finished 15th in the nation in total defense (313.2 yards per game), T-19th in rushing defense (113.7 yards per game, 3.22 yards per rush), T-26th in scoring defense (21.0 points per game), and 28th in passing yards allowed (199.5 yards per game, 12.47 yards per completion).
The Jags return several key players all over the field.
Offensively Gio Lopez is set up with lots of playmakers around him. He was pretty much tabbed as the quarterback of the future during his freshman season and the coaching staff used every bit of his playing time without burning a year of eligibility doing so.
Lopez will have playmakers in his pass catchers Jamaal Pritchett, Devin Voisin, Javon Ivory as well as tight end DJ Thomas-Jones. Despite losing their top receiver, Caullin Lacy, and Voisin going down with a season-ending injury in the second game of the season, the Jags return 109 receptions, 1,429 yards and 15 touchdowns between the four returners. Voisin led the 2022 receiver corps with 871 yards, was 2nd on the team with 64 catches and had five touchdowns.
Braylon McReynolds is tapped to be the starting running back to replace 1,000-yard rusher La’Damian Webb. Though McReynolds missed a huge chunk of the season due to an injury in the season-opener, he managed to see action in 5 games and rushed for 260 yards on 46 carries and adding 141 yards receiving on 17 receptions. While the numbers don’t jump off the screen as outstanding, it was his speed and elusiveness in key moments that does stand out. Kentrel Bullock, who finished 2nd to Webb with 476 yards rushing on 83 carries with four touchdowns is also back in the Jags uniform this season.
Depth at running back has been a big focus leading into the season. Expect more of a running back by committee rather than having any one running back dominating like Webb has over the past two seasons. Some of the young players will likely see some playing time too. Look for freshman #24 “Fluff” Bothwell to be one of those to see some early time and potentially make some highlights too.
The offensive line has taken three fairly substantial hits in fall camp. Mississippi State transfer Jayden Hobson left the team early in camp with the intention to join the work force. Redshirt freshman John Ward, who was the second-team right guard and was expected to eventually take over for senior Reed Buys, was medically disqualified. Most recently Lucas Taylor was medically retired from football due to a heart condition. Taylor entered camp as the Jags starting left guard.
The current starting line from left to right are Jordan Davis (R-Jr), Kenton Jerido (R-So), Malachi Preciado (R-So), Reed Buys (R-Sr), and Malachi Carney (R-So).
The Jag defense returns some names that should be familiar to fans. Wy’Kevious Thomas, Ed Smith IV, and Maurice Strong all return to the defensive line. In the secondary Ricky Fletcher, Jaden Voisin, Reggie Neely and Dallas Gamble all make their return in Jaguar uniforms.
Jack Martin returns to his punting duties while Laith Marjan takes over placekicking and kickoff duties for Diego Guajardo, who graduated.
Keys to the Game
Defense
The Jag defense is without Wommack and former defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, the architects of South Alabama Swarm D of the last three seasons. Calling the plays will be first year defensive coordinator Will Windham. Coach Windham has served on the staff each of the previous three seasons, so he’s familiar with the terminology and defensive philosophy but will be calling plays for the first time.
As for the team, the linebacker corps is probably the most concerning defensive personnel grouping.
Several of the players have seen limited action for the Jags. Many saw most of their playing time on special teams. Wolf linebacker Aakil Washington is probably the most experienced amongst the listed starters.
Offensive line
The Jags entered fall camp with three more players than they currently have. As we went over above: one left the program, one was medically disqualified, and a third was forced to medically retire.
While that is a hit on depth, some of those were either starters or expected to challenge for a starter position/be a solid second-teamer.
Similar to the linebackers, the offensive line has limited starting experience and will need to gel quickly under game pressure in order to protect Gio Lopez and give the running backs a chance.
Gio is a very mobile quarterback and is quite good at making plays, but if he’s running for his life most plays how accurate can he be?
Fundamentals
Early season games are easily won and lost based on fundamentals. After several months between seasons, with only inter-team scrimmages in the spring and fall camp attempting to simulate games, the rubber meets the road in the first game. No matter how much you try, you just cannot adequately simulate an actual game in a scrimmage. That’s why you see lots of teams try to schedule what should be an easier game to open the season.
Ball protection, pursuit angles, footwork, and execution will all be tested early and often in this game.
Prediction
The Jags have a very good test to open the season with North Texas. Perhaps a good measuring stick to gauge where the program stands to being coach Major Applewhite’s first season. It’s also an opportunity to set the tone for the season.
With the coaching changes and the personnel changes, the football program enters the season with the more open questions than they’ve had over the last couple of seasons. However, they’ll have the first three games to really solidify before South Alabama opens conference play at App State on September 19.
But they would really like to roll into Boone, NC with a 3-0 record. Each week is a one-game season. You have to focus on the game at hand, you can’t look ahead to games further down the schedule.
This week it’s North Texas and the goal is to go 1-0.
Both teams have lots of questions but maybe my red, white and blue glasses may be affecting me as I think the Jags have better skill players returning offensively. They have some solid personnel on the defensive line and secondary. So, I think the Jags pull this out, possibly in a high scoring affair. It may even come down to the final possession.
USA is a 5.5 point favorite and has been as high as an 8 point favorite leading up to the game. Maybe I’m a little too nervous about the open questions with the offensive line and linebackers. I think the Jags win, but I don’t think they’ll cover.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Dominates Southern Miss 55-3
It was a record setting night for the South Alabama Jaguars.
The Jaguar offense recorded a new program record 647 total yards of offense as well as a record setting seven rushing touchdowns. La’Damian Webb tied his program record with four rushing touchdowns.
Southern Miss (1-6, 0-4 SBC) didn’t cross the 50 yard line until the 3rd quarter and finally surpassed 100 yards of total offense with under 6 minutes left in the game.
The Jags scored touchdowns of their first four possessions; the first three were La’Damian Webb before Kentrel Bullock added one for himself. The fifth possession was field goal. With an attempt to put points on the scoreboard with just one second on the clock, Diego Guajardo’s 41 yard attempt missed wide right.
Guajardo came back with a 39-yard kick on South Alabama’s first possession of the second half.
Southern Miss broke the shutout with a 32-yard field goal with 5:40 left in the third quarter to make it 34-3.
South Alabama responded with a 3-play scoring drive. A pair of passes to Lincoln Sefcik went for 24 and 20 yards respectively then Webb capped it off with a 16 yard touchdown run for his 4th of the game.
After getting the ball back on downs, head coach Kane Wommack started sending in the subs. Walk-on running back Dorian Smith took his first collegiate carry 29 yards for his first career touchdown to make it 48-3 with 1:20 left in the 3rd quarter.
Freshman Gio Lopez had his fourth appearance of the season and gave Jaguar fans a glimpse of the future with a 20-yard touchdown run to finish off the scoring with 13:47 left in the game. It looked like Lopez had a 27-yard touchdown run later in the game, but a penalty for holding wiped it off the board.
“This was probably one of the more dominating performances I’ve been a part of,” head coach Kane Wommack said after the game. “Arguably our most dominating performance since I’ve been here.”
“We’re really starting to lean into how we’re supposed to start the game,” Wommack said.
Stats
South Alabama
South Alabama put up 647 yards of total offense, 360 passing yards and 287 rushing. They were 7-of-11 on 3rd down and held a 31:15 to 28:45 time of possession advantage.
Carter Bradley finished 21-of-27 for 319 yards. True freshman Gio Lopez was 2-of-4 for 41 yards with an interception late in the game.
“We’re starting to see things click, for sure,” Bradley said. “I think it’s just preparation. Our coaches are doing an unbelievable job of getting us prepared and guys are buying into it.”
Jamaal Pritchett led all receivers with 122 yards on five carries. Caullin Lacy led all receivers with nine catches for 103 yards, extending his streak of consecutive 100-yard games to six. Four other receivers caught passes in the game.
La’Damian Webb rushed for 102 yards on 20 attempts with the four touchdowns. Kentrel Bullock finished with 58 yards on nine carries with a touchdown. Dorian Smith had two carries for 34 yards and a touchdown. Marco Lee Jr has 26 yards on six carries. Gio Lopez was credited with one carry for 20 yards and a score. Jarvis Durr had three carries for 20 yards, Bradley had 19 yards on two carries, and Jonathon Carter had one carry for 8 yards.
Khalil Jacobs led the team with seven total stops, four solo, with three tackles for loss and a forced fumble. James Miller had six total stops, one solo, with a TFL.
Jordan Norman, Maurice Strong Jr both had a sack in the game. Carlos Johnson Jr and Brock Higdon both has ½ sack.
Strong Jr got the only takeway with an interception for the Jag defense.
“It was just about being consistent for us,” defensive lineman Wy’Kevious “Bubba” Thomas said after wearing the honorary #5 jersey this week. “If you show consistency throughout the week of practice, it’s easy on game day.”
Southern Miss
The Golden Eagles only managed 149 total yards of offense, a mere 46 passing and 103 rushing. The Jags defense held them to only 1-of-13 on 3rd down and 1-of-2 on 4th down attempts. They were only penalized four times for 25 yards.
Billy Wiles was 2-of-5 for 5 yards as the starting quarterback. Holman Edwards came in and went 5-of-15 for 41 yards and an interception.
Frank Gore Jr was the leading Golden Eagle receiver with 22 yards on two catches. He also had the longest play from scrimmage with a 20 yard pass reception.
Tiaquelin Mims had two catches for 4 yards. Tyquan Henderson had the second most receiving yards on the team with 9 on just one catch.
Kenyon Clay finished as the leading rusher for USM with 60 yards on 10 carries. Gore Jr finished with 27 yards on 12 carries. Rodrigues Clark was the only other player with positive rushing yards with 13 on five carries.
Swayze Bozeman finished with 12 total stops, 8 solo, with a TFL. Dylan Lawrence had nine total stops, 6 solo. MJ Daniels got the only takeway from the Jags with an interception of Gio Lopez in the fourth quarter.
Next
The Jags will take the field next on Saturday, October 28th for a 4pm kickoff against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin’ Cajuns are currently 4-2, 1-1 in conference play, and are set to host Georgia State at Cajun Field this Saturday.
Preview: South Alabama Hosts Central Michigan For Homecoming, Final Non-Conference Game
Kickoff: Saturday, September 23, 4pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags on X (formerly known as Twitter): @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Desmond Trotter
This is an important game for the South Alabama Jaguars.
No, it’s not a flashy game against another Power-5 program. It’s not a conference game. It may be homecoming, but that’s not the reason either.
It’s an important game for two reasons: one, it’s next game on the schedule, and two, we get to see how the team responds after the last game.
You may be reading this thinking “man, you make it sound like they lost last week. But they won arguably the biggest game in program history last week against Oklahoma State.” But that’s exactly it. They won the biggest game in program history, now how do they respond?
The Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
Head Coach Kane Wommack took over the program in 2021 and he has consistently spoken about getting his players to have a neutral mindset. You cannot get too high on emotion, but you cannot get to low either. This week will be a big test for his team to see if they have that neutral mindset nailed down, at least from the emotional high that was last week.
The Jags (2-1) earned a program-defining win last Saturday in dominating fashion. They took a 23-0 lead into halftime and by the time the final whistle blew, they posted a stunning 33-7 beat-down of a Power-5 program in their own stadium. One of the intriguing stats we noted was that the Jags rushed for more yards (248) than Oklahoma State gained in total offense (208) for the entire game.
South Alabama has been showered with praise since the game ended. They were named the Cheez-It’s team of the week (which brought them a big delivery of assorted boxes of Cheez-It’s on Monday). They were honorably mentioned in Matt Mitchell’s “SEC Roll Call”, a weekly comedy sketch he does recapping the previous weeks performances. But they also have Homecoming festivities this coming week.
How they turn around and respond in this game could really define the remainder of the season.
This paragraph may induce PTSD, so be warned. In 2016, South Alabama traveled to Starkville, MS and earned their first win over a Power-5 and SEC program with a 21-20 win. Coincidentally, it happened to be coach Wommack’s first game with the Jaguars as defensive coordinator too. However the Jags lost the following week to Georgia Southern 24-9 as well as the next week at Louisiana-Lafayette 28-23. Then they needed overtime to survive an upset bid by Nicholls 41-40. Similarly in the 2016 season, they were able to defeat the then #19 ranked San Diego State Aztecs 42-24, but lost back-to-back games to Arkansas State (17-7) and Troy (28-21) afterwards.
Coach Wommack keeps stressing “consistency.” This game will be a big measuring stick for how much consistency the coaching staff has been able to instill into this program.
South Alabama (2-1)
In a way the Oklahoma State game was a carry-over from the second half of the Southeastern Louisiana game. The Jaguar offense scored on their first three possessions and four of their six first-half possessions, not counting the last possession with a mere 18 seconds left before halftime.
The defense kept the Cowboys off the scoreboard until early in the fourth quarter, and the longest plays from scrimmage was a 21 yard quarterback run and a 15 yard pass completion.
The Jags are +1 in turnover margin for the season. They have thrown three interceptions and lost three of the four fumbles they’ve committed. Defensively the Jags have forced five fumbles and recovered all of them while also collecting a pair of interceptions.
Offense
South Alabama’s mantra ‘Run The Damn Ball’ was on full display in Stillwater. La’Damian Webb, even on a play-count, rolled up an impressive 151 yards rushing on 18 carries with a pair of touchdowns. It was highlighted by a 65 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the final dagger in the Cowboy’s heart.
Kentrel Bullock also had 18 carries for 71 yards and Marco Lee Jr had 6 carries for 30 yards.
Carter Bradley was 10-of-16 for 152 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautify placed 57-yard strike to Caullin Lacy.
Lacy led the Jags receivers with 5 catches for 104 yards and both of Bradley’s touchdown passes. Lincoln Sefcik had three catches for 21 yards. Javon Ivory and Bullock had one catch each for 17 and 10 yards respectively.
Lacy has really elevated his play after Devin Voisin was lost for the season to a knee injury last week. He was already a big-time playmaker before!
Josh McColloch suffered a knee injury mid-week and did not play, however the offensive line had their best outing so far this season with Jordan Davis stepping up and starting in McCulloch’s place.
The Jags are averaging 389.7 total yards of offense, 201 yards passing and 188.7 yards rushing per game. The running back corps are averaging 5 yards per attempt through three games.
The offense is converting 20-of-39 (51%) of their 3rd down attempts and 3-of-4 (75%) of their 4th down attempts. In the red zone they have scored on all 9 of their trips, with seven of them being touchdowns.
However, Bradley has been sacked 7 times on the season for 50 yards, but only twice last week by the Cowboys.
Defense
Coach Wommack, defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, and assistant coach Jay Hopson seemed to have really turned around the secondary after Tulane exploited them for several explosive plays. They only allowed 208 total yards of offense, 114 passing yards and 94 rushing yards to the Cowboys.
Through three games the defense is allowing an average of 352 yards of total offense, 252.7 passing yards and 99.3 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting just 13-of-34 (38%) of their 3rd down attempts. Of the 11 trips into the red zone for opponents, they have scored on 8 of them with only 4 coming as touchdowns.
James Miller leads the defense with 19 total stops, 10 solo, with a fumble recovery. Jaden Voisin is next behind him with 16 total stops, nine solo, with a forced fumble. Trey Kiser is third with 15 total stops, eight solo, with a tackle for loss, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry.
Brock Higdon leads the defense with 2 sacks on the season. Jamie Sheriff, Quentin Wilfawn, Khalil Jacobs, and Maurice Strong Jr have one sack each.
Yam Banks and Marquise Robinson both have one interception each.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made good on both of his attempts against OSU last weekend and is 3-of-4 on the season with a long of 42. His only miss was from 52 in the season-opener against Tulane.
Jack Martin is averaging 43.4 yards per attempt, with a long of 53 yards. He has four fair catches, four downed inside the 20.
Central Michigan (1-2)
Despite the Chippewa’s record, they have been playing some pretty good football on the season. Both of their two losses come at the hands of Power-5 programs. The season opener was a 31-7 loss at Michigan State and last week they kept it close in the first half at Notre Dame before the Fighting Irish pulled away in the second half for a 41-17 win.
Between the two losses, the Chippewas earned a win against #11 ranked FCS New Hampshire 45-42 on a field goal as time expired. They led 42-28 with under six minutes left in the game. New Hampshire tied the game with a 71-yard catch-and-run with just over three-minutes left in the game.
Last week against Notre Dame, the Chippewas cut the lead to 7 before halftime before the Irish pulled away in the second half. The Irish, who put up 578 yards of total offense, took back any momentum with a 74 yard touchdown drive in only 7 plays to start the third quarter and never looked back.
Overall they are -1 on turnover margin. Offensively they have fumbled three times but recovered them all, however they have thrown three interceptions. Defensively they have one interception and a forced fumble that they’ve recovered.
Offense
The Chippewa offense is averaging 23 points, 309 yards of total offense, 145.7 passing yards, and 163.3 rushing yards per game. They are only converting 11-of-44 (25%) of their 3rd down attempts but they have converted 4-of-5 (80%) of their 4th down attempts.
Quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr missed the Notre Dame game with an illness but is expected to return and presumably start on Saturday. He is 18-of-36 (50%) for 280 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in those two games. Jase Bauer is 13-of-29 (44.9%) for 157 yards.
The top two receivers both have five catches. Chris Parker has 142 yards on his 5 catches with a touchdown. Tyson Davis has 92 yards with his five catches.
They have five players with three catches each. Jesse Prewitt III has 91 yards and a touchdown, Mitchel Collier has 30 yards, Marion Lukes has 28 yards, Myles Bailey has 11 yards, and Sam Hicks has 7 yards.
Myles Bailey leads the Central Michigan rushing attack with 186 yards on 38 carries with two touchdowns. Emanuel Jr is the next leading rusher, even with sack-adjusted yardage figured in, with 142 yards on 38 carries with two touchdowns in two games played. Marion Lukes has 75 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Jase Bauer has 43 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown. BJ Harris has 11 carries for 32 yards, the last back with double-digit carries on the team.
Defense
Central Michigan runs multiple fronts. They will switch between 3 and 4 down linemen which give an even and odd look to the offensive line. So the Jaguar offensive line will need to stay on the same for their protection schemes. They have played pretty well against the run, but have been quite susceptible to explosive passing plays.
They are allowing an average of 38 points, 507.3 total yards of offense, 371.3 passing yards, and 136 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 16-of-39 (41%) of their 3rd down attempts and 3-of-6 (50%) of their 4th down attempts.
Donte Kent leads the defense with 26 total stops, 18 of them solo, with a tackle for loss (TFL) from the secondary. Kyle Moretti is right behind him with 25 total stops, 14 solo, with two TFLs from his linebacker position. It drops off to 16 total, 7 solo, stops for Trey Jones from the secondary. Then Justin Whiteside has 13 total stops, 11 solo, for the highest ranking defensive lineman.
Jacques Bristol leads the team with three TFL’s with a sack, as part of his 11 total tackles. He is tied with Michael Heldman and Maurice White for sack leader. Heldman leads the team with 4 quarterback hurries.
Elijah Rikard is the only player on the defense with an interception.
Special Teams
Tristan Mattson, a redshirt-junior transfer from Arkansas State, is 2-of-3 on the season. His long is 47 yards, which was his first attempt of the season and came against New Hampshire as time expired. He also handles kickoff duty and has nine touchbacks on his 13 kickoff attempts.
Jake Walrath is averaging 45.1 yards across his 21 punt attempts. His longest kick was 63 yards. He has two touchbacks, five fair catches, five downed inside the 20 and seven kicks of 50+ yards. He can really flip field position in a hurry.
Keys to the Game
Neutral Mindset
The Jags will be coming off a big win over a Power-5 opponent. It’s also Homecoming week. This is a textbook upset script for the Chippawa’s. It also doesn’t help that they want revenge for last season and to get back to .500 on the season.
Coach Wommack speaks about having a neutral mindset. There are several keys to the neutral mindset. He doesn’t want players to get too emotionally high nor too emotionally low after a game, or even after a play. The players need to approach each play as its own entity, when the play is over it’s time for the next play. It doesn’t matter if the previous play was a big loss or a huge gain; you have to line up for the next play just the same. Each time you line up for a play, just do your job and trust your teammate to do his.
Taking what the defense gives
The Chippewa defense has been quite good against the run. While their passing numbers aren’t that good to observe, they haven’t been that bad against the pass either. Their biggest problem is explosive plays through the air, similar to what the Jags had trouble with against Tulane. They will be working to make similar adjustments this week and hope they show on the field when they arrive in Mobile on Saturday.
Carter Bradley may have to put the ball in the air more than he did against Oklahoma State for the Jags to win. If the Chippewa’s continue to be susceptible to the pass, that’s what the Jags need to exploit.
But a productive running game will also help loosen up the secondary too.
Offensive Line
Last Saturday, the Jags offensive line played arguably the best game of football in program history. They opened running lanes for the Jaguar running backs and they were pretty good in pass protection. Bradley was sacked twice in the game, but did not have a single quarterback hurry on the stat sheet.
Consistency is stacking one good game after another. They could really use another outing like that this week.
Not to keep repeating it, but Central Michigan has been good against the run. If they are able to get success stopping the Jags rushing game, they will turn up the pressure on Bradley and try to get him to force the ball downfield. Two of his three interceptions this season can be contributed to him trying to force the ball under pressure.
Injuries
Reggie Smith was injured late in fall camp and will miss the season. Braylon McReynolds suffered a broken collarbone against Tulane and will likely miss the entire regular season.
Before the game last Saturday, we found out that both Devin Voisin and Keith Gallmon Jr will also miss the rest of the season as well.
Gallmon Jr suffered a torn pectoral muscle early in the game against Southeastern Louisiana. This is the second time in as many seasons he has suffered the same injury and missed an entire season. However this time it’s the opposite pectoral as the one injured in 2022.
Voisin suffered a knee injury in the second half against SLU.
Thankfully, the Jags stayed pretty healthy against Oklahoma State last week.
Prediction
The Jags are pretty much a 14.5 point favorite across the board on most odd-maker sites. I was glad my prediction last week was completely wrong. When I pick against the Jags, I’m more than happy to be wrong.
It may be early for the Chippewa’s to circle the wagons, but I’m sure they feel an urgency for a win before they start conference play. They had 12 players out with Covid last Saturday and was within one score of Notre Dame at halftime (21-14). Thankfully the game will be at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The Jags offensive strengths play into some of the strengths of Central Michigan’s defense. It will be interesting to watch how it plays out.
I’m going with the Jags to win, but maybe they don’t cover the 14.5 spread but barely. I think a strong second half leads to a Jags win 31-17, just under the spread.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Opens Season At #24 Tulane
Kickoff: Saturday, September 2 7:00 PM
Venue: Yulman Stadium – New Orleans, LA
TV/Streaming: ESPNU
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Devin Voisin
Thunderjags on X (Formerly Twitter): @USAThunderjags
Preface
The Thunderjags family have been going through a lot over the last few months and our coverage leading up to the season has been basically non-existent unfortunately. It’s been a struggle to get back into gear. We have and continue to be a partnership, but while my family life has calmed down a little bit lately and I am eager to get back to some normalcy, my partner is still going through his own family issues. However you send support, I would humbly ask you to keep my partner, his family (and also my family) in your thoughts, prayers, or however you support people in your personal belief system. Speaking for both Thunderjags, we appreciate it!
Now, on with the preview!
The Season Is Here
South Alabama will open their 2023 campaign with a top 25 matchup versus the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans at Yulman Stadium.
Tulane was the darling of bowl season finishing with a 12-2 record, which included a win over UCF in the AAC championship game. That win vaulted Tulane into a New Years Day 6 bowl game as the top ranked team with the best record in the Group of Five conference. The Green Wave then defeated the top 10 ranked USC Trojans 46-45 in the Cotton Bowl.
South Alabama finished their 2022 campaign with a 10-3 record. Marking their best FBS season in program history with five straight wins to close out the regular season. However, their streak would come to an end in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl with a 23-44 loss and remain winless in three bowl game appearances over the program’s short history.
Between these two programs, there are lofty expectations for 2023.
But past performance does not guarantee future results, especially not in college football.
Tulane
Tulane finished 2022 ranked 9th in the nation in the AP poll. But you only have to look back to 2021 and the Green Wave’s 2-10 record to understand how preseason rankings don’t necessarily indicate how a new team and a new season will perform. But eighth-year head coach Willie Fritz hopes to maintain the standard set forth by the 2022 team.
Offense
The Green Wave returns three-year starter Michael Pratt who threw for 3,009 yards and 27 touchdowns last season. However, they have to replace running back Tyjae Spears, who was the Cotton Bowl MVP, that rushed for 1,581 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.
Coach Fritz has not said who will be replacing Spears, but that he had five good running backs and they will be testing them out over the first few games.
The likely starters on the offensive line are all senior or redshirt-seniors that have quite a bit of experience under their respective belts. They also weigh an average of 308lb.
At receiver they have a somewhat untested group of potential starters. A senior transfer from Notre Dame who only saw five snaps in the season opening game in 2021. His usage has trended down from 2019 when he played in 12 games with three starts until sitting out the remainder of the 2021 season.
Defense
The Tulane defense lines up in a base 4-2-5 package, similar to the Jags. The defensive line is experienced and deep but their likely starting linebackers seem to be less experienced.
The secondary is comprised of all upper classmen but the likely starters are mostly transfers into the program at one time or another.
Special Teams
Punter Casey Glover (R-Sr) returns from a season where he averaged over 41 yards per attempt with 20 fair catches, 20 downed inside the 20, 9 punts of 50+ yards and 0 blocks. His longest recorded punt was 65 yards. Glover is also the kickoff specialist and played in all 14 games last season with 45 touchbacks and only one kick out of bounds.
Also returning is placekicker Valentino Ambrosio (R-Sr). He transferred in from Rutgers last season. For the Green Wave he played in eight games going 10-of-11 with a long of 47 yards.
Ethan Hadak (R-Jr) played in 34 games over three seasons for the Green Wave, including all 13 last Fall.
South Alabama
The Jaguars enter the third season under the direction of head coach Kane Wommack with an unprecedented set of expectations. Despite the expectations from what some may consider a season where the Jags overachieved, the players and coaches, when they allow themselves to look back, they see both an amazing season with some undertones of slight underachievement.
They lost to UCLA on a last second field goal and lost to their rival Troy 6-10 in a defensive slug match. But many took the loss to Western Kentucky personal, include coach Wommack.
The Jags felt like they could have easily been in the Conference Championship game and could have been the Group of Five representative in the New Years Day 6 bowl games.
Offense
Coach Wommack and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite return nine starters on an offense that put up an average of over 31 points per game last season. Receiver Jalen Wayne was drafted by the Cleveland Browns but leaves a very talented and experienced pair of receivers for quarterback Carter Bradley to target.
Speaking of Carter Bradley (Sr) he set school records in passing yards (3,326), completions (276), and touchdowns (28) in his first season at USA. He ranked in the top 50 nationally in 11 different categories. He has been named to at least five different watch lists this season including: Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, the Manning Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, The Wuerffel Trophy, and the Maxwell Award Watch Lists.
Veteran Desmond Trotter will back up Carter and freshman Gio Lopez is listed as 3rd string, seemingly beating out redshirt-freshman Bishop Davenport, a Utah State transfer.
La’Damian Webb (R-Sr) returns after setting the regular season rushing yard mark with 1,015 yards in his first regular season with the program. He saw action in 12 games, missing only one with an injury but was held to minimal carries in two others due to injury. He ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas State and then for 247 yards and four touchdowns (both school records) against Georgia Southern in a game where he willed his team to victory. He ranked in the top 50 in seven categories nationally including 13th in rushing touchdowns and 10th in total touchdowns.
Webb is backed up by Braylon McReynolds (So) who played in 11 games as a true freshman with 326 yards on 59 carries. He was able to show his speed and explosiveness only a few times last season, but look for him to get more opportunities this season.
The staff added Kentrell Bullock (Jr), an Ole Miss transfer, and he will also factor into the rotation with McReynolds.
Marco Lee (Sr) returns after his first season with the Jags where he had 67 carries for 247 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of touchdowns against UCLA. He will be the bruiser back they can send in for those tough goal line and short yardage situations.
Replacing Wayne as the starter in week one is Jamaal Pritchett (So). He saw action in eight games last fall but only has two catches to his resume. On the other side is Devin Voisin (R-Jr) who played in all 13 games. He was named an honorable mention All-SBC team and All-Conference by Phil Steele. He had 64 catches for 867 yards and five touchdowns on the season, including a season-high 11 catches and 153 yards in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl against Western Kentucky.
Caullin Lacy (Jr) started all 13 games last season in the slot with a team-high 65 catches for 816 yards and six touchdowns with a career high 12 catches for 133 yards against Louisiana-Monroe. He also serves as the primary punt returner with 21 returns for 189 yards and a touchdown return against Louisiana Tech.
What may be one of the more underrated positions of strength on the offense is at tight end. The Jags return five seasoned and talented players in Lincoln Sefcik (Sr), DJ Thomas-Jones (Sr), Brandon Crum (Sr), Jacob Hopper (Jr), and Todd Justice (R-Jr). While they haven’t been featured pass receivers over the last few seasons, they are excellent possession receivers and tend to come through when the ball is thrown their way and a catch is needed.
Sefcik and Thomas-Jones will likely split starting duties again this season.
But what allows the offense to do what it does, the offensive line returns all but one starter from last year. James Jackson is gone since his eligibility was exhausted. But Josh McCulloch (Sr), Dontae Lucas (Sr), Reggie Smith (Sr), and Adrein Strickland (So) all return. Reggie Smith will move over to center and James Robinson (R-Jr) will start at left guard. Robinson transferred in from Tennessee and saw action in eight games last year as a backup guard and also on special teams.
Defense
The defense returns their own fair share of starters from last year while returning some talented players from injury too.
Jamie Sheriff (R-Sr), Wy’Kevious Thomas (R-Jr), and Charles Coleman (Sr) all return as starters on the defensive line. Brock Higdon (R-Jr), Jamall Hickbottom (Sr), and Carlos Johnson (Jr), Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge (R-So), and Maurice Strong Jr. (Sr) all return with game experience from last season. Unfortunately it seems that Ed Smith (So) will miss this game and possibly the season with an injury in the last practice of fall camp.
James Miller (Sr), Trey Kiser (Sr), and Quentin Wilfawn (R-Jr) all return as starters at linebacker. Ke’Shun Brown (R-Jr) also has starting experience and returns to bolster the group as a reserve along with Khalil Jacobs (So) and LaMondre Brooks (So) are both listed on the two-deep with game experience from last season.
The coaching staff added Gavin Forsha (Jr) from Kansas State, Taylor Milton (Jr) from Texas A&M, Emauri Sibley (So) from JuCo ranks, and Eli Webb (So) from Belhaven to add some additional depth at linebacker.
Ricky Fletcher (So) and Marquise Robinson (Jr) return as starting corners with Reggie Neely (Jr) and Dallas Gamble (R-Jr) both return with game experience as reserves.
Keith Gallmon (R-Sr) returns at free safety after missing all of 2022 with an injury. He is backed up by Rickey Hyatt (R-Jr). Jaden Voisin (R-Jr) or Jalen Jordan (Jr) are listed as the starter at Rover. Yam Banks (Jr) is back to start at Husky after leading the team with six interceptions last season.
The coaching staff added a long list of players in the offseason to add quality depth in the secondary. Reggie Neely (Jr Juco), Eli Ntsasa (Jr community college), Cameron Rutledge (Jr Division II transfer), Wesley Miller (R-Fr Mississippi State), Jordon Buchanan (R-Fr Purdue), Jamarrien Burt (R-Fr Oklahoma), Brian Dillart (R-So West Georgia), and Mike Harris (R-Jr Baylor) all transferred.
Coach Wommack also hired former Southern Miss head coach Jay Hopson, who previously served two years as Director of High School Relations at Mississippi State to coach the cornerbacks along with defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, who coaches the safeties, but calls plays from the press box during games.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo (Sr) will handle placekicking duties, his fourth season as the starter. Desmond Trotter or Jack Martin are listed as serving as the holder. Jacob Meeks (Sr) will return to serve as kickoff specialist. With Jack Brooks deciding to depart the team, Jack Martin (Sr) who transferred from Alabama but didn’t see any action in 2022, is listed along with true freshman Aleksi Pulkkinen from Helsinki Finland as the punter.
Travis Drosos (Jr) will handle the long snapping duties with Anthony Zaccaro (Jr) backing him up.
Caullin Lacy will handle punt returns and Braylon McReynolds and Caullin Lacy will line up for kickoff returns.
Keys to the Game
Consistency
More often than not, the team that executes more consistently in the first game of the season tends to win the game.
Over the last two seasons with Coach Wommack and his staff, they have been pretty consistent in the early games of the season. In 2021 they defeated Southern Miss, now a fellow conference member, in the season opener. Then in 2022 they handled FCS Nicholls as expected, but they also went to Central Michigan and defeated the Jim McElwain coached Chippewas with consistent execution.
Quarterback Pressure
South Alabama was picked apart by a very talented and experienced quarterback at Western Kentucky. It really exposed and exploited the secondary as the weak point of the Jaguars defense.
Tulane is returning a three-year starter at quarterback who completed 62% of his passes last season for 2,684 yards while also rushing for 494 yards. They may not set off alarm bells, but Pratt has shown that he a player.
He is regarded enough to be named to the Maxwell Award Watch List in 2022 and again for this season.
Tulane will definitely test all aspects of the Jaguar defense. If the Jags defensive front can’t get pressure on Pratt and the Jag secondary struggles against the pass, it could be another long game in New Orleans.
Running Backs
The edited mantra for the Jags last season was “Run the Dang ball.” It was such a thing that strength and conditioning coach Matt Shadeed was, I believe, the first one to have a shirt made to wear at practice with….a version….of the saying prominently displayed on it.
And La’Damian Webb sure did his part!
This may be the deepest and most talented group of running backs, from top to bottom, that have all suited up for the Jags in one season. They may only be three listed on the two-deep chart, but there are five running backs who could easily be put in to start.
Last season the Jags averaged just over 155 yards per game rushing. They have a good opportunity with the talent they have to improve on that this season.
Meanwhile Tulane averaged just under 205 yards rushing per game. Their leading rusher, Tyjae Spears, is gone this season which leaves their top returning rusher as quarterback Michael Pratt.
Coach Fitz and his staff will undoubtedly find someone who fill Spears’ cleats.
The Jags defense held opponents to just over 92 yards rushing per game last season. So this could be a very interesting matchup on the field Saturday night.
Prediction
South Alabama is a 6.5 point underdog to Tulane in New Orleans.
The first game of a new season is often a tricky one. It can set the tone for the entire season to come. You find out quickly where you need to improve and likely where your strengths lie.
This couldn’t be truer than this season opener.
Two teams who exceeded expectations last season who now have higher expectations for this season. But we also have two teams that couldn’t be more opposite once the final whistle sounded last season.
Tulane held off a top 10 ranked USC, while the Jaguars suffered their worst loss of the season in their bowl game. Coach Wommack, his staff and the players all looked back at what the season could have been. A one-point loss on the road at UCLA on a field goal as time expired, a four-point loss at home against Troy in their lowest offensive output of the season, but then the 21-point loss to Western Kentucky in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
South Alabama still has the bitter taste of defeat fresh in their mouth. But they are also going back to the same city where that bitterness originated.
I can’t help but think that’s some extra motivation.
While I may be looking at this through my red, white and blue glasses, I think the Jags not only cover the spread, but they win outright 38-34.