Jags Receive 13th Verbal For 2013 Signing Class
South Alabama has received their 12th verbal commitment for the 2013 signing class. Brandon King from Highland Community College in Kansas has made his intentions known that he will sign with South Alabama at the end of the upcoming season.
King, a native from Alabaster, Alabama was a standout at Thompson High and signed with Highland after his senior season. He is a 6’2″, 212 pound linebacker. He led Highland with 118 total tackles last season with 70 of them being solo and also added six tackles for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. However this season they are moving him to Safety to take advantage of his size and speed.
“I’ve played linebacker my whole life, but they’ve moved me to safety because of my flexibility,” King said. “I’m 6-2, 210 and I run a 4.36 laser time, so it helps a lot with my mobility when I came play both positions. Safety is a nice transition. It shows that I can cover and I’m good with depth. It helps out and shows that I’m versatile.”
King was impressed with the coaches and the facilities on his recent visit to South Alabama. “I really liked that when I came down all the coaches were there and they seemed really dedicated to building the program,” he said. “I really liked the facilities and how everybody is connected. I felt at home. A lot of schools, when you go on a visit they don’t have every coach there excited about seeing you. Everyone knew me by name when I came in. It’s a nice place to be and it’s a pretty campus. The Senior Bowl is held (in Mobile) every year so you can get a lot of looks from a lot of different (NFL) teams. It’s close to the beach.” He then concluded by saying, “I liked everything about it.”
King was receiving recruiting interest from a few FBS schools such as Northern Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers and Auburn among other schools. But he said he was glad to end the recruiting process so he can focus on the upcoming season and not where he intends to go after the season.
The other verbal commits are:
- Tiquan Lang CB Lowndes GA. 5’8″ 168-lb 73 tackles, 3 int, 1 kick block, 5 KOR for 201yds and 1TD, 6PR for 113yds in 2011.
- Terrell Pinson FS Itawamba CC 6’3″ 200lb As a freshman he played WR and caught 10 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown.
- Xavier Johnson RB Chamberlain, FL. 5’9″ 170lb Rushed for 1,736 yards and 16 TDs in 2011.
- Caleb Hayman WR/TE Gainesville, FL. 6’1″ 193lb
- Dejon Funderburk WR Washington (Pensacola), FL. 6’0″ 175lb Caught 31 passes for 720 yards adn 7TD’s while rushing for 362 yards and 4TDs.
- Taylor Lamb QB Calhoun, GA. 6’1″ 190lb Had a 73% completion rate for 3,635 yards, 40TDs and 9Ints.
- Justin Jones RB Northeast Miss. JC 5’6″ 180lb Rushed for 920 yards and caught 27 passes as a freshman.
- Roman Buchanan S Daleville, AL. 6’2″ 195lb 72 solo tackles, 45 assists, four sacks, three forced fumbles and two recovered, two interceptions, four passes defended and a field goal blocked as a junior.
- Tevaris McCormick WR Biloxi, MS. 5’9″ 170lb 769 yards receiving, 213 yards rushing and 265 yards on returns with 16 total touchdowns.
- Jacob Chaffin DT Spain Park, AL. 6’3″ 260lb 38 solo tackles, 8 tackles for loss and three sacks as a junior.
- Devon Earl S Hoover HS, AL 5’10” 180lb 61 tackles, 5 INTs, 10 pass deflections and 3.5 tackles for loss as a Junior
- Noah Armstrong OT Lawrence Co. 6’8″ 300lb Offered by Arkansas State, Western Kentucky and Southern Miss.
- Willie Williams Jr DE Americus, GA. 6’2″ 255lbs Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and UCLA were also recruiting him.
Jags Prepare For Season With Intense Workout Regimine
It’s less than a week until the Jags begin preseason camp to prepare for their first season with a full Division I schedule and a full Sun Belt schedule. Not only are they playing a full schedule, but they are playing 13 games in 14 weeks. How about that for a ‘Welcome to the FBS’ campaign?
But the Jags have not been sitting around waiting for camp to arrive. The Jags have been working in very hard in the weight room under the guidance of Strength and Conditioning Coach Justin Schwind.
Other than coach Schwind, the rest of the coaches cannot work with players. Which means everything is voluntary in the summer. But that does not mean that they are not accountable. Coach Jones and the staff selected 11 individuals to be leaders within groups of players within the team. They were charged with holding their teams accountable and by all accounts, they have been doing their job well.
This article does a good job of giving us an idea of what challenges Coach Justin Schwind has faced this summer. It also has several player quotes.
Jags Receives Verbal From Coveted Defensive End
Fresh on the heels of picking up their 10th verbal commitment, the Jags picked up their 11th verbal of the 2013 signing class. Willie Williams Jr of Sumter County High in Americus Georgia, a 6’2″, 255 pound defensive end gave his verbal commitment to the Jaguars. Alabama, Georgia, UCLA and Arkansas were all recruiting Williams.
“This football team is very, very good,” Williams said. “I really like the coaching staff and I think it’s a real good program. It’s a good school and I believe I’ll get a good education.”
Williams was attracted to the Jaguars because he would have the opportunity to play right away and because the program was so young.
William’s coach Michael Pollock had very good words to say about his player. “He’s a very athletic defensive end,” Pollock said. “He can play tight end and defensive end, which he does for us, which gives you some idea of what kind of athlete he is. We even feel if he had to that he could play linebacker for us.”
Pollock continues, “His pass-rush skills are extremely good and he does a great job. He’s not a one-dimensional player. He defends the run well too. But he really has a nose for the quarterback on the rush game. I think his feet and his speed are two assets that he has. I believe he could play right away (at South Alabama). He’s played for us since he was a sophomore. I think he has the skills to go in and make an immediate impact for them.”
“He went to Georgia and dominated at their camp earlier this month and they were talking to him heavy,” Pollock said. “I think it’s an opportunity for Willie to go to a place – you know, they have really, really made it a point of emphasis that he is one of the main guys they are wanting. I think he feels that South Alabama really cherishes his abilities and as a person and really wants him there and I think that’s part of why he picked them.”
Coach Bryant Vincent was recruiting Williams. Pollock said that Coach Vincent did a good job of recruiting him. Even though he was getting a lot of looks from SEC schools, Pollock believes that Williams was impressed by South Alabama’s facilities and coaching staff. But most of all he thinks Williams was impressed most of all by the Jaguars interest in having Williams join the program.
Willie Williams Jr highlight reel.
The other verbal commits are:
- Tiquan Lang CB Lowndes GA. 5’8″ 168-lb 73 tackles, 3 int, 1 kick block, 5 KOR for 201yds and 1TD, 6PR for 113yds in 2011.
- Terrell Pinson FS Itawamba CC 6’3″ 200lb As a freshman he played WR and caught 10 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown.
- Xavier Johnson RB Chamberlain, FL. 5’9″ 170lb Rushed for 1,736 yards and 16 TDs in 2011.
- Caleb Hayman WR/TE Gainesville, FL. 6’1″ 193lb
- Dejon Funderburk WR Washington (Pensacola), FL. 6’0″ 175lb Caught 31 passes for 720 yards adn 7TD’s while rushing for 362 yards and 4TDs.
- Taylor Lamb QB Calhoun, GA. 6’1″ 190lb Had a 73% completion rate for 3,635 yards, 40TDs and 9Ints.
- Justin Jones RB Northeast Miss. JC 5’6″ 180lb Rushed for 920 yards and caught 27 passes as a freshman.
- Roman Buchanan S Daleville, AL. 6’2″ 195lb 72 solo tackles, 45 assists, four sacks, three forced fumbles and two recovered, two interceptions, four passes defended and a field goal blocked as a junior.
- Tevaris McCormick WR Biloxi, MS. 5’9″ 170lb 769 yards receiving, 213 yards rushing and 265 yards on returns with 16 total touchdowns.
- Jacob Chaffin DT Spain Park, AL. 6’3″ 260lb 38 solo tackles, 8 tackles for loss and three sacks as a junior.
- Devon Earl S Hoover HS, AL 5’10” 180lb 61 tackles, 5 INTs, 10 pass deflections and 3.5 tackles for loss as a Junior
- Noah Armstrong OT Lawrence Co. 6’8″ 300lb Offered by Arkansas State, Western Kentucky and Southern Miss.
South Alabama Gets Lots Of Press Over EA Fumble
Kendall Houston as an alternate cover of NCAA Football 13
Several writers around the nation who cover College Football have written posts about NCAA Football ’13 set to release next month by EA Sports and how South Alabama is missing while UTSA, Texas State and UMass are all three included. South Alabama trustees voted on December 6, 2007 to add football and then hired Joey Jones to be the first coach on February 15, 2008 and played their first game in 2009.
However in 2009, they announced they were taking the most expedient route available under NCAA rules to become a full member of the FBS division of football. The three other schools only recently announced their intentions of moving up to the FBS level and will be classified the same as South Alabama.
An EA Sports communication manager Julie Foster said, “South Alabama was a provisional member of FBS last year and did not play a full FBS schedule. We did not receive confirmation that they were changing to a full FBS schedule this year until it was too late for inclusion in NCAA Football 13. South Alabama will be included in NCAA Football 14.” Further clarification was not made, however.
But this has left a sour taste in the mouth of many South Alabama fans. Many, like myself, have looked forward for over three and a half years to see our school among the storied programs of Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, USC and Oklahoma in a video game. Unfortunately, we have to wait yet another year and it was not the fault of our school. It was a complete blunder by EA Sports.
Among those who have written about this are Kevin McGuire, Sports Video Game Examiner; Jason Kirk, College Football Editor and co-host of Shutdown Fullback at SBNation (first and second articles); Graham Watson at Dr. Saturday a Yahoo! Sports Blog and one of my favorite writers, Holly Anderson with Sports Illustrated put it in her Weekend Whimsy. (By the way, it wasn’t a paperwork issue either).
But fans have not stopped there, they are attempting to get EA’s attention by tweeting with the hashtag #FreeSouthAlabama. While I don’t work in the game development world, I do work in the field of software and studied game development (a little). I doubt they can add us to the game that will be shipped out next month, but us in Jag Nation hope that we will be included with an online update at least. But the last thing I want is a half-hearted attempt to stuff us in the game.
EA highly disappointed me and they disappointed all of us in the South Alabama family. I hope this will be rectified in the next edition, a very long year from now. But there are seniors on this years squad who will not get to see their number out on the field wearing the Jaguar Red, White and Blue. It’s those guys who I feel for. Some of them came to South when there wasn’t a football field house. They came on a vision and will be leaving a program that is well on it’s way to great heights. It’s already something special.
C.J. Bennett as the alternate cover for NCAA Football 13. Image created by J.T. Crabtree.
South Alabama Being Left Out Of EA’s NCAA Football ’13
South Alabama alum and avid support like myself Jon Garcia posted the following on Facebook this evening.
“So, it was found out today that South is not included in the coming release of the NCAA 13 football video game that is extremely popular (http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2012/6/6/3067170/ohio-state-overall-e3-ncaa-football-13-team-ratings), but UTSA, Texas St, and UMASS are. All 4 of us are new to FBS this year, yet South is the only one that was left out. There is apparently some confusion as to why. With someone supposedly in the know stating that South “did not get its paperwork in on time” whatever that means. South announced FBS plans before any of those schools mentioned above.
Tweet @jdewiel and click the “submit feedback” button at the top of the page via http://www.easports.com/ to demand answers.”
I don’t know if they have enough time to add South Alabama and do a good job. But hopefully they will pay very close attention to us for next year’s release or maybe add us with an online update later.
Go Jags!
UPDATE 2012-06-08: Apparently the supposed person “in the know” is not really in the know. So I struck out the information included from said person.
Coach Jones Q&A Session Before L’Arche Football Preview
A video was posted online of the question and answer session with Coach Jones before the DEX Imaging L’Arche Football Preview Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.
When asked about the status of the Jaguars Division-I transfers, he said that Brandon Bridge (quarterback) will not be eligible. Bridge is a transfer from Alcorn State and the NCAA did not grant a waiver. The Jags are still waiting to hear about the eligibility of offensive lineman James Elliot, who came from Kentucky and applied for immediate eligibility.
Coach Jones said that almost all of the incoming class are enrolled this summer, except for “about two or three” he said.
A question was asked about the players work in the weight room and how this year’s work will be as important as anything they do. Coach Jones said that, number one, they try to prevent injuries with their offseason strength and conditioning. Number two, they have to develop their athletes. He continued by saying that the other schools they will be facing have been Division-I programs for a long time and that this year will be the Jags first season as a Division-I school. This is their first “Division-I signing class.” They have to develop these players and move them along in the process. “If they’re 260 pounds, they need to be 285. We’ve got to have them at 285. It’s vital if we’re going to have a chance to compete.”
Q: Are you going to plug Jake Johnson (Senior Linebacker) for the Senior Bowl when you talk with Phil Savage (Senior Bowl Executive Director) tonight?
Jones: “No doubt. I certainly don’t make those decisions, but we’re excited about the possibilities of our players having a chance to play in the Senior Bowl.”
Q: What do you think of the changes in the Sun Belt?
Jones: “There’s a lot of shake up out there and everybody is trying to grab and pick, and conferences are grabbing and picking teams here and there. A couple of our teams, FIU and North Texas are going to Conference USA. So, therefore, we’ve gotten Georgia State and Texas State with Dennis Franchione and Bill Curry. With those guys, they’re goign to be good football programs. And with the Atlanta market you would think Georgia State’s going to be a threat down the road and with Franchione out there at Texas State they’ll get going as well. So it’s good to have both of them.”
On the video, which you can view below, he answers the following questions.
Q: Between now and August, what are your priorities and what do you hope to accomplish?
Jones: “First of all, I want our coaches to get away from about a week, this week. The kids came to summer school Tuesday and we made sure they all got settled in and got on the right track. Made sure they got with the people they needed to get with to get in class and got to know the strength coach and that type of thing. Then we have camps. Our goal with the camps is obviously to get as many kids in camp as we can and hopefully as many prospects in camp as we can so we can evaluate them and get to know them personally. Hopefully get to know their parents if they come into town and kind of get an unofficial visit type situation. It’s also a chance for them to see our facilities and see our university and the city of Mobile. We feel like if they come here to Mobile we’ve got a chance to get them. Even though our name is getting out there to households – we went down to Miami and people know us – we’ve still got to get kids on campus and let them see South Alabama. Just the name itself is not what some of the other names are right now, so we need to get them on campus. Once they see that, they see that we’re for real and we have a much better shot.”
Q: What’s your opinion on playoffs to determine the NCAA Football Champion? Do you support a four-team playoff?
Jones: “That’s something I think they needed. It’s something, a four-team playoff, that I always thought would be perfect. I think you have 1 against 4 and 3 against 2 in bowl games or wherever; they may be at home fields or whatever they decide to do – (but) having a semifinal-type situation and later a national championship game a week later, I always thought it would be a great thing for college football and I think that’s going to happen.”
Q: Do you favor playing the games at neutral sites or on campuses?
Jones: “I would vote for on campus. Crowd-wise, that’s going to create a much more electric atmosphere. If you go to a neutral site, sometimes that doesn’t work. So I think the home site would be a much better situation.”
Q: Why do you advocate student-athletes entering school the summer prior to the fall football season?
Jones: “A couple things, it gives the kid a chance to know the campus and to get acclimated academically. Then number two, obviously to get acclimated from a football standpoint. Also with that, get to know our players, over the course of the summer make some friends and get some mentors that they can count on. Lastly, having them in summer school gets them to graduate on time or early. If they graduate early, they can get started working on their masters before they leave here.”
This will be the fourth season for the Jaguars football team, and the second in their two-year transition into full FBS membership.
Memorial Services Announced For Coach Crain
Two services over the next two days have been announced for Coach Crain.
An open memorial is set for Thursday at 4pm in the worship center in Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile. In Birmingham there will be a visitation at 3:30pm followed by a 5:30pm service of celebration at the Southern Heritage Funeral Home on Friday.
A statement was released on Wednesday by the family, “We appreciate all the kind words and prayers for our family as we face this difficult time. Kurt was a positive presence and influence on many lives, especially through his love of football, and we hope he will be remembered for all the gifts and passion he brought to the game. Kurt was also a wonderful husband and father, and we ask that you give our families time to grieve our loss privately. Thank you.”
Individuals wishing to assist the Crain family can make a donation to the “Crain Nation Fund” at any BancorpSouth Bank branch which has been established on behalf of his three surviving children.
Update: Local15 news has a video online where they interviewed Coach Joey Jones about Coach Crain’s death. You can view it here.
Remembering Coach Kurt Crain
This is one of the last photos I took of Coach Crain.
It’s easy to write about a game or recruiting. It get’s difficult to write about serious injuries. But it’s very hard to write about someone who has passed away before their time.
This article is one of those articles that are very hard to write.
Tommy Hicks of the Press-Register wrote a very good post about his memory of Coach Crain. While I didn’t know him nearly as well as Tommy, he recognized me whenever he saw me.
I guess he would see me as I watched over their practices in the spring and fall. I try to make as many functions as I can to support the team and my school. Occasionally we would get to a moment to chat so I could congratulate him on his fine work with the players. Ask him about some of the younger guys and how their grades were looking. I always like to ask about grades.
When it wasn’t game time or practice time, he would greet me with a “hey buddy” with his smile. He seemed genuinely happy to chat with anyone when he had the time.
I always liked to watch him coach the linebackers. He was loud and he knew what he wanted in order to make them what they needed to be on the field. They worked hard in practice and he would correct them when they did something wrong. But he was quick to congratulate them when they did something well.
One of my favorite memories was when South Alabama played their first road game in Dothan. Justin Dunn intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. I think the first coach to congratulate him was Coach Crain and I think he was about half way out to the numbers when they met with a slap on the helmet and barking into his ear.
That’s the Coach Crain I remember. A great man always willing to talk, everyone was a friend, knew what he wanted from his players and one of the first to give them a slap on the head and tell them how well they did.
Coach Crain, you will be missed by many.
The Crain family released a statement through the University this evening: “We appreciate all the kind words and prayers for our family as we face this difficult time. Kurt was a positive presence and influence on many lives, especially through his love of football, and we hope he will be remembered for all the gifts and passion he brought to the game. Kurt was also a wonderful husband and father, and we ask that you give our families time to grieve our loss privately. At this time no service arrangements have been finalized, but we expect that we will hold a service in Birmingham as well as a memorial service at a later time in the Mobile area. We will provide that information when it is available. Thank you.”
Auburn AD Jacobs Calls Coach Crain ‘Incredible Individual’
Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs called Coach Kurt Crain a “fierce competitor” who would be deeply missed. “The entire Auburn family is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Kurt Crain,” Jacobs said. “He loved the game of football as much as he loved Auburn. Kurt was an incredible individual who I was blessed to be friends with for over 25 years.”
Coach Crain was found dead by Spanish Fort police at his home on Tuesday. “It appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Baldwin County coroner Stan Vinson. Vinson also said the investigation into Crain’s death is continuing and that an autopsy will likely be performed Wednesday.
Last season, Crain suffered with prostatitis, an infection of the prostate, which required at least three surgeries during the season. The illness forced him to miss the Jags’ game at North Carolina State and he also missed some practices. Crain, a Birmingham native, had said he lost 32 pounds in the early stages of the disease and the treatment. Most of his prostate had been removed.
No further details on his death were immediately available, according to a USA press release.
Associate Head Coach Kurt Crain Dead At 47
Associate head coach Kurt Crain was found dead today, he was 47. The cause is not known at this time per this AL.com article.
Spanish Fort police reported that he was found dead in his home this afternoon. Further details was not released but they did indicated that foul play was not suspected. Coach Crain was among the first coaches hired by Coach Joey Jones when he came to South Alabama. In a release by the University coach Jones was quoted saying, “We’ve lost a great man, coach and mentor at the University of South Alabama. In my opinion, Kurt was one of the best overall coaches I’ve ever seen. He cared about the players, they respected him greatly, and he was a tremendous football coach and motivator. I think about what a great man and what a great teacher he was for these young men. All Kurt would ever talk about was his family and how much he loved his wife and kids. That’s the kind of man he was.”
Coach Crain began by playing football at Auburn University where he was selected as an AP All-American linebacker and lead the team to a 19-3-2 mark as the 1987 SEC championship, two bowl berths and a top-10 finish finish in the polls both seasons. He was a two time All-SEC selection at linebacker and voted as a captain his senior season.
Crain played two seasons in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and Green Bay Packers. He began his coaching career in the early 1990’s as a graduate assistant with Auburn. He then went on to coach at Troy with Larry Blakeney and TCU with Pat Sullivan before coming to South Alabama.
Coach Crain worked with the inside linebackers for three seasons prior to this spring when he had moved to the defensive line. The inside linebackers, lead by him, lead the team each season with stops while helping the Jaguar defense to rank in the top 20 nationally in FCS in both pass defense and total yards nationally in 2011.
He will be sorely missed not only on the practice field and the sidelines, but in the field house. I spoke to coach Crain a few times and he, like all of the coaches at South Alabama, was humble and loved to talk about everything.
Please keep his wife and children in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this terrible time.
Update 8:45pm The Baldwin County coroner Stan Vinson says that Coach Crain died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He suffered from prostatis, an infection of the prostate, last season which required at least three surgeries and IV antibiotics. The illness forced him to miss the Jaguars first FBS game at North Carolina State as well as a number of practices. He had lost over 30 pounds because of the illness and most of his prostate had to be removed.
The Press-Register quoted Coach Jones from a phone interview saying, “I always ask them, ‘How do you want to be remembered? When I think about Kurt, when I heard the news, all I thought about was the great persons that he was. Those kids, you could tell he meant a lot to them. He meant a lot to everybody in that room. … I told them to focus on the good that he did in his lifetime.”
“He was always a happy-go-lucky, loved-to-play-football guy when I knew him as a player. He was the same way here as a coach.”