Jaguars First Practice Of 2010 Preseason Camp
South Alabama hit the field early Friday morning for their first day of preseason practice. With more returning players, the Jags have more leadership and more organization in their first practice. Not that last years practice was disorganized by any means. These returning players have a determined focus and knowledge of the South Alabama system that they can help guide the incoming freshman through their initial paces.
In a little over two hours of practice time, it quickly became obvious to both the new transfers and the incoming freshmen that the Jaguars mean business. After coming off of an undefeated inaugural season, it would be easy to begin preseason camp with ease. But that would not make their road to FBS any shorter.
Practice began with about 15 minutes of special teams punt coverage before the offense and defense split to opposing sides of the field. The quarterbacks went through pass plays beginning with wide receivers, then running backs and finally tight ends. While the defense worked on pursuing ball carriers down the sidelines.
After about 35 minutes of split offensive and defensive drills, or about 50 minutes into the practice session, linebackers and defensive backs grouped up and began going through pass play coverage while the offense continued going through passing plays but they also added running plays.
The next 15 minutes had 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills while defensive linemen and outside linebackers faced the offensive line and attempted to pressure the quarterback.
After that session, the offense and defense split again. The offense went back to working on its plays while the defense focused on formations, coverages and rushing the passer.
A 10 minute period had 11-on-11, offense versus defense, drills. The offense was able to complete three of ten passing attempts, including the last two attempts by Brennan Sim. The only other to complete an attempt was Raymond Cotton who found Erling Riis on a screen play.
The returning players came out and were definitely bigger and stronger. Coach Jones attributed their first day effort to their weight and conditioning training over the summer. During the summer, only the strength and conditioning staff are allowed to work directly with the student-athletes. Coach Jones commented, “One thing I noticed in walking around with the other coaches is that we look a lot better than we did last year physically on the field. Now, we have to translate that into playing well. Just because we look good doesn’t mean we’re going to play good. The challenge for the guys is that they have to transfer some of that weight they’ve gained into being great players.”
Linebacker Justin Dunn, one of ten returning defensive starters, was quoted saying, “The talent level has improved, and so has our depth.” Not only are more players are on the team in the way of freshmen, but five transfers from FBS (formerly Division I-A) should make an immediate impact for the Jaguars.
Raymond Cotton, one of the latest and definitely biggest press garnering transfers to the South Alabama program was quite impressed with his first practice. “They bring it out here, harder than I thought they would,” he was quoted saying.
Jake Johnson, linebacker transfer from Virginia Tech, was also impressed with his first practice with the Jaguars. “It was intense, especially compared to what I was used to at Virginia Tech. This is the hardest practice I have been a part of since high school two-a-days. It was non-stop, which made it tough, but it was a fun practice.”
Coach Joey Jones can see improvements in the size, strength and depth of his team as they hit the field in preparation for their second season. But one of his goals since the end of last season was to make sure that he and his staff take time to thoroughly examine the program to see where they could improve as well. Coach Jones said, “We spent the whole off-season trying to get better. The staff has done a great job of looking at what we did last year, seeing what people are doing around the country and trying to learn. We’re not going to make wholesale changes, but would like to add things that fit with us.”
With the unfortunate passing of Jaguar running back Anthony Mostella, Coach Jones announced that his memory was to be honored by having a distinguished senior wear his jersey in his honor. The team took a vote on Wednesday when the players reported to campus and Coach Jones announced that Justin Dunn would wear the number 5 jersey. “I’m excited about it,” Dunn said about the honor. “Mo was a close friend of mine, my next-door neighbor actually, and we played together at Birmingham-Southern for three years. It’s an honor, because he’s one of the best people I know, a great athlete, a great student and a good person. More people like him would make the world a better place.”
The Jaguars will return to the field at 7:10am Saturday morning for another two hour practice in shorts and helmets. On Sunday and Monday mornings, the Jags are scheduled to hit the field in shells before donning full pads on Tuesday.
Two Basketball Players Dismissed; Cotton Joins Football Team
Basketball
On Monday, it was announced that South Alabama head basketball coach Ronnie Arrow dismissed Labree Sledge and Kentari Nettles from the basketball program. Both signed National Letter of Intents with South Alabama in November and enrolled in summer school classes but violated team and University rules.
Coach Arrow had this to say about Sledge and Nettles, “Due to recent circumstances we felt like it would be in the best interest of both the program and the individuals involved that we part ways at this time. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.”
Sledge averaged 9.8 points per game while attending Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. Nettles attended LeFlore High School and led them to the 5A semifinals in 2008.
Football
It’s official, Raymond Cotton is joining the Jaguars and is expected to practice with the team when they hit the practice field for the first time on Friday morning. Raymond, a redshirt Freshman received his official release from Ole Miss on Wednesday.
He joins a good stable of quarterback at South Alabama. Brennan Sim, Myles Gibbon, Gabe Graham who were all there last season. Including incoming Freshman C.J. Bennett from Tampa, Florida and Matt Saucier who took snaps at quarterback in the Spring of last year but moved to Safety before the season started. Nick Owens transferred after last season when it became obvious that he was not going to get as much playing time with the Jags.
Cotton was ranked among the top 30 quarterbacks nationally by both ESPN and Scout.com as well as being in the top 15 players in the Mid-Atlantic region. He also participated in the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp last summer after his one season with Fort Meade.
It was also announced on Wednesday that Jarred Williams is transferring from Florida-Atlantic to South Alabama. he will also be able to participate in the teams first practice on Friday morning.
Williams is a 6’3″ 245 pound defensive end originally from Fort Walton Beach, Florida and will have four years of eligibility for South Alabama after redshirting last season with FAU.
Williams marks the fifth student-athlete to join the Jaguars from a NCAA FBS (formerly Division I-A) program.
As stated above, the Jags will begin preparation for their second season of football on Friday. They will be facing a tougher schedule so the coach staff made spring drills more physical and challenging to fit the bill. They also recruited well to fill specific needs and to add depth at certain positions.
The schedule will expand from seven game to ten with all of their opponents being four-year institutions as well as the Jags first three road games. Coach Jones expects 129 Jaguar players to report on Wednesday and will take care of all of their academic preparation on Thursday and probably have meetings to prepare for practice on Friday.
One of the positions that was of major concern was the secondary. Saucier was among the players who were converted from offensive positions to help give the Jags depth in the secondary. Another was Ken Barefield who flourished in the secondary. They added Jonathan Cameron from Mississippi Gulf Coast CC and Darrow Fisher for experience as well as some freshmen who will add to the depth.
Coach Jones also wants more depth on the offensive line. He said only about six players got the majority of the playing time last season and he wants to get more involved. “We need to have at least 10 guys that we feel like we can count on. We’re recruiting to try and get to that point. Playing the schedule we’re playing this year, we’ve got to create some depth there, and competition. Last year, those guys knew it didn’t matter what they did, they were going to start. We didn’t have any depth. Now we’re going to have some guys breathing down their necks and pushing them and that’s always good.”
Another position of interest to Coach Jones is defensive end. “We need to find guys who can come off the edge and sack the quarterback. We feel like we’ve got some big guys on the defensive line, some very good players, but we’ve got to develop some pass rush,” Coach Jones said. “They’ve really gotten bigger, faster and stronger. But most of those guys we’re playing with on the defensive line, they’re freshmen. We don’t have a lot of veterans there to help them out.”
Friday’s practice will go from 7:10-9:45am to begin the first of nine straight days of practice. Friday and Saturday the team will be practicing in T-shirts and shorts. They will then add shells for practice on Sunday and Monday then will practice in full pads beginning on Tuesday.
Raymond Cotton Leaves Ole Miss For South Alabama
According to Raymond Cotton Sr. his son Raymond Cotton has received his release from Ole Miss on Thursday and plans to sign with South Alabama. South Alabama could not comment since no scholarship papers have been signed yet. Also according to Cotton’s father, his release was only good for South Alabama.
Cotton has ties to the area when he led Faith Academy to the AISA final as junior before moving to Maryland. He originally committed to Auburn before changing his mind for Ole Miss. He threw for 2,243 yards with 24 touchdowns in Fort Meade, Maryland as a senior.
Cotton joins the Jaguars and will not lose any eligibility since South Alabama has not yet reached FBS status. Cotton adds to the Jaguars impressive lineup behind center with Myles Gibbon, Brennan Sim and Gabe Graham on the roster and incoming freshmen C.J. Bennett and Calvin Jenkins. Althought it looks like Jenkins may greyshirt, which means he would enroll at South Alabama in January. Nothing formally has been announced yet about his status.
At Ole Miss he redshirted his freshman year but threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns in the Grove Bowl, the Ole Miss spring game. He was bothered by a partially torn labrum but still came out of the spring drills as the Rebel’s number 2 quarterback.
Cotton’s departure from the Rebels leave them thin at quarterback with sophomore Nathan Stanley penciled in at the starter and a junior college transfer Randall Mackey as their only other quarterback on the roster. Several sites have been reporting that Jeremiah Masoli, who was suspended from Oregon’s team, could transfer in and walk-on for the Rebels as a graduate student.
As far as transfers goes, each announcement get higher and higher in profile. A former starting linebacker from Virginia Tech and now a quarterback with the ability to start in the best football conference in the nation, the SEC. Coach Joey Jones and his staff are racking up the style points quickly.
Jags Announce Three Transfers To The Football Program
On Tuesday, South Alabama announced that three players were transferring from other programs and joining the Jaguars this season. Among these three is the Jaguars highest profile player to date, former starting linebacker Jake Johnson from Virginia Tech.
Johnson is listed at 6’2″ and 232lbs. He was highly recruited by Virginia Tech, Maryland and Virginia out of high school and has a reputation as being a monster in the weight room. Johnson started the first eight games of the 2009 season and lead the team with tackles against Alabama. For the season he finished tied for fifth on the team with 55 tackles and 4.5 of them for a loss with two sacks.
However, at the end of the season Johnson lost his starting job and Beamer and Company moved him to defensive end in the spring. He asked and was granted his release back in May. Once the Jags heard he had his release from the Hokies, South Alabama make phone calls to see if he would be interested in the Jaguars. “It means the world to us to have a guy like him who has experience in big games and can provide that experience to our team,” Coach Jones remarked. “He’s going to bring a lot to the table. He’s a hard worker and a leader and we hope that’s going to rub off on our younger players.”
Johnson commented on South Alabama’s facilities by saying, “The main thing that attracted me is it’s going to be a Division I program in a couple of years and we’ll be playing against Division I schools. I’ll have three years of football, three years of school here and playing Division I teams, and you can’t beat that. I couldn’t get that from some other schools. All the facilities are brand-new and the technology is the latest stuff. I didn’t really know what to expect when I got here, but everything is great from the fieldhouse to the meeting rooms and weight room. I was really impressed. I can’t wait to strap the pads back on and start hitting again. I just love the game and I can’t wait to get started in August again.”
Kendall Houston, who was a high school standout at running back at Vigor. He helped them win the 2008 Class 5A title by running for over 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns as an all-state selection. He transferred from Arkansas State and is listed at 5’10” and weighting 180lbs. He participated in spring drills at ASU but never played in a regular season game. So he comes to South Alabama with five seasons of eligibility since the NCAA has South Alabama listed as an “unclassified” program, he is able to participate in games during what will amount to be his redshirt season in 2010.
The third transfer is Ben Giles from Pace, Florida. Another high school standout who transferred from Louisiana-Monroe to South Alabama. He is listed at 6’0″ and 235lbs. He sat out last season at ULM and comes to South Alabama with four years of eligibility. Coach Jones remembers recruiting Giles and said, “He’s a tough inside linebacker-type player. He plays tough and he’s a good addition to the team.”
With the addition of Johnson and Giles to the Higgenbotham and Dunn tandem, the Jags have firmly solidified the linebacker positions with even more depth and talent. Look for good things out of these four in the coming season.
South Alabama Football Announces First Division-I Foes And Travel Packages For 2010
Earlier this month South Alabama announced the school’s first two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS or formerly Division-I) opponents. In the 2011 season, the Jags will play North Carolina State and Kent State on back to back weekends on September 17 and 24. Both games will be away games as part of a 2-for-1 series with both schools.
The 2011 schedule will have six other Division-I schools, four of which will be visiting Mobile. Lamar and UC Davis will complete their home-and-home contracts with Lamar visiting on September 10 and UC Davis visiting on October 1. Tennessee-Martin will visit on October 15 and Cal Poly will be the final game of the season on November 19.
Head coach Joey Jones had the following to say about how the future schedules affect South Alabama. “We feel like this is a great step forward for where we want to go. Obviously, playing all of these Division I schools on the schedule in our third year will present a challenge. In the grand scheme of things, it’s about where we are going and preparing for a schedule that will feature pretty much all FBS opponents the following year.”
He continued, “Each year we want to step up the level of competition on our schedule – our kids and staff want to be challenged. Certainly we will have some bumps along the way playing teams at this level, but it’s where we want to be and where this program is headed.”
As for the 2010 schedule, the Jags will have seven home games and the Athletic Department announced that all six of the Saturday home games will have 4pm kickoffs. While the lone Thursday night game will be the season finale against Arkansas-Monticello on November 11 with a 6pm kickoff.
The Jags will have their first road games ever this season and travel packages are available for those games. On September 25 the Jags travel to Dothan for their first ever away game when they play Edward Waters in the Wiregrass Football Classic. A game ticket and tailgating will cost $35 while a $78 package which includes travel to and from the game is also available.
The away game against Lamar on October 16 has a three day package including round-trip transportation from the USA Campus is available. It features two nights at the MCM Elegante Hotel and Convention Center with a reception and several other goodies for $75 up to $475 depending on the costs of the ticket, number of paying travelers and amount of people in the hotel room.
A three day trip has also been put together for the UC Davis game on October 23. It includes a two night stay in the Embassy Suites Riverfront Promenade and more. The cost is $260-$375 not including air fare.
Mostella’s Legacy At South Alabama
Tommy Hicks wrote a nice piece about Anthony Mostella’s funeral and Coach Joey Jones in the Mobile Press-Register today.
He wrote about how Coach Jones, a very good public speaker who has done so countless times over the years, found it much more difficult speaking at the funeral for a player tragically killed in a motorcycle accident.
Mostella played for Coach Jones at Birmingham-Southern and eventually for him at South Alabama too. The article touches on how Mostella contacted Coach Jones and convinced him to accept him as a transfer.
As a way of remembering Mostella’s importance in South Alabama’s first season of football, Coach Jones announced how his presence will continue to be a reminder each year. Mostella’s #5 jersey will not be retired or put on display. It will be awarded to a Senior who earns the honor of wearing the #5 jersey.
A fitting honor for an outstanding gentleman.
Read the article here.
Ticket Office Now Taking Orders For Two of Three 2010 Away Games
South Alabama Athletic Ticket Office announced on Monday that they have started taking ticket orders for two of the Jaguars’ three road games this season.
The games currently on sale are Edward Waters that will be played in Dothan, Alabama on September 25th and UC-Davis on October 23rd.
Tickets can be ordered at (251)461-1USA. Also the ticket office will be sending an away game order form through the mail to all season ticket holders with a return deadline of July 30th.
Due to limited number of tickets available for each road game, Jaguar Athletic Fund points will determine the priority used to fill order and seating locations for these games.
South Alabama Lose One Of Their Own
Anthony Mostella: May 10, 1988 – June 13, 2010.
The South Alabama Jaguar family lost a member today. 22 year old Anthony Mostella died in a one-vehicle accident in St. Clair County according to a report from Alabama State troopers.
The accident occurred about three miles south of Ashville. No other details were available and the accident remains under investigation.
Friends and family have been bombarding his facebook page with notes to him and his family. A shining light that was extinguished too early. Rest in peace Mo, your #5 will not be forgotten.
**EDIT**
Following up on last night’s terrible news that Anthony Mostella passed away in an accident, some specifics were released later last night. It seems that it was a motorcycle crash around 3:40pm about three miles south of Ashville.
At Birmingham Southern he was a second-team All-Southern Collegiant Athletic Conference pick at running back in 2007. He rushed for 222 yards with two touchdowns on 57 rushes while catching 30 passes for another 297 yards and a touchdown. He was also named to the Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll at the end of the Spring semester in 2009.
In high school at Oneonta, Mostella set a school record with 38 touchdowns while rushing for 2,055 yards. During his four years, Oneonta had a mark of 52-3.
South Alabama’s Head Football Coach Joey Jones actually coached Anthony Mostella at Birmingham Southern as well as South Alabama and gave the following quote on usajaguars.com.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Anthony’s family right now. I’ve been fortunate to have worked with Anthony at two schools, he was the epitome of a true student-athlete and a tremendous role model to his peers. His character and leadership skills will always be an example for everyone in our program to follow.”
Doing The Conference Shuffle 2010 Edition
Some interesting things have popped up lately about conference expansion/realignment. There have been speculation about the Big10 (actually 11 teams) grabbing at least one more team to make the NCAA required 12 teams in order to have a conference championship game.
The Big10 (actually 11) first inclination was to offer to Notre Dame who already has some well established rivalry games within the conference. They are in the right place in the region and, well, it just plain makes sense. However, Notre Dame holds onto this notion that they are special and that their name means something in College Football. Unfortunately, it only does to Notre Dame alums, elderly college football fans and Lou Holtz. If you face the facts like Kirk Herbstreit said on College Gameday late last year, Notre Dame has been irrelevant for about 20 years. The best thing for the Irish to do is to join the Big 10 (actually 11) while they looking for a 12th team.
Other Big10 (actually 11) candidates would be getting Connecticut as well as luring Syracuse and Rutgers to the fold. This would bring in the New York market and money. But UConn isn’t part of the AAU. Plus they aren’t that good anyway.
Next on the list would be Missouri. Pulling them from the Big 12 might prove to be a tough proposition but Mizzou fits in much better than UConn, Rutgers or Syracuse. The bottom of the short list has Pitt. They are rivals to Penn State and the Big 10 (actually 11) is already in Pennsylvania. Nebraska is another Big 12 school that could be lured to the Big 10 (actually 11) and would fit in like Missouri.
The Big 12 has given both schools, Nebraska and Missouri, a deadline of Friday at 5pm to tell them what they are going to do. If they don’t meet the deadline, then another very interesting twist could unfold.
The Pac-10 is also looking to expand their ranks. If Mizzou and Nebraska fail to meet the deadline then six Big 12 schools could possibly bolt the conference for the Pac-10. Those teams would include Texas and Oklahoma. The Big 10 (actually 11) has not formally extended any invitations to anyone but continues toward trying to land a major program. Texas is in play for every league exploring expansion.
Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC Conference is currently sitting atop the mountain right now. The SEC is the superconference that everyone wants to be like. The Big 10 (actually 11) wants to join them on that mountain as another superconference. Slive is ready to react if the Big 10 (actually 11) expands to 14 or even 16 teams.
Some people have said that the SEC would be ready to extend an invitation to Texas and Texas A&M. Other possible schools could be Florida State, Clemson or Virginia Tech. Tech was actually being courted when the SEC was looking to expand last time but they added Arkansas instead. Some Georgia Tech fans might try to pull for their school but they don’t really fit the SEC model.
So all of this talk about Big 12, Pac-10, Big 10 (actually 11) and SEC but what does it mean for South Alabama? Could USA be the dark horse and sneak into the SEC? Doubtful at this time. But with this talk of superconferences what about a merger between Conference USA and the Sun Belt?
Looking at football schools, this would bring together South Alabama, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State, Louisiana Lafayette, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Louisiana Monroe, Troy and Florida Atlantic together with Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Houston, Central Florida, Marshall, Rice, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa for a very large conference.
Do they need all of those schools? Not really. Who to pick for a 16 team conference? South Alabama, UAB, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Southern Mississippi, Troy, North Texas, Houston, UTEP, Tulsa, Memphis, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, (Marshall, Rice or SMU). But what would be better would be if this new megaconference (not quite a superconference) could lure someone like East Carolina, Georgia Tech or Clemson to the conference.
But how all this will shake out is anyone’s guess at this point. The ball is in the Big 10’s (actually 11) court with Notre Dame. If they can convince them to join, it’s mostly all over from there. The PAC-10 will still probably look to expand but trying to convince six Big 12 schools to join them would be infinitely more difficult if Missouri and Nebraska do not have to face a choice of joining the Big 10 (I won’t mention the 11 this time) or staying put.
Jags Brownell Has Run In With Police
South Alabama has finished it’s second spring practice heading into this second season of football but it didn’t take long for their instance of a player having a run in with the police.
Starting Safety Zach Brownell was arrested Thursday morning on 24 charges. The 19-year old player damaged 22 vehicles in the Delta parking lot on campus. The charges break down into 22 counts of criminal mischief, public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
According to campus police, Brownell was drinking when he pulled or broke off mirrors from the vehicles in the parking lot. They also said that “three or four” vehicles had broken windows. They described the damage done as “small-time vandalism to each car,” for the most part.
Brownell even damaged a vehicle of Chris Pugh, a teammate of his. Norm Gamache said university police were called to the Delta parking lot after 3am on a report of someone damaging vehicles where they arrested Brownell.
South Alabama Athletic Director Dr. Joel Erdmann said, “I think all of our programs and all of our coaches and the entire department is very centered on basic principles of tremendous citizenship and graduation and competing to the best of our ability. All of our student athletes and everybody in our department is very sensitive to that and so we do examine things like this very deeply and take it very seriously.”
Keith Ayers said that Brownell would not be suspended from classes. In an incident like this he is subject to a nonacademic conduct review. If the crime committed is bad enough, then the student could be subject to dismissal from the university.
Brownell is a native of Prattville, Alabama and started all seven games at Safety in the inaugural season for South Alabama. He led the team with five interceptions and was second on the team with 27 tackles. While in high school, Brownell played on three state championship teams and partcipated in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic.
Brownell was placed in the Mobile Metro jail and released on Thursday afternoon on a $17,000 bail.
Brownell has been indefinitely suspended from the team pending an investigation.