MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football team had the day off Sunday, but the Jaguars’ reward was short-lived as they were back on the practice fields on campus in full pads at 6:15 a.m. Monday for the first of two workouts.
USA will return to action at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, the first of a pair of two-a-day workouts scheduled for the final week of preseason camp.
The day of rest was enough to allow the Jags to show signs of recovering from a week that had them on the field seven times in six days.
“It was good — the legs came back a little bit, but I still think we are a little tired from camp. But I thought they fought through it and had a good practice,” Jaguar head coach Joey Jones said. “The offensive line is getting better, they have really made some improvement over the last couple of days.”
That was apparent in team drills, when the first-team offense moved the chains on all six third-down plays, then drove 35 yards in 30 seconds for a touchdown in a two-minute drill. In the first series of third-down snaps, C.J. Bennett completed passes to Jeremé Jones and Corey Waldon before scrambling out of the pocket for another first down. Jones cut in to catch a pass from Bennett when the unit returned to the field, with the quarterback then finding Taylor Noon and Anthony Ingram for completions that moved the chains again.
In the two-minute drill, Bennett opened by connecting with Tyrome Bivins for a 14-yard gain before the receiver dove out of bounds to stop the clock. After an incompletion, Bennett hit Waldon over the middle to get to the 10-yard line, spiking the ball on the next snap to stop the clock. He found Jones in the left corner of the end zone for an apparent touchdown on the next play, but a five-yard penalty on the offense negated the score; Bennett responded with a 14-yard completion to Bivins before going out of bounds at the one-yard line, then finding Corey Besteda on a fade to the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown.
The second-team defense answered by allowing one first down in six tries — which came when Trey Fetner broke containment in the pocket — while posting four sacks. The offense managed to pick up nine yards on a completion from Fetner to Noon, setting up a 46-yard Jordan Means field goal.
“They [the offense] were getting beat on for a while the first couple of weeks, but they have turned it around and played a little better,” stated Jones. “It’s good to see them bounce back, though I’m sure the defense will bounce back tomorrow. It’s good competition out there.”
Entering the final week of camp — the team will be off Saturday and Sunday prior to the start of classes — Jones has been pleased with the Jags progress, though he does have one concern. “We are happy with how things are going other than injuries, we have a lot of people banged up right now,” he observed. “It’s nothing major, but we have several of them with bumps and bruises; guys have been out three or four or five days, they’re missing practice. Other than that, I think everything is going good.”
With one practice session on Tuesday and two Thursday before the final scrimmage of the fall, time is running out according to Jones for players to find their way onto the depth chart entering USA’s season-opening contest against West Alabama Sept. 1.
“This is basically the last week they will have a chance — not that they won’t have a chance ever — but the bottom line is we are looking hard at this week to make decisions what to go into game week with,” he explained.
Tuesday’s workout, which is slated to be conducted in shells, will begin at 6:15 a.m.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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