MOBILE, Ala. – With consecutive days off looming this weekend, the University of South Alabama football team wrapped up preseason camp by participating in an hour-and-a-half situational scrimmage at the fields on campus Friday morning.
The day featured the first-and second-team offensive and defensive units working against scout teams, and every aspect of special teams play was covered during the activities. There was no tackling, although the squad was in full pads, and no statistics were kept.
“We exposed our team to a couple of things; sideline organization of the game, which I thought was pretty good for the most part though there are a couple of things we need to talk about as a staff to fix, and situational things on the field,” said Jag head coach Joey Jones. “We didn’t tackle today, which I thought was good. We had a pretty good tempo, sometimes they tend to back off too much when you do that. We got all the special teams covered, we had three reps with each; we’ll watch the film and see what corrections we need to make there.”
The first area of concentration was on the kickoff coverage unit, after which the first-team defense took the field facing the offense coming out from its own one-yard line, then starting possessions at the 20 and the 30. The first-team offense them came on and, beginning from its own 30-yard line, drove down the field to set up a 37-yard field goal from Jordan Means. The initial offensive possession included first-and-10 plays, second-and-long, second-and-short, third-and short, and goal-to-go situations.
After the punt team was on the field, the first-team defense and offense came back for one more extended series, with the former seeing second- and third-and-long plays and the latter running first-down, second-and-long and third-and-short plays. Lawson McGlon kicked a 40-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
After the break, the first and second defensive units defended a short field where the offense started across midfield, goal-to-go plays and last-minute passing situations. Offensively, the second team started with a short field and then moved the ball coming out from its own one-yard line. Second-half special teams play focused on kickoff and punt returns, while McGlon connected on a second 40-yard field goal and Means ended the scrimmage with a 22-yard field goal as time expired.
Not only was the day used to cover potential game situations, but the coaching staff will use it to help determine the depth chart heading into the Jaguars’ first game against West Alabama at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Sept. 1. “We’re going to watch the film first to make some of those determinations,” stated Jones. “I told them that this is pretty much going to set our ones and twos right now — not that it’s in stone — but we’re going to look at that this weekend.”
The Jaguars will be off both days over the weekend before both returning to the practice field and beginning fall semester classes Monday morning. The staff, however, has several tasks to take care of prior to the next workout.
“Number one, we’re going to evaluate the film and our players, what we need to do offensively and defensively and any corrections we need to make,” Jones explained. “Then we’ll talk about sideline organization, the things I noticed that we need to go over and get fixed for next week. And we’ll plan next week, how we’re going to attack it with a game a week from Thursday; how we are going to handle those three days before we get into game week.
“We know we’re going to have a situational scrimmage Thursday as well, bring them in Friday to watch the film and then it will be game week at that point.”
Now that preseason camp has concluded, Jones and the staff will also turn their attention to the Tigers after two weeks of concentrating on internal issues.
“We’re going to go ahead and start working on the first ball game — we’ve done a little bit here and there before now, but it will give us an extra three days to work on West Alabama and put our game plan in, then go back and make corrections,” he said. “There may be a scheme we don’t like or a blitz we don’t like that we will throw out. We’ll whittle it down and get ready for game week.”
After two weeks of practice, both coordinators are pleased with where their units are as preseason camp comes to a close.
“I think our first offense is good. I think the question mark that the so-called experts had about our football team — our offensive line — might be the strength of our offense,” stated offensive coordinator Greg Gregory afterwards. “I think those guys know how to play, they’re not the biggest but they don’t have to be; they block, they run, they’re athletic and they are competitors.
“I think we’re really good at quarterback with our starter, though we’re thin at receiver right now because we have guys hurt; the guys that are here are having to take every rep, it’s wearing them out and their legs are getting tired. We’re strong at running back, tight end and fullback. I’m really pleased other than I think we need our backups to make a huge jump. You don’t always need them right away in the first game, but somewhere in the season somebody’s going to have to play.
“Overall, we are about where I thought we’d be right now, we just have to polish things up between now and Sept. 1. Our kids are champing at the bit, they’re ready to play.”
“The first thing as far as our guys go is we feel good,” defensive coordinator Bill Clark said. “We’ve started developing some depth. We’re starting to see those twos, though some of it is due to injury. We’ve been able to see some freshmen and other guys that you wouldn’t see as much, we’ve gotten to throw them into the fire so we feel better about that.
“Obviously now our focus will start changing next week where we really start concentrating on West Alabama where we’ve been a little more general to start with,” he added. “Overall we’re pleased with where we are, and we hope we’ll get everybody back well Monday.”
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).
—USA—
