MOBILE, Ala. – Heading into the program’s third season, there’s likely no area that has been impacted by the talent included in the University of South Alabama football team’s initial signing classes than the special teams unit.
“You’ve got numbers now that allow you to use different guys, but highly talented guys,” assistant coach Tommy Perry, who serves as special teams coordinator, said. “[Head] coach [Joey] Jones has it right, he puts the best players on special teams; not just from a return aspect, but from a coverage or a holding perspective. You look forward to facing teams that don’t do that.”
But, according to Perry, it’s not just the addition of athletic specialists who have helped improve the unit.
“That being said,” he continued, “there are some guys who might be the best at a hold-up technique or a coverage technique — you like those kinds of guys. It reminds me of myself, they are able to find a way to get on the field because it means a lot to them so they become experts at their position. You know you can throw a lot on them mentally too, because we want to be diverse with what we do on special teams.
“You’ve got a core group of guys who may not be those returners or the specialists, but you know you can always go to and plug them in, and they will know exactly what to do and how to do it. They’re invaluable to your special teams unit; that’s how they get on the bus, and how they are going to go to North Carolina State and Kent State and those other trips, because they found a niche.”
The question that has been asked since the end of spring practice is who will handle the placekicking duties. In the Jaguars’ first season of competition in 2009, Michel Chapuseaux — a 5-foot-8, 185-pound native of Fruitland Park, Fla. — converted 4-of-5 field goals and finished second on the team in scoring with 46 points. Last fall, 5-foot-9, 140-pound Buford, Ga., resident Lawson McGlon took over the responsibility, going on to kick four field goals in a game in wins over Lamar and Georgia State; he would finish the campaign by connecting on 12-of-17 field goals and 20-of-21 extra-point attempts to record 56 points, the second-highest total on the team.
But finishing right behind McGlon in the latter category was Jordan Means, who posted 34 points after converting all four field-goal tries — including a 39-yard effort at UC Davis that provided the ultimate final margin of victory in a 24-21 win — as well as 22-of-24 PATs. It was the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder from Hoover, Ala., who ended the spring on top of the depth chart, though Chapuseaux held the advantage for handling kickoffs.
“Kickers are easy [to evaluate] because you just go based on the numbers, and I tell them that,” Perry stated. “We are all judged — as a special teams coordinator, or as kickers, punters and snappers — by the numbers. It’s what I did when I was coaching in NFL Europe and we had two pros and they were fighting over who was going to take the paycheck home and feed their family; at the end of the day we could say you made this many kicks and missed this many, and this is who is on the bus and who is not.
“That’s the mentality, and during the spring and when we talked to them in the summer when we can’t work with them we talked about the process over the result. Now that we are in practice, we are looking at a game-type situation and the result is what defines us. There is an open-ended competition, but they had a good spring.”
At punter, 5-foot-9, 195-pound Scott Garber is slated to handle the responsibility for the third season in a row. As a freshman in 2009, the Port St. Lucie, Fla., product averaged 42 yards per kick; although that figure dropped to a 40.4 average a year ago, Garber had 16 of his 34 kicks (47.1 percent) end up inside the opposition’s 20-yard line.
“I feel better about Scott. He had a great year as a freshman and because of that we put him on scholarship, but I think last year there was a lack of focus; he lost a bit of it physically,” observed Perry. “I want to give him credit, he has dropped about 30 pounds since last season, and I think that has really helped him. He’s brought a new focus to practice. Based on his height, he has to do some things perfectly to get distance on the ball; he can do those things, he has a confidence I really like at the position. What he lacks in height he makes up for it with panache.
“He tries to bring a chip on his shoulder to the football team, which is what you want from a specialist. I would be surprised if he did not have a much better year this fall than last.”
Completing the kicking game, there are three individuals competing to serve as the Jags’ long snapper on punts and field-goal attempts. Nick Bear (5-11, 225, Lakewood, Calif.) has handled the duties the last two seasons, however Austin Cole (6-3, 220, Dallas, Ga.) was on top of the preseason depth chart entering camp. The duo was expected by Perry to be pushed for playing time by freshman Joey Hamilton (6-1, 225, Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
“It starts with the snapper. Nick has been a solid guy and Austin is a young snapper, but completely based off the numbers Austin had a faster snap time and more balls in location than Nick in the spring so that’s why he pushed ahead,” he explained. “We say snapping is first, protection is second and coverage is a bonus; when you look at a guy like Joey who has the size that he has, he looks like an NFL snapper, and when he came to camp as a junior he snapped the ball like an NFL snapper too. We’re really excited about him, he could be great in protection and coverage; if he puts the snapping part together he is an NFL caliber guy.
“I feel real good at the position, we have the right mix — we have a guy with two years experience, a young guy who is high [on the depth chart] right now because he had a really good spring as a potential starter and Joey who has all the physical tools. In the future, as we move on, that’s one position feel good about with the numbers of guys that we have.”
When it comes to the return game, Perry expects to have plenty of prospects to evaluate early in preseason practice. And though there are candidates who could run back both punts and kickoffs, that’s not necessarily a top priority for the Jaguars. “The first two weeks there are really three teams on every unit, which we cut down to two after that, he commented. “The third unit is always freshmen so that they are getting reps and even if they don’t end up on the depth chart that year, they are ready to go if someone gets hurt or when we get to spring practice.
“Thankfully, it gets easier every year because you are not trying to turn guys into something they are not. We are recruiting individuals who are special returners that we would like to have the ball in their hands. For a punt returner, you want to have absolute confidence he is going to catch the ball in traffic; that’s the most important thing, next you look for shiftiness. You’d love to have top-end speed, but being able to make that first guy miss — sometimes in space the size of a phone booth — is really what you are looking for.
“Javier Arenas is a great punt returner not because of his speed but because of his ability to make somebody miss.”
In 2010, Jeremé Jones (5-8, 160, Mobile) led USA with an average of 19.4 yards per punt return, which included one he ran back 54 yards for a touchdown in the Jags’ season-opening win over Pikeville (Ky.). He also had a 49-yard return against Edward Waters and ran back three punts for 55 yards in a victory over Missouri S&T. Jones is also a candidate to return kickoffs in the fall.
“Jeremé split time with T.J. [Glover], and I think that makes you a better returner because it makes you value all of those times that ball is in your hands a little bit more,” Perry said. “He is really sudden, he has those violent quicks that make people miss. But, we have some other guys who will get some looks and see who comes out of it.”
B.J. Scott (5-11, 205, Prichard, Ala.) is another individual who will have an opportunity to contribute to both return units. The junior spent his first three seasons at Alabama, transferring to USA prior to the start of the spring semester although he was not able to participate in spring drills as he recovered from injury.
“I didn’t get to watch B.J. in the spring because he was injured, but I did see him on national TV quite a few times return punts for Alabama so I’m guessing if he can be successful there that he can be successful down the road here,” stated Perry. “He’s phenomenal, he has a confidence from playing at that level that you really need when you play some of the teams we face this year that will be an eye-opener for a lot of these young men.”
Other candidates to run back kicks include Demetre Baker (6-1, 215, Orange Park, Fla.), who ended spring practice as one of two starters on the depth chart, and Santuan McGee (5-10, 175, Tallahasse, Fla.). The latter averaged 31 yards per kick return in ’09 and has racked up 759 all-purpose yards in two seasons for the Jaguars.
“In a kick returner, you are looking for almost a recklessness at the position,” Perry observed. “You are looking for top-end speed because you are not going to have to make many people shake down; in fact, if a kick returner even brings his feet on the same line he’s about to get cold-cocked. We are giving him an aiming point to go to; I want him to catch the ball and sprint as fast as he can to get to that point, then throw himself at that wall as fast and hard as he can and from there throw on the boosters and go. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the same guy on punt and kick return, though it often is.”
Perry also plans to provide opportunities to a trio of freshmen to return kickoffs and punts as well— Akeem Appleton (5-9, 175, Fort Payne, Ala.), Anthony Ingram (5-9, 165, Jasper, Fla.) and J.J .Keels (5-10, 175, Melbourne, Fla.).
“You look at individuals like B.J. and Demetre, especially from a kick return perspective because he is a big, strong guy,” he said. “Anthony is a great player, and J.J. has that initial quickness. And Santuan has been back there before as well, so you start talking about the number of guys we have back there — and you do miss T.J., he is special — but we have at least a chance to go out there with at least two guys if not more.
“We want to give them [the freshmen] a shot because in high school they were the best guys on the field so they definitely jump out at you,” he continued. “You want to see if they still have that same type of tenacity, because there’s got to be a little bit of fearlessness about you and a ‘me against the world’ mentality back there as a returner.
“I do see a lot of confidence in those guys.”
It’s that confidence — as well as talent level — of recent recruiting classes that has allowed Perry to build the Jags’ special teams units into a strength for the program.
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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