MOBILE, Ala. – While the process of installing a new offense for the University of South Alabama football team wasn’t going to be a simple one, as the Jaguars concluded their fifth practice of the spring Saturday on campus head coach Joey Jones remains upbeat about the effort that is going into the change.
“I’m real proud of the effort,” he said. “The kids are really working hard and they’re doing everything we’ve asked them to do. Their minds are still spinning a little bit, especially on offense right now; what’s the snap count? Where do I line up? That’s why we’re giving up some sacks, because guys don’t really know where to be at this point.
“But if we can take the next eight or nine days of spring practice to get better than, everything will be fine.”
The Jags will practice twice next week, on Tuesday and Thursday — both workouts will begin at 6:30 a.m. — to prepare for the first scrimmage of the spring season. That will take place at 2:45 p.m. Saturday, also at the fields on campus.
The highlight of the final practice of the week included a 45-minute period of 11-on-11 drills with the offense going against the defense. With new offensive coordinator Robert Matthews calling plays via headset, the first- and second-team units were on the field for nearly 30 snaps apiece, while the third-team also ran a double-digit play total.
“I thought there were some good things that happened, but there were way, way too many negative things really on both sides of the ball,” Jones stated. “The offense made some big plays, but they made some terrible plays. We were third-and-20 it seemed like three or four times. But then they hit some big, long pass plays. On the flip side of that, defensively they’ll play pretty good and then they give up a big pass play.
“We talked about that at the beginning of spring — defensively we can’t give up the big play. We’ve got to fix that,” Jones added. “Offensively, we’ve got to be consistent about what we do and not give up negative plays. When you’re third-and-20, you’re not going to make many first downs and/or touchdowns. So we’ve got to get that out of us.
“It’s the first semi-scrimmage of spring and it’s ok at this point, but if we don’t get any better it’s going to be a problem, so we’ve got to fix those things.”
Earlier in the workout, the Jaguars had the offensive and defensive skill players work against each other during two 10-minute segments, while in between USA ran inside plays as the defensive backs and wide receivers worked against each other in one-on-one drills.
The Jaguars also took part in nearly 25 minutes of individual work the first half of the session.
Special teams work on the day included punting early in the session, punt coverage in the middle of the morning and field goals to conclude the day.
“There were definitely some positive things; in the spring there are always some positives to draw from,” Jones explained. “I’ve just got to watch the film and see where we’re at. It seems like every time you leave a scrimmage you may be a little down about some things that happened, but then you watch the film and you see that we did this, this and this well. I try not to overreact after a scrimmage.
“The bottom line is I tried to challenge the kids to evaluate themselves, not looking through rose-colored glasses — really evaluate themselves and whatever weaknesses they have, let's fix them. If they do that I think we’ll be ok.
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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