MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football program’s first scrimmage of the spring season lasted only 50 minutes — less than half the two-plus-hour workout — but that didn’t prevent the Jaguars from making the most of that time.

First-, second- and third-string units runs by six different quarterbacks combined to take over 80 snaps Thursday at the practice fields on campus to conclude a workout that began at 6 a.m.  It was the Jags’ fifth practice of the spring season, and last one before the school begins Spring Break.

“We had a really good work day today,” USA head coach Joey Jones commented.  “I can’t tell who did what running plays, we ran seven-play segments because we were trying to get a lot of plays in today.  We got in about 80 in a 50-minute time period because the kids were hustling and doing a good job of getting to the ball on defense.  We’ll watch film to get the results of who did what.”

It took the offense little time to start hitting big plays, as during the initial series of the scrimmage Ross Metheny found Wes Saxton for a 13-yard completion before scrambling for a gain of 15 more two plays later.  On the next possession, Brandon Bridge and Jay Jones opened the drive with a 19-yard connection while four snaps later he hit Shavarez Smith on the sideline, with the junior-college transfer taking it 43 yards for a score.

Midway through the scrimmage, Bridge would throw another touchdown pass when he found Corey Waldon in the right corner of the end zone from 10 yards out; the junior quarterback kept the drive alive with a 36-yard pickup on third-and-11 from the offense’s 29-yard line.  The unit just missed another score when Metheny hit Bryant Lavender from nearly 40 yards away a step beyond the end zone.

Jones added a 32-yard run down the left sideline on the last possession of the session, and Corey Besteda had a 30-yard gain on a completion from Metheny as well.

“It was good, we came out and competed,” explained Metheny.  “We kind of had a limited menu play calling, because we wanted to focus on some of the new things we’ve put in and get good at those things fundamentally.  With the ones, twos and threes, we had a lot of guys compete and some guys make some plays that stood out, which we can use moving forward.”

“I think our leadership has been really good this year, the guys are mature and working hard to fix some of the little things behind the scenes,” Jones stated.  “The offensive staff has done a good job in the offseason of trying to tweak some things and make our offense better; I though you saw some really good things out there today.  We’re running the football better, that’s the big thing.”

Defensively, Qudarius Ford recorded the lone takeaway with an interception in the end zone, with the unit posting three three-and-outs the second half of the scrimmage while also getting a stop on fourth-and-two.

“I think we came out kind of slow, everybody was late; we probably looked better the first three days of practice to tell you the truth,” observed junior outside linebacker Clifton Crews.  “The coaches have come in and taught us a lot, but we are keeping it to fundamentals and sound technique; if we are going to mess up, we’re trying to do that at full speed.  We don’t want effort to be the problem.”

The coaching staff also worked the field-goal unit into the scrimmage.  Logan Gunn attempted six kicks on the day, hitting four of those including from 37 and 39 yards out.

With the break beginning after classes end Friday, the Jaguars will not practice again until 6 a.m. on Tuesday, March 19.

“We’ll use the off time as a staff to work the whole week on recruiting and of course evaluating where we are at this point,” said Jones.  “I told the players that we’ve gone through five practices now — which is close to halfway — so we are seeing where we are lining up.  We won’t make determinations [on the depth chart] until the end of the spring, but obviously we’ll start looking at the personnel as well.”

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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