Date: 3/4
Time: 7:10-9:10 a.m. (CST)
Place: James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility
Practice attire: Shells (helmets and shoulder pads)

Offensive Player of the Day: Dami Ayoola, Jr., RB, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
-Offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent on Ayoola: "It was our first day in pads today; I thought Dami came out and made some good runs, made some good cuts and finished his runs.  He did some good things catching the ball out of the backfield also, it was good to see him come out and have a really good day the first day in shells."

Defensive Player of the Day: Devon Earl, Jr., S, Hoover, Ala.
-Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack on Earl: "I thought Devon stepped up.  With what we installed today we had a ton of guys who were swimming, but his experience showed up.  He is a guy who understands how to play with leverage in the defense.  Nigel Lawrence — a young guy playing the other safety — wasn't that far off, but Devon is playing at a different level than some of these other guys at this point."

Play of the Day: DeShawn Applewhite made a diving catch on a pass from Dallas Davis for a gain of 40-plus yards down the right sideline during the second team period of practice.  Other candidates included Gerald Everett making a defender miss on a tackle to pick up over 20 yards on a completion from Davis and Milton Revell breaking free on a screen pass from Cole Garvin to go untouched down the left side of the field.

Team period highlights: There were two team periods with seven-on-seven skeleton passing drills in between, with the offense running a mix of both run and pass plays during both.

Miscellaneous Notes
-Davis was 6-of-9 during skeleton passing drills while Keith Williams connected on 3-of-4 attempts.
-Chris Lewis posted three receptions during that period, with James Bynes and Parker Mason adding a pair of catches each.
-Earl made a leaping deflection to prevent a completion on the right sideline during the 7-on-7 period, while Dewayne Alford broke up a pass at the line of scrimmage during the final team period of the morning.
-Buchanan made a stop in the offensive backfield one snap before Alford's pass defensed, and Roy Albritton forced an incompletion earlier in the period with pressure up the middle on the quarterback.
-Work on punt returns highlighted the final special teams period of the day.

Head coach Joey Jones
-On the goal for Friday's practice: "I don't know that we had one goal for just today, we're always working toward that goal of becoming a team that can run the ball on offense and defensively stopping the run.  I challenged both units to get better in those areas because if we're better running the football and stopping the run we are going to be a good football team in the fall."
-On the best thing he saw at practice this morning: "The biggest thing I saw was our defense fitting their gaps, that was really good since it was the first day they have gone against the offense with pads on.  Roman Buchanan looked great at the 'Stinger' position, he's going to really bring a lot to our defense there, and our two corners [Jeremy Reaves and Jalen Thompson] are as good as it gets in this league [Sun Belt Conference]."
-On if the intensity increased at the first spring practice in shells: "Oh yeah.  There is always some smack talk in the locker room between the offense and defense.  I love it, it's great competition and the guys were having fun with it."

Up next: USA concludes the opening week of spring drills with a 3 p.m. workout on Saturday, its first in full pads

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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