Date: 8/19
Time: 3:50 p.m.-5:15 p.m. (CDT)
Place: James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility
Practice attire: Shorts and helmets
Offensive Player of the Day: Tyrone Williams, Sr., WR, Diamondhead, Miss.
-Offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent on Fisher: "Tyrone has been real solid the last four or five days, he's a hard worker and he wants to be great. He's started making a lot of plays in the last couple of days and really getting comfortable in what we are doing. We expect a lot of big things out of Tyrone, and he's starting to come through."
Defensive Player of the Day: Devon Earl, Sr., S, Hoover, Ala.
-Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack on Earl: "Devon's been a consistent player throughout [camp]. When you put him in a challenging situation or a competitive drill, he always rises to the occasion. He's not the biggest guy or the most talented guy, but he executes at a really high level, so he's a tested, proven and trustworthy guy."
Play of the Day: Cole Garvin found Quinton Lane open for a 41-yard touchdown on an out-and-up on the final play of practice during the second series of South Alabama's 7-on-7 two-minute skeleton drill. Also considered were Tyrone Williams' 33-yard touchdown reception from Dallas Davis during the first series of downs during the 7-on-7 two-minute skeleton drill and Gerald Everett's one-handed grab along the left sideline on the second play of the opening 7-on-7 skeleton drill session.
Team period highlights: South Alabama had two special teams sessions – the first coming at the beginning of practice and the second coming in between the two 7-on-7 skeleton drill periods. The first 7-on-7 skeleton drill session saw the first-, second- and third-team units run 24 snaps during a 12-minute period. USA closed out practice with a second 7-on-7 period with the first- and second- team squads working on the two-minute offense beginning at their own 40 yard line.
Miscellaneous Notes
-USA's quarterbacks combined to connect on 15 of their 20 pass attempts during the first 7-on-7 session. Davis and Garvin were 6-of-8, while Evan Orth was 3-of-4.
- Chris Lewis led all receivers with four receptions during the period and Everett and Jordan McCray also added two apiece.
-The South defense came up with three coverage sacks and two pass deflections during the period.
- Kalen Jackson and T'Qwan Robinson each had a pass deflection during the first 7-on-7 session.
-During the two-minute 7-on-7 session, Davis hit all four of his pass attempts, punctuated by the 33-yard score by Williams, while Garvin was 3-of-4, including the 41-yarder to Lane.
-The first special teams period worked on kick return, while the second focused on punt return.
Head coach Joey Jones
-On what he's looking out of his team as they head into the second and final scrimmage of the fall: "We need to get to the point where we have zero mental errors in a scrimmage like this. I've told the players that we have a bunch of schemes for offense and defense on how to handle third-down, first-down, red zone and all those other situations. We need to go out and fundamentally do it, and do what the coaches ask them to do. If we do those things, we're going to be a really good football team. We can't be a team that goes out and makes errors. That's the first thing that I'm looking for.
"The second thing I'm looking for is physical play. I want to see if the guys are going to get after one another. Not in a way where we hurt our other players with a cheap shot. I'm talking about pure physical, blocking and tackling. I want us to be fundamentally sound in those areas. I want better execution out of the offense and better execution out of the defense. We just need to keep doing that and keep our goals high."
-On how the team has handled balancing the first week of classes mixed in with practice: "I thought the first day wasn't the best. Looking back over my 28 or 29 years of coaching, the first day of school is always a bad [practice] day seems like. I've thought about not practicing on the first day of classes, but if we pushed it back to the second day, that would probably be the same. We've just deleted that first day from our memory and since that point, the guys have really adapted and done well."
-On the offense bouncing back today: "Towards the end of yesterday's practice [the offense] didn't fare well, but for the most part they did better today. I think for the most part offensively we are a much better offensive team right now. We can do more things. We can run the ball and throw it down the field. We have a lot of diverse things that we're good at, so I feel very strongly that the offense is progressing well right now."
Up next: South Alabama will hold its second scrimmage of the fall at Ladd-Peebles Stadium beginning at 11 a.m. The scrimmage is closed to the public.
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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