Date: 8/23
Time: 3:45-5:30 p.m. (CDT)
Place: James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility
Practice attire: Shells (helmets and shoulder pads)
Offensive Player of the Day: Xavier Johnson, Jr., RB, Tampa, Fla.
-Offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent on Johnson: "To me the offensive player of the day was Xavier Johnson. He just loves the game of football and has a great attitude. He's handled adversity very well this fall after his father's passing; he's maintained focus, he just cares about his teammates and this football team. He comes out and works hard and makes plays every day."
Defensive Player of the Day: Sean Grayer, So., DL, Green Cove Springs, Fla.
-Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack on Grayer: "Sean Grayer was our defensive player of the day today. We're asking him to dual-train at defensive tackle and defensive end just in case of an emergency. He's a very versatile player partly because of his athleticism, but his intellect is also very high. He's a guy who is proven and trusted, and a guy we can count on in a number of roles for us."
Play of the Day: During the last team period of the afternoon, Chason Milner tracked down the running back following a screen pass on third-and-short to make the stop and force a punt.
Team period highlights: The opening team period early in the session was a six-minute stretch with the offense facing third-and-seven and -eight. There was also an eight-minute period midway through the day with the offense running a two-minute drill while trailing by six points, with the final team period having the offense run plays in a game-like situations for 20 minutes
Miscellaneous Notes
-The Jaguar defense stopped both two-minute drives. Quinton Dent ended the first with an interception on second down, and after the second-team offense picked up a pair of first downs to move to the defense's 27-yard line Chris Henderson was credited with a fourth-down sack as time expired.
-Dent added another interception on the opening drive of the final team period, catching a ball deflected by Devon Earl and then keeping his feet inbounds as he landed to secure the takeaway.
-Jordan McCray had two catches for the second-team offense during its two-minute drill.
-Prior to the two-minute drill, the Jaguar offense and defense used a more-than 15-minute period to work against scout teams in preparation for the season opener against Mississippi State.
-The opening period of the day focused on kickoff returns while the last saw the Jags' hands team working on recovering onside kicks.
Head coach Joey Jones
-On naming Dallas Davis starting quarterback on Monday: "I think he was the most consistent guy we had out there; in all of camp, Dallas only had one off day — and it wasn't a real bad day — and the rest of the time he performed consistently. He's the same guy every day, he doesn't make mistakes, he knows the offense inside and out. The other guys did well, it definitely wasn't an easy decision; they were pushing him and got better as well."
-On whether he will rotate quarterbacks in a game during the season: "No, we're going to have a one-quarterback system. I'm not saying that halfway through the season if he doesn't do well that someone else can't take it over, but as far as the thought of bringing guys in and out of the game, I'm not going to do that."
-On the battle for the back-up quarterback position: "I think Cole [Garvin] and Evan [Orth] are fighting for it. We'll know by Thursday who will be in the No. 2 spot there."
Up next: USA will work out at the James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday
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).
—USA—
