iHeartRadio Red-Blue Game photo gallery

Date: 4/8
Time: 12-1:20 p.m. (CDT)
Place: Ladd-Peebles Stadium
Final Score: Red 50, Blue 30

Scoring Plays (drive information)
-1Q — 10:38 — Red 6-0 — John Robinson FF, Finessé Middleton FR
-1Q — 9:28 — Red 12-0 — DJ Daniels INT
-1Q — 9:17 — Red 18-0 — Neiko Robinson INT
-1Q — 5:29 — Red 24-0 — Darian Mills INT
-1Q — 1:55 — Red 24-7 — Jahmmir Taylor 21-yard pass from Cole Garvin (Gavin Patterson kick) (8 plays, 65, yds, 3:34)
-2Q — 10:41 — Red 24-10 — Gavin Patterson 34-yard field goal (8 plays, 55 yards, 3:16)
-2Q — 10:31 — Red 24-17 — Raphael Barr 55-yard pass from Evan Orth (Corliss Waitman kick) (1 plays, 55 yards, 0:10)
-2Q — 4:24 — Red 32-17 — Taji Stewart FF/FR
-2Q — 0:36 — Red 32-24 — Garvin 14-yard run (4 plays, 55 yards, 1:00)
-3Q — 4:30 — Red 32-30 — Quinton Lane 14-yard pass from Garvin (run failed) (11 plays, 75, yds, 7:30)
-4Q — 3:51 — Red 44-30 — Khalil McDonald 42-yard INT return for TD
-4Q — 0:00 — Red 50-30 — Lekwameh Lewis INT

Play of the Day: On the opening drive of the day, Deonta Moore appeared to make the line to gain on third-and-two from the Blue's 33-yard line, but John Robinson stripped the ball free and Finessé Middleton recovered to instead give the Red a 6-0 advantage — it was the first of three takeaways by the Red in an 81-second span as the team built an 18-0 advantage and never trailed.

Key Statistics
-Passing: Cole Garvin 15-of-25, 202 yds, 2 TDs; Evan Orth 6-of-13, 158 yds, 1 TD
-Rushing: Denzel Foster 7-42; Deonta Moore 9-25
-Receiving: Raphael Barr 3-84, 1 TD; Kawaan Baker 3-72; Quinton Lane 3-35, 1 TD; Jordan McCray 2-52; Sa'Mory Collier 2-41; Andrew Reinkemeyer 2-33; Zac Crosby 2-7
-Defense: DJ Daniels 4-2—6 TT, 1 INT; Darian Mills 2-3—5 TT, 1 INT, 1 PBU; Malcolm Buggs 1-4—5 TT, 1 PBU; Jeremy Reaves 1-3—4 TT; Taji Stewart 1-3—4 TT, 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 FR; Neiko Robinson 2-1—3 TT, 1 INT; Tyree Turner 2-1—3 TT, 1 sack; Jalen Thompson 2-1—3 TT; Lekwameh Lewis 2-1—3 TT, 1 INT, 1 PBU; Khalil McDonald 1-2—3 TT, ½ TFL, 1 INT 
-Special teams: Gavin Patterson 1-2 FG, long 34

Miscellaneous Notes
-The contest featured four 12-minute quarters, with standard clock rules in the opening half and a running clock after the intermission.
-In addition to traditional scoring plays, the Red squad (Jaguar defense) earned two points for every three-and-out it forced.
-The Red team finished the day with seven takeaways — five interceptions and two fumble recoveries — while also posting 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage including seven sacks; as a result the Blue was limited to just 66 yards on 33 carries.
-After four quarterbacks combined to throw for 394 yards, however, the Blue team recorded 460 yards of total offense and averaged 5.82 yards per play.
-The Red was ahead 18-0 before allowing a first down, with the Blue team not reaching the red zone until 25 seconds remained in the opening quarter.
-With touchdowns on back-to-back plays early in the second quarter the Blue drew within a touchdown, and after reaching the end zone on its final possession of the first half and opening drive of the third quarter closed the margin to two points; Malcolm Buggs and DJ Daniels combined to stop Carlos Robinson II on the two-point conversion attempt, though, to keep the Red squad in front.
-On its ensuing possession, a 53-yard pass from Evan Orth to Kawaan Baker moved the Blue into the red zone, but the team missed an attempt to take its first lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game when a 22-yard field-goal try sailed wide left.
-The Red team recorded three sacks and two interceptions — one of which was run back for a touchdown — over the final nine-plus minutes to protect its lead.

Head coach Joey Jones
On his impressions after the game: "I think we are a better football team than we were at the beginning of the spring.  We are more physical and tackling better on defense, some of the fundamental things we've been working on are better.  The glaring thing on offense was obviously the turnovers, we had too many today to win any kind of game; but there was some good blocking going on and our running backs were physical.  I saw some really good things that we have improved as a team, and if you take away the turnovers it was a good day."
On the defensive secondary: "We worked on tackling every day, we have guys who want to be great tacklers and the whole defense has taken that attitude.  You have to tackle well to play good defense and we are much improved in that area, especially in the secondary."
On South's quarterbacks: "Evan had a really good spring, he has learned the offense and executed well.  He doesn't have quite the arm strength that Cole does, but Cole isn't as good a runner so who we go with will still take some time for us to sort that out."
On opening the season with games against Ole Miss and Oklahoma State: "We just have to focus on ourselves, we know we are playing a top-10 team in the country in Oklahoma State and Ole Miss has been a great SEC team.  It's exciting for our players, and when we go through the summer as we did with the Mississippi State game last year it really motivates them throughout the offseason.  Hopefully that same thing will happen this fall."

Sophomore QB Cole Garvin
On what USA quarterbacks focused on this spring: "We definitely want to cut down on the turnovers, we had a lot today, so we need to be in sync better with our receivers and we need to start that earlier so we don't throw three picks on the first three drives and then get rolling."
On the scoring system in the spring game: "It drives the point home that you can't turn the ball over, but I'm glad that they did that.  It reiterates the fact that it can win or lose a ball game by giving them points when they get the ball."
On his plans for the offseason: "I will just try to get my body back in good shape and sit in the film room with the new offensive schemes we are putting in."

Junior DE Finessé Middleton
On the defense's fast start in the game: "We were just trying to focus on our technique and fundamentals, that's what the spring was about for all of us.  We were focused on the basics because we can build the rest from there."
On the game's scoring system: "They told us before the game that the winner would get ribs and wings and the loser would get beans and weenies.  We didn't want to lose so we had to come with our 'A' game today."
On how the team has done during the spring season: "I honestly felt like we got better as a whole on offense and defense, but on defense we took our game to another level.  We've seen a bunch of young guys like Jeremiah Littles and DJ Daniels step up this spring and prove themselves."

Sophomore QB Evan Orth
On the game: "It's just hard coming out with fumbles, getting picked off and having dropped passes here and there, but the biggest thing is coming back.  I thought that showed a lot about us growing and learning the new offense.  We're getting after it, we're going to be solid once we get everything in order with our receivers on the same page and our offensive line back healthy."
On the defense scoring points with takeaways: "That's what I liked about this, when you throw a pick it might turn into points.  We got down early, and that's happened before in our games like at Mississippi State last year when we had to come back from down 17-0 at the half.  It's a good learning experience going into the summer."
On the quarterback competition moving forward: "I feel very confident, they are giving me a shot now and all I have to do is take advantage of it and work my tail off.  Cole and I are friends, we're cool with everything knowing the best man wins.  It will be interesting going into the summer knowing that it will be open until the end of fall camp."

Junior S Jeremy Reaves
On the defense's performance in the game: "That's what we've prepared for all spring, we've been working on getting takeaways all year.  We wanted to come out here, have fun and do what we do best and it showed.  It was a good day for us."
On the scoring system rewarding takeaways by the defense: "That's always fun.  We didn't have an offense so we had to find some way to generate points.  It was definitely fun to look up there and see those points, that was a good thing."
On how much the defense has improved this spring: "We've improved a lot actually, if you watch the last game we played last year our tackling and our fundamentals weren't there.  You could tell coming out here that guys were flying around making a lot of plays, that's good.  Going forward we need to keep up the same pace over the summer, have leaders step up and show guys the right thing to do."

Spring Awards
-Most Improved Quarterback: Evan Orth, So., Jacksonville, Fla.
-Most Improved Running Back: Denzel Foster, So., Riverside, Calif.
-Most Improved Wide Receiver: Jahmmir Taylor, Jr., Fairburn, Ga.
-Most Improved Tight End: Andrew Reinkemeyer, Jr., Overland Park, Kan.
-Most Improved Offense Lineman: Khameron Taylor, Fr., Alachua, Fla.
-Most Improved Defense Lineman: Jeffery Whatley, R-Fr., Midland City, Ala.
-Most Improved Defense End: Finessé Middleton, Jr., Gadsden, Ala.
-Most Improved Linebacker: Taji Stewart, Fr., Marietta, Ga.
-Most Improved Cornerback: Darian Mills, So., Winter Haven, Fla.
-Most Improved Safety: DJ Daniels, Fr., Riverview, Fla.
-Most Improved Husky: Malcolm Buggs, So., Opelika, Ala.
-Most Improved Special Teams: Corliss Waitman, So., Milton, Fla.
-Most Improved Strength & Conditioning: Xavier Johnson, Jr., Tampa, Fla. (offense); Neiko Robinson, Jr., Century, Fla.) (defense)

Up next: This was the final event of the Jaguars' spring practice season; USA will open the 2017 campaign at Mississippi on Sept. 2

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—USA—