MOBILE, Ala. ? For the University of South Alabama football team, there are plenty of reasons why the offense and defense could operate from a limited playbook when the Jaguars take part in their first-ever scrimmage Friday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
After all, the squad has been practicing less than two weeks this spring. Plus, the program had 10 days off between workouts before finally donning pads Tuesday afternoon. Throw in the fact that there were no games or practices in the fall to watch film of, and that as a first-year program most of the 80-plus players on the field are freshmen who have not been through a practice under the Jags’ coaching staff, and it’s easy to see how the learning curve might be a little steeper for the program’s coordinators to implement all their schemes in such a short timeframe.
Despite all of those potential excuses, both Bill Clark and Greg Gregory claim that at least 80 percent of their playbook is already in place.
“We’re pretty far along, we like to throw everything at the players,” said Clark, who was brought in to run the Jaguars’ defense. “It’s like throwing something against a wall and seeing what sticks ? whatever comes off we’ll pick up and throw again. If you come out to practice and watch what we are been doing, you will see a lot of different looks. We’re pleased that our guys have picked it up pretty well.”
“Everything we wanted to put in this spring has been accomplished for the most part,” Gregory, the program’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who was hired in February, stated. “We might put a couple of different wrinkles using the same schemes but different formations, but we’re just letting them play.
“We may not add anything next week. We may not add anything the rest of the spring. It just depends on how far we come. The faster they grasp what we have, the more likely we are to tweak something.”
Having all first-year players has left the coaches with no one to turn to for an example, which is a situation that is unlike anything Clark has ever experienced.
“You just don’t have anybody to point to and say, ?Do it how he did it before.’ There’s no one to lean on,” Clark commented. “We don’t have any players who understand how we practice and the tempo we like. They’ve been learning and improving on that every day, and now they’re adjusting to consecutive days in pads.
“This is all ground-breaking stuff they’re going through.”
There are reasons that might not be such a bad situation to be in though, according to Gregory. “Some of the things you take for granted that players know these guys aren’t aware of, so we need to make sure that we really do everything from scratch,” he said. “That’s how we’re teaching this spring.”
Fortunately for the duo, head coach Joey Jones has been down this road before. Prior to his hiring at USA Jones coached the start-up program at Birmingham-Southern, which played its first season in the fall of 2007.
“One thing that I saw at BSC was that we didn’t have guys who were stepping up and being leaders. They were all freshmen in that program,” he said. “This is a little different because we brought some older guys in, and I think because of that we have seen some leaders start to develop. I would hope that by the end of the spring we will have three to five guys who can serve as leaders and help those coaches out.”
What’s more important to the staff this spring, though, is not teaching plays and formations. They are more interested in a bigger picture that involves who will stay with the program going into the fall.
“The goals for the spring were to get better fundamentally and find guys who can play,” said Jones. “That hasn’t changed since we have actually taken the field.”
“We’re trying to find out who’s physically tough enough, who’s skilled enough and who can grasp everything we’re doing mentally to help us in the fall,” added Gregory. “You can’t play the game if you can’t grasp it mentally.
“How many guys will be playing for us in the fall will determine how many of the incoming players we will need. We’re looking for little glimpses of who can play ? each day you hope another guy steps up.”
One thing both coordinators agree on is that the players’ effort has been exemplary.
“They know we’ve thrown a lot at them,” stated Gregory. “I’m not really evaluating us an offense right now, I’m evaluating all the individuals on offense to see who’s coming along. Offense takes a long time to come together because you really need everybody to mesh, and that’s not going to happen right now.”
“This group as a whole is solid people, the character issue stands out,” Clark said. “Obviously, they have to learn how to practice harder but I’m proud of them, they have handled it well.”
“I’ve been very pleased with the learning process,” Jones added. “They’ve been very attentive, attended all the meetings, they’ve studied and for the most part know what to do.”
The scrimmage, which wraps up a week in which the Jags will practice four straight days, is slated to begin at 2:45 p.m. According to Jones, the offense is expected to run approximately 120 plays.
“We want to examine kids individually,” he said of his expectations for the event. “Obviously as a coordinator you want things to look good on offense and defense, but my concern right now is not how we look as a team.
“I’ve given in to the fact that I think we are going to look sloppy, but if we can come back and see that individuals are getting better that’s what we’re looking for.”
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).
?USA?
