MOBILE, Ala. – According to head coach Joey Jones, the University of South Alabama football team showed no signs of rust Tuesday morning after returning to the field following a 10-day layoff.
“It was good, I think the week off probably helped us a little bit; it broke up the monotony of spring practice,” he explained. “The guys came back and had a great day in the weight room yesterday and a good practice today. I think they realize they are at the end of the road with one more practice and the [spring] game Saturday.
“It’s kind of got their juices flowing a little bit.”
The final team portion of Tuesday’s workout — which lasted a little over two hours, and was conducted in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts at the practice fields on campus — included a pair of two-minute drill situations.
The first had the offense starting from its own 40-yard line with over a minute remaining on the clock and no timeouts. On the first of two drives, C.J. Bennett led the unit down the field, completing five passes before scoring on a five-yard sneak up the middle; that included connecting with Jeremé Jones for a first down on fourth-and-seven from the defense’s 25-yard line. Myles Gibbon got the offense across midfield on the next possession, but back-to-back sacks by Randon Carnathan and Clifton Crews set up a fourth-and-long in which a completion to Greg Hollinger came up short of moving the chains.
The offense then had two drives beginning at the defense’s 25-yard line with under 30 seconds to go and no timeouts. Bennett found Paul Bennett for a gain of seven yards and Demetre Baker picked up three more for a first down, and after a spike to stop the clock Jordan Means converted a 31-yard field-goal attempt. Lawson McGlon also connected on a field goal, this one from 42 yards out, after a pair of incompletions on the second offensive possession.
Prior to the team period, the offense and defense split up to spend a 35-40 minute period working on what each unit will see in the fall from the Jaguars’ first three opponents. “We just wanted to introduce a few things,” stated Jones. “Mainly, we wanted to get the different fronts and blitz packages that they are doing on defense, and offensively we’re going to see a lot of [shot]gun early in the year, and we wanted to put that in because we are not doing much of that this spring. It was good for the defense to see that kind of offense.”
The Jags will hold one more full practice session this spring season, which is set to start at 7:45 a.m. Thursday on campus. A one-hour walk through is scheduled for Friday prior to the annual Red & White Game. That contest will take place at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Saturday at 2 p.m.
When asked about his expectations for the next workout, Jones answered, “I want to see the same thing as today — we’re going to cover some of our opponents and just try to get ready for the game on Saturday. That’s really the two goals we’ve got left, so we’ll have a pretty much identical practice on Thursday.
“Saturday’s game is more for the kids to have fun, and for the fans,” he continued. “To be honest with you, we probably won’t even watch the film as coaches; because we’re splitting them up, we aren’t going to get much out of a day like that from an evaluation standpoint.”
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).
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