MOBILE, Ala. – For the last two years, Courtney Smith has served as one of the faces of the University of South Alabama’s fledgling football program. During that time, he amassed 58 catches for 1,065 yards and 10 touchdowns, pacing the Jaguars in all three categories each of the last two falls.
Now is the time for all involved with the program — coaches, players and fans — to discover what life is like without the 6-foot-5, 230-pound native of New Orleans.
Can USA assistant coach Ron Antoine tell everyone that things will be alright in the fall?
“Yes, I think so,” he responded. “Of course we’re going to miss Courtney; not only his ability, but he had a certain energy out there; he had some charisma that the guys are going to miss.
“But I thought they did well in the spring discovering where they are without Courtney. It’s a tough process when you have a guy with a dominating personality and is also talented, who did some good things at South Alabama and had a chance to play in the Senior Bowl. It takes an adjustment from the kids who are still here — who is going to say what instead of everyone just looking at each other?”
With the Jags running multiple formations including many with a minimum of three wideouts, their system includes four slots. Three of those projected starters are underclassmen who have a year-plus in the program: sophomores Bryant Lavender and Corey Waldon, and redshirt freshman Jeremé Jones.
“I think there will be a few guys who are going to show up this fall, but it’s going to be more of a group effort instead of saying, ‘Hey, let’s find a way to get the ball in to the big guy,’” Antoine explained. “Throughout the spring, I thought you could see that during scrimmages where Jeremé made a big play, then here comes Corey and then Bryant would make a play.”
Lavender, a 6-foot, 180-pound Gulfport, Miss., product, is the team’s leading returner with 16 receptions, which went for a total of 276 yards in the fall. He caught a career-best four passes in the season opener against Pikeville (Ky.), but his best effort came when the Jaguars defeated Georgia State as he matched that total while recording a career-high 87 yards including a 40-yard scoring catch. Waldon — a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., who is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds — added 14 receptions for 291 yards (the most among players coming back in 2011), as his average of 20.8 yards per catch paced the squad a year ago. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound Jones, who hails from Mobile, chipped in with 14 catches for 142 yards; he ended his first collegiate campaign with multiple receptions in five contests in a row, and caught a touchdown pass in two of the last three victories.
“You would love for one of them to emerge as the guy, but it is hard to stop a group,” stated Antoine. “When you have a good group, then the defense isn’t sure where the ball is going to go and it’s hard to stop.”
But Antoine has upperclassmen he can turn to as well this season. Lamontis Gardner enters preseason camp listed as the starter at one of two outside slots. With 14 receptions for 263 yards, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior from Mobile is third among active players in the latter category; he also scored the first two touchdowns of his career last season in wins over Edward Waters (Fla.) and Kentucky Wesleyan. Taylor Noon — who is 6 feet, 190 pounds and from Pensacola, Fla. — has appeared in 15 of USA’s 17 games the last two years.
“Some of the young guys are going to start, but Lamontis and Taylor are great kids to have in the room and they are going to play quite a bit,” said Antoine. “They both bring some maturity to the group, and they both know how to practice — though I think they all know after I have been here for a year — and what I expect; how to move from one drill to the next and the skills that we work on. It’s a process that those guys are starting to master, so now we can move on to more advanced stuff instead of just teaching them the basics of being a receiver.”
The group could receive a boost from a pair of sophomores who have been limited their first two years in the program. Corey Besteda made three catches for 46 yards in ’10, but the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Harvest, Ala., resident was limited to four appearances due to injury. Greg Hollinger measures 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, and while he was able to see regular action during spring practice he has yet to play in a game in two seasons.
Both are listed as backups on the depth chart going into preseason practice. But Antoine thinks the two might finally be able to produce on a regular basis.
“I hope so,” he said. “I would love to say coming out of the spring that those two will make a definite impact, but there were times when they showed up and times when they didn’t. The one thing that any coach is looking for is consistency — are you going to show up day in and day out and make the kind of plays you are capable of? They have not done that yet, but they have shown that they can.
“Greg has shown that he can be that big, tall receiver downfield who can make that play. And Corey has showed us that he can be the speed guy who can handle reverses and some of those things. And they both are physical, they will go out there and hit you.”
Three members of the 2011 recruiting class will look to contribute immediately, with the trio including Akeem Appleton (5-9, 175, Fort Payne, Ala.), Jake Howton (6-1, 175, Cordova, Ala.) and Anthony Ingram (5-9, 165, Jasper, Fla.). The latter was a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com, while the other two received two stars a piece from Scout.com.
“It’s great to have a lot of kids with talent, which I think we have. Now the competition level will really skyrocket,” Antoine stated. “Those young guys are going to be really, really hungry. For those in the program who have tasted a little bit of success, the hard thing is to keep wanting more and to continue to work like Bryant did. He worked liked the devil trying to get on the field, and he made Courtney better; he did that the whole year.
“Can he continue to work at that same pace? I hope that Jake and Greg can make Bryant work at that pace to hold the position that he has earned going into the fall.”
The key for the newcomers — and even those returning players not on the preseason depth chart — is to catch Antoine’s eye early in camp. Their performance on the field will ultimately determine who gets more time in 7-on-7 skeleton and team drills. “A lot of that stuff happens throughout practice,” said Antoine. “The one person who did it at practice in drills that I keep using as an example is Bryant. He was working so hard on the techniques I was teaching during drill work, and he was going all-out any time he did anything. I was thinking that I have to give this guy a chance to see what he could do.”
Lavender’s path to the field started with his efforts in one-on-one drills against cornerbacks, which earned him time during 7-on-7 sessions. At that point Antoine felt he needed to see what the then redshirt freshman could do during team drills.
“Your effort and your mastery of the techniques that have been taught in drill work, that’s the initial part, and then running routes with the quarterbacks,” he said of what he looks for in practice. “Then we’ll get to some competition drills, whether they are individual or against defensive backs, which I’ll study quite a bit to see who is actually winning and getting open.
“If that goes well, then I need to see that guy in skeleton and team drills; if you can’t makes plays in skelly [skeleton drills], then I can’t put you in the scrimmages or a game.”
One thing that helped Antoine’s unit improve in the spring was the influx of defensive backs that receivers had to face on a daily basis. Not only are transfers Damond Smith and B.J. Scott expected to bolster the secondary in the fall, they were able to make USA’s wideouts work that much harder during spring drills to get the job done.
“For us it’s great, the better the defensive backs the more challenged we are in practice and the better we’ll be on Saturdays,” Antoine commented. “But I thought they handled it well, they made big strides this spring. Our receivers took the success they had in the fall and brought it to spring practice, especially those guys who played last season.
“We had a lot of guys do good things in the spring, and we had a couple of surprises. Tyrome [Bivins] was one of those, he has good speed and football skills. Coming from track, we didn’t know what he was going to be able to do; we knew he would be fast, but we didn’t know if he could catch the ball or take a hit.”
Bivins, who is 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds and also a sprinter for the Jaguar track & field squad, is now slated to backup Waldon going into the season.
USA’s wide receiver corps took a big hit with Smith’s graduation, but even before last season ended Antoine knew that his group would be fine moving forward once that day passed. “I can’t remember the exact game, but the opposition rolled the coverage to Courtney and basically said we weren’t throwing to him that day,” he recalled. “And that’s when Jeremé had a big game, and Corey made some catches down the field. Then we put Bryant in and he made a play.
“You could see that we still had some other guys to play with. And when you can do that as a group, the defense has to play straight or they have to come after the quarterback.”
With plenty of veterans remaining with the program, Antoine has his unit in a position to help make life difficult for opposing defenses without one individual to key on in an attempt to shut down the Jags’ passing attack.
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—
