MOBILE, Ala. — While the University of South Alabama football program is less than a week away from beginning preseason camp, it doesn’t mean that that the Jaguars have been spending their summer vacation resting up to prepare for arguably the toughest schedule they will face in the fall.
Entering its fourth season of competition, USA will play a total of 13 contests — three more than the Jags have competed in to this point in the program’s development — in 14 weeks, including back-to-back trips to North Carolina State and Mississippi State before embarking on their first-ever Sun Belt Conference slate. After opening with rival Troy at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Sept. 29, the Jaguars will have an off week before facing seven more league games, including match-ups against Arkansas State, Florida International and Louisiana-Lafayette — all participated in bowl games a year ago.
The campaign will conclude with a Dec. 1 trip to Hawai’i, as USA achieves another first with games beyond Thanksgiving.
To prepare for the task, head strength and conditioning coach Justin Schwind and his staff have been working out the Jags in the weight room and on the field while most of the individuals in the program have also been taking summer classes.
“As a team, we have been getting better recruits every year; there’s no doubt,” Schwind said. “Physically I think our guys are strong enough and fast enough to play at the level we will be at this year. Our biggest focus as a strength staff this summer — based on [[head] coach [Joey] Jones’s vision — was that we really needed to establish leadership. We have veterans here now, so we put it in their hands to step up because at the end of the day when it’s game time, it’s up to the 11 guys on the field and what they do. They are the ones who will be doing it; not me as a strength coach or the coaches on staff. That’s what we worked on this summer, and we’ve seen better accountability.
“If a guy misses, we as coaches can’t do anything in the summer because it is voluntary, but we’ve seen someone else grab him and tell him that he’s not going to miss again. They are so much more disciplined in everything that we do. It’s year four now, so it’s nice that when we do things guys are quiet and keyed in to what they have to do to get better today. And they are more efficient in what they do.”
To assist in developing leaders for the upcoming season, Jones and the USA staff selected individuals who were in charge of groups within the program throughout the summer. Not only were they expected to hold their units accountable, but they were able to sit down with the coaching staff on occasion to discuss progress and any issues that they observed.
“Coach Jones elected 11 guys on the team that he felt like are the leaders, and we met on an every-other-week basis,” Schwind explained. “We sat at the table and they were able to discuss any problems or issues they saw with the team and how they planned on handling it. If we started to get off task or lose focus, B.J. [Scott] put his foot down and demanded respect from the guys, and they listened. That’s something we have never had before, which is exciting.”
Players who been in the program since the 2009 season — USA’s first on the field against outside competition — understood what was asked of them, and have also noticed a difference two months later.
“They have asked us to come in and step up, especially the seniors, and assume that leadership role,” stated senior center Trey Clark. “In terms of team discipline and toughness — all those things that coach Jones preaches — we’ve definitely made strides in those areas; it stems from having great leadership so we have definitely improved there.”
“I have noticed a difference,” added Randon Carnathan, a junior defensive lineman. “That was one of our main focuses this spring, we needed leaders. We’ve had individuals step up and get on guys even when they are working hard; they are pushing everyone to go the extra mile. We’ve even had young guys lead — they haven’t been here long, but you still have to respect what they are trying to do. As a veteran, I’m not necessarily a vocal leader, I lead by example. I don’t go out there and whoop and holler, I do what I am supposed to do.
“But we have had a lot of guys step up and become leaders.”
One of the keys to the success of the Jaguars’ offseason workouts has been the familiarity players have with Schwind’s program. Now in their third and fourth years taking part in summer conditioning and weight training, they not only know what to do under his supervision but also are experienced in running their own drills in their spare time.
“Coach Schwind’s workout plan is good, but everyone has also been putting in extra work,” observed Carnathan. “We’re not just working out this summer, but we have been doing drills so that when the time comes for fall camp no one will look sloppy when we get out on the field. We already know what to do.”
Clark also acknowledged the players’ efforts while commending Schwind and his staff for their direction. “We know what the coaches are expecting of us and we know how the workouts are going to flow, which helps us in preparation,” he explained. “You have to try and push yourself harder every offseason, try to come in at your peak when fall camp starts. I think coach Schwind is doing an outstanding job of raising the expectations every year, we have progressed every year since he has been here; he’s always found new ways to challenge us in conditioning and the weight room.
“He’s found news ways to raise the bar and push us to our limits.”
One of the areas that Schwind and his staff must focus on is helping newcomers adjust to the work outs devised for an NCAA Division I program. It’s a process that even he doesn’t expect to complete in just the two months before preseason camp begins.
“It’s about getting them [incoming freshmen and junior-college transfers] accustomed to how we do things here, that it is an up-tempo atmosphere,” he stated. “We want them to buy in and really want to be a part of that. At the high-school level, they did not have the tempo or intensity that we train here with; our goal is to get them accustomed to that so they understand what game speed is when they are on the field. We have to get size on those guys, get them looking like the veterans so that they can train with a lot more volume and a lot more intensity.
“To be honest, it takes an entire year,” Schwind continued. “Within a program you have all aspects of training; in the summer you want to get stronger, faster and more powerful, but you also have to get in good shape. Our focus starts in the spring with our general physical preparation where we do a lot of weight training and speed work. Then we start to concentrate on the conditioning factor, doing sport-specific stuff in the weight room and on the field — we gear that towards the actual sport they play, like the 7-on-7 passing drills.
“The newcomers haven’t been involved with our general preparation that we do all spring, and they haven’t experienced in-season lifting which also plays an important role in our training. Some of these guys coming from the high-school level didn’t even lift weights, or they didn’t have instruction from their coach to understand how it all plays a part in recovery and maintaining strength.”
“This is a whole new world to me, but it has helped me a lot,” freshman offensive lineman Steven Foster commented. “In high school, we only did basic workouts. It’s different a level, you have to pick up the intensity and there is a lot more weight. In high school you don’t have a lot of guys who can do it, but now there guys who are stronger, bigger and faster; you have to match their intensity and the effort the put forth.
“I wasn’t happy with where I was at when I started, but have advanced a lot with my conditioning. I still think I can get better, and that we can get better as a team, but it will probably take until next summer.”
While the Jags will be facing another step up in competition beginning with the season opener on Aug. 30 against Texas-San Antonio, the schedule in front of the team was not a motivating force for the players or strength and conditioning staff.
“It was more intense, but not because of the competition we’ll be facing,” Carnathan explained. “The way we train, we try to get better every day because we want to be the best. We train like we’re going to be playing for the national championship.
“I feel like everybody has been bringing it, though. As a unit, everybody has been working hard to get better — nobody’s slacking, you don’t have to get on anyone to work hard in the weight room which has happened in previous years. And the newcomers that have come in are seeing good things in our program and the mentality that we have.”
Schwind added, “The schedule didn’t affect how we organized our summer workouts, being an older team with more veterans who know how we do things did. I trained them more like football players — there was less focus on strength and power, and more on how well they move, change direction, and taking angles while accelerating and decelerating. It’s not just about how much they can squat, clean or bench.
“And we have taken a very progressive approach to understanding how to keep everyone healthy. If they are nicked up, we’re looking at everything we can to help get them from game to game at their highest performance level. I’m excited to see guys like Melvin [Meggs], who played every game even though he was plagued with little injuries all last season but is healthy right now, due to that.”
Those interested in seeing the effects of the Jaguars’ offseason training program won’t have to wait long, as USA’s first practice of preseason camp is slated to take place on Thursday.
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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