MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football team will conduct its first scrimmage of preseason camp Saturday at the fields on campus.

The event will begin at 9 a.m. and will be open to the public.  The plan is for three units on offense and defense to face each other on approximately 40 snaps, and with all facets of special teams included in the scrimmage script it will cover over 140 plays overall.

"We're trying to find the guys who are going to play; when we turn the lights on and go live, that's when you find out a lot about players," Jaguar head coach Joey Jones stated.  "Sometimes guys can look good in shells and may not look quite as good in full pads, so we'll see who our real players are tomorrow."

While as the first of three preseason scrimmages prior to the Jaguars' Aug. 29 opener against Southern Utah it won't determine final decisions on the program's depth chart, the event will set the tone heading into the second full week of practice as the coaching staff begins to determine who will be featured at each position in the fall.

"We have so much competition out here now that we didn't have before.  There are going to be some pretty difficult choices," Jones explained.  "You see their effort level go up because they know they have somebody nipping at their heels, so they know they better practice well or the next day they may be No. 2 or No. 3 if they don't do well.

"Competition certainly cures a lot of things."

The scrimmage will mark the sixth day in a row that the Jags will have been on the field, including two workouts on Wednesday.  USA is scheduled to have an off day Sunday, and will return to action at 7:15 a.m. on campus Monday; it's the first of two sessions that day, with the team conducting a second practice at 4:30 p.m.

The Jaguars worked out for nearly two-and-a-half hours on Friday morning at the fields on campus, with the end of the session including three 10-minute team periods.  First the USA defense worked on blitz packages, then the offense was charged with moving the ball before practicing four-minute situations to keep the clock running.  The day ended with the offense and defense competing on third downs with the former facing medium distances to move the chains.

"I know one thing, I noticed offensively we're getting a little better, we're starting to execute," Jones said afterward.  "We're not installing any more offense, we're working on what we've been doing, and I think we're starting to perfect it.  And defensively I feel real good with where we are at now."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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