Date: 8/30
Position: Special Teams

Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Austin Cole (Sr., 12 games played), Brandon McKee (So., 1-32.0 avg, 32 long punt), Aleem Sunanon (So., 18-23 FG, 37-39 PAT, 91 pts kick)

Letterwinners lost (Key stats): Nick Bear (2 games played), Scott Garber (12 GS, 51-40.7 avg, 16 I20, 56 long punt)

Newcomers (Yr., Previous school): Zac Henry (Sr., Westminster [Pa.]), Grant McLaurin (Jr., Jones County [Miss.] JC), Corliss Waitman (Fr., Milton HS)

Miscellaneous Notes
-After converting each of his last 12 field-goal attempts — a school record for consecutive makes — Aleem Sunanon was an honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference selection; he ended his initial season at the collegiate level first in the league in field goals per contest (1.50 fgpg) and second in scoring (7.58 ppg).
-For the first time in the program's history, someone other than Scott Garber will handle punting duties; in five seasons he was responsible for 217 of 220 punts.
-Senior T.J. Glover ranked in the top 10 in the conference and top 50 nationally in both kickoff (25.04 ypr) and punt (5.93 ypr) returns in 2013.
-This will mark the fourth straight season that Austin Cole will contribute handling snapping duties on field-goal/extra-point tries as well as punts.
-As a true freshman Brandon McKee appeared in seven games as a kickoff specialist, also contributing a 32-yard punt at Navy.
-Junior-college transfer Grant McLaurin led Jones County (Miss.) JC with 93 points a year ago after connecting on 14-of-19 field-goal attempts and 51-of-55 PATs.
-Corliss Waitman averaged 44 yards per punt last fall as a senior at Milton (Fla.) High to earn first-team all-state honors.

Joey Jones
-On his expectations for USA's special teams units this year: "We've had a good summer kicking the ball, we are definitely more talented with our kickers.  I think we'll be able to get the ball deeper on our kickoffs and our punters are kicking it much further than last year.  Special teams are always an area that a lot of people forget about when they're sitting in the stands, but we put a lot of time and effort into them; we truly believe that championship teams have good special teams."
-On the competition in preseason camp between kickers and punters: "You can see them all getting better because of that — our field goal situation has been neck and neck, while punting Corliss has come in and kicked the ball very well, and in turn Brandon started kicking the ball very well.  Any time you have competition, if you are any kind of competitor then you should step your game up, so that's been good for us."
-On how explosive the return units can be: "We've got some of the same guys we've been using back there, but we do have more of them.  T.J. has done most of it in past years, but we're going to mix some other guys in and let them get shots at it too.  What we have is more depth than we've had as opposed to having one guy back there."

Aleem Sunanon
-On the competition among kickers in preseason camp: "I played last year, but I haven't looked at myself as the starter this year because I feel that would have taken away from the focus and mindset that I would've had [coming into camp].  I went into camp this year looking at it like I had to win the job back.  The focus has been really high and the competition has been very good because they brought in a few good kickers.  Competition is good, it makes you always have your guard up; with someone good behind you, you always want to perform your best, you can't take a day off."
-On the goals for USA's kickers this year: "The goals for kickers are to make 100 percent on field goals and extra points — I think those are every kicker's goals.  On kickoffs, you want to you want to hit touchbacks and try to get the other team pinned back as deep as you can."
-On how good the unit can be: "As a group, we can be among the top specialist groups in the nation.  The kicker position is like an assassin, you have one shot to make it.  The way our focus has been throughout camp and the way we're performing, we can be that assassin for the team."

Corliss Waitman
-On the competition he's faced while trying to earn multiple duties: "I think we have a great group of kickers.  I don't really see it as a competition, we have four kickers who can be first-team.  I just came in to looking to help out, I feel pretty comfortable right now."
-On what kickers and punters have spent the most time working on in preseason camp: "The most important thing for us is staying focused; the jobs are probably 90 percent mental.  We did a lot of drills working on fundamental stuff.  But mentally you have to confident in yourself so you can execute when you're under pressure."
-On how he handles the prospects of being able to punt, kickoffs and long field-goal attempts: "Mostly I'm doing punting right now.  We have guys who can do all three, we have a lot of depth so we are comfortable with what we have.  We have kickoff guys and great field-goal kickers so I have focused on punting more than anything."

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).

—USA—