Date: 8/9
Time: 9-11 a.m. (CDT)
Place: James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility
Practice attire: Full pads
Offensive Player of the Day: Tyler Grimsley, Jr., OL, Green Cove Springs, Fla.
-Offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent on Grimsley: "Tyler is an old throw-back football player. He's tough and he's physical. He doesn't say a lot, he just does it with his actions, attitude and toughness. He comes to work every day and he's what we're looking for in an offensive lineman."
Defensive Player of the Day: Nigel Lawrence, Jr., S, Smiths Station, Ala.
-Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack on Lawrence: "Nigel has been playing both corner and safety for us. He is such a smart kid and he knows this defense so well, he continues to come out with limited reps at either position and is still executing at a really high level. I'm very proud of him."
Play of the Day: With the offense facing third-and-long in the final period of the morning, Evan Orth found Jahmmir Taylor for a 45-yard touchdown pass.
Team period highlights: The opening period of the day saw the offense running plays in the red zone, while prior to the third-down period to close out the session the Jaguars had 12-minute periods focusing on run calls and play-action passes.
Miscellaneous Notes
-With the Jag offense needing nine or more yards to convert in the final period of the day, the defense got a stop on 12 of 14 occasions.
-In addition to an interception by Lawrence, Gus Nave broke up two passes, with DJ Daniels and Jalen Thompson adding one apiece.
-In addition to the play of the day, the other conversion for the offense in the last team period came on a completion from Cole Garvin to Jamarius Way.
-Garvin connected on 5-of-6 attempts during a period of half-line passing drills, and also 3-of-4 during the team period featuring play-action passes.
-During those two periods Quinton Lane recorded three catches, two on passes from Dallas Davis and one from Evan Orth.
-In the final segment of the run and play-action pass period, Finessé Middleton was credited with a tackle for loss and sack on consecutive plays.
-The first special teams period of the morning featured covering kickoff, with the second near the end of the session going over punt coverage.
Head coach Joey Jones
-On the weather Wednesday morning: "This is true Mobile right here, it's good for us. I thought our kids fought through today, I think we only had one guy who couldn't make it through the practice. It was hot as it can be — it's not going to get any hotter than this at game time, I promise you that — so I was proud of these guys and the way they fought through."
-On how far along the team is at this point in preseason camp: "I think we have moved along a good bit, what we have to start doing is executing a little better. We're looking at a lot of guys right now, and after this weekend we are going to have to start deciding who is going to be playing in the game so the reps for everybody are not going to be there. The first two weeks you don't really have a feel for how well you're executing because so many guys are rolling in there, we are going to have to evaluate the guys after the scrimmage on Friday and start to narrow things down."
-On Wednesday's team periods: "The defense beat the offense pretty bad on third down, but it was third-and-long so the offense isn't going to get too many of those anyway; the defense dominated that period, which they should. Early in the practice I though the offense did well in the red zone, it took them four downs to get every first down so the defense stiffened up. It was good work for us overall."
Up next: Thursday morning's practice — which is set to begin at 9 a.m. at the James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility Jags — will be South's final workout before the second scrimmage of the fall season
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).
Join the Jaguar Athletic Fund (JAF) Priority Fund, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to the Priority Fund directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/priorityfund
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