MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football team will open the spring season Thursday with the first of three straight days of practice, with plans to also hold its initial full scrimmage prior to the start of Spring Break the following weekend.

After returning to campus the final week of March, the Jaguars will conduct eight practices and a full scrimmage leading up to the annual iHeartRadio Red-Blue Spring Game; this year's contest will take place on Saturday, April 13 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.  The full spring calendar for the program includes:

•    Practice #1 — 3:30 p.m. (CST) Thursday, March 7
•    Practice #2 — 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 8
•    Practice #3 — 9:30 a.m. Saturday, March 9
•    Practice #4 — 3:30 p.m. (CDT) Tuesday, March 12
•    Scrimmage #1 — 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14
•    Practice #6 — 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26
•    Practice #7 — 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28
•    Practice #8 — 9:30 a.m. Saturday, March 30
•    Practice #9 — 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2
•    Practice #10 — 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4
•    Scrimmage #2 — 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6
•    Practice #12 — 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9
•    Practice #13 — 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11
•    Practice #14 — 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 12
•    iHeartRadio Red-Blue Spring Game — 10 a.m. Saturday, April 13

With the exception of the spring game, all other workouts are set to be held at the James A. and Frances H. Yance Football Practice Facility on campus.  In the case of inclement weather, practices will be moved to the Jaguar Training Center.

South returns 40 letterwinners from 2018, South head coach Steve Campbell's first season guiding the program, including six starters on offense and four on defense.  Individuals expected to be limited during the spring while continuing to recover from injuries include Jalin Buie, Shawn Jennings, Rocel McWilliams, Travis Reed, Jay Woods and Andrew Zink.

Quoting South Alabama Head Coach Steve Campbell
On goals for spring practice: "We're excited about starting spring practice, the guys worked really hard during the offseason program.  We're looking forward to putting the gear on and getting back out there and getting better offensively at our schemes and developing a quarterback; there will be a lot of competition at the position, as there will be at a lot of positions offensively.  Defensively we have some older guys returning up front on the line, but there will be new bodies in there at all four linebacker spots.  We had a handful of junior college guys and one young man from high school come in at the break who will definitely add to our depth, we're looking forward to getting those guys out there to compete for playing time and for possible starting positions.  I like the way the guys have been working through the offseason and competing in the weight room.  It's a very exciting time for us, we're looking forward to the start of the spring."
On the importance of spring practice in earning a spot in the fall: "The spring is going to be huge for us, especially this one because it will be the second spring for a lot of the guys; they had a chance to get better at the things we put in last spring in the fall.  There should be a lot of improvement between game one and game two, and there ought to be a lot of improvement between your first spring and your second spring.  We need some guys to go from being 'a' guy who was in the rotation to being 'the' guy and an Alpha dog at their position.  I'm looking forward to seeing which guys we had on the scout team last year — we had a lot of young guys who were redshirted — are going to step up."
On the offensive line: "We've got new faces on the offensive line.  At this time a year ago we didn't have a lot of experience back so we were shuffling the deck; this year Brian Ankerson returns after starting 12 games at center, Troy Thingstad now has 12 games under his belt, Hadon Merchant started all 12 games as a freshman, Roy Albritton has now played in 12 games.  Now you bring in Conner Estes, Jacob Shoemaker, Kent Foster, all three of those guys are going to compete for starting jobs and a lot of playing time.  Last spring we finished up front without a lot of depth, I think we had seven healthy bodies.  This spring we are much further along, we've got guys who have played in some games and have experience along with guys we brought in at the break who have the experience of playing a year or two at junior college.  That needs to make us better up front, that needs to be one of the strengths of our football team.  Whereas last year that was a big question mark for us, this year we need to stabilize that during the spring and become really good on the offensive line, and I think we have the people to be able to do that."
On what he hopes the team accomplishes by the end of the spring: "A couple of things.  We need to solidify our offensive line because now there is going to be some competition.  The quarterback position is wide open, Cephus [Johnson] has the most experience and snaps in our program but Tylan [Morton] started two years at Hinds C.C. and has played in ball games so there is going to be some good competition.  I'd like to see somebody take that and run with it, but I don't know that we will.  That's what we didn't have last spring, somebody to step out front and be 'the' guy.  Defensively I want to see somebody step up at linebacker.  More than anything else, I would like to see guys step up and take over leadership roles."

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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