Date: 3/25
Time: 3:30-5:30 p.m. (CDT)
Place: Jaguar Training Center
Practice attire: Uppers (helmets and shoulder pads)
Featured Offensive Player of the Day: Jared Wilson, Jr., RB, Troy, Ala.
-Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite on Wilson: "Jared is a high-effort, high-intensity guy who runs really hard. He has done well as we've gone through install and now that we've put the pads on we've been able to see him run and get behind his pads. We're going to do a few mores things with our backs in the pass game so I'm eager to see how he can learn and adjust to that."
Featured Defensive Player of the Day: Wy'Kevious Thomas, R-Fr., DL, Riverdale, Ga.
-Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon on Thomas: "Wy'Kevious has had a great offseason in continuing to change his body, he is a very compact and dynamic player with a really good first step. He is a very strong and physical player who continues to develop and grow in the system, we're really excited about where he is at and where he can go."
Play of the Day: On the next-to-last snap of 7-on-7 passing drills, A.J. DeShazor made a diving play to diving play to break up a pass over the middle.
Team period highlights: In the first of three team periods the Jags worked on the run game, and they would go on to also focus on perimeter and third-down plays in a pair of team periods that followed later in the day.
Miscellaneous Notes
-The opening 50 minutes of the workout featured South concentrating on individual and group drills with an installation period also included in that time.
-There were three special teams periods in the practice focused on punt fundamentals, field goals/PATs and kickoff coverage.
-The Jaguar offense converted four times on third down in the final team period, with the defense responding to get four third-down stops as well.
-In addition to being one of four backs to get carries during the first team period, John Tank Miller added three receptions later in the day.
-Jalen Tolbert and Caullin Lacy led the Jaguar offense with four catches each the second half practice, while Jamel Thomas recorded three receptions.
-Keith Gallmon and Kwameh Lewis recorded takeaways for the defense with interceptions in South's skeleton passing drills and final team periods, respectively.
-In the second and third team periods, CJ Rias was credited with two sacks while Chris Henderson, Nick Mobley, Thomas and Jamall Hickbottom added one apiece.
-Both Kelvin Johnson and Maurice Strong Jr. contributed tackles for loss in those periods as well.
-Ryan Melton broke up a pair of passes in the first of the Jags' three team periods on the day.
-Frankie Onate made all four field-goal attempts with a long from 43 yards in the lone special teams period focused on the kicking game.
-All practices are closed to the general public.
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Kane Wommack
-On what he has seen since the start of South's spring season: "The thing that I am most excited about is we continue to have an urgency to get better from one day to the next. These guys are hungry and coachable, whatever we emphasize from one day to the next they have an urgency to get better at it and to move forward and sustain it. That's the key, if we covered something three days ago we don't want to have to go back to those things and remind them all the time. We want to continue to work and get better, and I think our guys are doing that right now."
-On young players being able to contribute early in the spring: "There is ownership from the coaches and the older players to teach these guys the game of football. Today our emphasis was on tempo and third-and-medium situations, and understanding the game on a more dynamic level. It's one thing to learn our scheme, it's a completely different world when you actually start to understand the game of football and how our scheme fits into that situation specifically. It's the job of our coaches and older players to get these young guys in a position to be able to execute at a high level this fall."
-On competition in practice on Thursday: "I always think when you start putting situational football into a practice, the guys have to transition from just understanding the scheme and running plays to now executing at a high level given that situation. It's not just running a football play, but understanding the situation of that play, and I think that breeds a competitive attitude. Did we convert the third down or did we stop them on defense? Today was that first glimpse where you could feel that intensity between the offense and the defense, that's always a good thing. I'm always going to celebrate the positives on both sides of the ball, certainly there are some negatives and some areas for improvement that we are going to correct. I saw some really good back-and-forth and some energy, and I saw people respond offensively and defensively, and that was very encouraging."
Up next: The Jags will wrap up the week with a workout on campus Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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