Date: 4/15
Time: 3:30-5:15 p.m. (CDT)
Place: Jaguar Training Center
Practice attire: Uppers (helmets and shoulder pads)

Featured Offensive Player of the Day: Hadon Merchant, Jr., OL, Fairhope, Ala.
-Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite on Merchant: "Hadon has done a really good job for us at guard this spring, he's a physical player.  As he's learned the offense you can see a leadership role developing with him being where he is supposed to be doing what he is supposed to be doing the way he is supposed to do it when he is supposed to do it.  He is improving day to day, we have a couple of guys who are doing the right things up front but we'd like to see more guys take on his mindset.  I'm encouraged by his development and ready for him to have a big offseason in the weight room this summer."

Featured Defensive Player of the Day: Carlos Johnson, Fr., DL, Spanish Fort, Ala.
-Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon on Johnson: "When we first got here, all you knew was that Carlos is a young guy but everything he does grows on you.  He always comes out here with a great attitude and work ethic, but once he was able to put the pads on you saw his athleticism; he has twitch for a big guy.  When you look at him you think of Carlos as a run stopper, but then you see him and he has some really good pass rush ability and short-area quickness.  He has a really bright future for us."

Play of the Day: During the third team period, Jacob Hopper made a diving catch of a ball thrown over his outside shoulder for a 31-yard gain to put South's offense in the red zone.

Team period highlights: Four team periods throughout the afternoon saw the Jaguars working on run and play-action pass calls, perimeter/blitz pick-up plays, moving the ball down the field with the offense starting at its own 20-yard line and another two-minute drill situation.

Miscellaneous Notes
-The opening 30 minutes of the final practice prior to the annual spring game featured circuit and group work as well as a teaching period.
-Punt fundamentals and scheme along with a period featuring multiple field-goal attempts entailed South's special teams work for the day.
-Diego Guajardo was 5-of-5 during the latter special teams period, with his last two makes coming from 40 and 45 yards out.
-During the first team period of the afternoon, Hopper also had a key block to help Jake Bentley escape the rush and find Trent Tyre for a 41-yard touchdown pass.
-Bentley closed that period with another 41-yard scoring pass to Jay'juan Townsend.
-Townsend was one of five Jag wideouts — the others were Jalen Tolbert, Caullin Lacy, Cade Sutherland and Devin Voisin — to record three or more catches on the afternoon.
-Jaden Voisin picked off a pass both during skeleton passing drills and USA's third team period, while CJ Thompson also had an interception in the 7-on-7 segment of practice.
-Devin Rockette and Jamie Sheriff combined for a tackle for loss in the first team period of the workout, with Rockette later breaking up a fourth-down pass in the end zone and Sheriff ending the first-team offense's two-minute drill with a sack that allowed time to expire.
-Jaguar fans interested in attending the program's annual spring game on Saturday can register for seats at no cost by visiting usajaguars.com/springgame2021.
-All practices are closed to the general public.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Kane Wommack
-On the team's progress during the spring season: "I'm really excited about where we've progressed as a team to this point.  The guys came out with so much energy that first day, we made tons of mistakes — those things happen — and yet they continue to have an urgency to get things fixed, to make themselves better and they bring great effort every day.  If you do that, there is an energy and a culture about your team where everyone strives to become the best versions of themselves.  From where we were in practice one to where we are in practice 14, to where we were in scrimmage one to leading into Saturday, our effort has been consistent but we've just made tremendous improvements both in our fundamentals and what we are doing schematically, particularly in situational downs."
-On Saturday's spring game: "Saturday is going to be very similar to what we do in our normal practices and scrimmages, I think it would be great for our fan base to get a chance to see what we do out here on the field.  The more we can put the football down and go play the game, see the situations that come up and execute over and over again is what we are going to do.  We'll have some fun in between during breaks — we'll have some quarterback competitions, the o-line may even come out and catch a punt — that our fans can enjoy, but at the end of the day we have to use this 15th practice to get our team better.  It's going to be a real look at what we do day in and day out."

Up next: The annual spring game is currently set to get underway Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
 
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).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—