Date: 8/20
Time: 9-10:30 a.m. (CDT)
Place: Jaguar Training Center
Practice attire: Helmets and shorts, no pads
Featured Offensive Player of the Day: Trent Tyre, Jr., TE, Madison, Miss.
-Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite on Tyre: "Trent's a solid guy in terms of assignments, he knows what he's doing and what he's supposed to do. You can depend on him. He's shown improvement in the passing game and provides us with some flexibility, so I'm very confident in the depth we have at tight end. We're going to have to stay healthy, but we have a lot of guys who can play both on and off the ball. I'm encouraged by his development because of the solid, stable and dependable type player he is for us."
Featured Defensive Player of the Day: Devin Rockette, Sr., CB, Oxford, Miss.
-Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon on Rockette: "Devin has had a good camp. I thought he had a really good spring technique-wise and he has picked up where he left off. Obviously, he is so gifted in terms of speed, ball skills and physicality, but in terms of technique he has learned our stuff and bought into it. We have some really good receivers here, that competition everyday between the No. 1 corners and receivers is pretty heated and he wins his fair share of them. I am anxious to see what he looks like this fall."
Play of the Day: Jalen Tolbert twisted his body in order to get one foot down inbounds after grabbing a pass from Jake Bentley over the defender in coverage early in the first team period of practice.
Team period highlights: The opening team period of the morning saw the Jag offense working on perimeter play calls while the second included a variety of two-minute situations.
Miscellaneous Notes
-The duo of Rockette and Darrell Luter Jr. intercepted passes during team periods, and the latter broke up two other passes during the session as well.
-Christian Bell was credited with both a solo and an assisted sack during team period action.
-Tolbert's four catches — which included a touchdown in the red zone during 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills — were most on the team on the day.
-The Jaguars' other score in that period came on a 36-yard pass from Desmond Trotter to Devin Voisin.
-Jalen Wayne, Caullin Lacy and Allen Dailey Jr. also posted three receptions each during the workout.
-Tyre paced USA's tight ends with multiple catches, while Bryan Hill's three were most among the team's running backs throughout the morning.
-Bentley and Trotter were a combined 25-of-41 passing in the practice session.
-Frankie Onate connected on a pair of 30-yard field goals, while Diego Guajardo and Barret Pickering were each successful on their only try of the morning.
-South's other two special teams periods covered punt and kickoff coverage schemes.
-All practices are closed to the general public.
Head coach Kane Wommack
-On what area the team has shown the most improvement in since the start of preseason camp: "I'm really excited about what we're doing in the run game. Our offensive line and running back corps have continued to get better at staying on blocks and finishing blocks, we're doing a good job of hitting the hole tight and then trying to break tackles. We're blocking for five yards and then hitting it for 12 yards. Defensively, the windows in our zone coverages are starting to get tighter and tighter to throw in, and we're getting more hands on balls and more pass break ups in order to create some more takeaways. I've probably been most impressed with that improvement over the last two weeks."
-On he considers the strength of the team at this point in the preseason: "From a personnel standpoint, I still think our defensive line and wide receiver corps really bring something on those sides of the ball. You have to also include Jake Bentley in that category as well because he can delegate the ball to those dynamic players. At the same time, I think that we are getting better and better at understanding situational football. Why do we run what we run on third down? Why third-and-long is played different from third-and-short? Open field is played completely different from the way you play in the red zone. Two-minute when you need a field goal and two-minute when a touchdown is needed are totally different scenarios. I see our guys starting to understand those situations more and more, and that is what ultimately shows up in games more on elite teams."
-On what he wants to see in South's upcoming scrimmage: "I want us to be acutely aware of situations and understand what and how we are trying to execute. We talk about this all the time, but we teach the concept of what we do offensively, defensively and on special teams. We want them to understand the concept of what we're trying to accomplish on any given play — not their job as one of the 11 members of the group — and then how do you fit in that piece. The second part of that is understanding situational downs. We teach situational understanding within our concepts, how do we apply those concepts to each situation? Ultimately, if we do those two things through fall camp, it allows us to transition our minds to opponent recognition during the season; what the opponent is going to give us is based off our concepts and situational philosophy. That's what I want our guys to really master — understand our concepts, know what we're trying to accomplish situationally, and execute fundamentally so we can start to transition into opponent preparation."
Up next: The Jaguars return to Hancock Whitney Stadium at 10 a.m. Saturday for the program's second scrimmage of preseason camp.
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—