Date: 8/21
Time: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (CDT)
Place: Hancock Whitney Stadium
Scoring Plays (drive information)
-Christian Wortham 44-yard pass from Eli Gainey (2 plays, 59 yards)
-Diego Guajardo 27-yard field goal (7 plays, 21 yards)
-Barret Pickering 35-yard field goal (4 plays, 8 yards)
-Kareem Walker 1-yard run (6 plays, 25 yards)
-Guajardo 29-yard field goal (5 plays, 53 yards)
Play of the Day: With the Jaguar offense facing third-and-goal from the defense's six-yard line during red zone drills, Atanza Vongor made a leaping, one-handed interception in the end zone to end the threat.
Key Statistics
-Passing: Jake Bentley 21-of-29, 198 yds, 1 INT; Desmond Trotter 14-of-24, 107 yds, 1 INT; Eli Gainey 3-of-5, 68 yds, 1 TD
-Rushing: John Tank Miller 5-18; AJ Phillips 4-16; Kareem Walker 9-11, 1 TD
-Receiving: Jalen Tolbert 7-85; Devin Voisin 4-42; Jamel Thomas 4-34; Kareem Walker 4-33; Jalen Wayne 3-31; Caullin Lacy 3-20
-Defense: Atanza Vongor 4-3—7 TT, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 1 PBU; Davyn Flenord 4-2—6 TT; Jamal Brooks 2-4—6 TT, 1 TFL, 1 sack; CJ Thompson 2-4—6 TT; Shawn Jennings 1-5—6 TT, ½ TFL; Yam Banks 5-0—5 TT, 2 TFL, 1 PBU; Keith Gallmon 4-1—5 TT; Christian Bell 3-2—5 TT, 2 TFL, 2 sacks; Zeke Chapman 0-5—5 TT
-Special teams: Diego Guajardo 5-5 FG, 52 long; Barret Pickering 3-5 FG, 35 long; Jack Brooks 6-37.5 avg punting, 2 I20
Miscellaneous Notes
-This was the Jags' second full scrimmage of preseason camp.
-The Jaguar defense was credited with 13 tackles for loss — including seven sacks — three takeaways and five passes broken up while allowing less than four yards per play.
-South's offense posted 399 of its 444 yards through the air while running a total of 112 plays in the scrimmage, with four of the unit's five scoring drives coming after the initial break of the morning.
-That included recording points on three straight red zone possessions before ending the day with a field goal from the first-team unit to conclude a two-minute drill.
-USA' defense forced six three-and-outs on drives that began on the offensive half of the field.
-Not only did Vongor lead the Jags in total stops, he contributed to the defense's takeaway total and added another pass broken up.
-Banks, Bell and CJ Rias were each credited with multiple tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
-Tré Young also intercepted a pass, while Jason Brooks forced a fumble that Jaden Voisin recovered to account for the other two takeaways by the South defense.
-Tolbert's 85 yards receiving were the most recorded by a Jaguar in either of the team's two scrimmages this month.
-After accounting for USA's only score through the air, Wortham — who had two catches for 56 yards on the day — finished with 50-plus yards in both scrimmages.
-It was the second straight week that Wayne and Walker caught at least three passes, with the latter also reaching the end zone on the ground in both scrimmages after scoring the final touchdown of the day.
-Bentley completed nine of his first 11 pass attempts while throwing for over 50 yards more than he did in the team's previous scrimmage.
-Including a brief field-goal period prior to red zone drills, Guajardo did not miss while accounting for five of the Jaguars' eight makes in the event.
Head coach Kane Wommack
-On his thoughts on the second scrimmage: "I was really pleased with the energy of our defense early on in the scrimmage. I thought we were too sloppy on offense early on and that we didn't have enough of a rhythm or urgency to get lined up and get things going. We do so many things that are challenging offensively from tempos to schematically, but we have to have an urgency when executing those things and we didn't do that well enough the first couple of drives. Awesome job by our offense during the second half of the scrimmage executing in the red zone and two-minute drills. We had some awesome third-down conversions, which were really good to see. Defensively, I thought we tackled really well. There's plenty to clean up. When you get into a scrimmage like this one with Sun Belt officials, you see there are more penalties on both sides of the ball, but there weren't too many offsides or false starts, which was good. I think those are the things you have to really have an urgency to clean up over the next two weeks leading to game day."
-On Jake Bentley taking a couple of shots in the scrimmage: "Jake Bentley taking some shots in a scrimmage is never by design. We have done a really good job of taking care of our quarterbacks [during camp] to the displeasure of some of our defensive coaches and players. That's one luxury I have as a former defensive coordinator; I can be a little more one-sided for the offense and the defensive guys can't really say anything. It gets competitive out there on the field. Jake's a real competitor so he's jumping around and going after balls trying to get a first down in the red zone. Those defensive guys don't want to let the offense score, so those things are going to happen from time to time. I'm so thankful that we came out of this scrimmage healthy."
-On Desmond Trotter taking control of the No. 2 quarterback role: "Desmond has done a really good job of doing the things that we ask him to do. Sometimes our packages are a little different based off of the guys that are in. I think that [offensive coordinator] Major [Applewhite] does a great job of maximizing the ability of the players that are on the field at that moment. Desmond has done a really good job of recognizing what he does well and executing those things."
-On who has stood out: "Our defensive line continues to stand out. They're so physical up front in the run game and they can produce in the passing game in terms of creating pass rush. It's such a luxury from a defensive coordinator's perspective to know that you can just rush four guys and still be able to affect the quarterback. We also have some simulated pressures and other things that we do defensively that are really challenging."
Senior QB Jake Bentley
-On taking a couple of hits in the scrimmage: "One was on third down and the other was in the end zone and I was fully prepared to take both of them. When I was running to the goal line, I knew the defender was coming and if it happened, it happened. The defense made a good play when we were trying to center the ball for our kicker at the end of the game and just blew up the play. It was a good play by them."
-On the offense's performance in the scrimmage: "I thought we started off slow the first few drives. We were trying to decipher what the defense was doing instead of just executing what we do. We were letting them dictate how fast we were going, but after those first few drives I thought we did a much better job of moving the ball, executing, and communicating. I made a bad decision and threw the ball back across my body, and I can't make that throw on first down. I thought we had a lot of things show up that were positive, we had a great two-minute drive to go win the game."
-On the offensive line coming together: "I think the continuity of that group is really starting to build and become better. The communication between each of them and hearing the calls from me — the types of things you don't really think about until you're out there together — we want to continue to see that grow. The better that can be, the more confidence we can all play with."
Senior ILB Jamal Brooks
-On what he liked out of the defense's performance in the second scrimmage: "I feel like we started off pretty fast. Towards the end, some of the heat might have gotten to us and maybe we got a little fatigued. Overall though, I'm proud of our unit. We took some coaching from this past week and coaching from this morning and put it on the field today. Any day we are able to do that, I'm proud of the defense."
-On how he and the defense has improved since the first day of camp: "I think we just know what we're doing and we're communicating. The coaches always talk about effective communication and being loud and confident about what you're saying. Now, it's not just one or two guys out there being loud and confident, it's the whole defense. Whenever everyone's on one accord, it's a beautiful thing as a defense."
-On the play of the defensive line: "I've been waiting for someone to ask me this question. Those guys play hard every snap. I don't want to call out specific guys because I don't want to take a chance of leaving anyone out, but just know that we have guys up there that are going to get after it. I love playing behind them. As a linebacker, one thing that you love to see is when a defensive lineman can look and see the call from the sideline and know what's going on. The linebacker doesn't have to always tell them what we're doing. When they know how to do that themselves, it takes the defense to a different level."
Senior S Tré Young
-On the defense's performance in the scrimmage: "I think we had a solid day. As far as the back end of the defense, we need to focus on hitting better in the box, but overall, I feel we did a solid job today."
-On how team has improved through camps and the two scrimmages: "The biggest area is in our communication. As a defense, we all need to be on the same page and make sure we communicate. Since the first scrimmage, I feel we have improved a lot in that area."
-On his interception: "I was just doing my job reading the quarterback's eyes. When I saw the ball come out of his hand, I saw our cornerback break on the ball. It popped up in the air and I was able to dive on it."
Up next: South will begin preparations for its season-opening match-up against Southern Mississippi with a practice on Monday morning.
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