MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football program, under the direction of second-year head coach Kane Wommack, held its first spring scrimmage on Friday morning at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

South Alabama is scheduled to practice on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9-10:45 a.m. All practices will be closed to the general public.

Below are highlights from post practice interviews with the media.

Head coach Kane Wommack
- Opening statement: "Overall there was certainly a good bit of physicality in practice so that was awesome to see. The guys were playing hard on defense, we missed a couple of tackles but what was great is guys were coming in right behind them and cleaning stuff up. I thought there was some physicality in the run game so that was exciting. We knocked off some really good runs, Damean Bivins had a really good one. So, from a positive stand point I think some of that stuff like establishing a run game, playing with physicality across the board, those are places where I think we took steps in the right direction. We saw some guys offensively that are play makers who stepped out like D.J. Thomas, what he was able to do. Carter Bradley was able to make some really good throws in some third down situations and in the red zone."

- On today's performance: "I thought overall though our execution on both sides of the ball was not good enough. We gave up some big plays defensively. Offensively we had some operational issues and penalties. Then a couple offsides on defense. Those are things that you expect in scrimmage one but we have to have some extremely high standards and expectations but I didn't think we met those today so we have to get those things corrected."

- On evaluating the offense: "When you go through a scrimmage, as the head coach you see everything from 30,000 feet, you aren't an offensive guy or a defensive guy you are the head coach and you want everyone to execute at a high level. I think what you look at is who is out there on the field, is this a person that is going to help us on gameday and out of those people who we expect on gameday are they doing their job to consistency or are they not. So is it a mental bust or is it an execution bust fundamentally or whatever it may be on either side then we evaluate from there."

Offensive Coordinator Major Applewhite
- On the scrimmage: "There were some bright spots, I thought the guys took good care of the football when we moved it. There's some of the glaring issues, some of the blinking lights that you look for: 'How are we securing the ball?' and 'How are we operating?'. We have to get cleaner in operation, I thought in the two-minute situation we weren't as clean as we needed to be."

- On today's accomplishments: "Overall, I'm pleased with what we did in the red area portion of practice. We just have to get more consistent, focus on the details and clear up our communication and progression from the sidelines. Some of those things show up in the first scrimmage when you set the ball down and start playing." 

- On his goals moving forward: "You're constantly looking at your personnel, they're a little banged up right now, but continuing to clean up the details. There's plenty of things we can look back at in the scrimmage that we can get better at."

Defensive Coordinator Corey Batoon
- On the scrimmage: "Things are progressing well, we're halfway through spring camp and I think the guys have given us really good effort for the first eight practices. I've been impressed with some of the communication out there. Second year in the system, it's been a lot cleaner than it was last year. Things that we continue to work on: space plays, tackling, getting people down to the ground, taking proper angles. Those are things we have to continue to get better at."

- On newcomers to the defense: "I couldn't be happier, they dove in and really spent the time they needed to in January and February. Mentally, they've really picked this stuff up. Normally, when you have an influx of new guys like we have, there's a lot of busts usually in the first six or seven practices—in the communication—but there really hasn't been. I think they have assimilated to our system pretty well and I'm very happy with their mental approach and how they've attacked learning the playbook and understanding what we're asking them to do." 

- On players that stand out during spring practice: "I feel like the depth of the defensive line continues to show. We've been happy with those guys as a unit. Jamie Sheriff was arguably one of our better players on the defense last year—we lost him to injury in camp—and his leadership has been tremendous for us. We continue to see him make strides along with the rest of the defensive line.

Running back Damean Bivins
- On how the offense looked today: "I still think we have some things we need to clean up. I think we played and ran the ball hard and we made some big catches. We are a little banged up on the offensive line and we need to get that settled. But, we are looking really good." 

- On showcasing his ability after some injuries: "I felt like I had a good day. It just feels good to be back out here and play football again. Battling those injuries was hard for me, being able to come out here and play football again is the best feeling in the world."

- On scoring a touchdown in the scrimmage: "Like I said, it just feels good to play football again. I scored my first touchdown in a long time and it just feels good to be out here."

- On his role in the backfield: "I'll do whatever the coaches throw at me. I'm a hard worker and I'm going to give it all I have. I'll do whatever the team needs me to do and I'll do it. Whether it's running the ball every play or anything else, whatever they need, I'm going to do it."

Defensive lineman Jamie Sheriff
- On how things went defensively today: "I think we had a pretty solid day on defense. I do think we could have done better all around. I felt like the defensive line went out there and dominated every rep."

- On progressing from last year's injury: "I feel good. I came out with the mindset that I'm going to dominate every rep and make as many plays as I possibly can. I came out with that mindset and I did exactly what I thought I was going to do."

- On how the defense has progressed halfway through the spring: "I do think we are a lot more physical this year than we were last year around this time. On the upside of things, we are ahead of a lot of teams in terms of physicality. Technique wise, I think we are pretty good too."

- On what the defense has done to become more physical: "We have just worked on having violent hands, coming out with our hands, hips and feet. We just work on it every day."

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—