MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama football team wrapped up preparations for its first-ever Homecoming game with a Thursday afternoon practice at the on-campus practice facility. USA puts its undefeated record on the line against Milford (N.Y.) Academy at 4 p.m. Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
With a bonfire and pep rally, it would be easy for the players to get distracted by all of the fanfare and build-up to the team's first-ever Homecoming game, but Jones said he's not concerned that it could hurt their performance on Saturday.
"I don't think so. I'm the kind of guy that likes them to relax a little bit on the night before a game," head coach Joey Jones said. "In other weeks we take them to a movie and let them relax, so I think going to a bonfire and a pep rally will be good, and we can get them focused from that point."
The football team is also hosting an open house at the new football field house from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Friday. The open house will be followed by an hour-long alumni lawn party outside Alumni Hall, and USA's Homecoming parade begins at 6:30 p.m.
"We have a lot of alumni coming back, and we're excited about that," Jones said. "You can just feel the excitement around the campus, and I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of the Jaguar family."
In the next-to-last game of their inaugural season, the Jags take on a 7-3 Milford Academy team. Despite scoring 30 points in every game and winning the last two contest by a combined 92 points, Jones said his squad is preparing for business as usual.
"Milford is a good football team," Jones said. "We never look at how many points we're going to score, we just go out and play. I always believe in focusing on what you have at hand and letting the results happen.
"Offensively, they've got a really good running back who committed to Florida. He's probably the best running back we've faced all year long, we feel like it's going to be a job to stop him because he can break it at any time, and that scares you. Defensively, they bring a lot of people in the box, blitz, and like a lot of teams we've seen they bring a lot of pressure with man coverage on the outside."
He added that the team spent the past week of practice just like every other week during the season.
"We kept pretty much the same philosophy. I know I say this a lot, but we're working on fundamentals continuously. Offensively, our passing game really got better this week. We made great strides with the quarterbacks throwing to receivers running routes. I thought that was a big plus. Last week at the game and this week in practice, the passing game made a leap for us."
Jones said the week but well overall, but not all has been perfect for the Jags.
"We had a couple of injuries to the defensive line, so that wasn't good," Jones said. "We've also got a couple guys on the offensive line who are working their way back in, but they probably won't be back this week; hopefully they'll be ready for next Thursday."
Following the game against Milford, USA will have only a few days to prepare for its final game, a Thursday night contest against Huntingdon (Ala.) College. Kickoff of that game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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