MOBILE, Ala. — Cody Clements, recently named South Alabama’s starting quarterback, threw three touchdown passes in the Jaguars’ first preseason scrimmage Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Clements, a former starter at UAB, completed 9 of 19 passes for 127 yards. The South Alabama offense gained 469 yards on 83 plays, an average of more than 5.5 yards per play, and did not commit a turnover.
Former Blazers Connect
One of Clements’ touchdown passes went 40 yards to tight end Gerald Everett, who also came to South Alabama from UAB. His second touchdown in game-situation drives was a 40-yarder to Claude Garrett.
Freshman Dallas Davis, competing for the backup quarterback job, completed 6 of 7 passes for 74 yards with two touchdowns and ran for another score. Evan Orth, another UAB transfer, was 5 of 11 for 61 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown on a screen pass to Xavier Johnson that was named the play of the day. Hunter Vaughn completed 4 of 7 passes for 53 yards. Josh Magee and Kevin Kutchera also caught touchdown passes.
Johnson ran six times for 45 yards and a touchdown, Davis had 43 yards and a score on five carries, and Terrance Timmons gained 21 yards on three carries.
Defense and Special Teams
The South Alabama defense recorded eight tackles for loss, including two sacks. Nigel Green led the unit with six tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Kicker Aleem Sunanon made all three of his field goal attempts, from 35, 41 and 50 yards.
Jones Wants to Study the Film
“We need some work in some situations, but I saw some good things; I want to watch the film to see,” head coach Joey Jones said. “The effort was good.”
Jones said some players took on leadership roles during the scrimmage and that the team will be good once enough players do so. “We have to learn from this scrimmage and be able to get better every day so we can come back and have a better week of practice,” he said.
Jones said the scrimmage provided game-like intensity that cannot be duplicated in practice. “The only time we can put our guys in a situation like this is to have a scrimmage or to play in a game, because you just don’t get the same intensity level in practice,” he said. “We told the guys that not everyone is going to be perfect, but we have to fix those mistakes and weaknesses.”
Players Seek Improvement
Clements said his own performance fell short of his standard. “It was not as good as it should’ve been,” he said. “I had a few too many mental mistakes — simple things where I wasn’t totally locked in — but turned it around later in the day. But I can’t have that kind of start.”
Junior linebacker Kalen Jackson said the defense must improve. “We know we have to pick it up,” Jackson said. “This is a starting point, not the end, so we have three more weeks until the first game. We need to do small things better, continue to compete and not get down on each other. We need to hold each other accountable and do our job.”
Up Next
The Jaguars were off Sunday and Monday for the start of the fall semester and return to practice Tuesday morning. South Alabama opens the 2015 season at home against Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Sept. 5.
