South Alabama Opens First Football Fall Camp on New On-Campus Turf Practice Field

MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama opened the first fall camp in the history of its football program early Tuesday morning, holding a practice of more than two hours that also marked the team’s first workout on its new artificial turf practice field near the new fieldhouse on campus.

More than 150 people, including players, graduate and student assistants, managers and athletic training staff, were on the field before the scheduled 6:30 a.m. start. Players worked in helmets and shorts.

First-Day Format

Practice opened with about 15 minutes of special teams work, while players not involved worked with position coaches around the edges of the field. That was followed by roughly 25 minutes of individual drills for the entire roster.

Most of the remaining time went to team drills, with the offense and defense working at opposite ends of the field. About halfway through that portion, the Jaguars ran roughly 15 minutes of 7-on-7 skeleton passing drills, followed by a 10-minute 11-on-11 period that included running plays.

Quarterback Competition

The starting quarterback job is open. Saucier, the quarterback with the most experience in the Jaguars’ system, has moved to safety, and no starter was named on the first day.

Head coach Joey Jones said the staff has a timeline for setting the depth chart. “By the end of week two we would like to have our ones and our twos picked,” Jones said. “That doesn’t mean it will be over for the other players, but at some point we do have to make decisions.”

“Quarterbacks need a lot more reps than other players; it’s much more of a mental game at the position,” Jones said. “Receivers and running backs need a lot less reps to get ready to play a game.”

The candidates include junior Brennan Sim, a transfer from Oregon State who brings two years of experience at the college level, and freshmen Kyle Stewart of Tallahassee, Fla., and Myles Gibbon of Montreal.

“We’re all new to this. We don’t know the playbook very well but are learning,” Stewart said. “We’re equally talented. Whoever picks it up the quickest and makes the biggest plays during camp is probably going to get the first shot.”

“I think the coaches want to see someone who has some experience and can make the right reads,” Gibbon said. “We have some great competition here between guys who have come from all over the place. It’s friendly and we’re having fun, but you want to make sure when you get in there you make the throw.”

Adjusting to the College Game

Both freshmen described the jump from high school.

“It’s pretty big, so it was overwhelming when we were first given the book,” Gibbon said of the playbook. “But we’ve been working all through the summer in 7-on-7 drills, so I’m used to the passing plays even though there’s a lot of concepts and many plays with receivers in different spots.”

“It’s a lot different than high school. The playbook is much bigger with a lot more formations and motions,” Stewart said. “Plus, you have to read defenses a lot better than you need to in high school, and you need to learn many more signals.”

Gibbon said he was too excited to sleep the night before. “We had to wake up at five, and I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 a.m.,” he said. “It’s great just to be out here.”

Jones: Pads Will Tell More

Jones cautioned against drawing conclusions from a practice without pads. “We’ll know more when we get into pads,” he said. “You can tell a little bit about receivers and quarterbacks, and maybe defensive backs, but you can’t evaluate linemen and linebackers without pads on.”

In addition to heat and the chance of rain, Jones said discipline was a reason for the early start time. “I want some discipline in this program, and I think that waking up early and going to meetings before an early practice helps with that,” he said. “Plus, I had to do it when I was playing.”

“The kids know it’s for real right now, so you could feel a heightened excitement on the field,” Jones said. “They know that we have a game right around the corner.”

Compared with the first day of spring practice, Jones said the biggest change was personnel. “I saw a lot of better athletes out there,” he said. “There are some quick guys out there who also have some size.”

Higgenbotham Settles In

Charlie Higgenbotham, whose transfer from Alabama was recently announced, spent two years in Nick Saban’s program before coming to South Alabama.

“It was extremely exciting. I am thrilled to be here,” Higgenbotham said. “I know a lot of these coaches know what they are talking about, and a lot of the players are great guys. Everyone is working hard. Things are being run here the right way, which is really exciting.”

Up Next

The Jaguars return to the practice field at 7 a.m. Wednesday. South Alabama plays the first game in program history against Hargrave Military Academy of Virginia at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.