MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama completed its first week of preparation Thursday for Georgia Military College, a junior college opponent the Jaguars will host on Oct. 10 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
The extended preparation is possible because South Alabama plays a seven-game schedule in its inaugural football season, allowing the staff to spend more than one week on some opponents.
A Multiple Offense
Defensive coordinator Bill Clark said the extra time will help his unit learn the many formations Georgia Military College uses.
“You’re going to get two-back I, or a tight end and three wide receivers, or four wide receivers, or a bunch formation,” Clark said. “They’re very multiple, with great players, and we’ve talked about the history of that program and what a good job they do, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Clark said he was pleased with the week but noted that the opponent also has extra time.
“We’ve had a good week. Any time you’re talking about a formation change almost every snap, there’s a lot of learning,” Clark said. “Luckily, we’ve got an extra week, but then again so do they. We don’t know what wrinkle they’re going to add and we’re going to have to be ready for that. We’ve had a good week, had a few guys bummed up, but hopefully we can get them back healthy and ready to go next week.”
Jones Expects Strong Test
Head coach Joey Jones said Georgia Military is well coached and talented.
“The coaching staff has been together, they’ve run this system for a while, and they’re very well coached,” Jones said. “Offensively, they’ve got some great athletes. Their quarterback is a tremendous athlete who can throw it and run it, and they’ve got one of the best running backs we’ll face this year – he’s a very fast running back.”
Jones compared Georgia Military’s size to that of Hargrave, an earlier South Alabama opponent.
“Their offensive linemen have the same size of some of the guys from Hargrave,” Jones said. “Some of them are 340 or 350 pounds, so we’ve got a great challenge, but I’m glad for the challenge. I’m looking forward to it because it’s good for our kids to have to step up and play a team like this. They’re very athletic. They’re by far the best defense of the teams we’ve played thus far.”
Georgia Military College went 9-2 last season and was ranked as high as No. 6 among junior colleges nationally. The program has won two national championships in the past 10 years.
“They’ve got great players, great coaching, and they’re really similar to Hargrave except that they’ve been around for another year and the guys are a little bit more mature,” Jones said.
Busy Stretch Ahead
South Alabama played two games over the past five weeks and will play four games over the next five. Jones said the team used the open week to work on fundamentals and to run the first-team offense and defense against each other.
“We’ve worked on some of our fundaments, and we worked offense and defense against each other to see the speed of the game,” Jones said. “Defense ran their stuff, offense ran their stuff just to see speed because we’re going to see a lot of speed out there next Saturday.”
After four days of practice this week, the coaches gave the players two days off. The team returns to the practice field Sunday evening to begin game-week preparation.
Team Chemistry
At Monday’s media day, Jones said the team is ahead of where he expected it to be.
“We’re probably further along than I thought we would be. Our kids have really come together,” Jones said. “There’s a chemistry part to a football team that nobody in the stands can see, and sometimes people on the team can’t even see it, but as a coaching staff we’re really noticing how these kids are coming together.”
Jones said he had been very concerned about chemistry entering the season. He previously started a program at Birmingham-Southern, where the roster was made up entirely of freshmen. At South Alabama, the staff brought in older players who had played at other programs.
“I knew bringing in some older guys who had been around and played in other programs would be a key to bringing us together,” Jones said. “We did that, but I still wasn’t sure if it would work, but the plan has worked. The older guys have done a good job leading, and the younger guys have done a good job of listening and doing what they’re supposed to do, so it’s been good.”
Game Information
South Alabama and Georgia Military College kick off at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. It is the earliest kickoff on the Jaguars’ 2009 schedule.
