Joey Jones Praises Wednesday Practice as South Alabama Prepares for FIU, Redshirts Develop on Scout Team

MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama head coach Joey Jones came away encouraged from Wednesday’s practice as the Jaguars continued preparations for this weekend’s home game against Florida International. The session included position drills, offense-versus-defense work and special teams periods.

“(This was) much better,” Jones said. “I thought we came to win today. Life’s about choices and they made a choice to come and have a good practice today. I think the second choice these young men have made is they are going to finish this season in a strong way, and we can control that. We can control what we do and that’s all we can do.”

Leadership on Display

Jones said he saw improved leadership from both units during the workout and indicated it ranked among the team’s best practices in recent weeks.

“I thought that they came out and you see so much more leadership coming out right now,” Jones said. “I thought offensively I was watching them and you see guys smiling and confident and believing in what they’re doing. You go to the defensive side of the field and you see the same thing. I’m watching a team grow and it was evident today.”

South Alabama hosts FIU this weekend in Mobile. The Panthers enter the game with a 1-8 record.

Pat Moore Returns

Defensive end Pat Moore rejoined the team Wednesday. Moore did not travel with the Jaguars for last week’s game at Monroe, La., after the unexpected death of his mother; her funeral was held Saturday.

Moore ranks second on the team with 4.5 sacks. He has recorded 18 total tackles, eight of them solo, along with 8.5 tackles for loss, a pass breakup, two quarterback hurries and two blocked field goals.

Freshmen Earning Their Way

Jones also addressed how South Alabama is handling its freshman class this season. Wide receiver Cameron Broadnax is the only true freshman who has appeared in a game for the Jaguars. The remaining freshmen have worked on the scout team.

That marks a change for the young program. In earlier seasons, most incoming freshmen were placed on the depth chart right away, both because of their ability and because the roster needed them. Jones said the program now has enough upperclassmen holding down positions that newcomers must earn playing time.

“Number one, it shows our program is finally growing a little bit to where we have older guys that have been fighting for positions and holding on to those positions,” Jones said. “In years past, we’ve had freshmen come in and play automatically. Pretty much all of them. But now a guy has to earn his way.”

“Now, if a freshman comes in here and earns his way on the field he’s going to play,” he continued. “We’re going to play the best players, there’s no doubt about that and we always will. But it’s good that we’ve finally got some depth on the team and we can allow guys to mature and grow and get over there on the scout team where they get a ton of reps. It’s amazing how much growth they have through that year. I think all the guys who have gone through it realize how good that year is for them.”

Building Depth Up Front

The approach is most visible on the offensive line, where South Alabama has been able to hold its freshmen out of game action. Daniel Aust, Joseph Scelfo, Clay Machen and Steven Foster are using their redshirt seasons to take repetitions with the scout team, giving each of them a full year in the offense and in studying opposing defenses before their first game.

Jones said the scout team offers two main benefits: daily work against the starters and a heavy volume of snaps.

“The bottom line is you’re going against the best. If you’re an offensive player you’re going against the best defensive players and if you’re a defensive player you’re going against the best offensive players every day,” Jones said. “You line up against a starter on a Division I football team every day and that makes you better just going up against good competition. Secondly, you get a ton of reps. As a scout team player you’re in there every play. We’re really not rotating many guys, so you get a lot of time on the field. You get better simply by reps.”

“It’s fun to talk to the coaches on each side of the ball about the guys on the scout teams that are getting better,” Jones added. “Brandon Bridge is one of them. He’s really improved at quarterback. We’ve had guys on the offensive line who are learning a lot and who are playing good and the coaches have said they are really going to help us next year. The same thing on defense. There are some defensive guys who have really made a lot of progress.”

Transfers Learning the System

Bridge, a quarterback who transferred from Alcorn State, is not a freshman but is sitting out this season under transfer rules. He and Grant Powell are both using their redshirt years to learn the Jaguars’ system.

Jones acknowledged that sitting out can be difficult for players but said those who approach it the right way will benefit.

“I know they don’t realize it right now,” Jones said. “It’s probably the worst time in their life, at least to them, but they’re really getting better. If they can be mature enough and really understand that, that this is a great opportunity for them to get better and to use it as a tool for that, yes, this is a big help. I’m not saying 100 percent of them are using it that way, but the guys that do take advantage of that will get better.”

Jones said he expects a significant group of this year’s redshirts to contribute next season.

“If you look at next year, I would think there will be about eight to 10 guys (who are being redshirted) who are going to be real contributors and are going to make our team better,” he said. “So when you start stock-piling them like that, and this is the first year we’ve been able to do it, it will start showing up in years two, three and four.”

South Alabama, which began playing football in 2009, is in its first season as a full football member of the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars play their home games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Update: Game Day Against FIU

South Alabama (2-6, 1-3 Sun Belt) hosts FIU at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The Golden Panthers, picked in the preseason to win the Sun Belt, enter at 1-8 overall and 0-5 in conference play. With five games remaining, the Jaguars would need to win all of them to finish with a winning record.

Jones said the team’s theme for the rest of the season is “finish.” “The theme for the rest of the year for us is finish, finish this week, finish the games, finish the season, and I think they’ve got a great attitude toward that right now, I really do,” he said after Thursday’s practice.

“I said earlier in the week we’ve got to be physical and we’ve got to play physical with them because they are a very physical football team and if we don’t match that then we won’t play very well in the game,” Jones said. “Obviously penalties and turnovers, like every coach says every week are important, but I think in this game especially the physical aspect is going to be very important.”

FIU averages 24.6 points and 386.4 yards per game and allows 34.8 points and 416.8 yards. South Alabama averages 19.6 points and 324 yards and allows 29.5 points and 368.5 yards.

“When you look at the teams from top to bottom I don’t see a team that can’t beat anybody in the league,” Jones said. “We want to finish strong. We want to climb the ladder in the Sun Belt and we want to get some wins at the end of the season.”

The Jaguar Prowl is scheduled for about 12:10 p.m. in the south parking lot, and stadium gates open at 12:30 p.m.