MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama football put on full pads for the first time this preseason Tuesday, running an hourlong, 70-play mini-scrimmage on the same day head coach Joey Jones, his coordinators and several players met with reporters at the program’s South Alabama football media day to preview the 2010 season.
Jones did not mince words about the workout.
“I think that our practice today was marginal at best,” Jones said. “It was our fifth day of practice in a row, we had a heavy lifting session yesterday afternoon so their legs were tired, it was our first day in full pads, it was hot and we had a scrimmage. We didn’t have a good energy level today for the first time this camp. Our first four days were great, but today we hit a wall.”
“Is that okay? It will be if we come back tomorrow and work our tails off,” he continued. “I’m okay with having a bad day because sometimes I think it shakes you up. You rattle the tree, shake out all the bad apples and then you continue. I don’t want every practice to be happy, sometimes you have to struggle to succeed.”
Building Toward Division I
Jones spoke about the long-term goal of building South Alabama into a major Division I program. He said the players understand the process and the work it requires, and that the program has approached everything with a Division I mentality from the start, from the classroom to the weight room to the practice field.
After going 7-0 in its inaugural season, South Alabama will play a schedule made up entirely of four-year institutions in 2010, including several Division I-AA programs. Jones said he and the players are excited about the step up in competition, though he said the Jaguars are not yet ready to face a Division I opponent. North Carolina State is on the schedule for next season.
Jones described how the program’s approach has changed in a year. In the first season, the staff tried to find the best players available and get them on the field without an established standard. Now, he said, last season serves as the benchmark. In recruiting, the staff only pursued players it believed were better than those already on the roster.
Character as an Edge
Jones praised the makeup of this year’s team.
“It’s probably as good as I’ve ever been around, and I’ve had some great teams with tremendous character,” he said. “We preach that and believe in it, it’s something we can control. We can’t control how big they are, if we have a 6-foot-3, 270-pound lineman that’s what he is. But we can do something about character and the choices we make, and we really harp on that. I think our edge is doing things that are intangible. By that I mean, the work ethic and commitment to the team. We stress that every day.”
The Jaguars are in the middle of a stretch of nine consecutive days of practice, with heat indices around 108 degrees. Jones said he told his players that games will be won this week, and that those who fight through the workouts will come out ahead in the fall.
Moving Past 7-0
Jones said the staff is guarding against complacency after the unbeaten debut season.
“We’re fighting our success last year a little bit. Just because we were 7-0 doesn’t mean anything. If we had been 0-7 it wouldn’t have meant anything to me either,” Jones said. “I think that as coaches and players we need to look at it through regular glasses rather than rose-colored glasses because we all get comfortable and think everything is okay. We have to keep looking to be critical of ourselves no matter what the circumstance.”
On the transfers who joined the program in the offseason, Jones said, “Sometimes they fall into your lap, it just kind of works out.” He noted that a new program offers the chance for early playing time.
Quarterback Competition
Jones declined to rank his four quarterbacks.
“We are trying to get every one of our quarterbacks reps now, I’m not going to rank them one through four because they all have good qualities,” he said. “We have a good problem. It will filter out as time goes, and we will have to make a decision in three weeks.”
He singled out senior Brennan Sim for his leadership. “Brennan’s a leader. When I talked to [head strength and conditioning coach] Justin Schwind last summer when Brennan came, he told me that he was one of the best leaders we had in the weight room, and he had just gotten there,” Jones said. “He is one of those guys who is just a born leader. Brennan has a calming effect on our young players, he has an experience factor that a lot of guys on the team don’t have right now.”
Offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said Sim was slightly ahead of Myles Gibbon during spring practice. He said C.J. Bennett has picked up the offense quickly after spending the summer on campus, while newcomer Raymond Cotton, who was not on campus over the summer, is catching up but is very talented.
“The bottom line is we’re going to play whoever gives us the best chance to win games,” Gregory said.
Defense Seeks Depth
Defensive coordinator Bill Clark said he could not think of how last season could have gone better from a team standpoint, but that the 2010 schedule presents a larger challenge, with games on consecutive weeks rather than the frequent breaks of the first season.
Clark said many veterans return and have come back bigger and stronger. Last year, the staff was finding out who could play; this year, those players are expected to take the next step. He said the Jaguars have developed depth at cornerback and are excited about the depth at linebacker. Safety is a position the coaches are working to shore up, and he is looking for players to step forward at defensive end.
Clark said his goal is to have three players ready at each position. For the defense to be as dynamic as the staff wants, he said, newcomers must learn the scheme and perform at the expected level, a process that will take time.
Offense Returns Entire Line
Gregory said he expects the offense to be good because of the number of experienced players returning, including a core of skill players and the entire offensive line. He said the staff is creating as much competition as possible at every position, with returning players feeling pressure from an exceptional group of freshmen and other newcomers. He added that the team knows it must improve because every opponent on this year’s schedule is better than any team it faced last season.
Gregory identified the offensive line as the key to improvement.
“The key to getting better offensively is the line. I think a great quarterback deflects praise to the offensive line, because it’s not going to happen if we don’t have an offensive line,” he said. “We’re a little bit undersized with our returning guys, but they are athletic and we need them to step up and play at a high level. Our freshmen are just young, but they have size. We’re trying to find out who can provide us depth at each position, but I think we have some young guys who are going to help us out up front.”
Of the freshman running backs, Gregory said, “The best players will be out there, and if they’re capable of playing, we’ll get them out there. They all have a chance.”
