MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama’s defense recorded three sacks in an eight-play blitz pickup period Tuesday as the Jaguars held a two-hour practice in full pads to continue preparing for the West Alabama opener.
Practice Flow
The early-morning session followed the Jaguars’ usual format, beginning with special teams before moving into individual drills. The offensive line worked on screens and pass fundamentals while the skill position players worked on routes and blocking.
The team then ran inside running drills before moving to skeleton passing drills, with the offensive linemen working on pass protection during the skeleton period.
Both the offense and defense spent time against scout teams, with the offense running about 35 plays.
Defense Wins Blitz Period
The offense and defense then came together for a period focused on picking up the blitz. In an eight-play series, the defense recorded three sacks and forced four incompletions. The offense’s only completion was a 4-yard pass from C.J. Bennett to Corey Waldon.
Practice ended with special teams work on punt returns.
Jones on Practice and West Alabama
“I thought it was a very good practice with good intensity,” head coach Joey Jones said. “We picked it up during inside drills. I felt good about practice today. The kids came out a little slow at first because it was so early, but after 15 or 20 minutes they kicked it in gear.”
Jones said the defensive staff has a good read on the West Alabama offense.
“Defensively, we have a good feel for what they have been doing on offense, and hopefully we can adjust to some of the things they do,” Jones said. “The coaches are doing a good job of getting them a lot of reps and seeing things that we think they are going to do.”
He said the Tigers’ defense presents some different looks than the Jaguars have seen in practice.
“Offensively, they are a little different coverage-wise from what we’ve been going against in practice so we have to look at those coverages,” Jones said. “The front is fairly similar, so we’re going to make sure we expose our kids to that as much as we can the next week-and-a-half.”
Up Next
South Alabama returns to the Jaguar Practice Facility at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday. The Jaguars open their third season of football against West Alabama in eight days.
