MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama devoted the second half of Tuesday’s practice to scout team work for Hargrave, the Jaguars’ opponent in the first football game in program history, as the coaching staff shifted its focus from internal competition to game preparation.
South Alabama opens its inaugural season against Hargrave on Sept. 5.
Practice Breakdown
Practice opened with position drills, with the defense on the grass field and the offense on the turf field. The two units then came together for punts and punt returns before splitting again for more position work. The first half of practice ended with a period on power running plays and a 7-on-7 skeleton passing period.
In the second half, the Jaguars split into scout team periods, with the first-team defense working on the grass and the first-team offense working on the turf.
Clark: Treating It Like Game Week
Defensive coordinator Bill Clark said the staff has limited information on Hargrave.
“We’ve kind of used ourselves as competition until two weeks before and now we start trying to look at Hargrave,” Clark said. “Now it really starts getting into the fine-tuning of what we know. All we can base it on is what we’ve seen in the past and that’s where we’re headed right now.”
Clark said the work is also about teaching a young roster how to prepare.
“For us it’s just about the fact that we have so many young guys and now we’re trying to show them what it takes to get prepared,” he said. “We’re trying to say this is almost like game week to us because we’re only two weeks out and you don’t know what play it could be. … We’re trying to get them to learn how to practice at full speed and the things that it takes to go against a scout team.”
Gregory: Hargrave’s Looks Could Change
Offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said the offense has had two productive days of work against Hargrave looks but expects the opponent’s scheme to depend on its incoming personnel.
“We’ve gotten some really good work done against Hargrave in the last two days, as far as the looks and what we expect, but they could change very easily,” Gregory said. “They changed quite a bit from game to game a year ago, and you just don’t know what their personnel is like.”
Gregory said Hargrave has used both four-man and three-man fronts in recent years and will choose its defense based on its personnel. “They’ve got some really good football players,” he said. “We were looking at the roster of guys they’ve signed, and their four down defensive linemen are all big-time players – they will all be playing at the BCS level a year from now.”
Gregory said about half of practice is still spent against South Alabama’s own defense to maintain game speed. “The other half of practice is spent working on Hargrave,” he said. “We’re showing them basically what [Hargrave’s] looks are against certain formations, trying to expose our guys to that a little bit, and really just trying to use this week to introduce quite a bit of what to expect from Hargrave.”
Up Next
The Jaguars will continue Hargrave preparation through this week and next. Wednesday’s practice is scheduled in pads. If that session goes well, Thursday’s practice will be in helmets, ahead of the final preseason scrimmage Friday at 4 p.m. at the on-campus practice fields.
South Alabama, coached by Joey Jones, will play its home games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
