MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama senior linebacker Jake Johnson was not among the players named to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team at Monday’s league media day, and neither was any other Jaguar. Johnson said he has set his sights on postseason honors instead.
“I want to be first-team All-Sun Belt. I want to be the Sun Belt defensive player of the year,” Johnson said. “That’s what I want and that’s my goal and that’s what I’m shooting for, and I think I have the potential to do it.”
A Productive First Year as a Starter
Johnson led South Alabama with 83 tackles in 10 games last season, his first as a starter, and ranked second on the team in tackles for loss.
In 2010, he played on the second team behind starters Justin Dunn and Charlie Higgenbotham.
Before coming to South Alabama, Johnson played at Virginia Tech. In the Hokies’ 2009 season opener against Alabama, he led Virginia Tech with 13 total tackles, nine of them solo.
Leading by Example
As a senior, Johnson is expected to take on a leadership role. He said that role is more about sharing what he sees than giving formal advice.
“I’m not so sure they are going to ask for advice,” Johnson said of his teammates. “I don’t think any college player wants to ask, like a little kid. But what I try to do is, when we watch film and things like that, I may see something that they won’t see.”
Johnson said the team has a different and better attitude this year, with players focused on both individual and collective improvement.
Picked Last in the Sun Belt
South Alabama was picked to finish last in the Sun Belt’s preseason coaches poll, and no Jaguar was named to the preseason all-conference team.
The 2012 season will be South Alabama’s first playing a Sun Belt Conference schedule. The Jaguars will play 13 games in 14 weeks, closing with a Dec. 1 trip to Hawaii that head coach Joey Jones has referred to as the team’s “bowl game.”
Update: Preseason Poll Results and Benson’s Remarks
The Sun Belt’s preseason coaches poll, released at Monday’s media day, placed South Alabama 10th with 14 points. The full poll, with first-place votes in parentheses:
- 1. Florida International (5), 92 points
- 2. Arkansas State (2), 85
- 3. Louisiana-Lafayette (2), 81
- 4. Western Kentucky (1), 70
- 5. Troy, 60
- 6. Louisiana-Monroe, 47
- 7. Middle Tennessee, 42
- 8. North Texas, 36
- 9. Florida Atlantic, 23
- 10. South Alabama, 14
ESPN3 carried the event live. The Sun Belt held its media day a day before the Southeastern Conference opened its three-day media days.
New Commissioner Addresses Realignment
The event was the first media day for Commissioner Karl Benson, the former Western Athletic Conference commissioner who succeeded the retired Wright Waters. Benson wore a shirt bearing a Sun Belt logo different from the one worn by other conference staff and said the league is “anticipating a branding analysis” and will evaluate its current logo.
The conference will lose Florida International and North Texas to Conference USA and will add Georgia State, Texas State and Texas-Arlington, which does not sponsor football. Georgia State and Texas State, coached by former Alabama head coaches Bill Curry and Dennis Franchione, both attended media day and will join the Sun Belt in July 2013.
“In my mind, the Sun Belt came out as a big winner in realignment and conference shuffling,” Benson said. “Adding Georgia State, Texas State and UT-Arlington clearly put the Sun Belt in a strong position for the future.”
“The competitive gap between us and others has shrunk considerably,” Benson said. “The Sun Belt is poised to contend to become the best of the so-called ‘Non-AQ conferences,’ which are our peer conferences.”
Benson also said the conference has focused on reducing travel costs, getting student-athletes back to campus sooner and fostering regional rivalries.
South Alabama Program Background
Joey Jones enters his fourth season of competition and fifth year as the program’s founding head coach. The Jaguars have reached the 85-scholarship limit, completed a $10 million football field house, went 17-0 over their first two seasons and are 23-4 across three seasons of play.
Johnson, South Alabama’s player representative, set a school single-game record with 17 tackles against Kent State last season. He led the team with 12 tackles in the double-overtime win over Texas-San Antonio and tied for the team lead with eight tackles against N.C. State.
