MOBILE, Ala. — Quarterback Brandon Bridge threw three touchdown passes and Xavier Johnson rushed for three scores Saturday morning in the first South Alabama spring scrimmage of 2014.
Bridge Accounts for 172 Yards
Bridge completed 7 of 15 passes for 135 yards and ran for 37 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown on his final carry, for 172 yards of total offense.
About midway through the scrimmage, Bridge connected with Shavarez Smith on a 40-yard touchdown pass. His final two completions also went for scores: a 23-yarder to Braedon Bowman and a 22-yarder to Smith.
Trey Fetner completed 6 of 9 passes for 123 yards, and Grant Powell went 5-of-8 for 52 yards. Smith led all receivers with 62 yards. Caleb Hayman had a 41-yard reception, Johnson caught a 40-yard pass and Jereme Jones had a 22-yard catch.
Running Game
Johnson carried 11 times for 44 yards, sharing the team lead, and scored on runs of 2, 15 and 1 yards. Berren Tyson also gained 44 yards on nine carries and scored on a 3-yard run on the final snap of the scrimmage.
Terrance Timmons ran seven times for 38 yards, Martavious Stewart added 37 yards, Fetner 33 and Powell 28. Kendall Houston scored the first touchdown of the day on a 2-yard run.
The offense totaled 624 yards and averaged nearly 6 yards per play.
Defense Holds Early
The defense did not allow points on the first seven possessions, until Aleem Sunanon made a 35-yard field goal. Zac Henry also made a 40-yard field goal.
Terrell Brigham, Antonio Carter and Desmond LaVelle led the first-team defense with five tackles each. Carter intercepted a deflected pass to end the offense’s opening possession. The defense recorded six sacks, two of them by Theo Rich.
Raheem Robinson led the second-team defense with seven tackles, and Nigel Green and Josh Carroll each intercepted a pass.
Jones Evaluates Scrimmage
“Brandon made some big plays and he ran the ball well, he didn’t make many mistakes,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I think he can make some better choices where he is throwing the ball at times, but overall I thought he had a good day.”
“Our defensive front is playing extremely well, especially our ones,” Jones said. “When our twos get in you can definitely see a difference, so we have to develop some depth there. But our ones on defense look pretty good, they are flying to the football and having a good time.”
“I thought it was good, our guys have improved,” Jones said. “We’ve gotten better over the last two weeks and eight practices, but if we don’t improve over the next two weeks we’re going to waste time. We’ve got to get better while we have pads on because in football the only time you can really improve is by being out there in full gear tackling. If we can continue to get better it will be a good spring, but we have to finish strong.”
Third Week Begins
After a day off, South Alabama opened the third week of spring drills Monday with a practice of more than two hours. The Jaguars spent 45 minutes on fundamentals and devoted most of the remaining time to offense-versus-defense work, including a 15-minute 7-on-7 skeleton passing session and 40 minutes of team drills.
The first team period focused on defensive blitzes and the second on red zone work. The practice closed with 32 situational plays starting from the offense’s own 20-yard line; earlier, the offense worked on a second-and-7 situation. As usual, the team opened and closed practice with special teams, beginning with punting and ending with punt returns.
“There was great energy today, sometimes you have a little lull when you come back from a scrimmage after that second week of practice of the spring but I thought it was great,” Jones said. “Offensively I thought Brandon had a great day throwing the ball, our receivers caught the ball well and ran real sharp routes. One thing we are struggling with a little bit is our snaps, they are all over the place at times, we have to fix that.”
Jones said film of the scrimmage showed several players stepping into potential roles. “Offensively we improved from week one, Clay Machen had a real good day and the line blocked well overall,” he said. “Our ones played really, really well on defense, but we have to find some more depth.”
The Jaguars were off Tuesday and return to practice Wednesday. The annual spring game will be played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium with an 11 a.m. start.
