8/10/2011 MOBILE, Ala. – With the University of South Alabama football program now a week into fall practice, head coach Joey Jones felt Wednesday morning’s two-hour workout at the fields on campus was a good time to ease up on the physical contact.
After practicing in full pads and going through contact drills each of the last two mornings, and coming off the first two-a-day session of the preseason, the Jaguars took the field in shells.
“We backed off them physically and tried to teach a lot on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball,” Jones commented. “I thought that was really good.”
In 20 minutes of 11-on-11 action, the Jags spent half the time working on third-and-long situations and the other half running two-minute drills.
C.J. Bennett opened with a 15-yard completion to Jeremé Jones to move the chains, but the defense forced four straight incompletions before Trey Fetner scrambled for a first down. Bennett would connect with Corey Waldon for another first down, which was followed immediately by a completion from Fetner to J.J. Keels for another, but Bryson James and Cori Barnett posted quarterback sacks around those two plays to conclude that segment of practice.
The defense was able to stop both the first- and second-team units in the two-minute drill. Bennett found Waldon on second down for a gain of four yards, but two incompletions afterwards stalled the drive. Given a second chance, the offense moved into field-goal range but saw a field-goal attempt with the clock winding down sail wide left. After the second team suffered a sack on its opening snap, Myles Gibbon scrambled for nine yards before hitting Corey Besteda for an 11-yard gain to pick up a first down. After moving the chains again with a nine-yard pass to Taylor Noon and rush for one yard, Will Thompson recorded another sack to record another stop for the defense.
“It was the first time we introduced the two-minute drill this fall,” said Jones. “We’ll learn from the film and get better from there. I told the guys today that we have to know situations in the game. That’s why we put them in all these positions, so when they get in the game it is second nature to them.
“We’re not running these things just to run them, but to learn the situations and carry them forward.”
Prior to a 10-minute break, USA worked 15 minutes on the passing game in 7-on-7 skeleton drills. The offense also spent 10 minutes running play-action pass plays, while inside drills saw half the offense line working against a scout team.
Special teams practice included punting at the beginning of the day and punt return work to close out the session.
With the Jaguars a week into practice, and having held two full-contact sessions, Jones feels good about where the projected starters are; but, he acknowledged concerns as well. “I feel real good about our first-team units on both sides of the ball,” he stated. “I worry a little bit about our depth on the offensive side of the ball — on the line, we have to get kids to step up there, we can’t play with six or seven guys. We’ve got to have more than that.
“I thought today we made some strides, especially in pass protection. The linemen picked blitzes up better, so we need to continue to work and get those young guys ready.”
Jones also praised the upperclassmen for their efforts through one week of preseason camp. Although USA’s experienced players have aided the staff in teaching newcomers to this point, he still has suggested that the staff slow down its installation of any more of the game plan for the upcoming campaign.
“The upperclassmen have done a tremendous job, they understand what we are doing,” observed Jones. “One thing I talked to the coaches about today — especially on offense — is to not put any more in. We’ve thrown a lot at them to this point, let’s allow things to filter for a few days and see if they can get better at what they are doing.
“That’s what we are focusing on as a staff.”
Thursday’s practice will start at 6:15 a.m. on the practice fields and be conducted in full pads, marking the final time the Jags will go through contact drills prior to the first scrimmage of the month on Saturday.
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