Playing football and really good football is nothing new for a young Pensacola, FL native.
As the 2012 football season approaches us, Ben Giles a
inside linebacker at South Alabama and native of Pensacola, FL, says he is
proud to be apart of the team and is confident that his team will have a
winning season this 2012.
Giles
a 6 foot 230lbs linebacker played high school football for Pace High School in
Florida. He transferred to South Alabama from Louisana-Monroe to be close to
home. Giles said he glad to be close back home.
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| USA Ben Giles |
South
Alabama is a new young fresh fledging football program, that is about to debut
their first real test on the football field in Division 1. In the past South
Alabama mostly played Division 1-AA, FCS, Division II and Prep Academies. The
first two season of Jaguars football, the program went un-defeated under head
coach Joey Jones.
Ben
will enter this season with the Jaguars as a red shirt junior. It want be a
easy task for South Alabama and Ben insist he is ready. Ben says he was
inspired to play football at South Alabama by just watching the program grow,
and also knowing that South Alabama has a great coaching staff.
With
the upcoming season fresh on the players mind, Ben believes that his team has
really come together and is going to do really good this year.
However
the upcoming season is not the only thing of focus for the Jaguars, the new
offensive system installed by the new Offensive Coordinator Robert Matthews is also
on the minds of the offensive line. Ben says he likes the new offensive system
that’s now in place.
Coming
from high school to college, Ben Giles says he is grateful to have an
opportunity to play on a team such as South Alabama and enjoy it. Ben wasted no
time admitted that Mississippi State and NC State would be their biggest
non-conference opponents this fall, and Troy and Arkansas State in conference
games. This will be the first game against Mississippi State, but not NC State.
The NC State (Wolfpacks) defeated South Alabama (Jaguars) last season in North Carolina.
Ben says this team has learned from the last game, and that NC State is like
any other opponent they will face. Ben says his team is really playing well, I
asked do he think they would beat NC State this time around and send a message
that South Alabama is a competitive team? Ben replied…”Yes I Do”.
As
a team member Ben says he pretty comfortable about entering the Sun Belt
Conference, the SBC want be new to him after transferring from ULM. The
red-shirt junior don’t know how many games he think South Alabama will win this
season, but he believe the Jaguars will have a winning season.
Ben
doesn’t know if he will start this fall, says it all depends on summer camps
and pre-season, but still has that hope.
One must say this for the South Alabama Jaguars: they have carved
an incredibly unique road to the world of FBS football. Life in the Sun Belt is something to watch for the Jaguars.
South Alabama has gone about building a program from scratch exactly as you'd
think one should.
South Alabama has slowly built confidence
and increased its degree of difficulty with each passing year.
