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| Demtre Baker trys to break loose |
South
Alabama Jaguars offense and defense seems to be ready for action this fall, as
they enter in Division 1 and the Sun Belt Conference. Several players got their
shine on and some is left in questioned. Overall the team is ready after a
improved offseason, spring practice, summer workouts and now preseason camp.
Now that school is back in session, and
preseason camp is almost over. Players can focus on education and winning
football games. But it want be a easy task, South Alabama has to face some
tough competition this year in Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Hawaii,
and then they come inside of conference play and face Arkansas State, Troy, and
FIU.
Running
back Brandon Ross returned to the field at Ladd Pebbles Stadium to take part in
the South Alabama scrimmage after being out for nearly two years. Ross, was the
Jaguars' leading rusher in 2009 and in 2010 before he suffered a knee injury,
had 62 yards on just 4 carries, including TD runs of 55, 4 and 2 yards. That’s
a impressive return by Brandon Ross.
Quarterback
C.J. Bennett continued to show that he is able to pass the ball in the new
spread offense, Bennett led the first-team offense 97 yards in 11 plays on its
initial possession of the day, completing all six pass attempts for 80 yards on
the march. He opened with a seven-yard completion to T.J. Glover, Howton and
Bryant Lavender twice for 13 yards and hit Tyrone Bivins for a 12-yard gain
while guiding the unit to midfield. After a two-yard run from Demetre
Baker, Bennett found Jake for a 23-yard completion before hitting Cameron
Broadnax on a 25-yard touchdown pass.
Also
on offense Terrance Timmons carried five times for 29 yards, Ellis Hill
supplied 18 yards on four rushes and Baker collected 17 yards rushing.
Broadnax, Glover and Lavender, along with Nathan Sassaman, all recorded two
receptions as four USA quarterbacks threw for 181 yards.
New
offensive coordinator Robert Matthews said progress has been made but he wants
to see more before the Aug. 30 opener against Texas-San Antonio.
"I
think fundamentally we have improved a lot since camp started and we're able to
execute the base plays that we want to execute," he said.
"I
think our guys know what to do, now it's just getting them to do it at the
speed and the tempo that we expect."
South
Alabama defense is not letting up either, they are ranked 12th by SI.com and
coaches at South seems to be somewhat pleased.
Safety
B.J. Scott said he felt Saturday's scrimmage was better than the first one of
the preseason.
"We
just had that in the back of our heads and we came out here and just got after
it," he said. "I think we all as a whole feel a little bit more
comfortable and focused. It's all mental at this point. We're pretty much done
beating up on each other."
Ben
Giles and Anthony Taylor had 7 tackles each to lead the defense. While Michel
Chapuseaux kicked field goals of 37, 42 and 39 yards while freshman kicker
Aleem Sunanon had a 32-yarder.
Randon
Carnathan and Enrique Williams posted three stops each, while Davin Hawkins led
the reserves with five tackles.
“We
are evaluating our players and will see where we are on the depth chart, and
make those decisions this weekend,” Jones stated. “Monday we’ll starting
putting the game plan in for Texas-San Antonio, we’ll have a few extra days to
getting ready for them.”
