Jones happy with Saturday scrimmage

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - University of South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones has been pleased all spring with the team's performance on the defensive side of the ball. By the end of Saturday's scrimmage at the practice fields on campus, the unit gave Jones no reason to alter that opinion.

Led by Ken Barefield, who posted a team-high 12 stops and an interception, the first- and second-team defenses allowed just one touchdown prior to the Jaguars working on red zone plays at the end of the event.

"It's been beaten into our head that we need to start off fast," he commented. "When the ball is snapped, whether it's the first play or last play, we are trying to just dominate. If we don't do that, we've lost - that's the way we look at it."

"That's pretty much what we've seen all spring," said Jones. "The defense did a good job of stopping the run, they really played well early in the scrimmage. I'm proud of those guys."

Justin Dunn and Tim Harvey chipped in with six tackles each, Romelle Jones collected five, and Logan Bennett, Zach Brownell, Jonathan Cameron, Bryson James, Tony Threatt and Enrique Williams each were credited with four stops.

For the second straight scrimmage, the unit accounted for 18 tackles for loss. That total included six sacks, with half of those recorded by Threatt.

"Everybody had intensity and played hard today," stated Williams. "Our goal is to get better every day, and I think we are doing that as a team."

Brennan Sim - who was 7-of-17 passing for 80 yards - led the first-team to its first points on its third drive. Eli Smith carried on four of the first five snaps of the possession, gaining 31 yards before a Sim completion to Kelly Vail put the ball on the defense's 16-yard line. After Dunn caught Vail for a 12-yard loss on a reverse, Michel Chapuseaux converted a 42-yard field-goal attempt.

The first-team finally reached the end zone on its last drive after Sim completed three straight passes, the last of which went for a 28-yard score to Kevin Helms on fourth-and-two.

In the red zone, the offense would score on all three of its possessions. Smith rushed five yards up the middle for a touchdown to cap the first drive, then Myles Gibbon found Andrew Martin in the flat for an eight-yard scoring pass. The day ended when Ellis Hill reached the end zone on a fourth-and-one play.

"Offensively I thought we got a little better as the scrimmage went on," Jones observed. "I told the team afterwards that we've just gotten better. When you watch film, I'm not so much worried about the results or how many touchdowns there were. We're looking at individual plays and the fundamentals, we'll worry about the scoreboard in the fall.

"The bottom line is that I'm real proud of the team, we've had a great spring thus far. We have achieved our goals."

"I think we got off to a little bit of a slow start, but it was good to face some adversity," added Sim. "We finished will at the end, though we still have to go back and look at it on tape to see what we really got out of it."

The other score on the day came from the third-team offense on its first drive. Facing third-and-six from its own 39-yard line, Gabe Graham hit Bryant Lavender for a 61-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline.

Lavender would lead the Jags with 74 yards receiving after making an additional catch, while Jeremé Jones recorded a team-high four catches for 39 yards. Courtney Smith collected three receptions for 20 yards, and Ralph Turner added two catches for another 37 yards.
Eli Smith's 39 yards on 13 carries paced the unit, with Ryan Scott supplying 36 yards and Santuan McGee 31.

Gibbon threw for 89 yards, completing 6-of-9 attempts, while Graham was 4-of-5 passing for a team-best 97 yards.

Overall, the three offense units combined to collect 435 total yards - 266 came through the air, with the other 169 supplied by the rushing attack.

USA will practice on both Monday and Tuesday morning on campus before concluding spring drills with an intrasquad game sponsored by the Alabama Orthopaedic Clinic on Wednesday. Kickoff for that contest at Ladd-Peebles Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.

"I look at it that those guys will go out and have fun, because the bottom line is that evaluations are pretty much done," Jones stated. "The teams will be split on Wednesday, which usually leads to things being a little out of synch. I'm not going to worry about that."