Defense is typically ahead of offense in the early part of camp, but that was not the case in South Alabama’s first preseason scrimmage on Saturday night at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The Jaguars’ various offensive units rolled up 631 yards* and 36 first downs, reaching the end zone six times during the 110-play scrimmage. They did so despite the absence of presumptive starting quarterback Gio Lopez, who was held out of action for precautionary reasons but was on the sideline in full uniform all night.
“It was a long one,” head coach Major Applewhite said. “We went 60 plays with each unit and I think the threes got in there and even got about 35 or 40 (plays). We were able to work a lot of different situations, which was good — first and second down, third down, some red (zone) areas, some backed up (near the end zone), some two-minutes. We worked a lot of different scenarios. It was good to see the guys play in those situations.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’ve got to clean up, obviously. It was the first time we got out there and were tackling for two hours. We’ve got to work on tackling, we’ve got to work on ball security. Those things show up. … We’ll have another scrimmage next Saturday but overall, I was pleased with the effort. But I’ll have to go back and watch that on tape because you can’t see it all.”
Second-team quarterback Bishop Davenport guided the first-team offense in Lopez’s stead, and had some outstanding moments. The Utah State transfer completed 13 of 20 passes for 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns — both to Jamaal Pritchett.
Freshman Jared Hollins quarterbacked the second-team offense most of the night and completed 10 of 20 passes for 84 yards with an interception. Walk-ons Brett Nezat and Jared Jones split third-team reps, with Nezat completing 7 of 10 passes for 46 yards and a touchdown and Jones rushing three times for 63 yards — including a 47-yard dash that the was the longest running play of the night and second-longest play overall.
“It’s a blessing in disguise,” Applewhite said of Lopez’s absence. “You’re always trying to get the backups some work with the ones and that’s hard to do because you want your ones to go. You have to force yourself to do it.
“… Bishop got an opportunity to go with the ones and Jared got an opportunity to go with the twos and some guys who hadn’t gotten a lot of reps. You find the silver lining in that. That’s one of those deals that usually comes back to you in midseason where you’re like, ‘I’m glad (they) got some of that experience.’”
Pritchett was the top offensive performer of the day, hauling in five passes for 142 yards and the two scores. The senior from Jackson got behind the defense on back-to-back possessions for touchdowns, a 60-yarder against the first-team defense and a 24-yarder during red zone work.
Jeremiah Webb added five receptions for 74 yards, while Shamar Sandgren had three grabs for 31. Keyshawn Woodyard caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Nezat during the red-zone period.
Freshman Fluff Bothwell led all ballcarriers with 68 yards and a 3-yard touchdown on nine carries, while Tulane transfer Iverson Celestine added 32 yards and a 4-yard score on nine attempts. First-team running backs Kentrel Bullock and Braylon McReynolds played only a handful of snaps each, combining for nine carries and 27 yards, including Bullock’s 8-yard TD.
The South Alabama defense had its moments, holding the offense scoreless for the first 31 plays/six possessions of the night and totaling 12 tackles for loss, six sacks and five pass breakups. The lone turnover of the scrimmage came when safety Wesley Miller picked off Hollins on the second series of the night.
Miller also had a tackle for loss, while linebacker Courtney McBride had 2.5 TFLs and defensive end Jalyn Durgan 1.5 (with each of the latter two also recording a sack). Linebacker Dalton Hughes had two sacks, including one on fourth down.
“We missed some open-field tackles,” Applewhite said. “We had some explosives on us, but we also got some hands on some balls and got a takeaway and made some plays in the red area. We’re not where we need to be yet on either side of the ball, but I did see some good things.
“I saw some guys flying around the ball and I thought we pressured the quarterback well. It’s Day 10. I know that seems like a lot of days, but when you get 25 that’s still a lot left for us to get better in.”
South Alabama takes Sunday off from practice before returning to the field on Monday morning. The Jaguars will scrimmage again on Saturday, Aug. 17.
(* — unofficial stats compiled by AL.com)
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Publish date : 2024-08-10 17:33:00
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