Photo: Southern Head Football Coach Pete RichardsonBy JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter
Southern has followed a spring practice session that worked around spring break and seemed to last forever with a preseason camp that keeps going and going and going.
There is still one more practice week of preseason camp — with two weeks of prep before the Jaguars, 5-6 last season, take on Florida A&M, 7-4 last season, at 2 p.m. Sept. 1 in Birmingham, Ala.
Southern started preseason camp Aug. 2.
“We have to start focusing in on Florida A&M as far as making some evaluations on what we do well on both sides of the ball and start scripting what we’re doing,” said SU coach Pete Richardson, who said installation of schemes is complete.
“It’s a slow process. A lot of them now are fighting fatigue. We’ll have to really hone on the conditioning aspect from here on in, because we only have one practice (per day).”
Southern has firmed its rotation at quarterback, with Bryant Lee, who started the final two games of last season, working at No. 1 and fellow sophomore Warren Matthews at No. 2. Also, the top three linebacker spots are junior Johnathan Malveaux (okie) and sophomores Gary Chapman (drop) and sophomore Allan Baugh (eagle), and cornerback Efe Osawemwenze has held off a challenge from former Florida State transfer Joe Manning at cornerback.
The offensive line is still a work in progress.
Sophomore tackle Allen Buckner (heat) has missed much of camp and hasn’t practiced in more than a week, while redshirt freshman guard Joshua Keelen was pulled last week because of concerns about his academic eligibility. Junior tackle Ruben Oliver, who arrived late because of a summer internship, started practicing Thursday. And on the left side, senior tight end Trent
Thomas has moved to tackle, with junior tackle Rafael Louis kicking inside to guard.
Plus, true freshman Brian Bridges, working at left guard behind Louis, might not be able to practice today unless the school gets word from the NCAA Clearinghouse.
“We want to improve tempo. That means more conditioning, especially up front,” offensive coordinator Mark Orlando said.
The defensive line, which like the linebacking corps has no seniors, is making progress.
The question marks are inside at tackle, where the only two backups have missed time. Junior Frank Harry returned Saturday after dealing with heat issues and true freshman Calvin Cunningham was out Saturday with a shoulder injury. Three freshman ends — Steven Williams, Ted Jones and Dexter James — have also done well.
“(The first few weeks of camp) weren’t bad, kind of up and down but more up than down,” SU defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Terrence Graves said. “We had days where we really sharp. Overall, they’re digesting the defense and executing it. Now, we’re just trying to fine-tune everything.”
Though the defense’s overall youth may be a concern, there’s no question the youngsters have injected both speed and zeal.
“I just like the enthusiasm of the young guys, the excitement they bring, the energy they bring, the physical aspect. They’re still learning, but they go full speed. They’re pushing one another and making the older guys better.”
While the receiving corps is deep, the sideline is starting to get stacked with injured players, who are either starters or top reserves. Junior Del Roberts went down with a hip injury Saturday. Senior Gerard Landry will have oral surgery Tuesday. Senior A.J. Turner pulled a muscle in his leg last week. And senior RaShon Jacobs has been out most of camp with an ankle injury.
Preseason camp is important for Turner and Jacobs because Turner missed the spring to be on the track team and the early days of camp with a knee injury and Jacobs is a Louisiana-Monroe transfer who did not play last season.
Plus, for a team wanting to sharpen its passing game, being without so many players can hurt continuity.
“When we got down to a lot of the young kids (in a Saturday scrimmage), we had some issues with assignment work,” Orlando said.
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