2013 South Alabama football's 10 things to know: Alabama Lite could work

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. Alabama Lite

South Alabama's defense was actually pretty decent in 2012, all things considered. Despite rampant inexperience and the upgrade from FCS to FBS (not to mention that whole "This football program didn't exist until 2009" thing), the Jaguars fielded a competent 3-4 defense much in the mold of the program that, until 1968, played a home game a year in Mobile: Alabama.

The Jaguars wasted solid defensive performances because of a total lack of offensive effectiveness, but the approach was solid. USA attacked well with linebackers Jake Johnson, Enrique Williams and Pat Moore, along with end Alex Page -- the four combined for 41.5 tackles for loss -- got to the quarterback on passing downs, and stood up reasonably well to the run.

Despite being a newbie to the FBS ranks, the Jaguars only allowed more than 38 points once and allowed close to the national average in points per game. And when defensive coordinator Bill Clark left to become the head coach at Jacksonville State (and took his defensive backs coach with him), USA head coach Joey Jones looked to Tuscaloosa for his replacement. Jones brought in Alabama's director of player development, Kevin Sherrer, as his new D.C. and added former Bama linebacker Freddie Roach to the staff. Jones' approach and intent here are obvious. Now he just needs to find a Barrett Jones, an Eddie Lacy and an Amari Cooper to bolster the offense. Good luck with that.

2. There is value in experience.

One thing you notice in looking at South Alabama's putrid offensive numbers below: The Jaguars were ridiculously young last year. All of last year's passing yards, all of the rushing yards, and most of the receiving yards are back in 2013, and the line returns 61 career starts. With this level of returning experience, improvement is all but guaranteed. But "improvement" is not necessarily the same thing as "competence." There is probably still a ways to go here.

The defense returns almost everybody as well. That's exciting. USA must replace Johnson, an all-conference middle linebacker, but most of the front seven's other disruptive forces are back, as are interesting corners Darrius Morrow and Tyrell Pearson (combined: four interceptions, 18 passes broken up). If Clark and Johnson can be sufficiently replaced, improvement on both sides of the ball is a possibility.

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 2-11 | Adj. Record: 1-12 | Final F/+ Rk: 118
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
1-Sep	UTSA	31-33	L	23.6 - 27.4	L
8-Sep	Nicholls State	9-3	W	7.0 - 13.2	L
15-Sep	at N.C. State	7-31	L	25.0 - 28.2	L
22-Sep	at Mississippi State	10-30	L	22.8 - 26.1	L
29-Sep	Troy	10-31	L	13.4 - 30.2	L
13-Oct	at Arkansas State	29-36	L	20.9 - 27.3	L
20-Oct	Florida Atlantic	37-34	W	20.0 - 34.4	L
27-Oct	at UL-Monroe	24-38	L	20.1 - 28.2	L
3-Nov	Florida International	20-28	L	29.0 - 25.3	W
10-Nov	at North Texas	14-24	L	15.4 - 16.5	L
17-Nov	Middle Tennessee	12-20	L	16.2 - 25.7	L
24-Nov	at UL-Lafayette	30-52	L	27.6 - 36.3	L
1-Dec	at Hawaii	7-23	L	9.6 - 41.7	L

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	18.5	117	29.5	74
Adj. Points Per Game	19.3	121	27.7	61

3. Beware the late fade.

Adj. Points Per Game (first five games): Opponent 25.0, South Alabama 18.4 (minus-6.6)
Adj. Points Per Game (next six games): Opponent 26.2, South Alabama 20.3 (minus-5.9)
Adj. Points Per Game (last two games): Opponent 39.0, South Alabama 18.6 (minus-20.4)

In three straight November contests, South Alabama allowed 28 points or fewer and lost by 10 or fewer points. The offense just couldn't produce enough and wasted quite a few solid defensive performances. And then, predictably, the defense gave in. The Jaguars allowed 948 yards and 75 points in the final two games of the season.

The best way for a young team to prove it is ready to take a couple of steps forward the next year is to take at least one step late in the season. South Alabama certainly did not do that, and in the end, despite the defense, they were closer to 0-13 than they were to 4-9.

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	106	124	123	124
RUSHING	103	121	123	121
PASSING	87	124	111	124
Standard Downs		124	123	124
Passing Downs		117	106	120
Redzone		124	123	123

Q1 Rk	116	1st Down Rk	123
Q2 Rk	124	2nd Down Rk	112
Q3 Rk	110	3rd Down Rk	123
Q4 Rk	109

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Comp	Att	Yards	Comp Rate	TD	INT	Sacks	Sack Rate	Yards/ Att.
Ross Metheny	6'3, 205	Sr.	*** (5.6)	189	345	2,148	54.8%	12	12	25	6.8%	5.3
C.J. Bennett	6'0, 205	Jr.	*** (5.5)	55	102	580	53.9%	4	4	6	5.6%	5.0
Trey Fetner	6'0, 220	So.	** (5.3)

4. Quarterback was the least of South Alabama's concerns.

Virginia transfer Ross Metheny and then-sophomore C.J. Bennett combined to at least provide semi-competent quarterback play. They each completed about 54 percent of their passes, with equal touchdowns and interceptions. These aren't good numbers, but they're just good enough to conclude that USA's biggest problem came when the ball was not in the quarterback's hands. Demetre Baker could be a useful running back, and Jereme Jones could be useful as a possession receiver, but for the most part there just wasn't nearly enough skill position talent.

Joey Jones seemed to understand this -- he brought in two junior college running backs, two interesting freshman running backs (including Kaleb Blanchard, the highest-rated player in USA's recruiting class) and two more interesting freshman receivers. If they prove worthy, they'll get all the playing time they can stand.

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
Demetre Baker	RB	6'1, 210	Jr.	NR	118	595	5.0	5.6	3	-4.9
Kendall Houston	RB	5'10, 220	Jr.	NR	81	217	2.7	1.6	2	-19.9
Ross Metheny	QB	6'3, 205	Sr.	*** (5.6)	74	337	4.6	3.5	1	-4.9
Terrance Timmons	RB	5'7, 175	So.	NR	66	212	3.2	2.9	0	-11.5
T.J. Glover	WR	5'9, 170	Jr.	NR	59	210	3.6	2.4	1	-12.1
C.J. Bennett	QB	6'0, 205	Jr.	*** (5.5)	25	171	6.8	6.1	0	+6.0
Kaleb Blanchard	RB	6'0, 200	Fr.	*** (5.7)
Cristobal Dinham	RB	5'9, 205	Jr.	** (5.2)
Justin Jones	RB	5'6, 180	Jr.	** (5.2)
Xavier Johnson	RB	5'9, 170	Fr.	** (5.4)

Receiving Corps

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds/ Target	Target Rate	%SD	Real Yds/ Target	RYPR
Bryant Lavender	WR	6'0, 185	Sr.	NR	72	41	378	56.9%	5.3	17.1%	62.5%	5.2	31.4
Jereme Jones	WR	5'8, 160	Jr.	** (5.1)	68	44	510	64.7%	7.5	16.1%	54.4%	7.3	42.4
Greg Hollinger	TE	6'4, 230	Sr.	NR	46	22	321	47.8%	7.0	10.9%	52.2%	6.5	26.7
Gabe Loper	WR				46	17	281	37.0%	6.1	10.9%	54.3%	6.4	23.3
T.J. Glover	WR	5'9, 170	Jr.	NR	45	27	206	60.0%	4.6	10.7%	62.2%	4.5	17.1
Wes Saxton	TE	6'4, 235	Jr.	*** (5.7)	44	26	336	59.1%	7.6	10.4%	65.9%	7.9	27.9
Corey Besteda	WR	6'3, 190	Sr.	NR	42	28	430	66.7%	10.2	10.0%	47.6%	10.9	35.7
Corey Waldon	WR	5'10, 175	Sr.	NR	15	9	88	60.0%	5.9	3.6%	40.0%	6.4	7.3
Terrance Timmons	RB	5'7, 175	So.	NR	14	7	46	50.0%	3.3	3.3%	35.7%	2.9	3.8
Demetre Baker	RB	6'1, 210	Jr.	NR	10	7	58	70.0%	5.8	2.4%	40.0%	8.0	4.8
Kendall Houston	RB	5'10, 220	Jr.	NR	8	8	34	100.0%	4.3	1.9%	25.0%	6.5	2.8
Cameron Broadnax	WR	6'2, 185	So.	** (5.4)	4	2	14	50.0%	3.5	0.9%	0.0%	2.8	1.2
Jared Palmer	TE	6'2, 210	Sr.	NR	4	2	2	50.0%	0.5	0.9%	50.0%	0.5	0.2
Desmond Jones	RB	5'11, 230	Jr.	NR	3	3	21	100.0%	7.0	0.7%	66.7%	7.4	1.7
Dejon Funderburk	WR	6'0, 175	Fr.	*** (5.6)
Caleb Alves	WR	6'2, 185	Fr.	** (5.4)

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	83.7	2.26	3.84	35.7%	51.0%	23.2%	70.1	5.9%	6.6%
Rank	113	120	10	97	122	111	105	85	66

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
Trey Clark	C				40 career starts
Melvin Meggs	RT	6'3, 310	Sr.	** (5.4)	32 career starts
Shaun Artz	RG	6'4, 290	Jr.	NR	11 career starts
Tremain Smith	LG				10 career starts
Chris May	LT	6'4, 285	So.	NR	7 career starts
Drew Dearman	LG	6'3, 320	Jr.	** (5.2)	6 career starts
Ucambre Williams	LT	6'2, 285	Jr.	NR	5 career starts
Matt Calcagnini	C	6'0, 280	Sr.	NR
James Elliott	RG	6'2, 290	So.	NR
Darius McKeller	OL	6'6, 325	Jr.	*** (5.6)
Steve McKenzie	OL	6'1, 320	RSFr.	*** (5.5)

5. The offensive line is certainly big enough.

Of the nine returning players listed above, six are at least 290 pounds and five are at least 6'3. This isn't enormous by any means, but it meets the minimum requirements. That said, if it could figure out how to open a few more holes for Demetre Baker and company, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Baker had almost no room to run on standard downs, and this offense isn't nearly talented enough to fall into passing downs too often.

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	106	94	56	110
RUSHING	103	91	57	115
PASSING	87	99	56	107
Standard Downs		99	57	116
Passing Downs		84	66	91
Redzone		48	46	50

Q1 Rk	120	1st Down Rk	87
Q2 Rk	68	2nd Down Rk	90
Q3 Rk	100	3rd Down Rk	32
Q4 Rk	5

6. The defense wore on you.

You have to commend South Alabama for knowing what it wanted to be on defense and sticking to it despite the consequences. USA attacked you, made you inefficient, and forced you to rely on big plays. The Jaguars also allowed you to convert quite a few big plays. The success rates above are some of the better you'll find among the mid-major ranks. But USA was a little too leaky in the secondary; if you got past the first wave of USA defenders, you wouldn't find much resistance in the second.

In an attempt to plug the leaks, Jones has brought in quite a few junior college transfers on the defensive side of the ball, including four defensive linemen and two defensive backs.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	92.8	2.62	3.18	33.8%	75.7%	19.8%	120.7	2.3%	8.7%
Rank	92	21	55	15	112	54	32	114	30

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Alex Page	DE	6'1, 245	Sr.	NR	13	46.0	6.3%	11.5	6	0	2	0	0
Andy Dalgleish	NT				13	26.5	3.7%	4.5	2	0	0	0	0
Montavious Williams	DT	6'2, 285	Sr.	NR	13	23.5	3.2%	4.5	1.5	0	0	1	1
Jesse Kelley	NT	5'10, 270	Jr.	NR	11	17.5	2.4%	4	1	0	1	1	0
Romelle Jones	DT	6'2, 275	Sr.	NR	12	14.5	2.0%	2	0	0	0	0	0
Will Thompson	DE	6'1, 260	Jr.	NR	12	12.5	1.7%	1	1	0	1	1	0
Randon Carnathan	DT	6'1, 295	Sr.	NR	8	12.5	1.7%	1.5	0	0	0	0	0
Jerome McClain	DT	6'2, 290	Jr.	*** (5.5)
DeMarion Harper	DT	6'3, 290	Jr.	** (5.2)
Akeem Lewis	DE	6'2, 250	Jr.	** (5.2)
Theo Rich	DT	6'2, 270	Jr.	** (5.2)

Linebackers

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Jake Johnson	MIKE				13	101.0	13.9%	15	3	0	0	0	1
Enrique Williams	WILL	6'0, 235	Sr.	NR	13	77.5	10.7%	6	0	0	1	1	1
Clifton Crews	SAM	6'3, 220	Sr.	NR	13	38.5	5.3%	5	2	0	2	2	1
Bryson James	WILL	6'2, 230	Sr.	** (5.2)	13	29.0	4.0%	1	0	1	1	1	0
Pat Moore	JACK	6'3, 240	Jr.	NR	12	22.0	3.0%	9	4.5	0	3	0	1
Maleki Harris	SAM	6'1, 200	Jr.	*** (5.6)	13	13.5	1.9%	1	0	0	1	0	2
Anthony Taylor	JACK				4	7.5	1.0%	3	2	0	0	0	0
David Hawkins	OLB	5'9, 210	Sr.	NR	5	4.0	0.6%	2	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Giles	MIKE	6'0, 220	Sr.	NR	7	1.5	0.2%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ridge James	JACK	6'5, 200	Sr.	**	4	1.0	0.1%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Cordivido Grice	MIKE	6'0, 215	So.	NR	6	0.5	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Davion Stuarts	ILB	5'10, 190	RSFr.	** (5.4)
Desmond LaVelle	LB	5'11, 230	Jr.	** (5.2)

7. The front seven really is pretty exciting.

Now, "exciting" isn't necessarily the same as "good," but you won't find many mid-major defenses this capable of making plays and rendering you inefficient. The loss of Jake Johnson is a big one, but that's pretty much it. If the JUCO transfer up front can help take attention off of Alex Page, and if Enrique Williams and Pat Moore can keep flying off of the edges of the offensive line, the excitement level will still be there in 2013.

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Charles Harris (2011 stats)	SS	6'1, 200	Sr.	NR	10	60.5	10.9%	1.5	0	1	1	3	1
B.J. Scott	FS				13	66.5	9.2%	6	1	2	3	2	1
Terrell Brigham	SS	6'0, 190	Jr.	NR	13	56.5	7.8%	1.5	0	2	5	0	2
Darrius Morrow	CB	5'10, 170	Sr.	** (5.2)	13	37.0	5.1%	1.5	0	0	7	1	0
Tyrell Pearson	CB	5'8, 150	Sr.	**	13	30.5	4.2%	3	0	4	11	1	0
Charles Watson	CB	6'1, 200	Sr.	** (5.2)	13	25.0	3.4%	0	0	1	2	1	0
Alonzo Long	SS	5'10, 200	Jr.	NR	13	11.0	1.5%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Eddy Cabrera	CB	5'9, 170	Sr.	NR	13	5.0	0.7%	0	0	0	1	0	0
Jonathan Cameron	CB				6	3.0	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Montell Garner	DB	6'1, 185	Jr.	** (5.2)
Steven Fuller	DB	6'4, 200	Jr.	** (5.2)
Roman Buchanan	DB	6'2, 205	Fr.	** (5.4)

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Scott Garber	5'9, 195	Sr.	72	39.6	2	15	15	41.7%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Michael Chapuseaux			54	59.9	16	29.6%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Michael Chapuseaux			24-24	14-17	82.4%	6-10	60.0%

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
T.J. Glover	KR	5'9, 170	Jr.	27	23.8	0
Jereme Jones	KR	5'8, 160	Jr.	6	18.3	0
B.J. Scott	KR			3	17.3	0
T.J. Glover	PR	5'9, 170	Jr.	14	8.8	0

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	99
Net Punting	80
Net Kickoffs	23
Touchback Pct	53
Field Goal Pct	100
Kick Returns Avg	40
Punt Returns Avg	47

8. Chappie Chapuseaux could be missed.

Kicker Michael Chapuseaux was a little sporadic, but he had a big leg and made some big kicks for USA in 2012, including the one that beat Florida Atlantic. He was also rock solid on kickoffs, and he was the only USA player to attempt a kick last year. He is the only primary departure in the special teams unit, but he's a pretty big one.

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2012 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
7-Sep	at Tulane	111
28-Sep	at Tennessee	44
19-Oct	Kent State	80
16-Nov	at Navy	95
?	Arkansas State	61
?	Georgia State	125
?	Texas State	114
?	Troy	101
?	UL-Lafayette	73
?	UL-Monroe	82
?	Western Kentucky	94
?	?

Five-Year F/+ Rk	119
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	119
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	-12 / -2.4
TO Luck/Game	-3.7
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	17 (9, 8)
Yds/Pt Margin**	+5.1

9. There aren't any slam dunks here.

South Alabama should expect to beat Georgia State and perhaps win one or two against the batch of Tulane, Texas State, Troy, Navy and Western Kentucky. But the chances are good that the Jaguars will have to scuffle through another iffy season with few wins. The good news, however, is that last year's team was so young that this team is also pretty young. So the experience and improving talent base could be pretty nice in 2014.

10. Alabama Lite could work.

If you can find disruptive front-seven talent and craft an offense that is at least semi-efficient and competent, the Joey Jones "Alabama Lite" approach to winning in Mobile could work out pretty well. It likely won't in 2013, but there is plenty of growth potential.

Follow @SBNationCFB Follow @SBNRecruiting