A freshman was responsible for dzܳٳ’s first explosive play on Saturday.
Deandre Mansfield saw daylight between his right tackle and right guard. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound running back devoured the space created by the second-team offensive line and ran for a 75-yard touchdown. The Ouachita High School product’s acceleration was impressive as he flew by the last remaining safety.
That was one highlight during the Jaguars' first open scrimmage of preseason camp at A.W. Mumford Stadium, but first-year coach Marshall Faulk, his coaching staff nor any of his players were made available to speak to the media at the conclusion of the scrimmage.
One of the themes of camp has been secrecy as the Jaguars prefer not to reveal much ahead of the season opener against Alabama State at 2 p.m. Aug. 29 in Birmingham, Alabama.
That was illustrated by Faulk’s shift from wanting to announce his starting quarterback in the spring to now deciding to answer that question when his top signal-caller trots onto the field against Alabama State. The Jaguars also had an announcer tell people in the stadium not to record video.
Southern played three of its seven quarterbacks listed on the roster.
The first one Southern used with the first-team offense was Christian Johnson, a Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College transfer. The junior joined the team in early June and appears to be the most likely starter.
The 6-foot, 206-pound quarterback looked comfortable running the offense. His poise was evident during the third drive of the scrimmage when he dropped an inaccurate snap, turned to pick it up and swiftly ran about 8 yards into the end zone. During Johnson’s first drive, he delivered a crisp 17-yard pass to redshirt freshman Daejawn Smith on an out route toward the left sideline.
Johnson’s best play of the second drive was with his legs when he escaped a collapsing pocket for a 20-yard carry.
The most frequent targets of passes with the first-team offense were Smith, a h Tech transfer, and returning redshirt junior Cam Jefferson. Johnson’s best throw was to 6-3 returning junior wideout Malachi Jackson. From the opposing 35-yard line, Johnson flicked an accurate 27-yard pass down the left sideline over man-to-man coverage.
The other two quarterbacks were Ashton Strother and Wyatt McCauley. The duo had moments of sound play with the second- and third-team offenses but weren’t as impressive throwing the ball. McCauley, a Long Beach State transfer, seems to be the likely third-string quarterback. He had one impressive fade pass caught in the left corner of the end zone, but a penalty flag was thrown to nullify the touchdown.
Strother, who played 10 games for Southern last season, led the team’s second drive. He looked similar to how he did in the spring, with his best throw happening during the game’s sixth drive. After a five-step dropback, he lofted a pretty 23-yard pass to Jackson.
The Southern defense didn’t have too many eye-catching moments during the scrimmage, but there were times when the first-team defensive line did a good job of bottling up likely starting running back Trey Holly.
The most impressive moment on defense came from freshman linebacker Hunter Schnakenberg, who was involved in the pass rush. Despite being successfully blocked by redshirt junior Ramirez Young, who was playing right guard, the freshman remained persistent.
The 6-3, 200-pound Schnakenberg leaped to deflect a pass over the middle with his right hand. The ball floated in the air and was almost intercepted by graduate student cornerback Eric Reed, who couldn’t corral it.
The defense also appeared to be more dominant during the two-minute drills that Johnson and Strother led to end the scrimmage. Forward progression didn’t come as easily thanks to solid pass coverage on deep and medium passes.
One area of growth for Southern will be cleaning up penalties, especially of the pre-snap variety. The offense and defense each had four penalties Saturday. The Jaguars don’t want to repeat last year’s poor habits when they had the second-most penalties (107) and were third in penalty yards per game (71.4) in the SWAC.