Jags Ready To Ride Wave In Season Opener

Both the Southern University Jaguars and new Jaguar offensive coordinator David Oliver will return to familiar ground on August 30, when the Jags face Tulane University in the New Orleans Superdome, at 2:30 p.m.
Last season, in front of a crowd of over 41,000, Oliver watched his Green Wave team pummel an offensively struggling Jaguar squad 41-7. This season, he will be on the other side of the field, hoping to even the score in the Second Annual Big Easy Classic.
“…It’s a little bit of an emotional game for me, because I stayed there for five years, and a lot of those guys I recruited as high school students and saw them come in as freshmen when they were a little scared”, mentions Oliver. “They’re all good people at Tulane and I wish them the best of luck with every game except one. We just have to go out there and go to work and play our style of football, and I think things are going to turn out for us.”
Speaking of a new style of offense, Oliver feels that the squad has welcomed and embraced it and says that if Southern eliminates the mistakes that occurred in the preseason, the squad should be a “pretty solid offensive football team.”
Oliver will also have to ensure that the Jags reduce their turnover ratio, a problem that plagued them in the last meeting between the two teams. Southern’s offense turned the ball over five times including three fumbles against the Green Wave. Missing from the first Tulane-Southern match-up was senior wide-receiver Michael Hayes. For this meeting, he plans to be ready.
“I plan to win.. It feels good just to come back…I am not scared of Tulane and I’m sure they are not scared of us. We’re just going to go to them the same way they’ll come at us and the best team will win.”
In the equation also will be senior running back Victor Ike. Ike, the standout transfer from the Big 12 powerhouse Texas Longhorns program, intends to bring change and a winning attitude to Southern.
Mack Brown, the head coach of the Texas Longhorn squad is definitely going to miss Ike. The 5’11″, 200-lb. Ike was lured by Brown to play for Texas after Ike rushed over 1,700 yards and 30 touchdowns in ten games at Bowie High School in Austin, Texas.
“Victor is a fine young man and someone that worked extremely hard since coming to Texas,” said Brown in a recent statement. “He was a productive player who provided us with an explosive kickoff returner over the past three seasons, but Victor wants a chance to be a featured tailback and feels that opportunity best presents itself elsewhere. We wish him the very best of luck and appreciate everything he has done for The University of Texas and its football program.”
Brown’s loss is definitely Jaguars’ head coach Pete Richardson’s gain. Ike’s arrival is right on time as he comes to a squad overcoming injuries and untimely departures.
“He’s going to be a valuable part of what we do offensively,” exclaimed Richardson. “He runs the ball, he catches well so now that’s going to cause problems for defenses especially with our outside passing game opening up on that side for him.”
Taking the offensive helm will be junior quarterback Quincy Richard. Richard says that the one thing that he plans to do for Southern this year is simple-win.
“We’ll be all right. We are going to be ready for the first game…I have a better knowledge of football and different defenses and how to make plays.”
SU secondary coach Henry Miller will have to take all he has learned during his summer internship with the St. Louis Rams’ secondary coaching staff to fully utilize his defensive backs. What he has learned can be said in one word.
“Effort…If we can implement that 100% effort that the Rams use…that alone will make our defense better”, said Miller. “We are way ahead of where we were last year, so this year, we should be pretty decent.”
Though defensive lineman Robert Chapman has departed, the Jaguar defense will still have a few veterans to find ways to prevent Tulane from once again getting 41 points on the scoreboard, and co-defensive coordinator Terrance Graves expects big things from his defensive squad.
“I expect the same consistency that we had last year. We have a number of young men that’ll step up on the defensive side of the ball…You don’t replace a guy like Robert Chapman, because Chapman was a great young man, as well as player…But we have several young men who can step up and fill the void.”
Last season, the Jags led the Southwestern Athletic Conference in defensive scoring and total defense. Senior Lenny Williams, who led Southern with four interceptions last season will return as well as senior Chris Cooper. Cooper had a combined total of 67 tackles with 4 sacks last season.
“We’re going to shut Tulane down. We’re going to stop their passing game, make them play our game and make them run the ball…When we get you to play our game, we’ll be successful.”
Helping Cooper out will be junior Kevin Young, a defensive end standout from another Division I-A powerhouse, The University of Tennessee. Young attended Duncanville, High School outside Dallas. In 1999,Young’s final year at Duncanville, he played an intricate part in the team winning the state championship. The school, also known for its top recruiting, produced eight Division I-A signees in 1999, five of which played defensive positions.
Young came to Southern from Tennessee to be closer to home, among other reasons including racism issues.
“I just want to bring a winning attitude. I’ve been there and done that coming from a big program, so I just want to bring home a SWAC championship.”
Young and the Jaguar defense will have to stop Tulanes’s air assault. The target will likely be junior Roydell Williams and last season, the 6-foot-2, 171lb. wide-out caught a combined 56 passes for 886 yards and 11 touchdowns. Against Southern, Williams caught four passes for 118 yards and one touchdown.
Covering Tulane’s rushing game, the Jaguar defense will have to keep an eye on returning running back Mewelde Moore. The junior from Belaire High School in Baton Rouge rushed for 1421 yards last season to add to his 2259 all-purpose yards. In his contest against the Jaguars, Moore carried the ball 25 times going 201 yards. He also caught five passes for 70 yards.
Coach Graves says that all Southern needs to do is execute their defense to stop the Tulane twosome.
“We are going to get out there and attack. Whether it is Moore or Roydell Williams, we are just going to go out there and play our football game and let the chips fall where they fall.”
Special teams will be an important factor when Southern plays Tulane. The Green Wave capitalized off four field goals from 23, 25, 44,and 50-yards away. Southern didn’t score any.
That includes the dilemma of having only one true kicker.
“Well anytime you have one, you have none, so we’re in the situation where we are very fortunate,” notes Richardson. “He’s doing a good job for us and improving everyday. You know it’s always a question mark when you have just one kicker.”
That one kicker is freshman Colby Miller. Miller will be filling a void left all too often by Southern’s kickers.
Miller is taking the place of last season’s kicker Francisco Villagrano. Villagrano was only five-for-12 in field goals made. In the controversial Jackson State-SU match-up, he had missed one from 37 yards out and had a 35-yard attempt blocked, two scores that would have definitely altered the ending of the game.
Miller says that the only pressure is that if he goes down, there will be no one to back him up.
“You know, it’s a good and bad thing. It’s good because I am going to start, but bad because if I go down, well then-you know…”
On the other end of the punt, sophomore punt returner Ezra Landry can capitalize off a new and improved special teams. Landry returned the ball 25 times for 535 yards, averaging 21.4 yards-per-run.
“More than likely, they will try to kick away from me because I had a pretty good season last year. Also, this season, I will have Victor Ike, and he’ll be another threat”, adds the New Orleans native. “I’ll be back home and I will have a lot of fans and family that wants to see what I am going to do this year.”
Both teams will have first-hand knowledge of what to expect for the season when kickoff begins at 2:30 p.m.
 

Gallery • 1 Photos

The Jaguars new offensive coordinator, David Oliver, and former Tulane tight ends coach, will feature a more balanced attack against his former team this weekend in the Superdome. - Photo by Willie Siglar II/DIGEST