Quarterback club hears from Joey Jones

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Monday, October 13, 2008

Alabama college football teams will add another to its ranks next year.

The Selma Quarterback Club welcomed the coach for the new University of

South Alabama’s football team, Joey Jones, on Monday night.

Jones outlined the goals for the Jaguars’ first four years as a full-fledged

football team.

“We are going to be Division I in four years,” he said. “The staff got

together to decide if we would advance in four, six or eight years. Everyone

decided to go for four years.”

The rapid rise through the ranks would give the Jags the fastest ascent to

Division I standing, according to Jones.

The South Alabama campus sits in Mobile where many top recruits come from

every year. Jones recognized the top players would more than likely sign

with Alabama or Auburn.

“I know the bigger schools will get your Julio Jones-type people from

Mobile, but they don’t take all of the great players in the area,” he said.

“Throughout the state, they leave a lot of great people.”

South Alabama students collected more than 2,300 signatures to petition the

college’s trustees to approve NCAA football. The vote also approved a

marching band.

Alumni, faculty senate and the community already stand alongside the

students to support the still pending 2009 team.

A $10 million field house named the Jim and Frances Yance Coaches Suite will

be built for the football team.

“We will have a 49,000 square feet field house,” Jones said. “Auburn

currently has a 61,000 [square feet] one. That shows you how serious we are

about making the football program work.”

Gus Colvin, “captain” of the Quarterback Club, said the club invited Jones

to represent a demographic previously untapped.

“We try to get a variety of speakers,” he said. “I think Coach Jones brings

in the new blood of a beginning program.”

The program puts Jones in a place many coaches never find themselves in —

building literally from the ground up.

“The pros of a brand new program are there is an excitement like nothing

else,” he said. “Also, getting to put everything together. Now, the downside

is there is there’s so much that needs to be done.”

Currently, 20 players have committed to the Jags for their debut 2009

season, and Jones is looking for 30-40 more before the first game in

September.

The 2009 schedule has not been released yet, but is expected to be announced

within three weeks.

Future dates with well-known teams have been announced, including the

University of Tennessee in 2013, Notre Dame in 2012 and various yearly dates

with Ole Miss.

Games and stats are always what decided players’ and coaches futures’, but

Jones saw more than just that in football.

“Winning is ultimately what people focus on, but what it is about is

influencing kids,” he said. “I think part of it is developing that great

coach-player relationship.”