2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: South Alabama Jaguars

South Alabama Jaguars
Location: Mobile, AL
Coach: Steve Campbell (3-9 @ USA, 162-62 overall), 2nd season at USA
Stadium: Ladd-Peebles Stadium (Capacity 33,471)

CSJ Projections:
9th: Sun Belt (5th SBC West)
5th: Alabama
123rd: FBS
57th: Group of Five
165th: Division I

2018 In a Sentence: After a 4-8 season in 2017, first year head coach Steve Campbell replaced the Jaguar program’s first head coach, Joey Jones and went down to 3-9 (2-6 Sun Belt) in his first season at South Alabama.

Biggest Shoes to Fill: Top two QBs Evan Orth and Cole Garvin are gone with all their experience. Sophomore Cephus Johnson is more than ready to make the more run oriented offense under Coach Campbell work. He completed 7-of-19 passes for 120 yards and three scores with a pick in limited action last year.

Courtesyy of USA Athletics

Key Player: WR Kawaan Baker was South Alabama’s leading scorer doing it both rushing and receiving in 2018. Baker rushed for 251 yards and nine touchdowns on just 59 carries last season, and caught 33 passes for 494 yards and four touchdowns.

Fearless Prediction: With only 10 starters returning from a 3-9 team, clearly South Alabama is still much in a building mode in the second season under Coach Campbell. The only position that really looks solid at this point is the defensive line with Tyree Turner , Jordon Beaton and Riley Cole all returning upfront. All other positions need growth and it is hard to imagine that the Jaguars finish much better than the three win total it had in 2018.