The Southern offense started slow but rallied to win the Blue and Gold spring game Saturday based on a specialized system of points awarded to the offense and defense.
But Jaguars first-year coach Terrence Graves made it clear that none of the three quarterbacks won the starting job Saturday at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
Graves would not even admit that junior Noah Bodden nor either redshirt freshmen Jalen Woods and Czavian Teasett had a leg up in the race.
“We don’t have a clear front-runner,” Graves said with conviction. “The guys are going to compete. When they think they have it, they’ll tend to slack off. They’ve got to work, finish off the field, in the iron hole (weight room) and conditioning.
"They’ve got to do it the right way. It’s not just what you do on the field, it’s what you do off the field that determines if you’re going to be the starter. It’s not just the offense or quarterbacks, it’s everybody.”
It contrasts the last two seasons under former coach Eric Dooley, who named his starter when spring practice was over.
All three quarterbacks had their moments, but the offense sputtered under a strong pass rush and presnap penalties. The unofficial count was nine false starts plus a delay of game on the offense and five offsides calls, one of which nullified an interception, on the defense.
“It was young guys, jumping, excited,” Graves said of the penalties. “False starts were guys being covered up. It was youth. We can correct those things.”
Unofficially, Bodden completed 14 of 31 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Woods was 15 of 28 for 190 yards and two scores with one pick, and Teasett was 10 of 23 for 191 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“New coordinator, new system, playing in front of a crowd, game situations, you expect that,” Graves said of the mistakes. “I take my hat off to them. They could have tucked their tails and mailed it in. They came back and competed, made plays. Any time you see that, it’s all good.
“The quarterbacks were about what I expected. The guys had some good plays, bad plays. We’ll sit down and evaluate, see what they did. They had highs and lows but nothing alarming that causes concern. They still have room to improve.”
Quarterbacks were not made available for comment after the game.
Jelani Davis and Daylen Wilson led the defense. Davis had three sacks and Wilson, a walk-on transfer from Wyoming, had two interceptions.
Woods was the first to put a touchdown on the board with a 39-yard scoring throw to Cameron Jefferson. Teasett made a nice throw on a crossing pattern to Chandler Whitfield for a 19-yard score and added a 79-yard TD pass to Damien Knighten.
Bodden made a nice fake to hit a wide-open Jordan Dupre for a 40-yard touchdown, and near the end he found Cameron Jackson for a 30-yard scoring pass.
“We’re unselfish. We want everybody to eat, and there’s a lot of food at the table,” said Whitfield, a senior from Zachary. “When one player makes a play, we all celebrate it.
“Noah, all the quarterbacks started slow and picked it up. They’ve got a new offense. They’re handling it well, not as well as people want them to but in the locker room they are doing a good job.”