![]() Lloyd’s departure was another prominent loss for a USC team now short on running back depth. Also a capable running back, Bell finished as South Carolina’s second-leading rusher and third-leading receiver in 2022 amid questions about his usage. He chose FSU after playing in 30 games (11 starts) over three years at USC. 8 overall player in 247Sports’ transfer rankings, was a big loss for South Carolina. “There’s still a lot of history out there for South Alabama,” Campbell said.Bell, the No. ![]() Without a conference championship or a bowl victory to their credit, the Jaguars are playing for this season and beyond. Most important for the school, however, is what it is doing on the gridiron this fall. With a new stadium to come in 2020, there is reason to think the South Alabama campus could be an attractive option for the Senior Bowl game and practices in future years. “They liked practice in the indoor (facility),” Campbell said. According to Campbell, the likes of John Elway and Jon Gruden both said how much they liked holding practices there. ![]() ![]() In February, the new indoor practice facility that opened in 2018 drew attention from NFL coaches and other personnel when inclement weather moved a pair of Senior Bowl practices away from Ladd-Peebles Stadium. “The new stadium will mean a lot to us athletically, but also university-wide (for visitors) to see the great college it is - the cancer research institute and all the great things we do have on campus.” “Right now, with the (current stadium), there are people who come from all over the country for each home game and never step foot on campus. “At least six times a year, (the new stadium) will bring 20,000 people on campus,” Campbell said. Included in the stadium will be a state-of-the-art video board and sound system, an end zone terrace, 16-seat suites, a club level with 800 seats and premier chair-back and bench-back seating options. The new $74 million stadium located on the west side of campus will be adjacent to the football fieldhouse and practice fields. The new stadium for South Alabama will move home games from Ladd-Peebles Stadium, which opened in 1948 and seats 33,000. South Alabama has also played in a pair of bowl games - first in the Montgomery-based Raycom Media Camellia Bowl against Bowling Green in 2014 and then the Tucson-based NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl against Air Force in 2016. Certainly, wins against strong programs in other conferences are possible. The next season, South Alabama won against Mississippi State 21-20 in Starkville to begin the season. The conference sponsored football for the first time in 2001 and South Alabama continued as a non-football member for another eight seasons.Īmong highlights for South Alabama through 10 football seasons are the 2015 win against a top-25 ranked San Diego State team on the road in overtime. South Alabama was one of the charter schools when the Sun Belt was formed in 1976. South Alabama’s ties to the Sun Belt go farther back than the founding of the football program. Georgia Southern has theirs.”Įven Coastal Carolina, which first played a game in 2003, achieved sustained FCS success before a 2016 move to the Sun Belt. “There’s history at a lot of those places,” said Campbell, who became the second coach in program history in 2017. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, for instance, played several seasons at the FCS level and combined for nine national championships before joining the Sun Belt together in 2014. That quick rise into the top level of college football is what separates South Alabama from many other Sun Belt newcomers. But with a quick ascent into the FBS level, South Alabama made its Sun Belt football debut in 2012. The school first fielded a football team in 2007 and won its first 19 games with many against junior colleges and other startup football programs in those first two seasons. With college football celebrating 150 years of hsitory this season, the Sun Belt is taking a look back at the history of the conference’s 10 football-playing schools.įor South Alabama, the history is brief. “Our football team we’re coaching this year, they have a chance to win the first bowl game in school history, a chance to win the first conference championship in school history.” “There’s still a lot left out there for us to be the first to do,” Campbell said July 22 at the Sun Belt Conference Football Media Day in New Orleans. Those are two selling points for second-year Jaguars coach Steve Campbell.Īlso on the horizon: a 25,000-seat on-campus stadium set to open for the 2020 season. Nor has it won a Sun Belt Conference championship. For all that South Alabama football has achieved since it first played a game in 2009, there still is plenty more to accomplish. ![]()
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