If there’s one major goal for the South Alabama defense in 2023, it’s putting more pressure on the quarterback.

The Jaguars totaled 28 sacks in 13 games last year, ranking ninth in the 14-team Sun Belt Conference. It was one of the few categories in which South Alabama did not finish in the top half of the conference.

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Getting to the quarterback is a team-wide enterprise, of course, but if there’s one position in South Alabama’s 4-2-5 “Swarm D” that is most involved in the pass rush it is the “Wolf” outside linebacker. To that end, the Jaguars moved Quentin Wilfawn from “Stinger” (weak inside) linebacker to Wolf this past spring.

“I enjoy it,” Wilfawn said. “I always like to rush the passer, so being on the edge gives you a little more opportunity to do that. You’re not dropping (into coverage) as much as being on the inside. We still drop, but the opportunities will show more in the pass rush, which I enjoy. And being on the edge, you get to use athleticism a little more, whereas in the inside you tend to get trapped sometimes and pinned. So I’ve enjoyed that aspect of it for sure.”

Wilfawn is in his fourth season at South Alabama, though he’s appeared in only 22 of a possible 36 games in his first three years. A recurring shoulder problem was finally diagnosed last fall as a bone spur on his neck, which led to repeated “stingers,” causing Wilfawn’s arm to temporarily lose feeling in his arm.

Wilfawn was shut down after four games last season, and ended up having surgery to fix the problem. He was limited to non-contact work in the spring, but has been cleared 100% for preseason camp.

“My neck feels great,” Wilfawn said. “I tweaked a little something this summer in my legs, but it’s back 100%. … My body feels good. I’ve just been eating right, doing what I can to stay as healthy as possible through camp.

“I got a little bit of work, what little work I could, in the spring. But now that I’m full contact, full go, it’s been good getting back in with the team, studying and all that. It’s a new position, but I’ve been in the defense for a while, so it’s not entirely new. I’m enjoying it. It keeps football fresh, getting to do something new instead of the same thing over and over.”

Though Wilfawn missed out on most of South Alabama’s breakthrough 10-3 season, the injury/surgery did allow him to take a redshirt season and return for a sixth year of college football in 2023. The Oxford, Miss., native played two seasons at Northwest Mississippi Community College before joining the Jaguars in the spring of 2020.

Wilfawn’s best season as a Jaguar came in 2021, when he totaled 45 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in 11 games, three of them starts. But after James Miller and Trey Kiser locked down the two inside linebacker positions for South Alabama last season, coaches decided to move Wilfawn outside.

“He understands the defense,” South Alabama defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “(Wolf is) truly a hybrid position for us. So the understanding of space and zones and playing in space is something that comes really natural to him from his linebacker days. And then he’s always been a real natural pass rusher. Two years ago we used him a bunch on the interior twist (blitzes). He has a really good sense of getting on an edge and beating half a man. And so now to be able to incorporate those things off the edge, I think he’s picking it up really well at this point.”

Last year’s primary Wolf linebacker, CJ Rias, totaled four sacks and a team-best 11 tackles for loss in 2022. However, he was the lone South Alabama starter with remaining eligibility who left the program over the offseason, and transferred in January to McNeese State.

South Alabama also returns a number of younger players with pass-rush skills, including sophomores Lamondre Brooks and Dalton Hughes and Oklahoma transfer Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge. However, like Wilfawn, all three of those players missed all or much of the spring while recovering from surgery.

In order to provide depth at Wolf, the Jaguars also added Kansas State transfer Gavin Forsha over the summer. But the bulk of the snaps at the position will go to Wilfawn, long a favorite of head coach Kane Wommack.

“Quentin’s doing a tremendous job,” Wommack said. “He’s really taken to this new position. Wolf is such a critical piece for us and I didn’t think that we produced enough out of that position a year ago. A lot of pass rush comes off of transition on first and second down — recognizing ‘this is not a run play, it’s a pass play.’ Q’s got a good feel for those things already.

“We’re going to be pretty aggressive in how we try to create a little bit more havoc in the backfield than what we did a year ago. I thought we did a tremendous job of stopping the run. I thought we did an OK job of creating some havoc in the backfield. We’ve got to do more of those things, and I think Q’s going to take us in the right direction there.”

South Alabama is back on the practice field Wednesday morning. The first scrimmage of preseason camp is set for Saturday morning at Hancock Whitney Stadium.