South Alabama was in full pads for the first time during preseason camp on Thursday, and there was plenty of hitting going on during live drills at the Jaguar Training Center.

One player who continues to stand out during 11-on-11 work is running back Kentrel Bullock, who transferred in from Ole Miss in the spring. Bullock broke a number of long runs on Thursday, and has left his teammates impressed.

“He is a good player running the rock,” linebacker James Miller said of Bullock. “He’s fast, quick, a great blocker. He makes us better every day. Going against him, it’s like ‘iron sharpens iron.’ I like having that opportunity.”

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Bullock, a native of Columbia, Miss., carried the ball just 19 times for 89 yards in three seasons at Ole Miss before entering the NCAA transfer portal after last season. He joins a Jaguars backfield that returns 1,000-yard rusher La’Damian Webb, sophomore speedster Braylon McReynolds and short-yardage specialist Marco Lee this season.

Webb has been limited thus far in camp while recovering from surgery, opening up reps for Bullock and freshmen Jarvis Durr and PJ Martin. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Bullock has taken advantage of his opportunities.

“I recruited Kentrel Bullock out of high school,” head coach Kane Wommack said. “I remember watching his film and being ‘wow.’ You walk into the high school, you shake his hand, he’s got 10-1/2 inch hands. I think he ran sub 4.3 (40-yard dash) at high school camps going into his senior year multiple times. For a 200-plus-pound back, it’s unbelievable how physical he is in pass protection. He knows what to do. … He has shown that he deserves to get on the field and get the ball.”

Other newcomers Wommack mentioned by name Thursday as standing out in the early going of camp are freshman wide receiver Anthony Eager, freshman tight end Trent Thomas and offensive lineman Reed Buys, a transfer from Mississippi State. Buys competed with Reggie Smith at center in the spring and has been working some with the first team at right guard in preseason camp.

• South Alabama’s Jags Impact Name, Image and Likeness Collective has initiated contracts with a handful of Jaguars athletes, including three high-profile football players.

Wommack has made no secret of the fact that he believes South Alabama needs some sort of NIL system in place in order to compete in both recruiting and retaining players. He said Thursday the Jaguars are “doing it the right way” with NIL.

“South Alabama, and particularly our athletics programs, when we pull the rope in the same direction, we’re all going to move forward,” Wommack said. “And what we need to do through this collective is have scenarios where when these young men get compensated, they’re engaging in our community, in different types of service engagements. It may be the Boys & Girls Club, it may be a food bank or whatever it may be, but we’re going to pour back into this community. To me, that is a recipe for long-term sustainability in terms of Name, Image and Likeness. It’s awesome to be in a city of Mobile with great commerce and a community that really seems to be rallying around our student-athletes.”

Jags Impact was formed in late 2022, with the mission of pairing South Alabama athletes with worthy charities. Athletes who sign NIL deals are required to partner with specific charities for a certain number of events and promote those events and the charities’ causes via social media.

Athletes receive a portion of their compensation up front, then get the remainder upon completion of their contract. This differs from NIL Collectives at some Power 5 schools, who often distribute large sums of money to players simply for signing with their school, no strings attached.

• Thursday’s fully padded practice was the first of the preseason for the Jaguars, who had worked in either shorts and helmets or “shells” (shoulder pads and thigh pads) for each of the previous five practices.

South Alabama will scale things back down Friday, leading into Saturday’s first scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday morning at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Wommack made it known he wasn’t especially happy with the intensity level Thursday.

“There is a ton to learn from the last two days of film in terms of the situations,” Wommack said. “And those things are going to get addressed again in the scrimmage. We need to see improvement in those areas. Some guys, the expectation is extremely high because they know the standard, they’ve already executed. They can do it at a high level. Some of these guys you’re bringing on, be it a transfer or a freshman, whatever it is, and you’re just trying to see improvement from one day to the next. But ultimately the physicality that we play with needs to stay the same. To me, understanding what we’re trying to get and accomplish from a situational style football — third down, red zone, two-minute — those situations all get worked and we need to see our guys execute.”

Some other observations from the first week of preseason camp …

• Walk-on Jamaal Pritchett continues to get most of the reps as South Alabama’s third receiver, working in the same group as returning starters Caullin Lacy and Devin Voisin. Pritchett, the cousin of Auburn cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett, joined the Jaguars as a transfer from Division 2 Tuskegee prior to last season.

• The Jaguars have the equivalent of four starters at tight end, with Lincoln Sefcik, Brandon Crum, Jacob Hopper and DJ Thomas-Jones all working with the first-team offense at various times. South Alabama uses two-tight end sets extensively, and it appears coaches are comfortable with any of the four being on the field at a given time.

• Defensive line is also a loaded position, with at least nine players capable of taking first-team reps (and several having done so in preseason camp). That group includes returning starters Jamie Sheriff, Wy’Kevious Thomas and Charles Coleman, fellow veterans Jamall Hickbottom, Maurice Strong and Brock Higdon and young up-and-comers Carlos Johnson, Lamondre Brooks and Ed Smith.

• Several players who missed most or all of spring practice due to injury have returned at full speed this fall, including Crum, Ivory, offensive guard Dontae Lucas, linebackers Quentin Wilfawn, James Miller and Dalton Hughes and safeties Keith Gallmon and Jaden Voisin. There are only a handful of gold non-contact jerseys in practice each day, none of them considered long-term concerns.