South Alabama lost its first-ever defensive NFL draft pick after last season, but is looking to replace that production with strength in numbers.

Darrell Luter, a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference pick, was selected in the fifth round in April by the San Francisco 49ers. The Jaguars also lost Jamar Richardson, who began the 2022 season as a starter before ending it as the Jaguars’ third corner.

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Marquise “Cuddie” Robinson started the final 10 games of last season, his first at South Alabama after transferring from junior college. In one year, the Mississippi native has gone from young up-and-comer to the veteran of the cornerback group.

“I’m just trying to lead by example — make sure I run to the ball, assert myself with dominance, that’s what I do,” Robinson said. “I make sure my actions just speak loud, so I try to put on for other guys and they’re coming along well.

“There’s a lot of competition for sure. Everybody brings it every day.”

Sophomore Ricky Fletcher, a top recruit in South Alabama’s 2022 signing class, has been the first-teamer at the other cornerback spot in most drills this spring. He played in all 13 games last season as Luter’s primary backup.

Also back is Dallas Gamble, a fifth-year junior who played most special teams to this point, but saw action in only two games last season due to a knee injury. The rest of the corners are all newcomers — junior-college transfers Brian Dillard and Reggie Neely and Division I transfers Jamarrien Burt (Oklahoma) and Jordan Buchanan (Purdue).

Robinson and Fletcher were the first corners on the field in the Jaguars’ first preseason scrimmage last Saturday, though Gamble, Dillard, Neely and Burt all saw snaps with both the first- and second-team defenses (Buchanan has been dealing with an injury early in camp). Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said the rotation at cornerback was an intentional move to help build depth.

“That was the goal, in the live situation, to get a look at some of the guys that maybe haven’t played a lot of game reps,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “I think the competition’s been great. The scrimmages allow the guys to kind of filter themselves out. But there wasn’t a lot of filtering. The young guys are playing their tails off right now, and they’re absorbing the, the defense, doing the things that we need theem to do — keeping the main thing, the main thing.”

• South Alabama returns four starters on the offensive line this year, though two of those are in new positions heading into 2023. Guard Reggie Smith has taken over at center after starting all 13 games at right guard a year ago.

It’s a new/old position for Smith, who was a center at Escambia High School in Pensacola, Fla. Smith said he’s taken well to the position change, which happened prior to spring practice.

“It’s been pretty good,” Smith said. “I’m playing with some really good guards, with a really good unit. It’s been an easy transition for me going back. I played it in high school, so it’s been pretty smooth.”

With Smith vacating his right guard spot, the Jaguars shifted starting left guard Dontae Lucas to the other side. James Robinson, who transferred in from Tennessee prior to the 2022 season, appears set to handle the left guard position.

Josh McCulloch is back after starting the final 10 games of last season at left tackle, with Adrein Strickland also returning after starting 13 games at right tackle. Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said Smith has “done a great job with his calls and his communication.”

“He’s putting his hat in the right place,” Applewhite said. “He’s helping people get in the right spot. He’s got a lot of experience.

“We had some snap issues the first couple days, but I think once the pads got on, honestly, I think it helped everything. But I think he’s done a really good job.”

• Football and track and field require many of the same skills, so it’s perhaps no surprise that many players on the South Alabama football team also excelled on the track in high school.

But it seems that pursuing “track speed” has become a focus for the Jaguars in recruiting. Wide receiver Anthony Eager and cornerback Josh Bledsoe — both freshmen this fall — were state champion track athletes in high school, as are Class of 2024 commitments Jerrian Graham and JayShon Ridgle.

“It’s like the old sayin ‘what comes first, the chicken or the egg?,’” head coach Kane Wommack said. “And what I mean by that is, we are so diligent in the evaluation process, that when we see notable track times on guys, it confirms some of our recruiting process. It’s confirmation that this player has the ‘above the line’ skillset to be someone that we can develop.

“Some of these guys that are track athletes or come from different backgrounds, walks of life, are developmental. But when they have such a high upside based off their track times, I think you’ve got to really take a hard look at them.”

South Alabama has 13 commitments for its 2024 class, 10 from inside the state of Alabama, five from Mobile and Baldwin Counties.

• One symptom of South Alabama’s 2022 breakthrough is that more of its players are beginning to show up on preseason awards watch lists.

Safety Yam Banks is on the watch list of the Chuck Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given to the top defensive player in college football. He’s also a candidate for the Thorpe Award, given to the top defensive back.

Quarterback Carter Bradley is on watch lists for the Maxwell Award (top offensive player), Davey O’Brien Award (top quarterback), Manning Award (top quarterback) and Wuerffel Trophy (leadership and community service). Running back La’Damian Webb is also a candidate for the Maxwell, as well as the Doak Walker Award (top running back).

Caullin Lacy and Devin Voisin are both on the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award (top receiver), while Lacy is also a candidate for the Hornung Award (most versatile player). Diego Guajardo is on the watch list for the Lou Groza Award (top kicker).

South Alabama holds its first night practice of the preseason on Wednesday, then takes Thursday off before returning to the field on Friday. The Jaguars’ second scrimmage of camp takes place on Saturday.