South Alabama has updated its online football roster for 2024, and two scholarship players thought to be returning were noticeably absent.

Defensive end Brock Higdon and wide receiver Jay’Juan Townsend are no longer with the team, a Jaguars spokesman confirmed to AL.com. Both had one season of college eligibility remaining.

Higdon elected to “retire” from football after the 2023 season, in which he totaled 18 tackles, five quarterback hurries and three sacks as part of the Jaguars’ defensive line rotation. The Pelham native actually posted a farewell to football on his Instagram account in late December, though it went unreported at the time.

Townsend played in 11 games for the Jaguars in 2023, but did not catch pass. The former Eufaula High School standout caught five passes for 124 yards in 30 games the last three seasons at South Alabama.

It’s not entirely clear if Townsend plans to continue his football career elsewhere. His name has not yet shown up in the NCAA transfer portal.

As Higdon and Townsend depart, it’s possible defensive lineman Maurice Strong could be back for a seventh season as a Jaguar. Strong — who redshirted in 2018 and then got a sixth year of eligibility for 2020 due to COVID — totaled 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception in 11 games in 2023, but is seeking a medical hardship waiver for the 2021 season he missed due to injury.

Strong’s possible return would be a big boost for a South Alabama defensive line that lost Higdon and seniors Jamie Sheriff, Charles Coleman and Jamall Hickbottom from the 2023 team. Three-year starting nose guard Wy’Kevious Thomas is set to return for the Jaguars in 2024, along with veteran tackle Carlos Johnson, junior end Lamondre Brooks and redshirt sophomore Ed Smith, who missed all of 2023 with a knee injury.

In addition to Strong, veteran safety Keith Gallmon is also seeking a seventh year of eligibility. Gallmon, a starter for the Jaguars from 2019-21, has missed each of the last two seasons with separate torn pectoral muscles — one suffered in the preseason in 2022 and the other in Week 2 of 2023.