South Alabama’s first football scrimmage of the spring featured some offensive fireworks early before the defense mostly locked things down late.

The Jaguars ran roughly 95 plays on a sunny morning at Hancock Whitney Stadium on Saturday, the first of two scrimmages prior to the April 20 spring game. The various offensive units rang up 458 yards* and four touchdowns, while the defense responded with six tackles for loss, three sacks and three interceptions.

*— all statistics compiled by AL.com, and thus unofficial

“There were some good plays at all positions, and there were some explosive plays at wideout and the quarterbacks made some good reads and opened up some holes from an offensive perspective,” first-year head coach Major Applewhite said. “We had some TFLs (tackles for loss), guys getting off some blocks up from and guys getting some pressures. We had a couple of interceptions, one in the red zone with the second group. Those are some things that were good but we’ve just got to continue to focus on those three things we talked about.”

Gio Lopez and Bishop Davenport split time with the first-team offense, while Davenport and true freshman Jared Hollins both worked with the second team. Lopez, a redshirt freshman, finished the day 13-for-19 for 192 yards passing, with a touchdown and an interception.

Davenport, a redshirt sophomore, went 13-for-23 for 129 yards, also with a touchdown and an interception. Hollins was 5-for-11 for 45 yards with an interception.

“I think offense and defense executed really well,” Lopez said. “We’ve got some stuff to clean up, just scheme-wise and missed assignments. That’s everybody, including me. But overall, it was a good scrimmage for scrimmage one.”

The first-team offense got into the end zone on its second series, with Lopez finding Jamaal Pritchett open inside the 5 for a 42-yard touchdown. Davenport later hit Shamar Sandgren on a 40-yard TD strike, while Kentrel Bullock rushed for two short touchdowns during the red-zone period.

Bullock and Braylon McReynolds combined for 74 yards rushing on 19 carries and also totaled seven receptions, but Sandgren was the day’s big playmaker. The senior from Savannah, Ga. — who joined the South Alabama program as a junior-college transfer last spring — totaled 121 yards on seven receptions, with catches of 40, 40 and 24 yards.

“It was a lot of double moves,” Sandgren said of the reason for his success on Saturday. “Me and Gio have been working on that all spring. So we hit on that a lot.”

Linebacker Eli Webb had two of the defense’s three sacks, while linebacker Aakil Washington and cornerback Amarion Fortenberry both had pass breakups. The lone turnover during the regular scrimmage period came when redshirt safety Cole Blaylock picked off Hollins on a high pass over the middle.

The defense got stops on three of the five possessions during the scrimmage-ending red zone “lockout” period. After Bullock scored on 1-yard run, Dallas Gamble intercepted Davenport in the end zone.

Bullock then scored on a 2-yard run before Laith Marjan missed a 38-yard field goal. On the final play of the day, Jaden Voisin intercepted Lopez’s lob pass in the end zone and returned it to out near midfield.

“It was the first time (this spring) tackling live,” defensive lineman Wy’Kevious Thomas said. “I felt like we did a pretty decent job getting our opponent down to the ground. We’re just continuing to harp on fundamentals at this point in the spring.”

Saturday marked South Alabama’s eighth practice of the spring, putting the Jaguars are past the halfway point. They will work again Tuesday and Thursday, with another scrimmage next Saturday.

Some of the Jaguars’ develop this spring has been limited due to injury, particularly on the offensive line. Five offensive linemen are sidelined due to injuries or offseason surgery, meaning South Alabama had just six healthy scholarship linemen on Saturday.

“It’s tough right now, we’ve got some guys — Reed Buys is out, Adrian Griffin is out, Lucas Taylor is out, Adrein Strickland is out,” Applewhite said. “Those are four guys who are probably going to play for us (this) year. … It was good to get guys like Reid Gavin, who haven’t had a lot of work, Kenton Jerido, who started in the (68 Ventures) bowl game and did great for us (some work). It was great to see Malachi Carney and Jordan Davis continue to develop and see Malachi Preciado at center. I thought they did some good things.”

South Alabama is back on the practice field Tuesday morning. The annual spring game is set for April 20 at Hancock Whitney Stadium.