South Alabama ranks third in the Sun Belt Conference and 19th nationally in total defense heading into Saturday’s game with Louisiana-Monroe, but it’s definitely been a collective effort for the Jaguars.

Through five games, no one on the team has more than 25 tackles, and five have at least 22 stops. No one has more than three tackles for loss or more than two sacks, and only one player has more than one interception (safety Yam Banks, who has two).

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The lack of eye-popping individual statistics speaks to the depth of South Alabama’s “Swarm D.” And head coach Kane Wommack said that’s partly by design, but also the result of three blowout wins for the Jaguars early in the season.

“I think for a while there, our production was not where we felt like it needed to be or where it could be,” Wommack said. “And I think that plays into some of it on the front end of the year, but at the same time, you’ve got a lot of guys who know how to execute and know how to do their job at a high and consistent level.

“That’s the biggest thing defensively: guys that you can trust on defense, that do their job with consistency, are the ones that end up making plays because they’re in the right places enough. So I think we are starting to anticipate more and more, and I think we’ll get more and more production. But when you have a group of guys out there on the field and you’re up and you’re able to let other people play, I think that’s certainly a good thing.”

South Alabama is allowing 298.8 yards per game overall. The Jaguars rank third in the Sun Belt in scoring defense (18.8 points per game, 28th nationally) and rushing defense (100.4 ypg, 23rd nationally), second in passing defense (198.4 ypg, 38th nationally) and first in passing efficiency defense (109.4, 13th nationally).

South Alabama ranks 19th nationally (and second in the Sun Belt, behind only undefeated James Madison) in ESPN’s overall team efficiency. The Jaguars are 43rd on offense, 15th on defense and 27th on special teams, and have a projected final regular-season record of 9-3.

• The Sun Belt Conference made major headlines earlier this year when league members Georgia Southern, Marshall and Appalachian State went on the road and beat Power 5 opponents Nebraska, Notre Dame and Texas A&M, respectively.

But nearly halfway through the regular season, those teams find themselves at the bottom of the Sun Belt East Division standings with losing confererence records. Wommack said such results — both out-of-conference and in-conference — are a measure of the Sun Belt’s emergence, and also the talent influx through the transfer portal.

“Jokingly, it would be interesting to see what other Power 5 teams would do in this league. They may be further down the list than they want to be,” Wommack said with a laugh. “I do think this league is really improving, and I think what you’re starting to see is the coaching is better, there’s more consistency because you have better players. And you’re starting to see that the gap between Power 5 teams and teams in the Sun Belt is starting to close. And that’s why you have some of those big upsets.

“But then at the same time, now everybody in the league has a couple of players. They can end up making the difference in a game. And if the ball bounces one way or another, you’re going to see some of those teams (beat more-talented teams). Oftentimes the league beats each other up and then you have to pull yourself out of a hole.”

South Alabama, of course, nearly made it four Power 5 road wins for Sun Belt teams when it lost 32-31 at UCLA on Sept. 17. Unlike their league brethren, however, the Jaguars are 4-1 overall and 1-0 in Sun Belt play.

• South Alabama quarterback Carter Bradley has not been quite as productive in recent weeks as he was early in the year, but he is still on pace for one of the better statistical seasons in program history.

Through five games, Bradley has completed 101 of 165 passes (61.5%) for 1,257 yards and 10 touchdowns with four interceptions. Extrapolated to 12 regular-season games, his “full-season” projected numbers of 242 completions, 396 attempts, 3,017 yards and 24 touchdowns would all easily be school records.

“I need to slow down on a few things,” Bradley said. “I’m excited, I was excited to play some ball (vs. Louisiana on Oct. 1), but looking back I think I was going too fast through my reads because I knew my answers and some things popped open that I wasn’t expecting. Footwork can always use work and staying in the pocket and being calm. Watching myself and some other guys definitely helped me on this off week to see what I need to do better.”

South Alabama’s current school records in those four categories are 212 completions, 349 attempts, 2,706 yards and 17 touchdowns. Dallas Davis set the attempts and yards records in 2016, while Jake Bentley set the completions and touchdown marks last season.

Another player on pace to set multiple South Alabama single-season records is running back La’Damian Webb, who has 473 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns and seven total touchdowns through five games. At this pace, he’d rush 216 times for 1,135 yards and 14 touchdowns, with 17 total touchdowns, in 12 games.

The current South Alabama records in those categories are 193 rushing attempts and 1,057 rushing yards (both by Tra Minter in 2019), 13 rushing touchdowns (Brandon Ross in 2009) and 13 total touchdowns (Ross in 2009 and Kawaan Baker in 2018).

And both Bradley and Webb could expand their totals should the Jaguars make a bowl game and/or play in the Sun Belt Conference championship game.

• South Alabama will appear on national television twice in a six-day span beginning Saturday, as they host ULM on NFL Network and then Troy on ESPNU on Oct. 20, a Thursday night.

Both games will serve as showcases not only for South Alabama’s football program, but its stadium and game day environment. And Wommack is hoping to utilize on the recruiting front, with a number of top prospects expected at Hancock Whitney Stadium for both games.

“What we do on the field is our best recruiting tool, certainly,” Wommack said. “But the atmosphere that we can create through our fan base, through tailgating, through on-field production, all those things are something we’ve got to take advantage of from a recruiting perspective.

“This is going be a really big weekend for us. We’ve got a lot of great players that can ‘move the dial forward’ in terms of overall talent for our program that will be here this weekend.”

South Alabama has five commitments for the 2023 class, three of them from the Mobile area. Already pledged to the Jaguars are UMS-Wright defensive back/athlete Cole Blaylock, Blount offensive lineman Willis Anderson, McGill-Toolen wide receiver Anthony Eager, James Clemens (Huntsville) quarterback Gio Lopez and LaFayette defensive back Joshua Combs-Bledsoe.

Kickoff Saturday is set for 6 p.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The game will air live via NFL Network.