South Alabama returns 18 of a possible 22 starters from the end of the 2022 season, but at no position are the Jaguars more experienced than at safety.

Last year’s trio of starters — free safety Jaden Voisin, rover Jalen Jordan and Husky (nickel) safety Yam Banks — are all back for 2023. And this fall, the Jaguars also welcome the return of Keith Gallmon, a three-year starter at free safety who missed all of last season with a torn pectoral muscle suffered in an August scrimmage.

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All told, the Jaguars’ safeties have 85 games of starting experience (including two last year by back-up rover Rickey Hyatt). That’s quite a luxury for South Alabama safeties coach Corey Batoon, who doubles as the team’s defensive coordinator.

“I think it’s kind of, high tides raise all ships, right?,” Batoon said. “And so the expectations are raised a little bit. They do a great job. Those veteran guys are bringing the younger guys along. We’ve got a bunch of transfers in the back end, and safeties and those veteran guys have done a great job of getting these newer guys up to speed with the OTAs. It’s been really good.”

Banks has started every game the last two years at the Husky, a key position in South Alabama’s “Swarm D” that at different times requires the skillset of a cornerback, a safety and a linebacker. The 6-foot-1, 208-pound junior from Ridgeland, Miss., was a first-team All-Sun Belt pick in 2022, when he set a school record with six interceptions, along with 50 tackles, 11 pass breakups, six tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries, one sack and one fumble recovery.

Banks came to South Alabama in 2020 as a cornerback, but was quickly moved to Husky upon the arrival of head coach Kane Wommack and his staff the following season. He’s started all 25 games at the position since, the lone Jaguars defensive player to start every game the last two years.

“He’s going to be a playmaker; he always has been,” Wommack said. “But I think his communication on the field has significantly improved from where he was as a freshman. He is a person that can help others around him get ready. When you think about some of the younger talented corners that we’re going to be playing, that’s going to be important for him to step up in that role. And so you feel just more confident when there’s a nucleus of guys that are at different areas of the field that can get whatever we need communicated. And I think Yam’s taken a huge step forward in that direction.”

Banks had several highlight-reel plays in 2022, including a pick-six vs. Louisiana Tech, and a leaping, one-handed interception near the end zone in the New Orleans Bowl vs. Western Kentucky. He was Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week in the win over Louisiana Tech, when he also totaled 13 tackles, intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble.

But there were humbling moment as well, notably in the bowl game, a 43-22 loss. Banks and the Jaguars were victimized for 43 points, 30 first downs and 522 passing yards in a game they trailed 31-3 at halftime.

“I’ve been working on being consistent — the small things, making sure I’m at my landmarks, making sure I’m on-point, being precise with my drops, making sure I’m right on my man coverages and all that, and making sure I communicate as well,” Banks said. “The tempo really got us (vs. Western Kentucky). So we are working on tempo. Our offense is doing a lot of tempo (in practice), so it’s great work for us. We’re going to be ready for tempo this year.”

Jordan transferred to South Alabama during the summer of 2022 after three seasons at Ole Miss, where he played in 32 games and started six before falling out of the regular rotation. Given new life with the Jaguars, he totaled 58 tackles in 13 games last season, 12 of them starts.

Then there is Voisin, who came into the 2022 season as an unknown commodity. A multi-sport standout alongside twin brother Devin (now a South Alabama wide receiver) at Crestview (Fla.) High School, Jaden Voisin got on the field as a true freshman in 2019 and was ticketed to start at cornerback the following season before a preseason knee injury knocked him out of the lineup until late in the year.

Moved to safety in 2021, Voisin did not even get on the field during Wommack’s first year as head coach. But Gallmon’s injury opened up a starting spot for him in 2022, and he went on to lead the team in tackles (80), while adding six tackles for loss, two interceptions, five pass breakups and three quarterback hurries.

Voisin and Gallmon have been splitting time at free safety in the early days of preseason camp, with Jordan taking most of the first-team reps at rover. It’s inevitable that all three will play major snaps this season, however.

“If one goes out, one comes in, and it’s the same amount of experience,” Voisin said. “You’re not losing anything. You’re not bringing in a rookie that doesn’t know what he’s doing. Everybody’s on the same page and you have a whole bunch of chemistry working for you.”

Gallmon, a Mobile native, had been an iron man for the Jaguars prior to his injury. He played in 46 of a possible 47 games his first four years at South Alabama, including 35 consecutive starts from 2019-21.

But during the Jaguars’ first preseason scrimmage last August, he popped his pectoral muscle making a tackle. Gallmon ended up needing surgery, causing him to miss South Alabama’s breakout 10-win season.

“It feels amazing, to be back,” Gallmon said. “I’ve been happy every day walking around. Just being involved in practice and on the sidelines and me being vocal again on the field is way different than being vocal off the field. I’m getting used to it and the other players are getting used to it. It’s different, but I love it.”

Gallmon and Jordan are in their final seasons of eligibility (though Jordan has not redshirted, and could technically return in 2024 if his 2023 season were cut short after four games or fewer), while Voisin and Banks each have two years left. That means the Jaguars will need to work on cultivating some young safeties, and have a few candidates on-board already.

Kentucky transfer Rickey Hyatt and freshman Tremel States-Jones got some quality reps a year ago. Transfers Mike Harris (Baylor) and Wesley Miller (Mississippi State) joined the team this year, as did freshman recruits Karon Weary and Cole Blaylock.

But one player who might see the field before all the newcomers is walk-on Christopher Wallace, a former Mary G. Montgomery standout who has been working as the second-team Husky behind Banks during the early days of preseason camp. After being “discovered” while working out on South Alabama’s intramural fields, Wallace got into eight games on special teams as a true freshman in 2022, and should be in line for significant playing time this season.

“Drew Dunn, our director of player personnel, may have been out there or somebody mentioned it to him,” Wommack said of Wallace’s workout. “And so we got a chance to see him and how impressive he is, just athletically. He was on the scout team at first and we watched him move around. We started realizing that this guy has a pretty high level of foot quickness and speed. It just turns out that he’s a really good football player. And so I think he’s going to have a significant role.”

South Alabama takes its first day off from practice Tuesday, but returns to the field on Wednesday morning. The first scrimmage of preseason camp is set for Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium.