With the offseason training program at full-go and some six weeks from the start of spring practice, South Alabama football coach Kane Wommack is hoping to build on the best season in school history.

The Jaguars went 10-3 in 2022, doubling their win total from the previous year and reaching a bowl game for the first time in six seasons. Wommack said the residue of that breakout season has begun to manifest itself in recruiting.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of maximizing the momentum of our program in terms of on-field success and how that’s been affecting our recruiting specifically,” Wommack said. “Some of our first recruiting effort was to retain our players. We’ve really been doing that all throughout recruiting, and it’s been successful.

“It’s an ever-going endeavor and it’s going to continue to be something that’s going to separate great teams from teams that are going to be pulled apart from one year to another. We’re seeing it across the country and we’re really fortunate not to be in that position.”

South Alabama has welcomed four Division I transfers into the program: offensive linemen Jordan Davis (South Carolina) and Reed Buys (Mississippi State), wide receiver Javon Ivory (Memphis) and running back Kentrel Bullock (Ole Miss). Also new to the team this semester are a pair of December signees: quarterback Gio Lopez of James Clemens High School in Madison and cornerback Reggie Neely, a transfer from East Mississippi Community College.

In addition to the four Division I transfers, South Alabama signed a total of 12 high school and junior college players in December. Running back PJ Martin, an all-state selection in Louisiana, committed to the Jaguars earlier this month and will sign when the late period begins on Wednesday.

Though Martin is the only public commitment thus far, Wommack said South Alabama will sign a handful more recruits Wednesday. Among those who could land with the Jaguars are Theodore cornerback Will James and a pair of junior-college defensive backs: Mississippi Gulf Coast’s La’Dareyen Craig (a Baker High School graduate who once played at South Carolina) and Northeast Mississippi’s Juwon Gaston (a Montgomery native who originally signed with Auburn).

“I think we did a great job of evaluating, getting these young men on our campus in terms of the high school market, some of these guys that we were able to sign,” Wommack said. “I think it’s our most talented class that we’ve signed out of high school. I thought we were very selective in what we took out of the transfer portal, partly being because we had multiple starters coming back on this team.

“… We do still have a few holes to fill, and we will probably leave some slots open for (the second transfer portal window) in May. You’ve got to kind of see where you are in spring ball and then be able to address specific needs, now more than ever.”

Of the players who started in the season-ending New Orleans Bowl, only four have since left the program. The biggest departures are wide receiver Jalen Wayne, center James Jackson and cornerback Darrell Luter, all fifth- or sixth-year seniors who exhausted their eligibility.

South Alabama has suffered minimal losses in the transfer portal, with only outside linebacker CJ Rias a major contributor last season (Rias has not yet signed with another school). Back-up quarterback Desmond Trotter entered the portal in December, but chose to return to the Jaguars for his final year of college football.

“That was huge,” Wommack said. “We told him, ‘We want you to be able to go in the portal and take a look.’ Desmond has earned the right to go explore the portal and still have a home with our team. It was great that he was able to explore a couple of options and felt like being here was his best option.”

There is one major position change coming for next season, as inside linebacker Quentin Wilfawn will move to the outside “Wolf” position to help bolster the Jaguars’ pass-rush. However, Wilfawn will miss the spring while continue to recover from the neck/shoulder surgery that ended his 2022 season after just three games.

There has been some coaching attrition, as cornerbacks coach and recruiting ace Dwike Wilson left last week for Southern Miss. Seth McDonald, a graduate assistant who worked closely with the Jaguars’ outside linebackers, took a full-time job at Austin Peay.

Both Wilson and McDonald had been with Wommack for several years. McDonald played for Wommack at Eastern Illinois in 2014-15 and both he and Wilson were on the Indiana staff with Wommack from 2018-20 before following him to South Alabama.

Wommack said he is still searching for a full-time replacement for Wilson.

“I tell our coaches this all the time — they know best what is right for them and their families specifically,” Wommack said. “And so if an opportunity helps them in terms of the profession or if it helps them financially or in retirement or whatever it may be, I’m certainly not going to hinder anybody from doing that.

“You lose someone like Dwike Wilson, who’s a great recruiter — particularly, he has deep ties to Mississippi. I think we need to be focused on connecting ties to Mississippi and recruiting. And then the development of some of these young corners is going to be critical. So there are some (coaching candidates) that we’re talking to right now that would be able to move the dial forward in that room, both on the recruiting front and from a developmental standpoint.

“Seth, that’s a dude I’ve known since he was 17 years old. I coached him, he coached for me. He had a (full-time) opportunity at Austin Peay. I think that dude’s got a bright future.”

South Alabama’s spring practices begin on March 17, a Friday. The annual Red-Blue spring game is set for Saturday, April 15, at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

South Alabama 2023 recruiting class

December signees (12)

Cole Blaylock, SAF, 6-0, 190, Mobile/UMS-Wright Prep

Josh Bledsoe, CB, 6-2, 170 LaFayette, Ala./LaFayette HS

Jarvis Durr, RB, 5-11, 193, Brandon, Miss/Brandon HS

Anthony Eager, WR/KR, 6-1, 170, Mobile/McGill-Toolen Catholic

Adrian Griffin, OL, 6-5, 260, Pleasant Grove, Ala./Pleasant Grove HS

Gio Lopez, QB, 6-1, 210, Madison, Ala./James Clemens HS*

Reggie Neely, CB, 6-0, 170, Memphis, Tenn./East Mississippi CC*

Jordan Norman, DE, 6-3, 230, Hoover, Ala./Hoover HS

Shamar Sandgren, WR, 6-2, 180, Savannah, Ga./Itawamba (Miss.) CC

Trent Thomas, TE, 6-6, 225, Mobile/Cottage Hill Christian

John Michael Ward, OL, 6-5, 280, Century, Fla./Northview HS

Karon Weary, SAF, 6-2, 180, Columbia, Miss./East Marion HS

Division I transfers (4)

Kentrel Bullock, RB, 5-10, 210, Columbia, Miss./Ole Miss*

Reed Buys, OL, 6-4, 300, Vicksburg, Miss./Mississippi State*

Jordan Davis, OL, 6-5, 300, Fairburn, Ga./South Carolina*

Javon Ivory, WR, 6-1, 200, Grove Hill, Ala./Memphis*

February commitments (1)

PJ Martin, RB, 5-10, 200, New Orleans/De La Salle HS

* — enrolled in January, will participate in spring practice