Major Applewhite was an SEC play-caller at 29 and an FBS head coach at 37, but he’s content to take it slowly in his first spring as South Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Applewhite’s position group includes a two-year returning starter in sophomore Desmond Trotter and a transfer with 39 games of experience in the Power 5 in Utah graduate transfer Jake Bentley. And while Bentley has taken the majority of the first-team reps this spring, Applewhite isn’t in a hurry to name him the starter.
“I’ve told the quarterbacks, we’re trying to master the course this spring,” Applewhite said. “Once we master the course, then we’ll match that to the person, and then we’ll go out there and compete. Guys are getting reps with first team, second team, third team and all that. At some point when we get into scrimmages and stuff like that, somebody has got to take the snaps in those situations.”
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With one more spring practice left prior to Saturday’s Red-Blue spring game at Hancock Whitney Stadium, neither Applewhite nor head coach Kane Wommack has named a starter. Context clues would indicate Bentley has the edge, however.
The 23-year-old Bentley — an Opelika High School graduate — started three seasons at South Carolina and most of another at Utah before transferring to South Alabama in January to play his final season of college football. He’s been the first quarterback on the field in both spring scrimmages, completing 35 of 58 passes (60.3%) for 464 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception.
Applewhite spent the last two seasons as an offensive analyst at Alabama, part of a Crimson Tide staff that won a national championship in 2020. One of his first acts after officially joining the South Alabama staff was helping recruit Bentley, who has for many years trained in Mobile with private quarterback coach Davis Morris of QB Country.
“Jake has been a great addition to our roster, it’s great for him to be able to come back and finish his career here after starting off playing high school ball in Alabama,” Applewhite said. “He’s been a sponge — as soon as I got here from Miami following the national championship game he was in my office wanting the playbook — and is trying to soak up everything. He’s done a good job getting with his teammates and helping to establish some leadership roles and relationships on the team. He still has a ways to go, but I’ve been pleased with how he has come in and learned the offense and is prepared and ready to go every day.”
Even without factoring in Bentley, South Alabama’s roster contains plenty of Division I experience at the quarterback position. Trotter has started 13 games the last two seasons — including 10 in 2020 — passing for 2,737 yards and 19 touchdowns with just six interceptions.
Trotter, a Birmingham native and the grandson of NFL great Ozzie Newsome, has taken mostly second-team reps this spring. In the Jaguars’ scrimmages, he’s a combined 20-for-35 (57.1%) for 241 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
“Desmond played the most of anyone in the room who is returning from last year, I have really seen him — especially in the last week — take off,” Applewhite said. “We’ve been adding more stuff in our installation that fits his skillset, I’ve seen really seen him progress the last four to five days. I love his competitiveness; he has a good spirit and is a good teammate. There’s a lot of work for all of us in the quarterback room to do, I can’t wait to get around to June and July so we can take that next step.”
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After his record-setting career as quarterback at Texas ended in 2001, Applewhite got his first big coaching break when Nick Saban hired him to be Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2007. The Crimson Tide’s offensive results were mixed that year, and Applewhite left after one season to return to his alma mater, where he spent six seasons in a variety of roles, including assistant head coach, running backs coach, quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.
Applewhite was hired as offensive coordinator at Houston in 2015, and took over as the Cougars’ head coach when Tom Herman left for Texas following that season. He posted a 15-11 record in two years running the Houston program, but was fired after the Cougars lost 70-14 to Army in the 2017 Armed Forces Bowl.
That led to a return engagement in Tuscaloosa as an analyst, working mostly with wide receivers. Applewhite said he tried to soak up everything he could from Saban in his two years back with the Crimson Tide.
“He’s just a very rare and unique person in terms of his focus and always being where his feet are, never looking ahead and never looking behind — just looking at the task at hand,” Applewhite said. “I just have nothing but admiration for someone that can have that type of focus and discipline. It was a wonderful experience, obviously, learning from coach Saban. But there’s a lot of great other coaches on that staff — all top-notch, first-class coaches. It was a wonderful experience to learn from, all of it. And then, to just see a master doing his craft in terms of running the operation.”
Wommack has largely a defensive background as a coach, and thus has allowed Applewhite largely unfettered latitude in both running the offense and putting together his staff. Two of the Jaguars’ other new coaches came with Applewhite from the Alabama staff — offensive line coach Gordon Steele and tight ends coach Rob Ezell.
Steele is back in Mobile after previously working as a graduate assistant under former South Alabama head coach Joey Jones. Ezell, the son and grandson of high school coaches, was a walk-on wide receiver with the Crimson Tide during Applewhite’s first tenure at Alabama.
“I’ve known Rob for a while and I always knew he was extremely sharp,” Applewhite said. “And then I worked with him in Alabama. He’s grown and matured as a coach. I relish the opportunity to be able to work with these guys. And so I was very fortunate that Kane gave me the opportunity to bring some names up. And if he felt good with those names as well, they joined the staff. So bringing guys on the offensive line and the tight end position that understand the run game and the pass game and can help you install it — no man can do it itself. You’ve got to have help, great help. And those guys are tremendous and our players love them. So we’re happy about those guys being here.”
Though Applewhite maintains mostly a low-key approach in public, Bentley has noted that his new position coach is “fired up” to be back working as a coordinator and calling plays. Bentley said the two had already numerous telephone conversations breaking down the Jaguars’ playbook before spring practice had even started.
Though the Jaguars continue to search for playmakers at running back and stability on the offensive line, an offense can only be as successful as its quarterback. Wommack has put his trust in Applewhite to cultivate that position, and said thus far he is pleased with the results.
“I love the urgency of our quarterbacks right now,” Wommack said. “That all stems from Major Applewhite. I think he does a phenomenal job of creating an urgency in that room. He is a tremendous teacher, not just in the fundamentals of quarterback play but more so in how to play the game. One of our offensive identities is to own situational downs — red zone, two-minute drill, third-down execution — in order to have the ability to be great when the game matters most. Those are the things that he is already teaching them now.”
South Alabama practices on Thursday afternoon, the final workout leading into the spring game. Kickoff for the Red-Blue game is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium.