Under construction South Alabama football facility collapses (Photos)
South Alabama hoped to open its new football practice facility later this year. That’s out of the question now.
The facility, which was still under construction, collapsed on Saturday. Athletic director Joel Erdmann, while saying no injuries occurred, showed the damage in a tweet.
Jaguar Training Center collapsed this afternoon – thankfully nobody hurt – incredible site – will be gathering information – Go Jags! pic.twitter.com/gdfdtXS27L
— Joel Erdmann (@JagsAD) July 22, 2017
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The school later sent out the following statement:
“At approximately 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, the structure of the Jaguar Training Center, a covered athletics practice facility that is under construction on the University of South Alabama campus, fell within the construction limits of the site. No workers were present in that area at the time,” the statement said.
“University Police secured the scene of the event, which is under investigation. No determination has been made at this time about the cause.”
Here are a few more views of the damage:
BREAKING: @USAJaguarSports football practice facility collapsed about 2-3 hours ago. Latest details tonight on @LOCAL15NEWS pic.twitter.com/judTPwUttg
— Nicole Fierro (@FierroNicole) July 22, 2017
Very sad as a @USAJaguarSports alumna, the progress on the Jaguar Training Center has collapsed. @LOCAL15NEWS pic.twitter.com/uOQx8Iuhu0
— Alyssa Newton (@AlyssaKNewton) July 22, 2017
Erdmann told WKRG that school officials will evaluate what course of action to take next, including potentially trying to build the originally-planned structure, or to come up with a new design.
“What we’ll do is let some time pass and let the experts look at the situation. If there’s a need to adjust, then we’ll do that,” he said.
The 96,000-square-foot facility was being built to house a regulation size football field. Per Al.com, the hope was for it to open later this year, but recent weather “impacted the construction schedule.” It’s not yet known if weather played a factor in the collapse, though one South Alabama-affiliated account said it collapsed “during a thunderstorm.”
The Jaguar Training Center collapsed today during a heavy thunderstorm. Thankfully no one was hurt. We will have more information later. pic.twitter.com/mb13F4kFU1
— JagNation (@JagNationUSA) July 22, 2017
Here’s what the facility looked like less than two weeks ago:
Here is what the Jaguar Training Center looks like as we head into the weekend #JagNation #WeAreSouth pic.twitter.com/UfM3ZS3CPN
— USA Jaguar Athletics (@USAJaguarSports) July 14, 2017
Coming off a 6-7 record in 2016, the Jaguars open up at Ole Miss on Sept. 2.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!