The Citadel
Bulldogs Hit Practice Field Despite Inclement Weather
Charleston, S.C. ? The Citadel Football team worked out in inclement weather on Wednesday for the 10th day of fall camp at the Maybank Triplets Practice Facility. It was the third two-a-day for the Bulldogs who had a morning and afternoon two-hour practice session.
“We had an excellent practice today,” Higgins said after the morning workout. “It rained so it gave us an opportunity to work with the wet football for the first time. We did a live first-and-10 sequence and we also did a move the ball past skeleton.”
No injuries were reported. The Bulldogs will return to the Maybank Triplets practice field in full pads on Thursday, Aug. 14 for one three-hour practice at 8 a.m.
Appalachian State
ASU Football Fall Camp Report ? Wed., Aug. 13
BOONE, N.C. ? At the midway point of fall camp, Appalachian State University football concluded Wednesday’s two-a-day practices with a 12-series scrimmage at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Wednesday’s scrimmage, which featured nearly 60 plays, was fairly evenly matched between the offense and defense. While the offense moved the ball fairly effectively, the defense buckled down when it needed to the most, holding the offense out of the end zone on 10 of the 12 series.
After a three-and-out on its first possession, the offense needed just three plays to score on its second series, as Armanti Edwards connected on a 59-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Brian Quick. Quick was the star of the afternoon with three catches for 114 yards during the scrimmage and two more long touchdown receptions during the 11-on-11 periods that preceded it.
Two series later, running back Robert Welton picked up 62 yards on eight carries to march the offense to the five yard line. However, the defense stepped up by making four stops from inside the 13, including a huge tackle for loss that seemingly included the entire defensive line on fourth-and-two from the five.
The defense forced the only turnover on the first play of the sixth series when freshman linebacker Demery Brewer recovered a fumble.
The only other touchdown came on the ninth possession, when running back Devon Moore broke three tackles en route to a 30-yard touchdown gallop.
The defense closed out the scrimmage by holding the offense scoreless on three more possessions beginning just 30 yards from paydirt.
Linemen Malcolm Bennett, Bobby Bozzo, Daniel Finnerty, Jabari Fletcher, John Rizor and Lanston Tanyi and linebacker Jacque Roman and D.J. Smith were all in on tackles behind the line of scrimmage to lead the defensive charge, while safety Travis Dowda recorded a big pass break-up on a third-and-eight play early in the scrimmage to set the tone in the secondary.
Chattanooga
Linebackers Big Focus for 2008 Football Season
The linebackers will be under the spotlight this upcoming football season as the Mocs switch from a 3-4 defensive scheme to a 4-3 alignment.
While the Mocs’ defensive line offers the first line of attack, it is the linebacking corps which will be relied upon to call the defensive signals and make the big plays on crucial third-down situations.
First-year linebackers coach Kurt Corbin is pleased with how his crew has adjusted to the new scheme.
“In a 3-4, the linebacker has to play on the ball and on the line of scrimmage a lot more,” Corbin said. “With our defense (4-3), there is one less linebacker. But we are off the ball, playing about five yards deep behind the line. They seem to like the scheme and understand it. We are not doing a whole lot and are trying to keep it simple.”
Senior Aaron Adams returns and is the likely starter at the middle linebacker spot. In his first year after transferring from a junior college in 2007, Adams totaled 30 tackles in just five games of action.
Junior Joseph Thornton was one of the top defenders in the Southern Conference last season and is the team’s top returning tackler. Slated to start at the strongside linebacker, Thornton was a Preseason All-Southern Conference selection this summer. He led the SoCon in tackles for loss with 18 and intercepted a team-best four passes.
Senior Jarvis Newson and junior Steven Smigelsky are battling for the weakside spot. Newson played on the outside last year and recorded 20 hits. Smigelsky played in a backup role and made 14 stops.
“Aaron Adams made a lot of progress from the spring as far as understanding the scheme and what we want out of him,” Corbin said. “Joseph Thornton should be a candidate for player of the year in the conference. He could be an All-America, in my opinion, if he will come to practice and focus on the little things like he needs to. He has all the athletic ability in the world. He needs to focus on the everyday practice, snap-to-snap.
“Jarvis Newson has done a really good job for us so far and has some play-making ability. We have switched Smigelsky from Sam backer where he was backing up Thornton to Will linebacker. I expect good competition between those two.”
Others who could see time in the middle of the defense include senior Kenny Scrivens, junior college transfer Doug Faatiliga, redshirt freshman Thomas Green and true freshmen Arsenio Clemmons and Shane Heatherly.
“We have to get Doug Faatiliga to come along and be the player we have projected him to be,” Corbin said. “I think he is finally catching on to the scheme. He has a tendency to play high. He is a big guy that can run and has to be more of a big, physical presence in the middle for us.
“Shane Heatherly has done a nice job. He had the most tackles at our opening scrimmage and had some nice production. Arsenio Clemons is a typical freshman. He has hit the wall as far as learning. He didn’t fare as well in the scrimmage, but he has ability. He just has to learn to focus.”
The Mocs held two practices Wednesday and will practice once Thursday at 5:45 p.m. and hold two sessions Friday. Saturday is the team’s annual photo day beginning at 8 a.m. at Finley Stadium, and it will scrimmage around 9:30 a.m.
Chattanooga opens the season Aug. 30 at No. 4 Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. Season tickets are still available by visiting UTC’s official athletics website, GoMocs.com or by calling the box office at 423-266-6627.
Elon
Phoenix Preseason Practice Update #13
ELON, N.C. ? The Elon Phoenix were back out at the Hunt and Tucker Fields in full pads under soggy conditions Wednesday evening for the 13th session - a two-hour affair -of the 2008 preseason practice schedule.
“I felt like Monday was probably our best practice day so far in the preseason and that today’s was probably our worst,” head coach Pete Lembo said. “We have to pick things up and get focused. We have some guys that are banged up and not in the lineup that are missing a lot of reps. the upside to that is that it allows us to evaluate some of the younger talent in pressure situations.”
Wednesday night’s session was a run-emphasis practice. During the first of three team periods, the Phoenix worked on run situations coming from their own one-yard line. The second team period stressed the “four minute offense,” where the team focused on gaining a first down with a lead late in the game to keep the clock running. The last team period of the night focused on the red zone offense. Elon’s special teams worked on punt, PAT field goals, and kick-off coverage.
“Overall the defense had a good night and played hard. The unit flew to the ball with a lot of enthusiasm,” continued Lembo. “Offensively, we were very inconsistent. We were plagued with some procedural penalties that are atypical for us.”
Freshman safety Zach Henderson and sophomore Terrell Wilson each hauled in an interception during the night’s two pass skeletons.
Quarterback Thomas Wilson, a freshman, completed a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Johnie Blackwell during the red-zone period.
The Phoenix will return to the Hunt and Tucker Fields at 2:15 Thursday afternoon for the 14th session of the 2008 Elon preseason football practice schedule. All sessions are open to the public and fans are encouraged to attend.
Furman
LAMB IMPRESSED WITH WEDNESDAY NIGHT SCRIMMAGE; PALADINS FRESHMAN TO VOLUNTEER WITH GREENVILLE LITERACY ASSOCIATION THURSDAY
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman’s second twin practice day of the preseason included a Wednesday evening scrimmage that left head head coach Bobby Lamb impressed.
“That was the best scrimmage we’ve had so far,” said Lamb following the 58-play session that also included 10 plays of third down situational work. “Our guys got amped in the third down session and it carried over into the scrimmage. There was a lot of competition and enthusiasm. It was good to see.”
In the regular scrimmage session backup quarterback Cody Worley connected on a pair of long passes, including a 48-yard play to split end David Hendrix. He later added a 35-yard touchdown strike to split end Chris Welborn.
“I thought Cody looked good and made some solid decisions.”
Lamb cited to the continued strong work of true freshman fullback Tersoo Uhaa and also complimented redshirt freshman defensive tackle Adim Obata.
“Adim is really stepping up for us on the defensive line.”
The competition at placekicker continued, with Trent Hawk bouncing back from a tough Tuesday session to convert 3-of-3 field goal attempts, including a pair of 42-yard efforts. Matthew Cesari also found the mark on all three field goal tries in Wednesday’s scrimmage.
The Paladins are scheduled to practice at 2:45 p.m. Thursday.
Off the field, Furman’s football program will provide a lift to the Greenville Literacy Association on Thursday when its 24 freshmen volunteer to lift and haul over 1200 boxes full of books at the GLA’s McAlister Square headquarters.
Furman’s volunteer effort will assist the GLA in preparation for the organization’s annual Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale, scheduled for Saturday, August 16 at McAlister Square.
The Paladin freshmen will wear jerseys and work from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Wofford
Wofford Football Practice Report
SPARTANBURG, SC ? After a single practice on Tuesday afternoon, the Wofford College football team was back with two practice sessions on Wednesday.
The first practice began at 8:45 am on the intramural field in full pads. For the second hour of the two-hour practice, a light rain fell on the coolest day of practice this season. During the punting period, Landon Bennett, Andy Strickland, Andrew Young and Craig Novack took turns punting. In the team periods, a reverse to Jeremy Marshall picked up impressive yardage. Matt Norcia had a fumble recovery, while David Royster and Andy Strickland both had big catches.
In the afternoon, the Terriers moved to the practice fields as the Carolina Panthers broke training camp. With the sun back out, things got started at 6:15 for the two-hour practice in helmets and shoulder pads. After a punt return period, highlights from the team drills included a run by Dane Romero, a big catch from Andrew Young in traffic for a 30-yard gain on a pass from Robbie Davis, and a run by Derek Boyce.
“Practice has been going well so far and the weather has been cooperating,” said quarterback Ben Widmyer. “I think the freshmen have a lot of stuff running through their heads and it gets rough sometimes when they do not know what they are doing. Everyone is coming along though and there should be a couple freshmen who can play right away and help us. The veteran guys are doing a good job. We have been working most on when to get in and out of plays. We had a lot of plays last year where we thought we could have had a better outcome. We are also working on the short passing game. We have some of those plays that we feel can help us. Those are new plays, so it takes a while to get the understanding of those.”
The players held out of both practices due to injury were Keaton Thompson, Mitch Clark, and Jordan Ingman and Devin Reed. Reed will miss 2-3 weeks due to a shoulder injury.
Practices are held on the practice fields behind Gibbs Stadium. All practices are open to the public; however keep in mind that the schedule can change without notice. The players will practice at 3:30 pm on Thursday and at 8:45 and 6:15 on Friday.
Samford
SAMFORD FOOTBALL PRACTICES TWICE ON WEDNESDAY
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.?The Samford football team practiced twice Wednesday. The Bulldogs practiced in full pads in the morning and in shells in the afternoon.
In the morning practice, the Bulldogs worked for about two hours. Head Coach Pat Sullivan said he saw some positives on both the offense and the defense.
“This morning, we had a physical practice,” Sullivan said. “We had a coming-out situation live at the end of practice. The defense made two good plays to start it off, and the offense came back and made some good plays as well, so there was some success on both sides.”
The Bulldogs practiced for about an hour and a half in the afternoon practice. Sullivan said the team was able to work on several situations during the afternoon workout.
“This afternoon, we were going to go in shorts, but we shortened it and decided to go in shorts and shoulder pads,” Sullivan said. “We got some teaching in and worked on some situations and things we have to do, as well as some of our gimmick plays that we want to put in. We also had another solid kicking day.”
Samford will practice again Thursday morning. The Bulldogs are scheduled to hit the field at 8:20 a.m. in full pads.
Samford opens the 2008 season on Thursday, Aug. 28, when the Bulldogs play host to West Georgia. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium.