Football | 4/14/2016 9:04:00 PM

STATESBORO - On a cloudy Statesboro day, the Eagles soared through the darkness and continued to climb to new heights on the Beautiful Banks of Eagle Creek. 

The Eagles wore limited gear on Thursday, which consisted of helmets and shoulder pads in hopes of avoiding adding any names to the injury list before Saturday. However, Coach Tyson Summers was quick to set the tone of the practice by having the Eagles form a circle around him for a classic football drill referred to as the "Oklahoma Drill." Originally dreamt up by legendary Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bud Wilkinson, the Oklahoma Drill was developed from the Navy's V-5 preflight program to test candidates on their boxing and wrestling skills. In addition, it was used to evaluate candidates' competitiveness and aggressiveness in a wartime scenario. 

Nowadays, it's a football drill used to test players in full confined contact situations and as a "right of passage," by many coaches to gauge who's ready to compete. Summers could be seen cheering and calling out his Eagles at random which seemingly hyped up the entire team. 

Following the Oklahoma Drill, the Eagles looked determined to continue competing for their positions. The Eagles had a longer-than-usual practice schedule which consisted of 18 periods. Practice started with individual periods, moved to skelly periods and then ended with team periods. Throughout practice, the Eagles could be seen implementing the final details of their game plans in preps for the inaugural Blue vs. White Spring Football Game on Saturday, April 16. 

"I think that today was by far the best practice we've had. Period," Summers said. "I think the competition on both sides was good. I thought there were ups and downs on both sides. And it was good to see both groups rally back and not let one play effect another. We've taken a lot of time these past two days to teach, talk and try understand the big picture. We've met like that and I think that's really helped our kids today and what they're trying to do."

Fans can look forward to the third annual Tailgate Cook-Off, an autograph session, a UniFlame Gas Grill giveaway and newly added Punt, Pass and Kick competition. Summers seems eager to show the Eagle Nation what's been evolving throughout Spring Practice, as he and his coaching staff inch closer to continuing winning traditions in OUR HOUSE, the newly turfed Allen E. Paulson Stadium.

"I was thinking about it on my press conference December 26, I got to come out here on the field and it was torn up," Summers said. "We took some pictures that day and you look up a couple months later, you see the commitment to our football program and our athletics and everything they were able to do with this. It's going to be a great opportunity for us Saturday. We're really excited about. We're really, really hoping our fan base can come out to support our kids.

"I hope what our fan base is able to see is kids that playing with a lot of energy, kids that are excited about football and kids that are excited about competing," Summers continued. "I hope what they're able to see again is leadership with everything that we do. We've tried to split the teams as evenly as we possibly could. Whenever we sit there and go through that, we try to make sure that with everything that we do there is competition. I think our kids are excited about. We've certainly tried to build a lot of momentum around the Spring Game. We want to have as many people as we can here with our fan base and students."

Following practice, GSEagles.com got a chance to catch up with senior cornerback Darius Jones, Jr., to get his thoughts on practice and the upcoming Spring Game.

Q: What's going through your mind after today's practice? 
DJ: I just feel like we've gotten a whole lot better. We've started to realize what kind of scheme we're running as a team and everybody is getting along with the coaches. We're starting to gel pretty well."

Q: What's the leadership style of the cornerbacks right now? What's the motto that you play by? 
DJ: We've got a little phrase called 'I need that.' I'm the only one that came back with playing experience, but I feel like those young guys are stepping live they've been playing the entire time. I've taken a lot of leadership qualities from the guys that played last year. I feel like we're going to be good." 

Q: What's Coach Costantini expecting out of the cornerbacks for the Blue vs. White Spring Game? 
DJ: He's looking for effort and playing hard. That's one thing he won't take…Not playing hard. We're going to mess up. We're not going to do everything to a tee. This is Spring with new coaches. He's looking for us to give a lot of effort."

Q: What are you hoping to capitalize on for the upcoming season?
A: I want to have a better season than I did last year. Most importantly, it's to win more games than we did last year. I feel like we had a good season but it wasn't what we expected. The 8-4 record … I really hope we improve."

For all the information on Saturday's Spring Game, click here.