Football Practice Report - August 25
8/25/2007 4:25:00 AM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Head coach Chris Hatcher worked his Georgia Southern football team through a two hour practice Saturday morning, a session which officially ended fall camp.
Designed to get as many players as possible some reps, the squad worked on field goal/PAT kicking in addition to punt and kickoff coverage around the full contact 11-on-11 drills.
During the first half of the practice, seniors Jayson Foster and Lynon Jefferson connected on a highlight reel touchdown reception. Jefferson had a full extension dive on an over-the-shoulder catch to haul in the 50-yard pass. Foster later connected with Raja Andrews on a TD pass.
Later on, Mike Hamilton converted a goal line touchdown. During situations from the 5-yard line in the offense scored three times, two on runs by Lamar Lewis.
“I thought we had a good offensive day. We moved the ball well. You don't want to move the ball too well because then your defense isn't very good,” said Hatcher. “We had some moments on offense where we looked really good and we had some moments on defense where we really looked good. Right now it comes down to shoring up some of the finer points.”
The defense was not to be outdone. The Eagles recorded more than 10 tackles for a loss, broke up three passes and recovered two fumbles. Defensive coordinator Ashley Anders liked what he saw from his unit.
“I thought we had some guys, especially on the second team, that showed up ready to play. Our guys ran to the ball well. We have just got to get more consistent with the guys that were on the first team today. We have to get to a more consistent level play in and play out, series in and series out,” said Anders.
He also saw an aggressive unit making some key plays.
“The aggressiveness is getting to where we want it to be. You always want to improve every day you come out, but as far as the overall attitude and where we are moving forward to we got some good work in today.”
As the Eagles turn their focus to the season-opener on September 8th, Hatcher said they accomplished everything they wanted to out of Saturday's practice.
“Today was more a fun day. The guys knew they were going to come out and get no more than 20-30 reps apiece... This was an opportunity for the defense to get in more tackling. We had a good little scrimmage to end camp.”
Hatcher, who took over the job in January, had only 15 spring practices to see his team perform on the field. After seeing the Eagles during the past three weeks in camp, the first-year head coach thought his team improved each day.
“Overall it was a good camp. I thought we got a lot better each and every day. I think we are getting in shape. But we're getting to the point where we need to play a game and really see what we do well,” said Hatcher. “We've been going against each other for awhile now. We know how each other is going to line up to certain things. We need to go out there and play under the lights. However, I'm not saying we're ready to play yet. We've got a lot of little things that we really need to work on. We need to be a little sharper to be able to play on Saturday.”
Georgia Southern's season-opener on September 8th against West Georgia is set for a 6 p.m. kickoff. For ticket information call the Georgia Southern ticket office at (912) 681-0123 or 800-GSU-WINS.
