Spring Practice Report #2
3/11/2008 4:22:00 AM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Day two of spring drills for Georgia Southern Football began with slight fog covering the practice fields but turned into a sunny morning. The Eagles will take Wednesday off before returning for practice #3 on Thursday morning.
Head coach Chris Hatcher, who was overall pleased following the initial workout, saw progression Tuesday.
“We looked a lot sharper in all areas. Our teamwork was a lot better and there was more competition going on. It was tough moving on both sides of the ball, so I thought today we were a little better than we were yesterday,” said Hatcher.
During the special teams/kicking session, redshirt-freshman Adrian Mora saw his first action since recovering from an off-season injury. He made 4-of-4 field goals. Senior All-America Jesse Hartley and junior Sean Mayo all got work in kicking PAT and field goals.
Special teams and the offensive line are just a couple of areas where several new faces will challenge for playing time. Numerous walk-ons from last fall are joined by others that made it through try-outs during the off-season. Hatcher said the walk-on program will be a key for success.
“It's always important. When you don't have a whole lot of scholarships to give each year you have got to do a good job of bringing in guys who just love to play the game. You find out every year you have 4-5 come in and earn scholarships,” said Hatcher, who mentioned wide receivers Chris Ashkouti and Joe Haynie as two walk-ons who helped the Eagles last year. “Those are two guys who saw substantial playing time, and we have some other guys who will play next year that walked on the team. We don't know who they are yet, but there will be some guys that'll step up and this spring we will get a better indication of who they will be.”
REPLACING THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Much of Georgia Southern's success on offense all started with the offensive line. The senior-laden group consisted of five starters and two top reserves. Two were three-year starters and another started the last two seasons. That leaves a giant void to fill.
Junior Ricory Green has met academic requirements and returns after starting all 11 games his redshirt-freshman year. Junior Cole Fountain saw limited action over the past two seasons. Senior Dio Herrera saw his 2007 season cut short due to injuries. Hatcher talked about key players going through spring drills at each O-Line position to replace, “One of the best offensive lines I have ever been associated with.”
According to Hatcher...
Center: “We expect redshirt-freshman William Maxwell and senior Lewis Brooks to battle for the center position.”
Right Guard: “You have junior Cole Fountain who played sparingly for us last year and Ricory Green will be back.”
Left Guard: “Dio Herrera is the returner there but he probably won't be able to go through spring due to a minor injury. There'll be a few walk-ons there.”
Left Tackle: “Chris Gray, the true-freshman who came in at midterm, and redshirt-freshman Brandavious Mann will battle there.”
Right Tackle: “Jared Flowers is pretty much the only guy we have there.”
BLUE-WHITE GAME TIME SET: The annual Blue-White game has been set for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Paulson Stadium on Saturday, April 12. More details on the day's events will follow.
SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE
(dates/times subject to change... all times at 8 a.m. unless otherwise noted)
Thursday, March 13 (shells)
Friday, March 14 (full pads)
Tuesday, March 25 (shells)
Thursday, March 27 (full)
Friday, March 28 (full, 2:30 p.m.)
Monday, March 31 (shells)
Tuesday, April 1 (full)
Thursday, April 3 (shells)
Friday, April 4 (full)
Tuesday, April 8 (full)
Thursday, April 10 (full)
Friday, April 11 (shorts)
Saturday, April 12... Blue-White Game at 1 p.m.
