STATESBORO, Ga. ? For the first time this fall the entire Georgia Southern Football team came together for practice. Monday morning's (Aug. 4) session marked day four of fall camp.
The Eagles will practice at the same time Tuesday (the first day in full pads) before the first multiple-workout during camp on Wednesday. Day four was similar to the previous three, temperatures in the 90s or higher and the occasional breeze to help combat the triple-digit heat index.
Second year head coach Chris Hatcher
and the Eagles went through a longer-than-normal practice Monday morning.
“We had a good practice, about two and a half hours. As you well know that's as long as I like to be out on the field at any time. But we got a lot of reps,” said Hatcher. “We've grouped guys, a starter with a young player out on the skill positions, just trying to find the best combinations and see who's going to be ready. Our goal is to work our guys as hard as we can until Saturday. We'll take a day off Saturday then take Sunday off as well. Going into the final week of camp we want to have our squad limited down so we can get one really good week of work with just the guys we are counting on playing.”
Starting quarterback Lee Chapple (Norcross/Greater Atlanta Christian) threw an impressive pass to Raja Andrews (Swainsboro/Swainsboro) but the senior wide receiver could not hold onto the ball. He made up for it later in the drive hauling in a Chapple pass for a touchdown... Preseason All-Southern Conference pick Larry Beard (Fairburn/Sandy Creek) knocked down a pass and nearly came away with an interception... Adam Urbano (Calhoun/Calhoun), one of the incoming freshman running backs looking for immediate playing time, broke off an impressive run deep into the secondary... Marc Thomas (Tampa, FL/Hillsborough) recorded a quarterback sack and fellow freshman linebacker Tavaris Williams (Hahira/Lowndes County) intercepted a pass and ran it back for a score... Senior linebacker Justin Callaway (Thomson/Thomson) picked up a loose ball and ran it in for a touchdown... Freshman running back David Arnold (Adel/Valdosta) caught a pass inside the redzone and scored a touchdown... Linebacker Harland Bower (Edison, N.J./East Ridge {FL}) recorded a quarterback sack and another tackle for a loss on the same drive... Terrione Benefield (Conyers/Heritage) completed an impressive interception earlier in practice. Callway tipped a pass then Jermaine Murphy (Kennesaw/Harrison) also got his hands on the pass but could not make the catch. He kept it airborne, which allowed Benefield to come up with the pick.
When evaluating the freshman class, Hatcher said it is too early to tell who will play immediately but thinks this is an impressive class.
“It's too early right now for me to just throw out some names (on who will play this year). I'll say this - this is one of the few classes that every one of the freshman I really believe has a chance to help us if not this year, next year, or a couple years down the road. We did a good job of evaluating, there's just not one guy out here where we say ?oh man, we can start him'. They're all doing well but there is a big learning curve, more so for some than others, but right now I believe they are right where they need to be.”
