Eagles Put Up Numbers in Friday Scrimmage
8/28/2010 2:03:00 AM | Football
STATESBORO, Ga. - In a little more than three quarters of work in the final scrimmage of preseason, Georgia Southern put up a 48-3 score against the scout team on Friday afternoon at Paulson Stadium. The Eagle defense scored three of the touchdowns, two coming off Laron Scott (Warner Robins, Ga.) interceptions in the first half and one by sophomore linebacker Darius Eubanks (Harlem, Ga.) in the third quarter.
Late in the second quarter, junior quarterback Jaybo Shaw launched a pass to freshman wide receiver Tray Butler (Stockbridge, Ga.) for an 80-yard touchdown and then freshman quarterback Jerick McKinnon (Marietta, Ga.) followed up with a 84-yard pass to junior slotback Nico Hickey (Columbus, Ga.) for another score.
The two big passing plays gave the Eagles more than half of their total 179 total passing yards with 142 coming on the ground. Freshman fullback Robert Brown (Macon, Ga.) started the scoring with a 63-yard scramble on the first offensive series and finished the day with five carries for 80 yards. Senior fullback Lee Banks (Augusta, Ga.) added 28 yards on four carries.
Freshman defensive end Josh Gebhardt (Douglasville, Ga.) posted five tackles with sophomore John Douglas (Augusta, Ga.) picking up three and 1.5 tackles for loss. Eight Eagle defenders recorded two tackles each, including junior defensive tackle Roderick Tinsley (Soperton, Ga.) who had half of a tackle for loss and caught a touchdown reception for Georgia Southern's second offensive touchdown.
"I'm glad we have four more days of practice, because we have some mistakes we have to correct from today's scrimmage," said Eagles Head Coach Jeff Monken. "We'll practice hard this week and we still have a lot of things to accomplish before we get ready for this first game. Hopefully, we'll line up where we are supposed to, block who we are supposed to, run the right routes and play the right gaps and play hard, if we do that, I think we'll have a chance."
Part of the preparation before the season opener on Saturday, September 4th included the scouts imitating Savannah State's team to give the Eagles a look at what they might expect next week.
"I was proud of our scout team, the guys that lined up as Savannah State's defense and offense, I thought those guys did a nice job," Monken said. "We had some guys make some plays, including several new walk-ons who have only been out for a couple of weeks, and some of those guys did a nice job."
Kickoff for the Savannah State game is 6 p.m. next Saturday night and both season and single-game tickets may be purchased online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/tickets or by phone at 1-800-GSU-WINS (478-9467) and in person at the Athletics Ticket Office at 203 Lanier Drive in Statesboro. The office is open regular business hours Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and the Athletics Ticket Office opens three hours prior to kickoff on game day.
