Eagles Complete Final Two-a-Day Practice Wednesday
8/14/2014 11:40:00 AM | Football
Each of the night practices have focused on special teams
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STATESBORO, Ga. – On the banks of "Beautiful Eagle Creek" in the morning and surrounded by the newly expanded Paulson Stadium tonight, the Georgia Southern Football team finished its final two-a-day practice of the 2014 preseason on Wednesday. Coach Willie Fritz had used each of the second practices to focus on special teams, a.k.a. "Special Forces" with shorts and helmets sessions after a standard morning session in shoulder pads, helmets and shorts.
"We told the guys that we are going to get in good practices and if we think the weather is not going to cooperate, we'll wait and do it the next day," said Coach Willie Fritz about the change of the special teams practice from Tuesday to Wednesday night. "It was an important practice where we were doing a lot of kicking game and I wanted to make sure had a good dry field and it wasn't going to be raining the whole practice."
Fritz had targeted preseason as a time for the Eagles to install the special teams package after the majority of the 15 practices during spring ball were spent with evaluation of personnel and with the installation of the new offense. He notes that progress is being made each day and is encouraged by what he sees.
"We have a lot of guys who can run and hit," Fritz said. "When you are making up the kicking game, whether it is punt coverage, kickoff coverage, kickoff return, punt return, blocking punts, you are looking for dependable guys who can run and hit. Undependable guys will hurt you more in the kicking game than they will offensively and defensively. Luckily, we have the guys at Georgia Southern, who are dependable and run really well and aren't afraid to throw their body around."
In addition to the physical talents and collision courage needed in the kicking game, Fritz teaches the Eagles a lot about leverage and angles.
"In football, defensive football, but also offensive football, and especially in the kicking game, geometry is very, very important," Fritz said. "You have to understand angles, pursuit angles, cutoff points to block somebody. If the ball crosses your face and you lose leverage, that's where the big plays come into play."
The fundamentals of football, and leverage and angles, are emphasized in individual drills as well as in special teams practice.
"I tell them all the time, defensively, you can run any scheme you want, any coverage you want, any front you want, but if you play with great leverage and you can tackle, you're going to win," Fritz said. "If we can get those elementary principles of defensive football coverage and the kicking game down, we're going to be successful and you just have to keep reiterating those things over and over to your guys.
FOOTBALL OPERATIONS CENTER RIBBON CUTTING AND TOURS
Eagle fans will be able to tour the new Football Operations Center, including seeing the the new locker room and other facility highlights on Saturday, August 16th following the official ribbon cutting. Georgia Southern University President Brooks Keel and Director of Athletics Tom Kleinlein invite Eagle Nation to the ribbon cutting at 9 a.m. and to tour the building prior to the final scrimmage of preseason camp.
HONORING THE SIX NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS BEFORE FIRST GAME
Members of the inaugural 1982 Georgia Southern Football team and Eagles representing all six national championship teams be recognized and will take part in a special ceremony prior to the season opener on Saturday, September 6th. The ceremony will honor the six national championship teams and the flags, representing the most Division I-AA titles by any program, will be relocated to the top of the new Football Operations Center.
WALK-ON MEETING SET FOR AUGUST 18TH
A mandatory information meeting for Georgia Southern students interested in walking on to the Eagle Football team is set for Monday, August 18th at 5 p.m. at the Football Operations Center located at 205 Lanier Drive. Tryouts will be held Wednesday, August 20th at 7 p.m. Candidates must be Georgia Southern students enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours for Fall 2014.
Documents required at the information meeting for each student include: 1) Copy of student's fall 2014 class schedule verifying full-time enrollment, 2) A copy of a physical exam conducted within six months of August 20th tryout date; 3) Copy of the front and back of a medical insurance card and 4) Signed originals of the required sports medicine forms available here.
Participants must meet NCAA eligibility standards and agree and comply with the Georgia Southern and NCAA drug testing policy.
For more information about the meeting, required documents or tryouts, contact Shane Meyer at 912-478-5522.
SEASON TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Season tickets for the Eagles' first campaign in the Sun Belt Conference and FBS are on sale online now at GSEagles.com/fbtix and weekdays 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS. The five-game home campaign opens September 6th vs. Savannah State with two historic Thursday night games on ESPNU September 25th vs. Appalachian State and October 30th vs. Troy. Single game tickets for home games go on sale to the general public August 15th.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA.
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