This week will offer the big push for the Southern football team.
The Jaguars will have their first and only full week of preseason camp upcoming.
Last week, SU had three practices, with the first practice, on Thursday, split in half by weather. The offense and defense took turns going over plays in Seymour Gym instead of getting back on a soaked field. And next week, Camp Richardson XV will have to work around school, which begins Thursday.
SU, which returns to practice today, will have its first two-a-day Wednesday and go to full gear for the first time as well.
“We’re going to finish up on our installation,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “We want to see which ones can comprehend. We may make some position adjustments to try to get the best people on the field.”
Southern struggled with the heat and the addition of shoulder pads Saturday morning, with Richardson calling the workout one period shy of its scheduled 14.
“Hopefully, we can pick up the tempo again,” Richardson said.
The offensive line was and will remain a main concern for this team, and the situation didn’t get much better last week.
That’s because the line, which lost guards Adrian Banks and Jacoby Collins to academics since the spring, was without four potential starters Saturday: sophomore center Ramon Chinyoung, who was a no-show; junior tackle Ruben Oliver, who is not expected back until later in the week as he completes a summer internship; redshirt freshman guard Joshua Keelen, who came down with a back injury during Friday’s practice; and sophomore guard Allen Buckner, who is out with dehydration issues.
Keelen was with the defensive line all last fall but injured a shoulder that eventually required surgery in the offseason. Though Keelen was moved to offense in the spring, the surgery kept him from participating. That made this camp crucial for him to get up to speed.
Chinyoung, who was in summer conditioning and whom Richardson said had transportation problems returning to school from Houston, is the top center and a budding leader. His play allows senior Demarcus Stewart to shift over to guard. But Stewart had to handle the snaps last week and then sophomore center Daniel Stephens, a nonqualifier last season, went down Saturday with ankle/heat issues.
Though there are offensive linemen in camp whom are not accounted for on the team’s roster, the situation will improve when SU starts getting numbers back. As for now, newcomers can get more reps, but in the heat all that work can take its toll, as it did with the tempo grinding slower Saturday.
Also a concern: Junior running back Kendrick Smith had hamstring problems Saturday. That kind of lingering injury is a worry anyway, but Smith’s is made even more so considering Smith struggled with hamstring problems in the spring as well.
Smith had been a standout at both Patterson High and Coffeyville Community College and had been running second team to senior Darren Coates. Meanwhile, senior Larry Thomas, a former Southern Miss running back, arrived at school Tuesday and is still learning the offense.
With Southern’s staff saying revitalizing the running game is such a priority this season, having Smith sidelined is not a good sign.
Notes
There are 84 players on the roster who are in camp. However, there are players practicing who are not on the roster.
Richardson said having to go to Seymour Gym wasn’t a bad stroke. That allowed for more of a teaching atmosphere on the first day. “We went back in the classroom as far as assignments and trying to get that part right,” Richardson said. “When you don’t understand what you’re doing, you don’t go full speed and you open yourself up to injuries a lot of times. It worked out real well for us.” The deadline for the Shelmire Group’s rail and air packages for the Chicago Football Classic on Sept. 8 has been extended to Aug. 8. For more information, call (225) 356-9000.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh1kbojY_EM
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