News-Star news services With 16 days remaining until the start of the 2007 regular season, the Grambling State Tigers hit the field on Wednesday night for their second major scrimmage of camp. Compared to the team’s first scrimmage on Aug. 11, first-year head coach Rod Broadway said the Tigers are headed in the right direction after reviewing the tape.
Played before a nice-sized crowd at Robinson Stadium, the Tigers alternated their first and second team personnel in a variety of situations throughout the scrimmage. One thing that stood out to Broadway was the consistent play of the first team offensive and defensive units.
“I thought the first teams competed fairly well,” he said. “They had some alignment and assignment mistakes but they’ve made some progress and are getting better. If we can get everyone to compete, play hard and play fast, we’ll have a chance of being a pretty competitive football team.”
Several familiar faces provided highlights for the Tigers during Wednesday’s scrimmage. Offensively, All-American wide receiver Clyde Edwards remained consistent throughout the scrimmage as he caught a touchdown pass and several passes from quarterback Brandon Landers. In the backfield, the seven candidates vying for playing time at running back and fullback ran hard throughout the night while the offensive line had its moments.
Defensively, the defensive line and linebacker units recorded several sacks, flew to the ball and kept constant pressure on the quarterbacks. The secondary, which has been one of the most consistent areas throughout camp, performed well and minimized big plays from the offense.
With the start of classes slated to begin on Monday, Aug. 20, GSU will close out its two-a-day sessions on Friday with a strong emphasis on fine-tuning all three facets of the game.
“We’re going to work on our kicking game and focus on making sure the players know their assignments and alignments,” said Broadway. “We have to get consistent because the characteristics of being a champion are someone who can repeat their performance day-in and day-out and week-in and week-out. However, I understand its preseason and our team will have good days and bad days but all I want us to do is play hard and show progress. By looking at the tapes, I see that we’re beginning to make progress.
GSU opened practice this morning and concludes two-a-days with a 4 p.m. workout. On Saturday, the team will hold a 9 a.m. practice before taking part in GSU’s annual Fall Sports Fan Appreciation and Media Day on Saturday, Aug. 18 beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Robinson Stadium Support Complex on the campus of Grambling State.
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