Savannah State without 33 players for football spring practice

Starting QB Kurvin Curry is missing from SSU spring drills. The Tigers finished '09 with a 2-8 record.

Savannah State University's football team conducted the first of 15 spring practices Monday without 33 players. The Tigers' spring roster includes 49 players. Missing from the two-hour workout, which began at 5:15 a.m. at T.A. Wright Stadium, were 13 ineligible players and 20 players who quit or were dismissed from the team, SSU sports information director Opio Mashariki said. He declined to identify who was ineligible and who had left the team.

Starting quarterback Kurvin Curry, a sophomore last season, is among those missing from drills, although the veteran was present at practice. He is absent for a second consecutive spring. Five players are in the Chatham County jail on charges stemming from a Feb. 5 attack on two fellow students on campus.

Defensive backs Edward Ndem, Jevontae Jefferson and Patrick Thomas, defensive lineman Juvaro Goodman and running back Rashard Russell are charged with aggravated assault. All but Russell also are charged with aggravated battery. Their cases will go to a Chatham County grand jury, where prosecutors are expected to seek indictments within 90 days. Chatham County Recorder's Court Judge Tammy Stokes last Tuesday denied bond for the five defendants.

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