SAVANNAH, Georgia -- Steve Davenport, who is preparing for his third season as Savannah State University's football head coach, also will be the Tigers' offensive coordinator. He starts his new role at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday when SSU begins the first of 14 daily spring practice sessions at T.A. Wright Stadium.Davenport fills the void left by Terance Mathis, who resigned as offensive coordinator Jan. 1 after two seasons.
“I've decided that I will take over the reigns at offensive coordinator,” said Davenport, who is preparing the Tigers for their third season in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. “It's what my forte is and I'm looking forward to it. We will miss Coach Mathis and his leadership but I'm going to take over at offensive coordinator.”
SSU will practice in full pads for the first time during the fourth session March 25. All practices will be from 7:30-9:30 a.m. except for the Tigers' first scrimmage, which is from 9:30-11:30 a.m. April 6, and the annual spring game April 13, which will be played at a time to be announced later.
Davenport last served as an offensive coordinator during a two-year stint (2005-06) at Rockdale County High School in Conyers but said he is eager to instruct SSU's offensive players on a daily basis instead of being limited to coaching the position coaches.
“I learned under some good guys at UAB and I have some ideas about how I want to do things,” said Davenport, who came to SSU after serving as the University of Alabama-Birmingham's running backs coach since December 2006. “I'm looking forward to it. It's kind of rejuvenated me.
“Coming in, I just didn't know, being a first-time coach at the college level, I just didn't know how much time I would have to be able to do it. To be honest with you, (not coaching a position) made the job kind of boring. You managed the game but you never really felt like you were a part of it.”
As a four-year letterman at Georgia Tech, including three years as a starting wide receiver, Davenport also understands the offense from a player's perspective. When asked if SSU will throw the ball more this season, Davenport issued a challenge to his receivers by saying, “I will if they catch it.”
SSU finished 1-10 last season, averaging 13.4 points per game while allowing 44.9 points. The Tigers' offense averaged 82.1 yards rushing per game and 169.3 yards passing. Defensively, SSU allowed 286.5 yards rushing and 179.5 yards passing.
OFFENSIVE LINE
SSU's offensive line, which allowed 47 sacks for minus-327 yards last season, will have more depth this season.
“Obviously, it was a point of contention for us last season,” Davenport said. “We've signed seven people. The goal coming out of the season was to sign seven. And those kids who were thrown into the fire last year, we've got to get them prepared, too. We went to Oklahoma State with four true freshmen. Now those kids have gotten experience. Epa (Epafara Moananu) looks good. He's lost some weight. Same with Elijah Watson. And Devin Stainrod has really gotten stronger.”
Also returning for spring practice is Ioane Ioane, who was a 6-foot-5, 320-pound freshman last season but received a medical redshirt after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during fall practice. Ioane, whose nickname is “John John,” is a native of American Samoa along with Moananu.
“He's running around, jumping around, but not able to do some of the things in the spring,” Davenport said of Ioane. “But we expect 'John John' to be ready to go once fall camp rolls around. Obviously, (in the fall) it will be one year since he got hurt and that's about how long it takes. But he's looking good.”
QUARTERBACK
SSU returns starting quarterback Antonio Bostick, who will be a senior in the fall. Bostick was 118-of-283 passing (41.7 percent) for 1,629 yards and eight touchdowns with 13 interceptions last season.
Also returning at quarterback is rising junior Victorian Hardison, who was 21-of-52 passing (40.4 percent) for 233 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. Leon Prunty, who redshirted last season, also will compete for playing time.
“Every job is open,” Davenport said. “If Leon or Victorian show more improvement than Antonio then they are going to be the starting quarterback coming out of the spring. And that's only fair to every position. Give each and every kid an opportunity to compete.
“From a quarterback's perspective it will be a little different since we're changing the offense. It will be whoever grasps the new offense quickly. We think we're solid at that position in terms of experience. We're looking forward to seeing all three of those guys in the spring.”
RUNNING BACK
Rising senior Sheldon Barnes returns after finishing second on the team in rushing with 316 yards and a touchdown on 101 carries. Bostick was SSU's leading rusher with 345 yards and five touchdowns on 149 carries.
“Obviously, we struggled last year not having an offensive line with ability to push people around,” Davenport said. “It was tough for Sheldon but we expect Sheldon to have a great season for us.”
Rising sophomores Alex Simmons and Lereginald Veals will compete with Barnes for playing time. Simmons ran 30 times for 117 yards and Veals carried 35 times for 114 yards. Isaiah Nearor, a junior last season who transferred from the University of Cincinnati, has returned from a knee injury that forced SSU to redshirt him.
“We've got a lot of experience at tailback,” Davenport said. “At fullback we've got Rashaud Ferrell back for his senior year and Juwhan Arnold will be a junior. We expect those kids to step up and be ready to play.”
RECEIVER
Rising senior receiver Simon Heyward led SSU with 44 catches for 751 yards and six touchdowns. Receiver Dylan Cook, back for his senior season, made 37 catches for 491 yards and a touchdown. Rising junior tight end Kris Drummond had 21 catches for 318 yards and a touchdown.
“We think our receiving corps is as good as it gets in this conference, collectively,” Davenport said. “Simon had a breakout season last year. Dylan is as sturdy as they come. And we expect (rising junior Edward) Lackey to come back fully. He had a back injury last year and we redshirted him.
“At the tight end, Kris Drummond had a disappointing year last year, from our perspective. We expect him to come out ready to go. He looks good. He's put on about 15 pounds so we're expecting big things from him.”
DEFENSIVE LINE
SSU signed four junior-college transfers, three of whom have been enrolled since January.
“What we tried to do was go out and get bigger guys up front. We think we've done that,” said Davenport.
SSU's largest signee is 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive lineman Sebastian Pittman, a Chicago native who played at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Pittman made 45 tackles, including four-and-a-half sacks, and earned all-conference honors. Another junior-college transfer on the defensive line is 6-foot-1, 295-pound Christian Martinez, who played at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa.
“Olajuwon Swearinger had a productive year at defensive end,” Davenport said of the rising sophomore, who made 25 tackles, including a team-high three-and-a-half sacks.
LINEBACKER
Rising junior linebacker Wayne Burden led SSU in tackles with 75, including two sacks, last season.
“We're deep there,” Davenport said. “We lost Travis Alston (a senior last season) but everyone else is coming back. We feel like we'll be solid there.”
Rising sophomore Trevion Ashford made 33 tackles and intercepted a pass.
“Tre Ashford, we think, is going to be an all-conference-type player at some point,”
Davenport said. “He played well as a freshman. He's gotten bigger, stronger and faster in the offseason.”
SECONDARY
Rising senior cornerback John Wilson was third on the team in tackles with 68 last season and made a team-high four interceptions. Rising senior Javon Moore made 32 tackles and picked off two passes, returning one for a touchdown.
“Cornerbacks? We think we've got the best tandem in the conference with John Wilson and Javon Moore,” Davenport said. “Javon needs to get a little bit stronger, get in the weight room a little bit more. And John Wilson, we thought, was an all-conference player but, unfortunately, he did not get the votes to be All-MEAC.
“Wayne Johnson had a tremendous freshman season for us backing up both sides. We expect him to be ready to compete. We feel so good about that position that we didn't recruit any cornerbacks.”
Davenport said he is concerned about a lack of depth at safety. Rising junior Vaughn Cornelia and rising senior Jovante Miller are expected to catch up after missing time because of injuries.
“At safety, we've got some work to do,” Davenport said. “Injuries had more to do with it than anything. We've got some numbers issues at safety.”
SPECIAL TEAMS
On special teams, SSU returned five punts for 91 yards without a touchdown, while opponents returned 44 punts for 587 yards and three touchdowns. Heyward returned two punts for eight yards total. Simmons, Veals and Alfred Ansley each returned one punt, the longest being Veals' 43-yard return.
Rising junior Brandon Jackson-Bell returned 17 kickoffs for 282 yards, while Heyward took back 11 kickoffs for 286 yards. Cantrell Frazier (13-249) and Veals (13-173) also returned multiple kickoffs.
Rising junior Preston McCarthy was 4-of-6 on field-goal attempts with a long of 33 yards. McCarthy kicked off 28 times for 1,298 yards, an average of 46.4 yards.
Rising sophomore Jacob Thomas punted 86 times for 3,193 yards, an average of 37.1 yards. Three of his punts were blocked.
“We've got both kickers coming back from last season,” Davenport said. “Preston McCarthy had a solid season. We've asked him in the offseason to work from the 50. We thought he was solid last season from 35 in. Jacob Thomas, the thing we're working on with him is consistency. There were times when he would boom it. There were times when he would not.”
Davenport said 61 students attempted to make the team as walk-ons in January.
“We cut it down quite a bit,” he said. “But we got some good-looking bodies who decided to walk on. We've had a tremendous level of interest from our student body wanting to be part of the program.”
The Tigers have spent the last three weeks conducting mat drills, and going through strength and conditioning workouts.
“We signed a bunch of kids to come in here in the fall,” Davenport said. “We're going to give them every opportunity to show us what they can do. (Spring practice) is a head start for those guys (already enrolled) who have been working hard.
“The enthusiasm is definitely there. Now we feel like we're playing with juniors and seniors. That was the plan the day I walked on campus. The teams that have had success in this conference have been senior-laden teams. And now we feel that we're at that level as well. Now we've just got to get prepared and go out and do it.”
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