RB Tillery has big day in Southern scrimmage

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  There may be more than five months until Southern opens its football season Aug. 30 at the University of Houston, but one running back has already begun to emerge as the clear frontrunner in the backfield.

Sophomore Lenard Tillery shined in Southern’s spring scrimmage finale Saturday, busting out for 111 yards on 18 carries to easily lead all rushers on the afternoon. Southern ranked last in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 2012, averaging just 79.5 yards per game on the ground.

But behind a rejuvenated O-line and a new offensive system, first-year coach Dawson Odums thinks 2013 may be a different story.

“I think we ran the ball the best we’ve ran it since we’ve been here,” Odums said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “Lenard Tillery ran the ball really well, and he is going to be a great running back for us going into the fall.”

The rest of the running backs combined for just 60 yards, compared to Tillery’s 6.2 yard-per-carry average. The McKinley High alum called his outing Saturday “decent at best,” but his efforts clearly impressed Odums, who tabbed Tillery as the lead man for the starting job heading into the fall.

READ MORE