Scrimmage could help separate Southern running backs

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  -- Two weeks into the fall practice schedule and three weeks away from the season opener, the Southern Jaguars have their share of questions going into Saturday’s first scrimmage of preseason practice.

One of the biggest is how their stable of tailbacks will shake out come Aug. 30.

Projected starter Lenard Tillery is sidelined with a minor ankle injury.

“Tillery has had a pretty nice spring,” running backs coach Elvis Joseph said. “He’ll back in a couple of days, so we’re just going to be smart with him right now. We don’t want to push him.”

The injury to Tillery will give the other backs a chance to showcase their abilities and make their claim to be included in the rotation this fa

CONTINUE READING



Southern cooks up depth at receiver with Chuck Baker aboard

If Thursday morning’s practice was any indication, the Southern football team’s defense looks to be a step ahead of its offensive counterparts.

When practice concluded with the sides squaring off in red zone, goal line and overtime situations, the defense consistently came out ahead. Co-offensive coordinator Chadwick Germany said his players have a lot of catching up to do.

“The defense did a great job of being hard-nosed,” he said. “As an offense, we’re not satisfied with where we are.”

His group welcomed All-Southwestern Athletic Conference receiver Lee Doss back to practice Thursday after he suffered a hip contusion Monday. Doss led the Jaguars with 65 catches for 703 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior last season.

“We think we’ll have a good, solid unit at receiver led by Doss,” Germany said.

CONTINUE READING



Southern football team to scrimmage Saturday

The Southern football team will conduct the first of two full-squad scrimmages on Saturday with an eye on improving execution and communication.

The scrimmage, which is set to start at 9 a.m., will consist of the first-team offense against the first-team defense, as well as the second-team units squaring off with some third-unit players seeing action.

Coach Dawson Odums said the scrimmage will focus on game-day situations: red-zone, goal-line and open-field scenarios.

“Everything will be situational,” Odums said. “We’ll work on being backed up on our own goal line. Just all game-day situations.”

CONTINUE READING