SAVANNAH, Georgia -- Savannah State's offense scored 33 points and its defense intercepted four passes Saturday night, but first-year head coach Earnest Wilson III found a number of things he said the Tigers must improve upon.“I'm always looking for perfection so I wasn't pleased with anything. I hate to say it like that,” Wilson said following SSU's annual Blue & Orange scrimmage at T.A. Wright Stadium. “But I think that we're getting there, it's just that we've got to put it all together. The players are not understanding, and we're still teaching, all aspects of the game. Down and distance, playing hard; we're still taking a little bit more time to teach effort. And we don't want to teach effort. Effort's got to come. When that happens, we'll be fine.”
SSU's cheerleaders and marching band, The Coastal Empire Sound Explosion, also performed. A Fan Appreciation Day event consisting of players signing posters before kickoff was moved to Tiger Arena because of rain. The rain ended in time for the scrimmage.
Offensive players wore white jerseys, except for the quarterbacks (orange), and scored 33 points. The scrimmage's format was 20 plays from the 20-yard line, 20 plays from the 40-yard line, 20 plays from the other 40-yard line, and 20 plays from the other 20-yard line.
When the scrimmage began, sophomore Zach Hutcheson started at quarterback. Redshirt freshman Leon Prunty was the second QB to get action, followed by junior Victorian Hardison and senior Antonio Bostick, who is considered the favorite to be the starting quarterback again this season.
“No, right now he's not the starter,” Wilson said of Hutcheson. “We're just changing things up. We want to see how people respond … I don't have a starter yet … We wanted to shake the guys up, to be able to have what we call 'sudden change.'”
Hutcheson finished 6-of-10 passing for 46 yards and one touchdown. Hutcheson, a 6-foot-4, 208-pound transfer from Yuva College, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to sophomore running back Devine Noel. Hutcheson was intercepted one time by sophomore safety Dontre' Douse.
Prunty finished 7-of-15 passing for 66 yards. He was intercepted three times, twice by sophomore defensive back Alfred Ansley and once by freshman cornerback Jordan Jackson in the end zone.
“I was just reading his shoulders and reading his arm, just reading the direction he was throwing the ball,” Ansley said of Prunty. “We do drills every day, picking the ball, reading the quarterback. We do drills every day on breaking to the ball. It's just happening. It's coming naturally because we do it every day.”
In the first half, junior defensive back Brandon Jackson-Bell made a spectacular play, diving and batting down the ball with one hand to deny a pass from Hardison to senior wide receiver Simon Heyward.
The defense scored on a safety that could have been a touchdown had junior punter Preston McCarthy not alertly kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone.
The offense made it 7-2 on 1-yard touchdown plunge by Hardison. McCarthy kicked the extra point.
In the second half, Bostick threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Heyward, who beat sophomore defensive back Wayne Johnson for a jump-ball in the left corner of the end zone. Freshman John Barron kicked the extra point to make it 14-2.
“That's just timing,” Heyward said. “We've been together for three years. Before the play, I looked at Bostick and we saw the 1-on-1 (coverage) so we already knew we were checking out (of the called play) and going over the top.”
Hardison finished 4-of-5 passing for 39 yards without an interception and a 7-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Cantrell Frazier, followed by Barron's kick for the extra point, made it 21-2.
Freshman running back De'Quan Daniels' 2-yard touchdown run made it 27-2. McCarthy's kick for the extra point missed. McCarthy attempted a 33-yard field goal earlier in the scrimmage and it had the distance but missed to the right.
Hutcheson's 18-yard touchdown pass to Noel made it 33-2. Senior wide receiver/holder Jake Durham's pass for a two-point conversion was intercepted in the end zone by freshman linebacker Marquis Smith.
Bostick was 6-of-9 passing for 59 yards, including the 23-yard touchdown strike to Heyward. Bostick did not throw an interception.
Overall, SSU's quarterbacks were 23-of-39 passing for 210 yards and three touchdowns. They were intercepted four times and sacked six times.
Playing without two offensive linemen who were sidelined with injuries, the Tigers' running game accounted for minus-14 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. Sophomore Alex Simmons ran for 24 yards on six carries.
Junior tight end Kris Drummond made three catches for 46 yards, and Heyward had two catches for 40 yards and a touchdown.
SSU's season opener is at 6 p.m. Aug. 31 against Georgia Southern at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro.
COURTESY SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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