SSU Football Team To Conduct First Scrimmage Saturday

HEAD COACH EARNEST WILSON III
(Courtesy SSU Athletics)

SAVANNAH, Georgia  -- A tenacious defense, efficient offense and overall display of solid fundamentals. Those are the things Savannah State University first-year head coach Earnest Wilson III said he hopes to see during the Tigers' first scrimmage at 8 a.m. Saturday at T.A. Wright Stadium.
 
“You want to be able to see the defense stop people but at the same time you want to see the offense score,” said Wilson, who was hired June 7 from Hampton University, where he was the Pirates' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. “You want to see consistency. You want to see the fundamentals and good technique being executed. You want to see a sense of urgency on both sides of the ball, and we want to make sure that they are assignment-correct. If I can see fundamentals and good technique, and a sense of urgency, then I think Savannah State football is going in the right direction.”

Wilson and his assistants have been busy working with the players who returned after finishing 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference last season. The coaching staff sees tremendous potential in an offense that returns 10 starters and a defense that brings back eight starters. SSU lost three starters from last season's team: offensive lineman Cedric Brown, defensive tackle James Briscoe, and nose tackle Terrance Williams.
 
“We have 86 guys now on our roster,” Wilson said. “We pretty much hit every day. We're doing a lot of hitting. We're trying to get the team into a game-mode mentality at all times.”

SSU averaged 13.4 points per game while allowing 44.9 points last season. The Tigers averaged 82.1 yards rushing and 169.3 yards passing. Defensively, SSU allowed 286.5 yards rushing and 179.5 yards passing.
 
“All positions are open,” Wilson said. “This team went 1-10 last year so nobody's a real starter here. Everybody's got to fight it out for a position.”

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