Raeburn, Savannah State Tigers look forward to continued progression following 3-7 season

HEAD COACH ERIK RAEBURN

SAVANNAH, Georgia -- Resiliency, Perseverance, Effort, and Heart.” These are all components of the message that Savannah State Tigers head football coach Erik Raeburn preached and taught to the student-athletes of the SSU football program throughout the season as a new season and era kicked off.

Raeburn was hired as the Tigers new head coach in March 2016 after Earnest Wilson III announced that he would be accepting a new head coach’s position at Elizabeth City State University and would be resigning from SSU.

Raeburn and the Tigers practiced and trained through many steaming hot summer days to prepare for a season that showed a lot of potential for the Tigers to make some noise.

During the preseason scrimmages, the Tigers introduced the “No Fly Zone” defensive scheme for a defensive unit that had improved greatly and there was much optimism throughout the Tiger Nation fan base.

Fans would get their first look at the Tigers in their season opener at Georgia Southern on September 3, but it was a disappointing outing for the Tigers as they were defeated 54-0 by the Eagles. The Tigers followed that up by traveling to Southern Mississippi University the next week and losing 56-0.

However, fans were still encouraged despite the huge margins of defeat because the strides and improvements that the defense had made were coming to full fruition, but there were lingering questions about the team’s offense which was struggling mightily.

CONTINUE READING