SWAC
Alabama A&M: Bulldogs find starting quarterback
Head coach James Spady has seemingly found his starting quarterback for the 2015 season following Saturday’s scrimmage.
“No. 1 (quarterback) belongs to ‘Tootie (De’Angelo Ballard),’ ” Spady said. “‘Tootie’ took some steps today. “Right now, we’re looking for a backup.”
Alabama State: Brian Jenkins pleased with defensive effort
The Hornets defense kept the offense out of the end zone for most of the scrimmage and even put a touchdown on the board when Kenyan Davis intercepted a pass and returned it for a score.
Jackson State: Harold Jackson disappointed with offense production
“I was very disappointed with the offense,”Jackson said after the first unit offense was only able to find the end zone once in Saturday’s scrimmage. “Anytime we go out onto the field I want us to be competitive. But I know this time of the year of training camp can take a lot out of your legs, but the defensive guys’ legs came back.”
Southern: Passing game dominates defense in scrimmage
Austin Howard threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Mike Jones to start the workout, including five other scoring drives.
“Our receivers did an outstanding job,” head coach Dawson Odums said. “I think we did an outstanding of throwing the ball, and we did a great job of catching it.”
Arkansas-Pine Bluff: QB Marcus Terrell shines in first action
The UAPB offense set the tone early as they scored on the very first play of the scrimmage on a 60-yard TD pass to Kyle Coleman from Terrell.
Terrell recorded a couple of big scampers for the Golden Lions offense as he rushed 35 yards on one carry and 20 yards another.
MEAC
Florida A&M: Carson Royal plays well in first action
Royal threw five touchdown passes in FAMU’s scrimmage Saturday after getting off to a slow start.
“It started off kind of slow,” Royal told the Tallahassee Democrat. “I don’t think the guys we really in the mindset to come out here. It was our second practice of the day. We got rolling and we got things moving. We started working together more and everything fell into place.”
Savannah State: A lot of teaching to do after scrimmage
The Tigers have 69 underclassmen on the 2015 team, and head coach Earnest Wilson III understands every practice, including Saturday’s scrimmage, will be key to developing a young team.
“We’re moving forward and need a lot of repetitions for all of the young players that will be playing Division I football for the first time,” said Wilson. “We have over 40 freshmen, 29 sophomores and only seven seniors on the team this year. We have a lot of teaching to do,” Wilson added.
Morgan State: Defense ‘fast and aggressive’
Head coach Lee Hull has been impressed with new defensive coordinator Mike Fanoga throughout fall camp. The unit continued to play well during Saturday’s scrimmage.
“Coach [Fanoga] has them playing with more confidence,“Hull said. “We have a fast and aggressive defense and they will only get better.”
Norfolk State: Defense doesn’t miss a beat
The Spartans’ defense – which head coach Latrell Scott described as being slightly ahead of the offense to begin camp – held the Spartan offense off the board for the first half of the scrimmage. Highlights for the defense included an interception by senior cornerback D’Metrius Williams and a two-drive span that included sacks by linebackers Jay Anderson and Raynard Revels and another by nose guard Shawn Fauntleroy Jr.
“We had a lot of penalties early that slowed our offense down. We can’t put ourselves in 1st-and-20, 2nd-and-20 situations,” Scott said. “Our defense made some big plays early, too, but our offense bounced back nicely.”
South Carolina State: Too early to tell
“It was the first scrimmage and you can see some potential there but it’s still too early to tell at this point,” said head coach Buddy Pough.
“We have a lot of players that can do certain things, which will be important for us moving forward, “said Pough. “The fact that of the matter is we have to build some continuity and get all the right components in place to get things going.”
