The Tennessee State University football team will open their spring drills on Saturday, March 27, 2010 that will include fourteen practice sessions before the scheduled Spring Game on Saturday, April 17th.
Newly appointed head football coach Rod Reed and his staff will put the Tigers through drills three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Monday and Wednesday practices will begin at 8:00p and there will be two sessions on Saturdays, in the mornings and evenings.
The Tigers lost eleven seniors from last year’s team that finished the 2009 campaign with a 4-7 overall record, 3-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Spring drills for TSU will stress installing a new offense under new offensive coordinator Mike Jones, a former TSU player and NFL Europe coach. Positions of emphasis will be quarterback, receiver and offensive line, which will see shifts in personnel and schemes.
Defensively, the Tigers will see the return of 2009 All-OVC performers in safety Eugene Clifford (1st team) and linebacker John Jones, Jr. (2nd team). Seven of the top defensive performers from last year are scheduled to return for the 2010 campaign. Last season, the TSU defense ranked among the top three teams in the OVC in eight defensive categories.
The 2010 Spring Game, set for 1:00p, Saturday April 17th will be preceded by the Inaugural “Legends” football game. The “Legends” game organizers have enlisted over thirty-five former TSU players to compete in a brief flag football game on their former home turf of Hale Stadium.
