Gamecocks Scrimmage For First Time In Fall Camp

Posted: 8/5/2023 12:53:00 PM
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State football team held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday morning on the turf of Burgess-Sow Field, taking another step in its preparations for the 2023 season.
The Gamecocks practiced on the turf for the first time since camp began on July 26, and head coach Rich Rodriguez saw things progress after a slower start than he'd liked to have seen.
"I thought we didn't quite move around as quickly as we needed to," Rodriguez said. "It was a little warmer out on the turf – probably about 10-15 degrees hotter – and that may have had something to do with it."
Once the practice moved toward the live scrimmage portion, where Rodriguez and his staff had planned to get about 80 plays in before the end of the workout, he acknowledged that it achieved what he wanted. He and his staff ill now turn to evaluation.
"We got some good film in now and can evaluate it a little bit," he added. "We have a lot of young guys that we are going to count on that have to get a whole lot better, but I'm not panicking right now. We have three weeks to get better, so we will see how much improvement we make in a week."
Big plays were made on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, and redshirt senior and veteran quarterback Zion Webb praised the preparation and execution for the Gamecock offense for most of the practice.
"I thought we looked pretty good, but there are still areas where we can get better," Webb said. "For the most part I think we moved the ball well, everybody understood what they had to do and we got the job done."
Webb attributed a year in Rodriguez's offensive system to making things slow down for him and his offensive teammates. The familiarity that comes with the year of experience has not only helped Webb improve but he says has helped him make those around him better.
"It is much slower for me (this year)," Webb said. "Just me understanding the game, understanding the offense and knowing where I have to go with the ball give me a lot of confidence. And I can tell the other guys and help them understand where they have to be and help the team out."
Redshirt junior linebacker Laletia Hale is a player that Rodriguez has noticed during fall camp. Hale thinks the Gamecock defense is making strides entering year two under Rodriguez and his staff, but emphasized the adjustment period to the speed of which the Gamecocks are required to practice.
"I think the defense is doing pretty good, but the biggest thig that I see is the new guys adjusting to the tempo that Coach Rodriguez practices with," Hale said. "After they are able to adjust to that they will be able to play faster. It is a lot to think about, especially when you aren't used to practicing that fast."
Like Webb, Hale also attributed the year of experience to what has been most helpful in defensive preparations for the season. A stable of returning defensive players has helped the newcomers more this summer than they could when everyone was new to the system a year ago.
"Over this summer we were able to prepare the new guys for how the tempo would be," Hale said. "Last year we couldn't prepare for what was to come in the season, but now we have a lot of people back and a lot of people that can help in different rooms other than the coaches."
The Gamecocks will kick off their first season in Conference USA and Football's Bowl Subdivision in three weeks, and Rodriguez emphasized how critical the next week would be in preparations for the season.
"Two weeks out (from the first game) is when you really start getting ready, so we have one more week to really concentrate on ourselves, try to fix our issues and then go from there," Rodriguez added.