JOURNAL SPORTS
Grambling and Northwestern State collide on Sept. 10 in Independence Stadium aiming for improvement from their 2021 seasons. Saturday, each squad got its first full scrimmage action of preseason and each head coach noted progress.
NORTHWESTERN STATE: In Natchitoches, the scrimmage had a little of what fifth-year head coach Brad Laird hoped for and expected.
There was a fast start by the Demon offense that included several big plays and a plethora of playmakers and a defense that made the necessary adjustments later in the day.
Finally, there were teachable moments on both sides of the ball and approximately 100 plays of information from which Laird and his staff can continue to glean information.
“A good day – close to 100 snaps, (in a) clean football game,” Laird said. “There’s things in all three phases we did well and things we need to correct. The one thing through 100 snaps and another 20 special teams plays, we only had five penalties. Offensively, we protected the ball. Defensively, you want to force turnovers, but we protected the ball.
“Offensively, we came out fast. Three touchdowns the first four drives and four of five in one stretch. Then the defense did what you wanted to see. They made adjustments once we got into the situational scrimmages – the coming out, the red zone and the 2-minute. You saw the defense make some key stops. Great film to evaluate, which was key for us. We’ll make our corrections and see where we are.”
The Demon offense started quickly, scoring on three of its first four possessions.
Two of those touchdowns were chunk plays, starting with Zach Patterson’s 65-yard, catch-and-run score on the second play of the second drive.
“I came off the ball, put a good tempo on it,” he said. “The DB tried to play the ball, I caught it and I knew I had to score it. When you have those opportunities, you have to make the best play you can.”
Patterson’s scoring grab was one of four touchdowns that covered at least 21 yards – all of which came through the air.
Quarterbacks Miles Fallin, Zachary Clement and Kaleb Fletcher combined to go 34-for-59 for 502 yards and five touchdowns. Fallin and Clement each threw a pair of scores while Fletcher added a 40-yard strike to Jaren Mitchell for his touchdown toss.
The trio of quarterbacks had plenty of options to distribute the ball and took advantage as 13 different players caught a pass. Freshman Hogan Wasson collected a scrimmage-high six catches while Stanley King hauled in four passes for 100 yards, including a 32-yard scoring pass from Clement.
While the offense started quickly, the Purple Swarm defense settled in late in the scrimmage, keeping the offense scoreless in four of the final six drives. The only points they allowed in that time came in the two red-zone possessions that ended with a 2-yard Kennieth Lacy touchdown run and a 37-yard Eddie Godina field goal after a three-and-out.
GRAMBLING: New GSU head coach Hue Jackson was pleased with what he saw Saturday morning and how his team is developing its new culture. There was productivity from the offense in the scrimmage, but the Tiger defense clearly had the best day.
Grambling has five new quarterbacks — Chance Amie, Julian Calvez, Amani Gilmore, Quaterius Hawkins and Kajiya Hollawayne, vying to operate the first-team offense and Jackson played all five during Saturday’s scrimmage.
Calvez, a freshman, and Amie, a junior transfer from Syracuse, threw the longest completions of the scrimmage, but none of the five quarterbacks appeared to truly lock down the top spot in GSU’s “arms race.”
“I think we’re where we need to be at this point,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to name a quarterback soon, at some point of time here because I think that’s what takes the team over the top — somebody they can go follow and believe in. We’re getting closer to that.
“Today there were some good things and there were some throws I wanted to jump on some people about. But at the same time, there were some plays that were made and that’s all you ask for. They didn’t turn the ball over and that’s really important. That’s the key to winning many a football game. So that message has been pounded into them. I’ve seen a couple of times where fans might think it’s a bad play, but they’ve been told to throw the ball away. Our goal is to always get to the next down with the ball. So that was very rewarding to me as a coach. That’s what we preach and that’s what was done today.”
As far as GSU’s running back corps, freshman Jaden Handy broke off the longest run of the day, racing around 60 yards to paydirt, but that play was backed by an illegal blocking call.
Keilon Elder, Jaylen Joseph and CJ Russell are the returning running backs for the Tigers and have been joined by newcomers Floyd Chalk IV, Jaden Handy, Dedrick Talbert, Maurice Washington and Chance Williams to give Jackson a full stable of diverse talent to run the football.
“I saw things from Williams, I saw Chalk, Handy, and even CJ Russell and Elder. I mean, we have some guys, and they’re all different shapes, sizes and forms. But they’re talented, and I’m excited about that because I truly believe how you win in football is run,” Jackson said. “I think you throw to score but run to win. At some point we’re going to have to run the ball and I think we can. But you’ve got to be able to throw as well, so I think we have the chance to be very dynamic on offense as we move forward.”
But while gaining confidence in his offense, it was the defense that Jackson knew won the day on Saturday.
“The strength of this team is our defense,” Jackson said. “The defense is the heartbeat of this team. We have some very talented players over there that everybody knows, and they’re really coming on.”
Jackson said the best thing about scrimmage was the forward vision it will help provide.
“I’m happy about where we are as a football team,” Jackson said. “I see where we need to improve. I see the improvement we’ve made from spring to now. The next jump is going to be the next two weeks and I think if we can get there I’m excited about starting the season the right way.”
Photo by CHRIS REICH, Northwestern State
