Accent put on depth in final scrimmage
By 10 a.m. Saturday, Texas Southern had concluded its nearly twohour football scrimmage.
Star quarterback Andrew Body did not participate. The sophomore stood on the sideline wearing a No. 1 red jersey. Tigers coach Clarence McKinney knows what he has in Body, who in 2021 threw for 2,017 yards after taking over as the starter during the third week at Rice.
“I know we’re taking him to the game,” said McKinney, whose Tigers open their 2022 season at Prairie View A&M on Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.
Saturday’s final scrimmage before classes start Monday at TSU was concentrated on looking at reserves: where they fit in the rotation, and appraising others to see if they will make the travel squad.
Next week will be about putting a game plan together against Prairie View, which played for the SWAC title a year ago.
“We played a lot of young guys today,” said McKinney, who is beginning his fourth season leading the program. “We’re trying to figure out (several positions), and who our backup quarterback is going to be. We gave those guys (reserves) quite a bit of snaps. We’re going to evaluate the video and see who deserves to be on the bus.”
There’s a four-man competition for secondstring quarterback between Prairie View transfer Shayne Lawrence, Jacob Landry, who has been in the system, Tison Hill and incoming freshman Oscar Gordon III.
They took all the reps Saturday at Durley Stadium.
“Today, it was trying to see who is going to step up into the role as the backup,” said Body. “It was a big evaluation for them.”
As far as training camp in general, coaches and players alike are encouraged on how the Tigers have progressed and how the team is relatively healthy.
“It’s been progression throughout the whole camp,” All-SWAC linebacker Tarik Cooper said.
“Coming on the field today, early, it was a bunch of energy defensively.”
The defense had four three-and-outs early. After that, the offense found its rhythm.
Like Body, there was no real need for Cooper to engage in the scrimmage. Cooper played the role of sideline coach/cheerleader, keeping up the energy on the side of the playing field.
A longtime coach on the offensive side of the ball, McKinney has seen growth from that unit with the season starting in two weeks.
“We’ve seen flashes of being great, but we’ve got to be more consistent,” McKinney said.
Body is definitely the leader of an offense that averaged 29.0 points and 429.3 yards per game in 2021.
“We’ve been looking good, honestly,” Body said. “As far as the O-line, we’re looking good with them, receivers, we’re looking good. The running back room for sure, deep. So, we’re working on chemistry at this point. We’ve been working on that ever since last season.”
Among Body’s receiving targets in training camp have been Savion Sims, C’ing Blanton, A.J. McDuffy and Dylan Hamilton.
Starting offensive lineman Aidan Hemphill has made strides in camp coming off an injury.
On Saturday morning, the defense played tough, not allowing a lot of yards. The main disappointment in that unit was it failed to create a turnover. The defensive starters did not play.
Defensive players who the coaching staff noticed in the team’s second scrimmage of camp were sophomore defensive end Michael Akins, sophomore defensive tackle Rolland Trent, sophomore transfer linebacker KeShon Spraggins of McKendree University, and Briar Cliff University transfer KaDeem Muhammad.
“Our defense has made tremendous jumps from last season,” said offensive right tackle Drake Centers, going into his fifth season.
“I see it firsthand. From the guys on the front line, to the second level, the linebackers, all the way to the safeties. Everybody is coming with a different mentality.”
In 2021, the Tigers allowed an average of 39.7 points and nearly 500 yards during a 3-8season.
Starting defensive linemen Demontario Anderson, Tyler Martinez and Viramontes Pippens sat out Saturday’s scrimmage.
“We got a lot of young guys receiving some experience throughout the camp,” McKinney said.