VALDOSTA — VALDOSTA — Valdosta State’s football team wraps up spring practice today with the annual spring game at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
The spring game will begin at 11 a.m.
The public is welcome to attend, and there is no cost for admission.
“(I’m) looking forward to seeing our guys go out, see how they compete, playing in front of a crowd,” Valdosta State head coach David Dean said.
The teams will play four 12-minute quarters. It will be like a regular football game, except that the defense is not allowed to hit the quarterback (who will be wearing a red jersey) and there will not be any kickoffs. Whenever a team scores, the other team will automatically take over at its own 25 to start the next possession.
The VSU players have been split up into two teams. On Thursday, a draft was held, and the two teams took turns picking players. Cornerback Stevie Harden, a Valdosta native that has had a good spring (according to Dean), was the first pick in the draft, by the White team. After Harden was drafted, the two teams drafted all of the other cornerbacks. Then the Black team picked linebacker Larry Dean, and after he was drafted, the two teams divided up the rest of the linebackers.
Rising junior Jimmy Coy will be the starting quarterback for one team, while senior Russ Callaway will lead the other team. Coy and Callaway are currently the front-runners to earn the starting quarterback job. The team’s other quarterbacks will also get snaps today.
The VSU coaching staff will also be divided in half. Coach Dean will not be coaching in the game. He will be watching from the sideline as a neutral observer, and letting his assistants do the coaching.
Coach Dean looks forward to getting a chance to watch and evaluate the Blazers’ players in the game.
“The big thing for us tomorrow is we’ve got to answer a lot of questions. We’ve got a lot of guys that have solidified starting positions, but some of them have not solidified positions yet,” he said on Friday. “And then you’ve also got guys that are No. 2 or No. 3 (on the depth chart), and those guys can step up tomorrow and solidify themselves as No. 2. So we’ve got a lot of questions that we need to answer tomorrow. But I feel good.”
Valdosta State will be honoring the U.S. military tomorrow. Before the spring game, there will be a flag football game between military personnel from Moody Air Force Base and the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany at 10 a.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
“We’re looking for a good day, basically just to say thank you to those guys who fought for us and help us out,” Dean said. “We wouldn’t be doing the things we’re doing now if we didn’t have the support of the United States’ armed forces, and this is a way for us to say thank you.”
VSU director of athletic advancement Whit Chappell, a retired U.S. Air Force major, will be the honorary head coach of the Black team, while U.S. Marine Col. Jeff Hooks, who played for VSU in 1985-86, will be the honorary head coach of the White team.
Local Sports
Blazers’ spring football game today
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