VALDOSTA –– The back-to-back Gulf South Conference champion Valdosta State football team will hold its annual spring game Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. The game is free and open to the public.

The format for this year’s game will be a four quarter game with a running clock in the first and third quarters, while the second and fourth quarters will be like a normal game.

The Blazers will be split into a “Red Team” and a “Black Team” for the game, with the starters wearing black uniforms and everyone else wearing red uniforms. The Red Team will start the game with a 14-0 lead and the Black Team will have to try and battle back from the deficit.

VSU is coming off a 10-1 season where it won its eighth GSC title in 2019 and finished fifth nationally in the final American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the D2Football.com polls. The Blazers return a ton of talent from last year’s squad, including Harlon Hill Finalist quarterback Rogan Wells.

Head coach Gary Goff begins his second season at the helm of the Blazers and sat down to discuss how the spring season has gone and what fans can expect from the Spring Game Thursday evening.

Overall, how have you felt the spring has gone, including the five new guys who came in at the semester?

I think all five of the midyear guys are going to be great additions to the team for us. Both defensive linemen are going to be playmakers for us and both offensive linemen have had a good spring. The tight end (also will be a good player for us. The nice thing about this spring for our team returning is they are not learning a new scheme on offense and defense, now we can fine tune and master our position rather than learn it. The new guys are still trying to learn the scheme and will be really good players for us. The five new guys will be players people know and recognize on the field.

What have you seen from the offensive line as it was hit hard in graduation?

We have had a good battle up front on the offensive line. We have a solid tackle coming back in Ralph Singleton, who has had a good spring, but we lost Adonis Sealey and Brackin Smith to graduation.  Dez Ikpa has had a really good spring at left guard.  We are really trying to answer who will step in and be the right guard, center and left tackle.  We have had great competition for those positions between Ty Hinson, Caden Marcum, and Jerome Brown. Lee Klein and Kwan Stallworth both have had a good spring.

What other positions have really stepped up this spring?

We have really challenged Rogan (Wells) this spring, given him a lot more responsibility with formations and letting him call some plays.  He’s had a good spring because he’s not learning the offense this year as he had to last year.  This year, he’s been learning more about audible checking based on what he sees the defense doing. I think we are really deep at the running back position with Jamar (Thompkins) and Seth (McGill) as two all-conference returning players. Also, you will see a lot of Isaiah Flowers on Thursday night, along with Tanjuatco Gelin, another redshirt running back from a year ago.

On defense, I think our secondary has had a really good spring with Taurus Dotson becoming a leader for us. Aaron Dawson has also had a great spring. Mondrell Jefferson and Jalen Jackson both have had a great spring at the safety position. Having Ravarius Rivers, who was an All-American in 2018, and Corey Roberts gives us a lot of depth at the safety position.

At linebacker, Nick Moss will be back for his fifth year from his injury last year, which is a big plus for us. Stephon Williams, Jackson Bull, and Jameon Gaskin have all had great springs, while Connor Evans is another impact player who is back from injury. We have a very talented defensive line group with the likes of Eric Williams, Arrington Dulin, and Thomas Incoom.  The inside is where we lost some guys to graduation, so you will see some of the midyear guys like Corey Brown and Brian Williams in there, along with a number of returning guys in the mix.

I am very happy where we are right now after spring practice and my goal is to get out of the spring game healthy. We have worked really hard on the leadership development in the offseason. It’s not a question about talent here, it’s a question about what type of leadership we can develop.

What do you want to see from the spring game tomorrow?

I want to see very few mistakes; we should not be having missed assignments right now. We might get beaten on a play here or there, but we should compete at a high level and know our assignments. I want a clean game, no offsides, pass interferences, or holding – a more disciplined team. Last season came down to one play, we needed one person to make one more play and that was the difference in the season. We have talked a lot about that in the offseason.