The Valdosta State football team will hold its first scrimmage of the fall on Saturday. The scrimmage is open to the public and will begin promptly at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. The scrimmage is the first of two this fall, with the second being held Aug. 19. The Blazers open the regular season Sept. 1 at Saginaw Valley State.
Here are five things to watch this scrimmage:
1) Greg Reid in full pads
The newest member of the VSU football team, Greg Reid, will participate in his first full-contact practice with the Blazers on Saturday morning. Head coach David Dean said Reid will play in the scrimmage, but how much he will play depends on how fast he can grasp the defensive scheme. Reid will wear No. 24 this season for the Blazers and is expected to overtake the starting cornerback spot from Alex Webster, who faces a two-game suspension to start the season. Reid will also compete with Quin Roberson for the starting punt return job.
2) Offense vs. Defense
So far this preseason, the Valdosta State defense has seemed to have the edge throughout team drills. At times, the Valdosta State offense has had trouble gaining first downs against the stingy VSU defense. At Wednesday's practice, both sides of the ball were electric, swapping big-play for big-play.
3) The punting game
One of the open competitions this camp is at punter. Several candidates are competing for the starting punter position, including Dom Demasi, a member of the Blazer baseball team. Demasi and place kicker Daniel Andersen seem to be the leading candidates to fill the role left void by Jack Fulford, who graduated this past year.
4) Juwan Johnson
With a banged up Theseus Jackson, freshman running back Juwan Johnson will get an opportunity to shine during Saturday's scrimmage. Jackson will see limited action in the scrimmage after suffering an ankle injury during last Saturday's practice. Johnson, a true-freshman from Groves High School in Savannah, has shined this camp, turning heads with his quick moves into holes and his strength to blow through various defenders. Along with Johnson, freshman Eric Scott will also get an opportunity to run plays with the first team offense.
5) Lance Holder/Jeremy Grable on defense
Safety Lance Holder and linebacker Jeremy Grable are said to be having great camps for the Blazers. Saturday will give both players the opportunity to show how far they've come in filling in giant holes on the Blazer defense. Holder is leading candidate to replace All-American Harrison Dreiling and Grable is looking to replace Japree Miles at outside linebacker. He is battling for the position with Trokon Gaye and Chas Matthews.
