Saturday practice notebook

The Valdosta State football held its only two-a-day practice of the fall on Saturday. In the first practice Saturday morning (the other practice is Saturday night at 8 p.m.), the Blazers worked for 2 1/2 hours until the morning sun in full pads.

Kaleb Nobles (Ed Hooper | The Valdosta Daily Times)

The practice was the Blazers' first full practice in full pads after Friday's full-pad practice was cut short due to heavy thunderstorms in the Valdosta area.
Saturday's practice featured a physical team practice session, the team's first in full pads.
"It was pretty physical," head coach David Dean said. "This was really our first full-contact stuff we've had because we got rained out Friday. We worked a lot of short yardage and goal line stuff so everything we packed in there. There really wasn't a lot of collisions. It was a lot of 'lets lineup and knock someone of the ball.'"
 
Here are some notes from the Saturday morning practice:

Jackson hobbles off field

Senior running back Theseus Jackson left practice early with an apparent ankle injury. Jackson was seen limping off the field and hobbling down the sidewalk towards the locker room. He suffered the injury during the team portion of practice. The severity of the injury is not known at this time.

Nobles No. 2

Freshman quarterback Kaleb Nobles is currently serving as the team's No. 2 quarterback behind starter Cayden Cochran. Nobles enrolled at VSU in the spring semester and worked through spring practice with the team. Murray State transfer Graham Craig is the team's third string quarterback, at this time.

Johnson turning heads at RB

Freshman running back Juwan Johnson is turning heads this fall camp. The 6-foot-0 running back from Groves High School displayed his athleticism during Saturday's team practice while working with both the No. 1 and No. 2 offensive units. Head coach David Dean said he has been pleased with the progression of the freshman back.
"He is playing hard, he practices hard, and he keeps his mouth shut," Dean said. "He is very coach-able, which is exciting. But more importantly, is his ability to come out here and work and his willingness to come out here and learn."

Craig could be used at wide receiver

The Blazers have a lot of depth at the wide receiver, but that doesn't mean the Blazer coaching staff wouldn't ponder the idea of moving quarterback Graham Craig to the slot position if the right scenario presented itself. Craig, the team's current No. 3 quarterback, displayed his speed and agility in the spring game and has had a good camp thus far. But with Cayden Cochran being a lock for the quarterback job the next two seasons and the youth and future QB already in place with Nobles, Craig could see time at wide receiver, said Dean.
"He has probably got the most speed of all our quarterbacks," said Dean of Craig. "That says a lot when you have Cayden back there. He runs the ball very well, he catches the ball, so yes he can be a guy that we line up at the slot."

Kickers use wind to advantage

The kicking game turned heads during Saturday morning's practice. With the win behind them, several kickers were consistently kicking the ball into the end zone on kickoffs. The Blazers have an open competition for a kickoff specialist and at punter. Daniel Andersen is the presumed returning starter at field goal kicker.

One week from scrimmage

Saturday morning's practice took place exactly one week from the team's first official scrimmage of the fall. Blazersportsbeat.com will have complete coverage of the scrimmage.

-Follow me at @Ed_Hooper on Twitter.