Reaction from Valdosta State Football’s first scrimmage of fall camp

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) - The Blazers are over a week into its fall football camp ahead of the season. Early Saturday morning VSU was on the gridiron for its first scrimmage.

Eighteen days and a wakeup removed from Valdosta State’s first game of the season. Still a lot of time to shape this group into what Head Coach Tremaine Jackson wants it to be. As for Saturday, Coach says a lot of young guys hit the field. He sees areas for improvement citing the need for better execution from that group. However, he’s pleased with where his group is.

“Overall, I thought we moved around pretty well. It looked like the first couple units did a pretty good job, but we have to execute especially down in the red zone,” Jackson said, “It looked like a first scrimmage. It looked like--I’m glad we don’t play tomorrow, and we’ll get better from it.”

It goes without saying that the heartbeat of this team is Ivory Durham. QB1 lit it up a year ago. Over 1,000 yards on the ground, nearly 3,500 yards through the air, and 45 total touchdowns. Coach Jackson loves what he’s seeing out of the leader on this team--and those around him. He detailed who stuck out to him after the scrimmage.

“Our quarterback continues to be a really good player for us. We have to get him some help,” Jackson said, “The running back core did a really good job today--the first couple of groups. Defensively--I thought the D-Line played well. They looked un-blockable in a couple of segments. Then at linebacker I think we’re playing at a high level. I really like where those groups are. We have to get better in those other groups.”

Heading into a pivotal week of the preseason, Coach Jackson says it’s time to put everything together, clean up the little things, and continue the charge to September 1st.

“We have to clean up some special teams stuff. We have to clean up some kicking game stuff. Alignments, assignments, and so forth,” Jackson concluded, “We have to really execute at a high level. That’s what we want to take the next week to do.”